Europe

British Government Faces Domestic and International Legal Challenges to Controversial Northern Ireland Act

By: Gavin Gretsky

Impunity Watch News Staff Writer

UNITED KINGDOM – The British Government is facing multiple lawsuits both domestically and internationally that challenge the legality of the recently passed Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Act (Act).

 
A protest outside of Westminster Square, Westminster against the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Bill | Photo Courtesy of Belfast Times
  

The Act, which was passed by British Parliament in September 2023, is an attempt to bring finality and closure to the Troubles in Northern Ireland. The Troubles was a three-decade long period of sectarian violence between Irish republican paramilitaries, the British army, and unionist paramilitaries which resulted in more than 3,500 deaths and over 47,000 injuries. The Troubles effectively ended with the signing of the Good Friday Agreement in 1998, however over 1,000 deaths from that era remain unsolved.

The Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy Act is modeled after the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission established by Nelson Mandela after the fall of apartheid. The Act will be implemented by the Independent Commission for Reconciliation and Information Recovery (ICRIR), which will seek to find information on the circumstances of the deaths or injuries of victims of the Troubles and share the information with the families of the victims. Under the Act, perpetrators who provide truthful accounts of their actions to the ICRIR can be granted immunity from prosecution. Additionally, the Act will prevent any new civil cases and inquiries about the Troubles from starting. The Act received fierce opposition from all political parties in Northern Ireland, as well as many victims’ groups and organizations, but was supported by U.K. veteran’s groups and Britain’s governing Conservative party.

Shortly after the Act was passed in September, sixteen separate legal challenges were filed with the U.K. High Court in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Legal representatives of the parties, mostly made up of the families of victims from the Troubles, argue that the Act is unlawful because it is incompatible with international human rights standards, including the European Convention on Human Rights. The parties state that the Act interferes with the justice system by denying victims access to the courts which had been a viable avenue open to victims and their families before the Act’s passage. For example, in 2021 an inquest through the previous system found that ten individuals killed in Belfast in 1971 were unarmed at the time of their deaths and that the use of force by the British army was “clearly disproportionate.” Petitioners also indicated their intention to file applications with the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR).

In addition to domestic legal challenges, the Act is now facing challenges on the international stage. The Republic of Ireland has announced that it will be bringing a case against the United Kingdom at the ECHR. The Irish government’s main concern is the grants of immunity given under the Act which will create a barrier to any other action by victims or their families. Grants of immunity have previously been found by the ECHR to be incompatible with a country’s obligation to maintain means to investigate unnatural deaths and torture, a provision of the Good Friday Agreement signed by the United Kingdom. According to Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, both the United Nations and the Council of Europe support Ireland’s position in bringing this challenge. Conversely, the U.K. government states that Act complies with the ECHR and the Good Friday Agreement because it balances grants of immunity with the investigative powers of the ICRIR.

Further details on the filings and decisions of these cases are forthcoming as the cases progress through their respective domestic and international channels.

For further information, please see:

Aljazeera- Ireland to Launch Legal Action Against UK over Troubles Amnesty Law- 20 Dec. 2023

BBC- Troubles Legacy Bill Enters Law After Receiving Royal Assent- 19 Sept. 2023

BBC- What is the Northern Ireland Legacy Bill? – 5 Sept. 2023

Independent- Ireland to Launch a Legal Challenge Against the UK Government Over Troubles Amnesty Bill – 20 Dec. 2023

Jurist- UK Government Publishes Response to Human Rights Decisions from European Court of Human Rights – 14 Nov. 2023

Jurist- UK High Court Hears Legal Challenges to Recently Enacted Northern Ireland Troubles Bill – 20 Sept. 2023

Sky News – Irish government launches legal challenge against UK’s Northern Ireland Legacy Bill – 20 Dec. 2023

German Court Finds Gambian Man Guilty of Crimes Against Humanity Under Universal Jurisdiction

By: Rafael Sbeghen Freitas 

Impunity Watch Staff Writer 

 CELLE, Germany – A former participant in the Gambian death squad, an infamous paramilitary group called “The Junglers,” has been handed a life sentence following the Celle Higher Regional Court’s determination of his guilt for crimes against humanity. 

 
The Gambian defendant, identified as Bai Lowe, in line with German privacy rules, holds a folder in front of his face at the Celle Higher Regional Court in Celle, Germany | Photo courtesy of Associated Press.
  

The paramilitary organization was established by the former president Yahya Jammeh in the mid-1990s. Jammeh’s 22-year regime was characterized by systematic oppression and pervasive human rights abuses, encompassing torture, extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, and sexual violence targeting both real and perceived adversaries. 

Court proceedings in Germany revolved around Bai Lowe, a 48-year-old man who was found to be the driver for the “Patrol Team,” a unit of the assassination squad in several of its attacks. Lowe was found guilty of participating in two homicides and one attempted homicide. The latter incident occurred in December 2003, when the court determined that he drove the unit to the location of the attempted assassination of a lawyer who was defending an individual who had fallen out of favor with Jammeh. The victim suffered the loss of a kidney but ultimately survived. 

In 2004, the unit, utilizing two vehicles camouflaged as taxis, was responsible for the killing of a prominent journalist, with one of the vehicles being driven by the accused, as per the court’s findings. Subsequently, before the conclusion of 2006, the unit compelled a former soldier, purportedly in opposition to Jammeh, into a vehicle operated by the defendant. They then transported him to an isolated location, where he was shot and buried, according to a court statement. 

Bai Lowe’s trial in Germany was made possible by the nation’s legal recognition of universal jurisdiction for severe crimes under international law. This allows the investigation and prosecution of such crimes regardless of where they occurred and the nationalities of the suspects or victims. Given Lowe’s residence in Germany, German authorities were obligated to pursue the case. 

The significance of universal jurisdiction cases is growing in international efforts to hold individuals accountable for atrocities, deliver justice to victims lacking alternative recourse, deter future crimes, and prevent countries from becoming safe havens for human rights violators. Numerous European countries are actively engaged in ongoing investigations and prosecutions related to egregious abuses committed abroad, spanning regions such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Liberia, Syria, and Ukraine. 

It is expected that authorities in Gambia request Bai Lowe’s extradition from Germany to stand trial. However, the principle of double jeopardy (ne bis in idem) established in international law and the Gambian constitution could preclude Gambia’s judiciary system from bringing charges against him for any of the acts outlined in the current trial indictment. 

For further information, please see: 

ABC News – Gambian man convicted in Germany for role in killings under Gambia’s former ruler – November, 2023 

ECCHR – Verdict in Gambia Atrocity Case – 28 Nov. 2023

Human Rights Watch – Germany: Verdict in Gambia Atrocity Case – November, 2023 

Oberlandesgericht Celle – State security proceedings on the suspicion of crimes against humanity in Gambia – March, 2023 

The Globe and Mail – German court finds Gambian man guilty of crimes against humanity for death-squad role – November, 2023 

 

U.K. Government Responds to British Supreme Court Decision on Migrant Policy with New Treaty

By: Christina Bradic

Impunity Watch News Staff Writer

 UNITED KINGDOM – On December 5, 2023, the government of the United Kingdom responded to a November Supreme Court decision, declaring the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership unlawful. They signed a new treaty that will relocate migrants arriving in the United Kingdom to Rwanda for asylum processing and thereby barring their return to the United Kingdom.

 
Migrants claiming to be from Darfur, Sudan cross the English Channel in an inflatable boat near Dover, Britain, 8/4/21 | Photo courtesy of Reuters.
  

According to The Migration Observatory at the University of Oxford, approximately 46,000 people crossed the English Channel in 2022 in small boats, with over 90 percent of those people making claims for asylum. In response to the large number of migrants crossing the English Channel, the British Government proposed a plan in April 2022 that would deport migrants arriving in the United Kingdom to the country of Rwanda for asylum processing and relocation. There, Rwandan officials would oversee Asylum conditions and decisions. Under the UK and Rwanda Migration and Economic Development Partnership, the United Kingdom would provide Rwanda up to £120 million ($152 million USD) over five years.

The first flight to deport migrants to Rwanda was scheduled for June 14, 2022. However, on the morning that the flight was scheduled to depart for Kigali, the European Court for Human Rights issued an injunction against the United Kingdom, prohibiting the flight until there was further investigation into the legality of the policy.

On December 19, 2022, the High Court of England and Wales ruled that the policy was legal and did not breach Britain’s obligations under the U.N. Refugee Convention or other international agreements. On June 29, 2023, a Court of Appeals of England and Wales overruled the lower court decision, declaring the deportation plan as unlawful and violating the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This decision was unanimously upheld by the U.K. Supreme Court on Nov. 15, 2023.

At the heart of the decision is not whether relocation to a third country is lawful; the Supreme court has affirmed that sending migrants to a safe third country is not illegal in itself. However, the European Court for Human Rights has declared that when asylum applicants can arguably claim that there is no guarantee that their asylum applications would be seriously examined by the authorities in the third country, and that there could be a possible violation of Article 3 of the U.N. Refugee Convention, that relocation is unlawful. This is the stance the U.K. Supreme court has taken regarding Rwanda.

The U.K. Supreme Court ruled that current Rwandan policy risks violations of Section 3 of the United Kingdom’s Immigration Act of 1971. The Act states that a country is only considered a “safe third country” if there is not a policy of refoulment. The act of returning asylum seekers to a country where their life or freedom would be threatened on the basis of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, there is risk of inhumane torture or treatment. The court also stated the policy was at risk of violating Section 6 of the Human Rights Act 1998 requiring asylum claims to be properly determined under human rights law.

The court cited political repression in Rwanda, political killings, Rwanda’s total rejection of all asylum applications from Afghanistan, Syria, and Yemen between 2020 and 2022.

In response to the Supreme Court ruling, on December 5, the British Home Secretary, James Cleverly, and the Rwandan Foreign Minister, Vincent Biruta, signed a migration treaty that is binding under international law. The treaty addresses concerns raised by the U.K. Supreme Court, including prohibiting refoulment, setting up an independent monitoring committee and an Appeal Body, comprised of judges with humanitarian protection expertise, representing multiple nationalities. Cleverly stated, “Rwanda cares deeply about the rights of refugees.”

Critics say that the treaty is the British government’s plan to circumvent a human rights ruling of the Supreme Court, making it discreditable and susceptible to being overturned.

For further information, please see:

Aljazeera – UK home secretary signs new asylum treaty in Rwanda – 5 Dec. 2023

Associated Press – UK top court says a plan to send migrants to Rwanda is illegal. The government still wants to do it – 15 Nov. 2023

Barron’s –The UK’s Rwanda Migration Policy: A Timeline – 5 Dec. 2023

BBC News – Supreme Court rules Rwanda asylum policy unlawful – 15 Nov. 2023

BBC News – What is the UK’s plan to send asylum seekers to Rwanda? – 5 Dec. 2023

CNN – UK’s Rwanda deportation plan ‘unlawful,’ court of appeal rules – 29 Jun. 2023

European Court of Human Rights – Guide on case-law of the European Convention of Human Rights-Immigration – 31 Aug. 2022

GOV.UK – Treaty signed to strengthen UK-Rwanda Migration Partnership – 5 Dec. 2023

Royal Courts of Justice – AA-v-SSHD judgment – 29 Jun. 2023

The Guardian – What is the ECHR and how did it intervene in UK’s Rwanda flight plans? – 15 Jun. 2022

The Migration Observatory – People crossing the English Channel in small boats – 21 Jul. 2023

United Kingdom Supreme Court – R (on the application of AAA (Syria) and others) v Secretary of State for the Home Department – 15 Nov. 2023

ECHR Delivers Verdict on Gërdec Ammunition Depot Explosion Case

By: Firdevs Okatan

Impunity Watch Staff Writer

STRASBOURG, France – On November 7, 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) reached a decision in the case of Durham and Others v Albania, addressing the adequacy of the investigation into a devastating explosion at the Gërdec weapon decommissioning facility in Albania.

 
March 15, 2008, marked a tragic event at a facility located in Gërdec, Albania, leading to the unfortunate loss of 26 lives and injuries to approximately 300 individuals | Photo Courtesy of Wikipedia.
  

On March 15, 2008, a massive explosion occurred at the Gërdec facility, resulting in 26 fatalities and around 300 injuries. Some of the applicants to the court had family members injured or killed in the explosion, while others were themselves severely injured as they were working at the facility. Investigations revealed numerous safety violations, including the absence of required licenses, inadequate training, and violations of military regulations.

Indictments were filed against 29 individuals, including a former Minister of Defence, but the prosecution against the former minister was discontinued due to parliamentary immunity. Civil claims were lodged by some applicants against the accused, which were separated from the criminal proceedings. The applicants argued that this separation deprived them of participation in the criminal trial, violating the principle of adversarial proceedings.

Ultimately, 24 of the accused were found guilty of various criminal offenses related to the Gërdec incident. However, some sentences were reduced, and the applicants were left without a final conclusion regarding the responsibility of the former Minister of Defence.

The ECHR concluded that the investigation was generally adequate in establishing the circumstances and identifying those responsible for the incident. However, it found a violation of the procedural aspect of Article 2 of the Convention, as the applicants were denied effective participation in the criminal proceedings.

Regarding the substantive aspect of Article 2, the Court found that applicants who had accepted compensation had renounced further use of national remedies, while those who had not pursued civil claims had not exhausted all available legal avenues.

The Court ordered Albania to pay compensation to the applicants for non-pecuniary damage and costs and expenses.

For further information, please see:

Albania Daily News – Gërdec case, Strasbourg Court decides in favour of the affected families – 7 Nov. 2023

ECHR – Durdaj and Others v. Albania – 7 Nov.  2023

ECHR – Judgment concerning Albania – 7 Nov. 2023

European Convention on Human Rights – 1950

LawEuro – Case Of Durdaj And Others v. Albania – 63543/09 and 3 others. The application concerns the explosion at the Gërdec facility for dismantling decommissioned and obsolete weapons – 7 Nov. 2023

 

 

 

ECHR Finds Italy Violated Residents’ Human Rights Over Pollution from the Campania Garbage Crisis

By: Johannah Brown

Impunity Watch News Staff Writer

NAPLES, Italy – In the case Locascia and Others v. Italy, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) issued a preliminary ruling in favor of the applicants. The case, initially filed in 2010 by nineteen residents from the Caserta and Naples provinces, revolves around a state of emergency declared in 1994 over the mismanagement of the waste cycle that lasted for more than a decade. The ruling found that Italy’s handling of the 15-year-long garbage crisis violated the human rights of the residents. The Court determined that Italian authorities had contravened Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, which safeguards the right to respect for private life and home. The violations stemmed from their failure to ensure proper waste collection, treatment, and disposal and neglecting to take the necessary precautions to protect the applicants’ human rights.

 
Streets of Naples strewn with uncollected Garbage 2010 | Photo Courtesy of AFP/Roberto Salmone
  

In 1994, Italian authorities appointed a special commissioner to take control of the waste cycle, which had previously been under the unofficial control of organized crime (the Camorra). The Camorra had been profiting from controlling dumps in the region and engaging in the illegal business of transporting waste from the northern industrial areas and dumping it in local sites. Over time, both legal and illegal dumps filled, interrupting service and accumulating garbage in the streets and neighborhoods. The crisis disrupted daily life, impacting mobility, prompting school closures, and affecting local markets, forming the basis for the Article 8 complaints.

The court’s ruling also addressed the environmental effects of a dumping site outside Naples called Lo Uttaro. Three decades of illegal dumping and burning of trash led to severe groundwater contamination, resulting in multiple bans on the use of groundwater in the area and air pollution affecting residents’ health. Despite the site being closed in 2001 and the awareness of environmental hazards, authorities reopened the site in 2007. During this period, several environmental studies, including one by the World Health Organization (WHO), revealed significantly higher cancer mortality rates in the provinces of Naples and Caserta compared to the rest of the Campania region, as well as more frequent signs of congenital malformations. According to the court, Italy has still not fully implemented plans to secure and clean up the site, and there was no clear timeframe to do so.

The recent ruling by the ECHR was based on these studies, as well as various judicial and administrative decisions, including judgments from the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU). While the court did not pinpoint responsibility for the crisis, it ruled—concerning the inadequate handling of waste collection, treatment, and disposal—that the Italian authorities had violated the applicant’s right to private life and home. Regarding the complaint about the clean-up of Lo Uttaro, the Court ruled that authorities failed to take the necessary measures to protect the applicants’ rights, therefore violating Article 8 of the Convention.

The judgment is a Chamber Judgment and is not final. If the ruling is upheld, Italy must submit a plan outlining the actions they intend to take in response to the ruling.

For further information, please see:

ECHR – Court judgment finds violation of Article 8 of the European Convention of Human Rights – 19 Oct. 2023

ECHR – Communicated Case – 19 Residents of Italy claiming a violation of Article 2 and Article 8 based on the Campania Garbage Crisis from 1994-2009 – 05 Mar. 2013

EU Law Live – ECtHR finds violation of human rights in Campania Waste Crisis – 19 Oct. 2023

ABC News – European Court finds Italy violated human rights over Naples Garbage Crisis – 19 Oct. 2023

Reuters – Mafia involvement in Naples Garbage Crisis – 9 Jan. 2008