SAN JOSÉ, Costa Rica – The Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruled that the State of Nicaragua violated political rights, judicial guarantees and judicial protection of Mr. Fabio Gadea Mantilla in the 2011 presidential elections. The IACHR determined that the judicial system of Nicaragua lacked an effective judicial remedy to review decisions.
Fabio Gadea Mantilla giving a speech. Photo Courtesy of El País.
Bolivian attorney Jaime Aparicio, one of Mr. Mantilla’s representatives, discussed the importance of the ruling. He commented, “this is one of the first times the court refers to the electoral issue, meaning that it incorporates the protection of the right to be elected in free and transparent elections into human rights violations.”
This holding follows a year where the Inter-American Court of Human Rights took action on multiple fronts to protect free and fair elections in the Americas. On 30 April 2024, the IACHR released a resolution recognizing election observers as human rights defenders. This resolution mirrored recent statements issued by the UN. The IACHR also issued an extensive report regarding human rights violations in Venezuela following the presidential election of July 2024. Following the election results, the State of Venezuela under President Nicolas Maduro arrested protestors en masse, generating reports of torture and extrajudicial killings.
The IACHR’s holding came the same week as the President of Nicaragua consolidated power. President Daniel Ortega proposed widespread reform to extend executive control over judicial and legislative duties. Under these reforms, the president would have the authority to order the army to intervene to support the police or take executive branch positions. International commentators from the UN have expressed concern about the appointment of Ortega’s wife as “co-president” and a newfound ability for either co-president to name “vice presidents.” This mechanism could be used to keep the presidency of Nicaragua within the family, strengthening the autocratic regime.
Journal of Global Rights and Organizations, Associate Articles Editor
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – On March 29, 2023, the U.N. General Assembly adopted a resolution requiring the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to issue an advisory opinion on “the obligations of States in respect to climate change.” The ICJ held public hearings for this opinion from December 2 to December 13.
Members of Vanuatu’s government at an ICJ hearing in December 2024. Photo Courtesy of Piroschka Van De Wouw.
96 countries and 11 international organizations participated in the hearings, including Germany, the United Kingdom, Canada, Saudi Arabia, the World Health Organization, and the European Union. 90 countries sent written testimony into the ICJ. This case is the largest in ICJ history.
Climate change activists behind this case emphasized that climate change threatens the human rights of people around the world. The nation of Vanuatu, a collection of islands in the South Pacific Ocean, led the movement for the ICJ to consider this case. Vanuatu is increasingly susceptible to the impacts of climate change because of sea-level rise in the Pacific Ocean. Vanuatu’s lawyers believe that many of its citizens will die because of rising sea waters and want those who are responsible to be held accountable for the rise in sea level.
Various courts have recently considered the link between human rights and climate change. In 2024, the European Court of Human Rights held that Switzerland violated its citizens’ human rights by failing to decrease greenhouse gas emissions. In 2019, the Dutch Supreme Court held that human rights are affected by climate change and the government must protect its citizens’ human rights through climate-friendly actions. These decisions acknowledged that human rights are affected by climate change. This link between human rights and climate change is likely to be discussed in the ICJ’s opinion.
This is not the first request for an advisory opinion on climate change from the ICJ. Palau and the Marshall Islands tried to request an opinion around 10 years ago. However, that attempt failed because of political resistance.
This ICJ opinion has not been released yet, but is expected in 2025. Even though this opinion is not binding, it could further the link between human rights and climate change, and serve as a reference for future climate litigation. Many courts use the ICJ’s rulings as guidance, and this decision could lead to increased climate litigation.
STRASBOURG, France – On November 24th, The European Court of Human Rights (“ECHR”) found that the Russian Federation violated the European Convention on Human Rights in their handling of criminal proceedings against applicant Konstantin Aleksandrovic Kotov. The court found that Kotov’s punishments were disproportionate, and he had been punished for actions protected under the Convention.
Russian Police arrest activist Konstantin Aleksandrovic Kotov. Photo Courtesy of Amnesty International.
The case related to convictions Kotov received under administrative and criminal law proceedings regarding public political protests and encouraging others to attend those protests. The protected conduct the Russian Federation punished him for included chanting anti-government slogans, participating in peaceful protests, and calling upon others to do the same.
The Constitutional Court of the ECHR referenced their previous rulings in determining that the sentence was disproportionate. The Court has held that sentencing a person to prison for assembling was only possible when the assembly is not peaceful, where significant harm is inflicted, or where there was real threat of significant harm.
Kotov’s original trial in Moscow lasted less than a day and had a complicated procedural history in Russia itself before reaching the ECHR. His original trial lasted less than a day and he earned a four year sentence in prison for violating Russia’s notorious Article 212.1. The Constitutional Court of Russia remanded the case and the sentence was reduced to a year and a half.
This case is part of a larger effort repress political competition on the part of the Russian Federation, and represents only the first time Mr. Kotov was been targeted. The Russian Federation uses vague anti-extremism laws to prosecute opposition. The Russian court system has prosecuted members of the media under legislation that labels them as “foreign agents,” “undesirables” or “extremists.”
Following this arrest, the Russian government arrested Kotov again in 2024 for donating to Alexei Navalny’s political organizations. The Russian government had labeled them as “extremist.” In August 2024, A Moscow court ruled to place Kotov under house arrest until October. The donation in question was 3,000 rubles, equivalent to $32.60 USD.
THE HAGUE, Netherlands – On December 12, 2024, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber III scheduled a confirmation of charges hearing in the case of The Prosecutor v. Joseph Kony. The hearing will take place September 9, 2025, marking the first time in the Court’s history that it conducts a hearing in absentia, as Kony remains at large.
Two child soldiers of Uganda’s rebel group, the Lords Resistance Army (LRA). Photo Courtesy of Reuters.
Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) fighters in the Central African Republic, picture dated April 4, 2012. Photo Courtesy of Voice of America.
Between 1987 and 2006, Northern Uganda endured a brutal conflict between the government and the Lord’s Residence Army (LRA), a quasi-religious group claiming to defend the Acholi ethnic group. Since rising in the early 1980s, the LRA has allegedly targeted civilians with attacks, abducted over 35,000 children as soldiers and sex slaves, and displaced over 1.9 million people into government camps. Despite a 2006 truce, the LRA is said to have expanded its operations into neighboring countries, including the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), South Sudan, and the Central African Republic (CAR). Despite global efforts to detain him, LRA founder and leader Joseph Kony remains at large, believed to be outside of Uganda.
After ratifying the Rome Statute in 2002, Uganda became the first state to refer itself to the ICC, inviting the Office of the Prosecutor to investigate the LRA’s alleged crimes. Kony’s Warrant of Arrest, originally issued by the ICC under seal on July 8, 2005, was made public on October 13, 2005.
Kony faces 36 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity under Articles 7 and 8 of the Rome Statute for crimes allegedly committed between 2002 and 2005.
Counts 1-14: Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such; murdering civilians and attempting to do so; torturing, and/or severely abusing and mistreating civilians and treating them cruelly; enslaving abducted civilians; pillaging and destroying property; and persecuting civilians on political grounds as well as based on their age and gender.
Counts 15-29: Conscription of children into the LRA, and using them to participate actively in hostilities.
Counts 20-36: Perpetrating the crimes of enslavement, forced marriage, torture, and sexual slavery in relation to young women.
The confirmation of charges hearing is not a trial. Under Article 61(5) of the Rome Statute, a Pre-Trail hearing assesses whether sufficient evidence exists to establish substantial grounds for believing the individual committed each alleged crime. The Prosecutor may rely on documentary or summary evidence and need not call the witnesses expected to testify at the trial.
Under the Rome Statute, confirmation of charges proceedings at the Pre-Trial stage may proceed in the suspect’s absence under specific conditions outlined in Article 61(2)(b). In this instance, the Chamber determined that the conditions were met because (i) Kony qualifies as a person who “cannot be found”; (ii) all reasonable efforts have been made to ensure his appearance and notify him of the charges and the hearing date; and (iii) there is sufficient cause to hold the confirmation of charges hearing in absentia. In absentia cases, the person shall be represented by counsel where the Pre-Trial Chamber determines that it is in the interests of justice.
If the charges are confirmed, the case can proceed to trial only if the accused is physically present before the Trial Chamber under Rome Statute Article 63.
MYANMAR—On November 27, 2024, the ICC Prosecutor Karim Khan submitted an application to the ICC’s judicial division to issue an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing, the acting President of Myanmar, for crimes against humanity of deportation and persecution of the Rohingya. This application came after extensive investigations by the Office of the Prosecutor from 2019—2024. ICC judges must now decide whether the application meets the standard for issuing an arrest warrant.
Min Aung Hlaing, acting President of Myanmar. Photo courtesy of Ye Aung Thu/Agence France-Presse, Getty Images.
Although the Rohingya, a Muslim ethnic minority, have lived in Myanmar for centuries, they have never been recognized as an official ethnic group and have been denied citizenship since 1982, making them the world’s largest stateless population and vulnerable to exploitation and sexual and gender-based violence and abuse. The Rohingya have experienced decades of discrimination and violence leading to frequent waves of human rights violations. However, 2017 marked the largest mass displacement of the minority group as the military burned entire villages, killed thousands of families, and partook in other human rights violations. As a result, more than 2.6 million Rohingya were internally displaced and almost one million sought refuge in Bangladesh. In 2021, the Myanmar military seized power in a coup led by Min Aung Hlaing, sentencing then-president Aung San Suu Kyi to 17 years in prison. This shift in power set off another wave of violence and triggered a new refugee crisis.
Before Myanmar’s current self-appointed prime minister led the 2021 coup, Min Aung Hlaing was a career army officer and commander in chief since 2011, with a reputation for attacks on ethnic groups. Since 2021, his regime has cracked down violently against political opposition, imprisoned pro-democracy protesters, and threatened punishment for civilians who refused to join the military. Under his command, over 27,000 people have been arrested and 21,000 are still detained, and more than 260 people were reportedly tortured to death.
The ICC’s legal process for sentencing a perpetrator of genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and/or crimes of aggression takes part in 6 steps. First, the Office of the Prosecutor determines whether there is sufficient evidence of crimes that fall within the ICC’s jurisdiction. Second, the Prosecution submits an application to judges to issue an arrest warrant, which is what the Prosecutor asked of the ICC judiciary on November 27 of this year. Third, the pretrial stage marks the initial appearance of the suspect before the judges, as well as a confirmation of charges where the judges decide if there is enough evidence to go to trial after hearing each sides’ arguments. Fourth, in the trial stage, the prosecution tries to prove the guilt of the accused beyond a reasonable doubt, the judges issue a verdict and, if found guilty, a sentence for up to 30 years, or, up to life in special circumstances. Fifth, both sides may appeal the verdict and sentence. Finally, if the verdict is not overturned, the accused serves his or her sentence in a member state that has agreed to enforce ICC sentences.
The ICC’s Prosecutor’s application for an arrest warrant for Min Aung Hlaing was met with support from several different countries, as well as the Rohingyas and the country’s National Unity Government (which was established by elected lawmakers after the 2021 coup), who urged the ICC judges to swiftly issue the warrant and called on ICC member states to enforce the warrant to “uphold justice and international law.” If the ICC judiciary decides to issue the warrant, however, there are other procedural roadblocks in the way to Min Aung Hlaing’s arrest, as Myanmar is not an ICC member state, and the acting President rarely travels to states that are members who can serve an arrest warrant.
