By Sunneva Gilmore
“At noon, they came, and on a stretcher they took me, and I thought how I had just given birth? They took me to do tests, and I asked them on the way, ladies, where are they taking me? “Don’t be afraid we’re not going to do anything.” I woke up like this and I listened, and there was a group that applauded and said “it was a success, a success”. I started with the discomfort, and when I touched myself and said what is this? My husband came at 2 in the afternoon, and I said…
By Mansour Omari
Video-sharing websites should not be an accessory-after-the-fact, argues Syrian activist, Mansour Omari
With the outbreak of the Syrian uprising in March 2011, media was one of the first arenas of conflict between Assad regime and Syrians. The regime tried from the beginning to block information and newsfrom Syria, to deny there are demonstrations against it, and to keep the official stance as the only source for news, which were provided by dictations from Syrian intelligence and the Presidential Palace, who had its hands on the media. Any other element was considered “fabrication” and “against the State” by the Syrian regime.
Assad banned the entryof international journalists and organizations and…
By Debbie Stothard and Andrew Khoo
Malaysia’s original decision to join the International Criminal Court (ICC) in March was welcomed with a blizzard of celebratory analysis. But the celebrations were premature. On April 5 2019, Malaysia’s Prime Minister Mahathir bin Mohamad announced a stunning reversal. In a matter-of-fact press briefing, the PM said Malaysia would be withdrawing from the ICC due to “certain quarters who have politicised the issue.”
“We have ratified the Rome Statute (on March 4) and have until June for us to withdraw. We will act before June,” Prime Minister Mahathir told reporters.
Andrew Khoo, a former Co-Chair of the Malaysian Bar Council’s Human Rights Committee, and Debbie Stothard, the Secretary-General of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), explain the factors pulling Malaysia out of the ICC and their hope to “reverse the reversal.”
Justice Hub: Why do you think it is that the government decided to change its mind about accession to the Rome Statute, the founding document of the ICC? From the Malaysian point of view, what was the reason behind this change of mind?
Andrew Khoo: The issue was loss of immunity by the Malay rulers or traditional sultans of the nine royal households. One royal in particular, Sultan Ibrahim Ibni Almarhum Sultan Iskandar, the wealthy ruler of southern Johor state, took it upon himself to argue that his privileges as the head of a…
By Tajeldin A. Adam
The dramatic ouster of President Omar al-Bashir in a popular uprising on Thursday 11 April 2019 after three decades in power, has provided a new hope for his potential trial before the International Criminal Court (ICC) over his alleged role in Darfur crimes. Tajeldin A. Adam considers the potential for seeing Bashir in The Hague.
Since his indictment by the court through two successive arrest warrants in 2009 and 2010, Al-Bashir has avoided threats of arrest and travelled abroad regularly, visiting several ICC member states and others in continental Africa and beyond.
Between July 2010 and March 2017, Sudan’s former ruler who is currently being held in Kober prison in the capital Khartoum was able to visit countries such as Kenya, Malawi, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda and others. Al-Bashir similarly travelled to other states, including China, Iran and almost all Arab countries in the Middle East and North Africa. …
By Allan Thompson
As the world is commemorating the events of April 1994 in Rwanda — the genocide in which at least 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were killed, former journalist, now professor Allan Thompson, considers the role the media can play during mass atrocities.
It has been 25 years since Rwanda slid into the abyss.
The killings happened in broad daylight, yet many of us — individuals, media outlets, entire governments — turned away, or failed to grasp the unfolding events.
And that includes me.
As a reporter covering foreign affairs issues for Canada’s largest daily newspaper in 1994, I somehow didn’t grasp what was happening in Rwanda and remained as oblivious as many of my colleagues.
I will forever be ashamed.
When human beings are at their worst — as they most certainly were in Rwanda during the 1994 Genocide…
By Luke Moffett
While the world waits in hope for the transition in Sudan, the peace process in South Sudan remains unfinished. Former parties to the conflict continue to take part in the transitional government in South Sudan, but despite agreeing twice to a comprehensive approach to transitional justice in August 2015 and September 2018, its implementation has stalled. The conflict between 2011–2018 has had a devastating impact on civilians, causing the deaths of hundreds of thousands of individuals. On a macro scale, this is apparent from its annual GDPat independence in 2011 being $17.2 billion to $2.9 billion in 2016, with 2.2 millionSouth Sudanese refugees in neighbouring countries and 1.7 millioninternally displaced.
Along with Stephen Oola as part of an AHRC funded project, Luke Moffett has been conducting research on reparations in post-conflict societiesrecently publishing a reporton the prospects and challenges of implementing reparations in South Sudan.
The report is based on engagements with key stakeholders in South Sudan, sharing our findings on reparations in other contexts and assessing their views on the current prospects and challenges for reparations in dealing with the past. The report outlines the political and legal landscape, before detailing provisions on reparations, its resonance with traditional practices of compensation and perceptions of victims. It also draws attention to the legal, political and evidential challenges in implementing reparations, making recommendations on how the South Sudanese government, rebel groups and the international community can deliver reparations. …
By Justice Hub
Not many people can say they have held a World Record. Tegla Loroupe, the renowned long-distance track and road runner, belongs to this exclusive club. She was the first African woman to hold the marathon World Record between 1998 and 2001.
And she still holds the world records for 25 and 30 kilometres.
Since hanging up her running shoes, Loroupe founded the Tegla Loroupe Peace Foundation (TLPF) helping — especially — build peace among communities plagued by cattle rustling in her native Kenya, in Uganda and in Sudan. She’s a United Nations Ambassador of Sport and at the Rio Olympics helped prepare and present the first-ever refugee team to compete at the games.
As part of our #MyJustice series, Loroupe discusses the relationship between sports and peace-building:
Justice Hub: What does it mean to work with sports for peace?
Tegla Loroupe:Everyone would love to come and watch sports but not many people trust politicians. Thus we can use sports to change the minds of people. Sports is a place where you will have the opportunity to talk to your opponent.
Justice Hub: Who have you been working with?
Tegla Loroupe: I come from a border region myself where there is often tension between the neighbouring communities. I worked with the refugees at Kakuma refugee camp [in north-western Kenya]. Later I was sent as an…
By Justice Hub
Judges at the International Criminal Court (ICC) recently decided not to let the prosecutor open an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan. The decision was unexpected and has been heavily criticised by some. In particular, the fact that the judges said that an investigation into the events of Afghanistan’s long wars during which many people suffered would not be in the “interests of justice”.
Hadi Marifat is the Executive Director of the Afghanistan Human Rights and Democracy Organization (AHRDO) — an Afghan NGO established in 2009. He was closely involved in getting the views of victims of war crimes to the ICC. As part of #MyJustice Series, Justice Hub asked him about his opinion of the ICC decision and about the establishment of the Afghanistan Centre for Memory and Dialogue for which AHRDO has been collecting ‘memory boxes’ from victims, along with recording victim narratives, for the past eight years.
Justice Hub: What was your immediate reaction, as a victims’ advocate…
By Dr Emma Palmer
The Philippines’ withdrawal from the Rome Statuteof the International Criminal Court took effect on Sunday 17 March 2019.
Philippines officials estimate that 5050 peoplehave been killed in police operations during President Duterte’s “war on drugs”. Human rights groups estimate the number could be much higher, especially including killings by vigilante groups as well as by police. How will anyone be held accountable for these deaths asks Emma Palmer?
The International Criminal Court (ICC), which the Philippines joined in 2011, might have seemed like an obvious choice for accountability. It was established to ensure that ‘the most…
In July 2018, Justice Hub was able to make a rare visit to the place the International Criminal Court keeps its detainees while they are going through a trial and awaiting a sentence or a transfer.
People refer to it as a prison, but, as you’ll see, that isn’t entirely accurate.
The building is not far from the court, and is often the subject of intense curiosity, and even sometimes demonstrations outside, from noisy supporters of the senior politicians or military who have been accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity. …
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