International Legal News
Updated: Sep 9, 2019
Weekly update: 28 August - 3 September 2019
The following media round up of international legal and foreign policy issues from around the world for the period 28 August - 3 September 2019.
The Guernica Group will provide weekly media updates from the International Criminal Court, European Court of Human Rights, United Nations, European Union and other sources. Should you wish to contribute or submit a media summary, opinion piece or blog, please send to Nenad Vucijak for consideration.
Colombia: 29 August 2019
Venezuelans fleeing crisis at home have now become victims of the armed conflict in Colombia. As tens of thousands cross the border in search of relief, many have instead found themselves in the middle of an ongoing armed conflict, where desperation and limited state presence have left them particularly vulnerable to abuse by armed groups.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/29/war-colombia-venezuela-border
India: 29 August 2019
India’s Tamil Nadu State has issued an executive order banning medically unnecessary surgeries on children born with intersex variations. Except in very rare cases, these variations are medically benign natural variations of human anatomy, and do not require surgery. The United Nations human rights treaty bodies have condemned the operations 40 times since 2011.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/08/29/indian-state-bans-unnecessary-surgery-intersex-children
Cambodia: 30 August 2019
Calls for UN Human Rights Council to address the human rights crisis in Cambodia at its 42nd Session.
Mexico: 30 August 2019
Authorities in Mexico take an important step in announcing that they will accept the competence of the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances. The Mexican government’s announcement is an important sign of its willingness to achieve justice, truth and reparation in cases of enforced disappearance in the country.
ECHR: 30 August 2019
Press Release for three upcoming hearings in September 2011; Ukraine v Russia concerning Ukraine’s allegations of the violations of the European Convention on Human Rights by Russia in Crimea, Selahattin Demitras v Turkey (no 2) concerning the arrest and pre-trial detention of Mr Selahattin Demirtas and Muhammad and Muhammad v Romania which concerns a procedure to remove two Pakistani nationals from Romania after they had been declared undesirable.
https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng-press#{%22itemid%22:[%22003-6317306-8252429%22]}
Syria: 30 August 2019
On International Day of the Disappeared, Amnesty International called for unified international action to support the families who have spent years left along to search for their loved ones in the face of government denials and insufficient support from the international community.
Twitter: 1 September 2019
A round- up of the trending human rights tweets from the last week include criticism of Prime Minister Modia receiving a medal from the UAE in the midst of the Kashmir shutdown and the marking of two years since the Myanmar army perpetrated war crimes against the Rohingya.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/01/top-human-rights-tweets-week
Hong Kong: 1 September 2019
In response to clashes between police and protesters in Hong Kong on Saturday 30 August, police stormed the platform at Prince Edward Metro Station and beat people on a train, in which terrified bystanders were caught up in the melee.
https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2019/09/hong-kong-rampaging-police-protest/
Rohingya: 2 September 2019
Rahama Khatun calls for justice after her husband was massacred alongside nine other ethnic Rohingya men in the village of Inn Din in 2017. All Rahma has left of her husband is a laminated sheet of two photos that Reuters collected from a villager in Inn Din- one of her husband and the other nine men keeling in a row surrounded by paramilitary officers, their hands strung together behind their backs and the second, taken shortly after, of their bodies lying bloodied in a shallow pit.
https://www.hrw.org/news/2019/09/02/where-his-blood-fell
Mozambique: 2 September 2019
Calls for Pope Francis to raise urgent human rights concerns with the leaders of Madagascar and Mozambique when he visits the two countries this week. Serious human rights violations include the use of prolonged pretrial detention in inhumane conditions in Madagascar and escalating assaults on journalists and human rights defenders in Mozambique.
Somalia: 2 September 2019
The arrest of the security minister of Jubaland, Abdirashid Hassan Abdinur, is a significant step towards accountability for the serious human rights violations committed with impunity for years by powerful individuals in Somalia. Abdirahid Janan is accused by the UN Somalia and Eritrea Monitoring group of horrific crimes including killings, torture, unlawful detention and illegal renditions between 2014 and 2015.
International Criminal Court: 2 September 2019
The Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Court delivered its judgment and rejected the appeal of the Prosecutor against the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I on the ‘Application for Judicial Review by the Government of the Union of the Comoros” of 15 November 2018. The Judgment of the Appeals Chamber means that the Prosecutor must reconsider her decision on the Comoros’ referral by 2 December 2019, in light of the specific directions of the Pre-Trial Chamber’s 16 July 2015 Decision and the directions of the Appeals Chamber in its judgment. The Appeals Chamber nevertheless maintained, that the ‘ultimate decision; as to whether or not to initiate an investigation is that of the Prosecutor.