09 May 2018 - NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice

Articles

Can the Application of Universal Jurisdiction Foster Accountability in Sri Lanka?
By The Diplomat, 09 May 2018

At the 37th session of the Human Rights Council, which met in Geneva in February and March 2018, the High Commissioner for United Nations Human Rights Commission (UNHRC) Zeid Ra’ad Al-Hussein urged member states to explore other avenues to foster accountability in Sri Lanka including the application of universal jurisdiction. The call was made in an attempt to bring about accountability for alleged war crimes committed during Sri Lanka’s civil war in view of  Sri Lanka’s reluctance to comply with resolutions passed since March 2012.

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Bemba Denied Access to Confidential ICC Records on His Financial Status
By International Justice Monitor, 09 May 2018

Jean-Pierre Bemba has been denied access to confidential records on his assets and financial status, which are in the possession of the Registry at the International Criminal Court (ICC). Lawyers for the former Congolese vice president, who is due to receive a fresh sentence for witness tampering, had sought the confidential records to inform their sentencing submissions. In a May 7 decision, Single Judge Geoffrey Henderson of Trial Chamber III ruled that the circumstances justifying the confidential classification of the filings Bemba sought had not changed. “There being no alternative procedure available at this stage, the ex parte classification thus remains necessary,” he stated.
 

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UN Security Council: Refer Myanmar to ICC
by Human Rights Watch, 08 May 2018

The United Nations Security Council should immediately refer the situation in Myanmar, including the widespread and systematic abuses against ethnic Rohingya, to the International Criminal Court (ICC), Human Rights Watch said today. During the first week of May 2018, senior diplomats from the 15-member Security Council visited refugee camps in Bangladesh to see first-hand the situation of the more than 700,000 Rohingya refugees who fled Myanmar military abuses since August 2017, adding to an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who fled previous violence.

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ICC prosecutor Bensouda launches probe in DR Congo
by Africa Times , 07 May 2018

Fatou Bensouda, chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Court (ICC) based in The Hague, is in Democratic Republic of Congo to begin an investigation into possible crimes against humanity reflected in the nation’s ongoing political and ethnic violence. She’s meeting with Marie-Ange Mushobekwa, the Minister for Human Rights, and other Congolese government officials ahead of a press conference planned for Thursday. Bensouda is responding to a delegation of international human rights organizations who met with the ICC in February to press for an investigation into atrocities, particularly in the Kasai provinces.

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