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News and Current Events ABA International Human Rights e-Brief 23 January 2012/Issue No. 476 UN CALLS ON CAMBODIA TO APPOINT INTERNATIONAL JUDGE TO GENOCIDE COURT The United Nations today voiced concern at Cambodia’s decision not to appoint the current reserve judge as the new international co-investigating judge at the tribunal set up to try former Khmer Rouge leaders, saying it breaches the agreement that set up the court. Yesterday the Government of Cambodia formally notified Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the decision not to appoint the current reserve international co-investigating judge, Judge Laurent Kasper-Ansermet, to the position of international co-investigating judge of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). “This is a matter of serious concern,” Mr. Ban’s spokesperson said in a statement, stating that the decision is a breach of the 2003 agreement between the UN and the Government that set up the court, which states that the person appointed to fill this particular vacancy must be the reserve international co-investigating judge. The vacancy on the ECCC resulted from the resignation in October of Judge Siegfried Blunk, the international co-investigating judge, who cited attempted interference by Government officials in the court’s proceedings. The Government had raised ethical concerns in relation to Judge Kasper-Ansermet in November, according to the statement issued today. The UN thoroughly reviewed the concerns, determined that they were unfounded, and requested that the country’s Supreme Council of the Magistracy proceed with his appointment. “The United Nations continues to support Judge Kasper-Ansermet and Cambodia should take immediate steps to appoint him as international co-investigating judge,” said the statement. It added that the newly designated Special Expert to advise on the UN Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT), David Scheffer, is travelling to the capital, Phnom Penh, today for discussions with the Government and senior ECCC officials. The ECCC is an independent court that uses a mixture of Cambodian staff and judges and foreign personnel. It is tasked with trying those deemed most responsible for crimes committed under the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1979 during which as many as two million people are thought to have died. SOURCE: UN DAILY NEWS DIGEST - 20 January 2012
For full text and past issues of the e-Brief are available at the bottom right column of International Human Rights Committee's homepage at http://apps.americanbar.org/dch/committee.cfm?com=IC950000
Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal - Two Sides to the Trial: The Defense posted by Hannah Miller in Special Collections
“… I am fighting for a human life. The life of a hated enemy but nevertheless a life,” wrote John G. Brannon on November 25, 1947 in a letter to his brother Bernard. John Brannon had arrived in Tokyo, May 17th, 1946, about five years after the attack on Pearl Harbor. He was an American attorney from Kansas City, Missouri, appointed by MacArthur to defend Class A Japanese war criminal Osami Nagano, Chief of the Imperial Japanese Navy General Staff, in his trial before the Tokyo War Crimes Tribunal. The Law Library’s Special Collections has recently acquired over 150 letters written by John Brannon to his brother over a period of 3 years (1946-1949), along with numerous photographs, manuscripts and two 16mm films (John G. Brannon Papers). It is a collection teeming with fervent American patriotism, Truman politics and personal reflections of a transitional time in world history. In his letters, Brannon discusses and describes: Japanese culture, his defense strategies, the Tribunal, the Defense team, mounting U.S. tension with Russia, and the stigma attached to American attorneys defending the enemy after the war in the Pacific. His writing is a vibrant personal view of the inner workings of, and politics behind, an important historic and international trial. The George Yamaoka Collection is also part of the Law Library’s Special Collections holdings. George Yamaoka, a graduate of Georgetown Law class of 1928, was also one of the select group of American attorneys appointed by General MacArthur in 1945 to help in the defense of those Japanese accused of war crimes. His collection contains Tribunal proceeding transcripts and a multitude of defense documents and exhibits from both the Prosecution and the Defense, among other interesting items. Despite the circumstances, the Defense’s zeal and passion toward “the preservation of international justice” is a testament to past, present and future lawyers. (Brannon Papers, November 14, 1947) The John G. Brannon Papers and the George Yamaoka Collection are well worth a look. They are open for research and finding aids are available online. For more information on the manuscript collections contact Special Collections at 202/661-6602, email htm@law.georgetown.edu or online at http://www.ll.georgetown.edu/special/manuscripts.cfm
Dui Hua Hails Juvenile Justice Reforms in China’s Amended Criminal Procedure Law SAN FRANCISCO (September 2, 2011) - Sweeping amendments to China’s Criminal Procedure Law have been opened for public comment by the National People’s Congress. Among the most significant of the proposed changes is the addition of a section on juvenile cases. (China defines juveniles as individuals between the ages of 14 and 18, exclusive.) Reflecting years of inquiry into both domestic experiments and international practice, the proposed amendments represent the biggest improvement in the treatment of juvenile offenders within China’s criminal justice system since the founding of the People’s Republic in 1949. The following are the most significant developments:
Spearheaded by the Supreme People’s Court Office of Juvenile Justice Reform and drawing on the experiences and recommendations of central law enforcement ministries, think-tanks, and local governments, the reforms introduced in the amended Criminal Procedure Law also reflect a robust program of international exchanges. Chinese officials working on juvenile justice reform have cooperated with such distinguished international experts as Dr. Jean Zermatten, chair of the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child, and have mounted study tours of countries including Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Of particular value have been exchanges with American juvenile judges and law enforcement practitioners including probation officers, public defenders, mediators, and detention officers. Dui Hua, with the support of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and Hong Kong’s Fu Tak Iam Foundation, hosted a juvenile justice delegation from the Supreme People’s Court in October 2008 and sent a delegation to China, hosted by the Supreme People’s Court, in May 2010. American and Chinese judges and other experts visited each other’s courts and detention facilities, conducted mock trials, and engaged in wide-ranging discussions on virtually all of the improvements introduced in the amended Criminal Procedure Law. “The value of dialogue between China and the West in the field of juvenile justice is readily apparent in the Criminal Procedure Law’s new section on the handling of juvenile cases,” noted John Kamm, executive director of Dui Hua. “Too often dialogue on human rights questions is a dialogue of the deaf, with both sides confronting each other from fixed positions. In contrast to productive exchanges on the rights of juveniles in the criminal justice system, these exercises in mutual recrimination have yielded little.” San Francisco Superior Court Judge Lillian Sing, who led the 2010 delegation to China, remarked: “My colleagues and I are proud to have played a part in the introduction of significant reforms in the way juvenile suspects, defendants, and detainees are handled in China’s criminal justice system. Dui Hua and its partners look forward to continuing our cooperation with the Supreme People’s Court Office of Juvenile Justice Reform. We have much to learn from each other”
(The text and Dui Hua’s complete translation of the juvenile cases section can be read or download from press_China_Criminal_Procedure_Law_Revision_JJ_ADD)
Malaysia: Lawsuit Against Rights Defender Impedes Public Debate
Lawyer Sentenced to 2.5 Years for “Causing Bodily Harm due to Negligence” Beijing lawyer Wang Yu (??) was sentenced to 2.5 years in prison for “causing bodily harm due to negligence” on September 21 following a re-trial of her case by the Tianjin Railway Court. Wang says she will appeal the verdict. On May 4, 2008, Wang got into a dispute with four railway workers at the Tianjin West Railway Station. Wang, who said she was hit by the workers, was later seized and charged with “intentional injury.” She was tried on July 15, 2009 and later sentenced to 3 years in prison by the Tianjin Railway Court. However, the judgment was overturned by the Beijing Railway Intermediate Court on August 10, 2010, which ordered a re-trial of the case due to “insufficient evidence.” Wang’s supporters and fellow lawyers have argued that it is unconstitutional for the railway system to run a parallel system of police, procuratorate and courts, and that Wang’s case is a perfect example of how easily the system is abused to persecute individuals who irk railway officials.
An Interview with James Ross, Legal & Policy Director at Human Rights Watch Ross talks to The Irrawaddy about calls, led by United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Burma Tómas Ojea Quintana, for a United Nations Commission of Inquiry into war crimes and crimes against humanity in Burma. The formation of a Commission of Inquiry has been publicly supported most recently by the United States, as well as the United Kingdom, Australia, the Czech Republic and Slovakia. by The Irradwaddy Published in: The Irrawaddy August 22, 2010
New Rule on Evidence in China English translations of these rules will be posted on The Dui Hua Foundation's Human Rights Journal. Full texts of the new rules are available in the Procuratorial Daily at the links below.
"China's Billion-Dollar Aid Appetite: Why is Beijing winning health grants at the expense of African Countries?"
Jack C. Chow | JULY 19, 2010 This article discusses China's large intake of foreign aid money related to various communicable diseases in relation to other developing countries. http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/19/chinas_billion_dollar_a |
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