Blog Entries

Nazis were given safe haven in the U.S.A.

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Wed, 24 Nov 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The leaked OSI report tells of a pattern: ignorance of their entry, toleration of their presence (and a welcome for some who were deemed valuable such as those involved in rocket design and research), followed eventually by quite vigorous official action.

Alas, history tends to repeat itself. The pattern of immigration and occasional tolerance by the U.S. authorities was followed for suspected war criminals from modern-day conflicts - from Yugoslavia, Guatemala, El Salva [...]

Imperfect peace in Sudan

Thu, 23 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0100

23 Sept 2010 - On 24 September Foreign Ministers will meet in New York to discuss the dangers of renewed conflict in Africa's largest country. They have reason to be downbeat, because Sudan is complicated.

The plea of complexity is one reason Governments fail to prevent the world's worst atrocities, according the former UN Chief in Sudan, Dr Mukesh Kapila. He should know. Early in 2004, at the height of mass atrocities in Darfur, he sounded the alarm - which was met with a c [...]

Constitutionalism: one step forwards, two steps back

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Tue, 14 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Political constitutionalism, broadly defined as the subjection of rulers to the rule of law, checks and balances and competing centres of power, took one step forward and two steps back this week.

First the good news. By a large margin Turkish voters approved amendments to their constitution. Among other things the changes remove Article 15, an obstacles to the prosecution of Generals involved in the 1980 coup, and reform the High Council for Judges and Prosecutors and the Constit [...]

Why non Muslims should stop the Koran being burned

Thu, 09 Sep 2010 12:00:00 +0100

Burning religious books for a political point should set off deafening alarms. Pastor Terry Jones has declared he will burn copies of the Koran at the Dove World Outreach Center in Florida on 11 September, the anniversary of the terror attack on the New York World Trade Center in which over 3000 people were murdered in 2001.

Jones says he wants to ‘send a clear message to the radical element of Islam’ but his theologically flawed prop [...]

Mao's Great Famine

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Wed, 08 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0100

In our post-modern world you sometimes see people wearing t-shirts bearing a hammer-and-sickle or a portrait of Mao. It would be nice to think they are being ironic, but safer to assume they are being ignorant of the crimes committed in utopia's name.

I have a friend from university who still describes himself as a Maoist. On occasion I have raised the issue of Mao's crimes with him, in a po-faced sort of way. I even had the bizarre experience of listening to him describe his a [...]

We have to give them so much that our stomach are empty of food: The Hidden Impact of Burma's ...

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Mon, 06 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Our friends and partners at ND Burma have released this new report today on the arbitrary and excessive system of 'taxation' in Burma.

What does taxation have to do with mass atrocities?

At its best a tax system can cement the bonds between citizen and state. The theory is that citizens demand accountability for the money they hand over to the state - demanding oversight and some form of democratic control. A lack of such a bond between citizen and state can be profoundl [...]

Extradition and ICTR transfers to Rwanda

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Fri, 03 Sep 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Sweden has; the UK, France, Germany and Switzerland haven't. The ICTR prosecutor would like to, the Appeals Chamber disagrees. I'm referring of course to the transfer or extradition of Rwandan genocide suspects back to Rwanda to face trial. Such proceedings have all been affected by concerns about the fairness of any trial.

Not touching on fair trial issues, the ICLS have published a very useful note on Rwanda's Transfer Law - of interest to any lawyer [...]

War crimes trials are inconvenient for some, but so important

Mon, 09 Aug 2010 00:00:00 +0100

In 2008, many Sierra Leonean villagers journeyed to The Netherlands to tell their stories in the trial of Charles Taylor. One of them, Sia Komba, spoke of how she watched as rebel forces killed her family and then compelled her to carry a bag containing the heads of her children. Another, Patrick Sherriff, witnessed the terror inflicted on his brother whose 10 fingers were cut off with a knife before he was murdered.

No live streaming of these testimonies on worldwide news networks, and [...]

New Chinese judge at ICJ, not a fan of extra-territorial jurisdiction

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Xue Hanqin has just been elected to the International Court of Justice. You can find some glimpses of her views in a 2006 article: vaguely supportive of the ICC, not a fan of universal jurisdiction. Relevant section on UJ below:

At the moment, one of the most controversial issues with international criminal law is the question of universal jurisdiction. Under traditional international law, states establish universal jurisdiction over certain international crimes b [...]

Crimes Against Humanity committed against Burma's Rohingya people

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Thu, 17 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

The Irish Centre for Human Rights has just released an extensive report on the Rohingya people of Burma: Crimes Against Humanity in Western Burma: The Situation of of the Rohingyas. The Rohingya are a Muslim minority group resident in North Arakan state in Western Burma. The report finds that there is a prima facie case that crimes against humanity have been committed against them, namely forced labour, deportation and forcible transfer, rape and sexual violence, an [...]

Did the Holocaust lower economic growth in Russia?

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

What was the long term economic impact of the Final Solution in Russia? Daron Acemoglu - well known for his work on the long term role of institutions (rule of the game) on economic growth - and colleagues - have a new paper out which seeks to provide an answer. They hypothesize that it was the murder of a significant portion of the middle class which had a long term structural effect on the Russian economy.

Fascinating, not least as a reason why develop [...]

Wrong

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

This is wrong. Just wrong.

Life in North Korea

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Fri, 04 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Last week's Economist had a piece on North Korea remarkable for the numbers of mays, mights and maybes it employed. Not the fault of the author of course but a reflection of how little we know about life above the 38th parallel.

Ever since the sinking of the South Korean warship the Cheonan, determined by an international report to ha [...]

Victory for international justice in USA

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Our friends at the Center for Justice and Accountability - and the victims and survivors they work with - should be celebrating tonight. The Supreme Court ruled 9-0 that their case against former Somali Prime Minister Yousef Samantar can go ahead. At issue was a) whether or not state officials (as opposed to the foreign state itself) were immune from prosecution and lawsuits and b) if so, whether this immunity applied to former state officials.

The answ [...]

UK Party leaders talk about International Development

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

In the run up to the 2010 elections our friends at ONE have interviewed the main party leaders on their International Development policies. The political will is there from all three leaders (I've shared a platform with Nick Clegg speaking passionately about Darfuri asylum seekers during his campaign to be leader of the Lib Dems, early in his leadership David Cameron spoke about the Sudan at an Aegis event and the Tories frequently visit Rwanda, and in the video below Gordon Brown places his [...]

Everybody please calm down. The Pope can't be prosecuted in UK for Crimes Against Humanity

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Thu, 15 Apr 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A lot of heat, but very little, light has been generated by the suggestion that the Pope be prosecuted in the UK for crimes against humanity.

The sexual crimes of paedophiles need to be punished appropriately, and any form of obfuscation and cover-up by authorities exposed, condemned and rectified. However, the suggestion that the Pope be arrested in the UK or crimes against humanity is a dead end for those looking for justice and accountability.

The UK doesn't have j [...]

A Conservative Government must strengthen the International Criminal Court, says new report

Tue, 23 Mar 2010 00:00:00 +0100

A Conservative Government must strengthen the International Criminal Court, says new report.

The Conservative Party's Human Rights Commission has urged a future Conservative government to reinforce the International Criminal Court, at the same time as strengthening the United Kingdom's own laws on international crimes.

In a report on 16th March, the Commission also recommends the appointment of a Human Rights Minister, to oversee human rights work within the Foreign and Commonwe [...]

Video games and international law

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Apart from an attempt to use video games as way of educating people about Darfur, the games industry isn't noted for its contribution to educating people away from violence. Indeed our friends at TRIAL spent many (no doubt enjoyable) hours breaking many of the Geneva Conventions in games such as Call of Duty.

No doubt, there's a concern about life imitating art. For instance, P.W. Singer in Wired for War: The Robotics Revolution and Confli [...]

Sudan: the critical year ahead

Tue, 12 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0100

Saturday 9th January marked the fifth anniversary of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement (CPA), which ended nearly 20 years of civil war between North and South Sudan. Experts, academics, and NGOs have been highlighting the fragility of the CPA for some time now. 2010 is a critical year for Sudan. Without adequate preparation, the upcoming national elections and referendum could re-ignite conflict between the north and the south. The Sudan365 campaign is calling on the internati [...]

A trial too far?

nick.donovan@aegistrust.org — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0100

David Cesarani is a historian and researcher whose judgment is always sound. His book, Justice Delayed, about the campaign to bring to justice Nazi war criminals living in the UK, was a great influence on us as we campaigned (successfully) to change British law on suspected genocidaires from modern conflicts.

Therefore, its noteworthy that he's come out and called the Demjanjuk court proceedings a 'trial too far'. Essentially, his argument goes like this: justice isn't [...]