News, developments and trends

This month

• Domestic cases and developments
• Situations
• Tribunals

Domestic cases and developments

• Afghanistan/The Netherlands

In The Netherlands, a first court session was held in the case of a an arrested former commander of the Afghan Pul-e-Charki prison.

• Australia

The Inspector General of the Australian Defence Force looks into 55 incidents that might constitute war crimes committed by Australian Special Forces. The investigations focus on accusations of unlawful killings of non-combatants and the cruel treatment of civilians and former enemy fighters.

• Burundi

More than 4,000 mass graves have been found in Burundi after an investigation by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission into national conflicts since independence in 1962. The commission has identified 142,505 victims.

• Germany

An Iraqi suspected of belonging to Islamic State faces charges for enslavement of a Yezidi mother and child, the murder of the child and genocide. The accused is the partner of a  woman already on trial for mistreating the Yezidi mother and her daughter. As a human rights lawyer dedicated to the fate of the Yezidi, Amal Clooney joined the team representing the dead Yazidi girl’s mother.

• El Salvador

El Salvador’s congress has approved a law to investigate and punish crimes committed during the country’s 1980-1992 civil war. However, President Nayib Bukele said he would veto it. The critized law was ordered by the supreme court in 2016 after it declared a post-war amnesty unconstitutional. In the civil war, more than 75,000 people were killed and more than 7,000 are missing.

• Liberia/The Netherlands/South-Africa

A Dutchman convicted in absentia in The Netherlands to 19 years imprisonment for his support for the regime of Charles Taylor in Liberia, will not be extradited by South-Africa. On 21 February a South African court denied the request.

Situations

• Cameroon

Fears of violence mount in the country’s minority English-speaking regions. Fighting for a new state called Ambazonia has renderd nearly a million people displaced and resulted in 3000 people killed. In February an attack by government forces and Fullani militias alledgedly resulted inthe death of 21 civilians. Four senior UN officials have addressed the rising tensions. They draw attention to the continued attacks against civilians, including extra-judicial killings, torture, arbitrary arrests and destruction of property, as well as retaliatory attacks, rape and other forms of sexual violence that disproportionately affect women and children in the north- and south-west regions of the country.

• Idlib

In its Idlib offensive which started in December 2019, the Syrian army and it allies have pushed opposition groups away from the important highway M5 (Damascus-Aleppo). Currently they push in the direction of highway M4. The increased fighting has left 900.000 people newly internally displaced in fierce winter conditions. Many of the displaced are women and children who were transferred to Idlib from other regions where the Syrian government took over control.

Worrying are multiple reports about continued indiscriminate attacks on civilian infrastructure, amongst others schools and hospitals. Furthermore, Turkey has sent troops and equipments into Syria, shells the Syrian army in various places and threathens to push the Syrian army back to itys positions before the current offensive. Last night some 33 Turkish were killed in an air raid, adding tensions and increasing the risk of further escalation.

• Sahel

Over a million people have become internally displaced by rising tensions in Mali, Burkino Faso and Niger. Attacks on civilians are getting more frequent. Islamist and radical groups are deliberately attacking and weakening government positions, are attracting jihadi’s and are involved in criminal activities to fund their activities. Ultimate goal seems to be the establishment of a new caliphate. The various parties also play a role in cultivating ethnical divisions and rivalaries for their gains and provide weapons to increase tensions. The UN has already warned for a spill-over towards Ivory Coast, Benin, Togo and Ghana. France has strenghtened its military pressence and established cooperation and coordination with various regimes.

Tribunals

• ICC

On 19 February the ICC Appeals Chamber confirmed the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision on the admissibility and the sufficient gravity of the case against Al Hassan.

On 5 March, the Appeals Chamber will deliver the judgment in the appeal of the Prosecutor against the Pre-Trial Chamber’s decision not to authorize an investigation into the situation in Afghanistan.

• Kosovo Specialist Chambers & Specialist Prosecutor’s Office

The Prosecutor notified his intent to initiate proceedings and requested that a Pre-Trial Judge be assigned. This Judge has been  assigned to review the indictments filed. The content of indictments remains confidential, unless and until confirmed.