The first sentences in regards to the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica were handed down today by a Serbian war crimes court. Four members of a paramilitary group known as The Scorpions were handed sentences ranging from five to twenty years. The soldiers were seen in a film, which surfaced during the trial of Slobodan Milosevic […]
The regime of Saddam Hussein fell on April 9, 2003; four years ago today. The anniversary was marked with peaceful protests calling for US forces to abandon their "occupation" of Iraq. The most vocal protests were affiliated with Muqtada al-Sadr, a powerful Shi'ite cleric. Al-Sadr's supporters made varying statements calling for US withdraw and expressing […]
Memorials regarding the 13th anniversary of the massacres in Rwanda have commenced this week. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon issued a statement earlier this week reflecting on "one of humankind's darkest chapters." The Secretary General made comments that it is important to "never forget" and "never stop working to prevent another genocide." He highlighted measures […]
Fifteen British Royal Naval officers have been returned after nearly two weeks of captivity in Iran. The sailors were detained by Iranians after an encounter in which British vessels were searching the area for smuggled goods. The Iranians contest that British vessels had wandered into Iranian waters, while the British maintain they were within Iraqi […]
(AP) SAN FRANCISCO The lawyer and parents of John Walker Lindh, the American-born Taliban soldier serving 20 years in prison after his capture in Afghanistan, called on President Bush on Wednesday to commute his sentence and set him free.
THE HAGUE (Reuters) – Former Bosnian Serb policeman Dragan Zelenovic was sentenced to 15 years imprisonment by the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Wednesday, after he pleaded guilty to the rape and torture of Bosnian Muslims in the 1992-1995 war. Zelenovic, a 46-year-old former paramilitary leader, was indicted in 1996 for atrocities committed against non-Serbs […]
The Associated Press: April 3, 2007 THE HAGUE, Netherlands: An appeals court of the U.N. Yugoslav tribunal on Tuesday cut two years from the 32-year prison sentence of a Bosnian Serb political leader, upholding all but a few clauses of his conviction for pursuing a campaign of ethnic cleansing in northwest Bosnia. Radislav Brdjanin, 59, […]
The Supreme Court today denied appeals from several cases filed by detainees held in the US detention facility in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. The Court stated that detainees no longer have the right to file a habeas petition. The Military Commissions Act (MCA) of 2006 stripped access to the Great Writ. The Court passed in order […]
Five African Union (AU) soldiers participating in the peacekeeping effort in Darfur were killed near the border with Chad today. It is unclear which group was responsible for the attack. It is the heaviest lose for the AU since being deployed to the region in 2004. More reporting on this issue as it develops. BBC […]
1 Plato, "Symposium"
2 Young Edward (Drummer Boy of Waterloo).
3 Protocol I: Additional to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of International Armed Conflicts, 8 June 1977
4 Cape Town Principles and Best Practices, April 1997. http://www.unicef.org/emerg/files/Cape_Town_Principles(1).pdf
5 Paris conference on child soldiers concludes with commitment to stop the recruitment of children. http://www.unicef.org/media/media_38231.html
6 Peter W. Singer. Senior Fellow, Foreign Policy Studies Director, 21st Century Defense Initiative. Personal correspondence.
7 Child Soldiers still recruited 10 years after pact. Reuters. March 20, 2007. http://uk.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idUKZWE06965320070320
8 "Bombers Blow Up 2 Children After Using Them as Decoys" , Semple, Kirk. The New York Times, March 21, 2007, A8
9 Francis Orr's photoessay on the atrocities in Uganda may be found at http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-uganda5jun05-splash,0,70542.story
0 Child Soldiers of the Lord's Resistance Army. National Public Radio, August 9th, 2005. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4791635
11 For more information on Red Hand Day, visit www.redhandday.org.
The first person to face a US war crimes tribunal since WWII was formally sentenced at Gauntanamo Bay. David Hicks, and Australian captured in Afghanistan after fleeing al-Qa'ida frontlines in Kandahar, was originally sentenced to seven years, but his plea agreement allows him to only serve nine months. Hicks had originally faced a life sentence […]
David M. Hicks, the 31 year old Australian national being held at Gauntanamo Bay, will be returned to his home country within two months. Hicks plead guilty to charges of providing material support to al-Qa'ida on Monday. He is the first person to face the new tribunal system to try Gauntanamo detainees and his trial […]
Canadian courts have begun to hear testaments in their first trial for genocide and war crimes. The trials focus on the Rwandan genocides. The Canadian courts are calling on witnesses from five countries, as well as sending Justices to Rwanda to hear testimonials. A witness identified only as C-16 detailed accounts of rape and murder […]
Allegations of violations of the laws of war by former Defense Secretary, Donald Rumsfeld, were dismissed in US District Court yesterday. Nine former prisoners of detention facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan represented by The American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights First allege that Rumsfeld had personally approved torture techniques and violated the rights granted […]
The Pentagon's detainee offices have released the transcripts of KSM's (among others) trial before the CSRT. Inquiries have also been made regarding Hick's trial yesterday.