Foreign Policy Blogs

War Crimes

China's Ethnic Policies in Xinjiang Uighur: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, or What?

In light of this week’s racially motivated violence and unrest in China’s Xinjiang Uighur Province it may be helpful to reassess China’s ethnic policies in the Autonomous Region.  They have been called everything from “genocide” to “stability promotion” but what they really happen to be lies somewhere in between.  Since the 1950s the Chinese government […]

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Truth Commission Recommends 30 Year Ban From Office for President Sirleaf

The Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) recommended last week that Liberian President Ellen Johnson Sirleaf should be banned from government for 30 years for her previous support of former President Charles Taylor. Taylor is currently on trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone for his role in the civil war there, where tens […]

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ICC Defied: Africa will not co-operate on Sudan

On Friday the African Union (AU) announced it will not co-operate with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in enforcing its March decision to charge Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir with war crimes and crimes against humanity. Under the Rome Statute establishing the court, any party to the statute is required to arrest al-Bashir if he enters […]

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Artwork & Torture: A Week at the Cambodian Tribunal

Artwork & Torture: A Week at the Cambodian Tribunal

This past week at the UN-backed Tribunal in Cambodia, survivors of the Khmer Rouge’s infamous Tuol Sleng ‘S-21’ facility gave chilling accounts of the tortures they endured and witnessed – and in two cases, how their artwork saved them. The testimony comes as part of the trial of the former head of internal security and […]

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ICTR Defense Investigator Guilty of Leaking Information

A former defense investigator at the Rwanda Tribunal’s trial of Jean de Dieu Kamuhanda, Léonidas Nshogoza, was found guilty of contempt yesterday and sentenced to 10 months imprisonment for repeatedly meeting with and disclosing protected information about two witnesses. Although this was a much different offense than that of another former defense investigator, Joseph Nzabirinda, […]

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Delayed Again: CIA Interrogation Report

The re-release of a May 2004 internal CIA report on the agency’s secret detention and interrogation program was again delayed this afternoon, CNN reports. The document has been requested by the ACLU as part of its ongoing Freedom of Information Act lawsuit.  It is a report regarding then CIA inspector general John L. Helgerson’s May […]

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Chad's 'African Pinochet' – Time for Trial?

An African Union summit will bring African heads of state together tomorrow in Libya; in anticipation 8 human rights organizations  yesterday called on the AU to ensure that Senegal prosecutes former Chadian dictator Hissène Habré for crimes against humanity and torture. Habré, dubbed the “African Pinochet”, ruled Chad from 1982 until 1990; a Truth Commission […]

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"Duch" admits to ordering child executions at S-21

Kaing Guek Eav, the leader at the notorious S-21 prison for the Khmer Rouge regime known simply as Duch, told a U.N.-backed war crimes tribunal Monday that the children of inmates were murdered to keep them silent. “When children arrived at the center I gave the order to kill them because we were afraid those […]

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U.N. team to examine Israeli war crimes in Gaza

A U.N. human rights team is scheduled to visit the Gaza Strip during the weekend to investigate Israeli conduct during the Gaza offensive in December. South African Judge Richard Gladstone, the former chief prosecutor with the international tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, leads a team of four to the Gaza Strip, entering through […]

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Terrorists equivalent to gang leaders, Mueller says

FBI Director Robert Mueller told U.S. lawmakers Wednesday that the threat posed by harboring terrorist at U.S. detention facilities was a threat on par with that posed by high-ranking gang leaders. “The concerns we have about individuals who may support terrorism being in the United States run from concerns about providing financing, radicalizing others,” Mueller […]

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War crimes charges emerge from Tamil Tiger defeat

Sri Lankan officials Monday claimed defeat over the Tamil Tigers guerrilla organization amid reports its leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran, was killed in the latest raids. The victory puts an end to nearly a quater century of violent conflict in Sri Lanka, though the reconciliation campaign may take even longer. European Union nations called Monday for an […]

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Darfur: American lack of focus and a small, but encouraging sign from South Africa

The past week has seen an armada of reports on President Obama’s first 100 days in office. Nicholas Kristof has this brief, but challenging column, suggesting in light of the myriad global crises, the Administration has not done enough about Darfur. Meanwhile, Kevin Heller notes that at least one African leader is finally starting to […]

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Souter retires

Souter retires

Supreme Court Justice David Souter announced Friday he would leave his post.  Michigan’s Gov. Jennifer Granholm has been floated as a possible replacement, among others.  Thought Souter is known for his migration from a conservative voice to one of the more liberal justices on the Supreme Court, U.S. President Barack Obama will not be able […]

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Torture is torture is torture

The recent release of the Bybee memos outlining Bush-era justification for the use of harsh interrogation techniques raises the issue of legal consequences for former White House officials, not to mention the effectiveness of torture as a method of intelligence gathering. U.S. President Barack Obama last week said the White House would not pursue legal […]

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Yom HaShoah

Today is Yom HaShoah, the Jewish holiday commemorating the victims of the Holocaust. It’s particularly appropriate to take a moment to remember those victims this year; the day before Yom HaShoah, a UN Conference allowed Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to deliver an address vehemently critical of Israel and which, in its original draft, referred to the Holocaust […]

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