16 December 2020 - NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice

Articles

Hundreds of migrants abused in Saudi deportation centre: HRW
Al Jazeera, 16 Dec 2020

Saudi Arabia is detaining hundreds of mainly Ethiopian migrants in squalid conditions in Riyadh, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said, quoting some as saying they had been tortured or beaten. The migrants at the centre, mostly from Ethiopia but also from other African or Asian countries, were being held pending deportation, most having been arrested by Saudi authorities because they did not hold valid residency permits.

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Yemen most at risk of humanitarian catastrophe in 2021: IRC
Al Jazeera, 16 Dec 2020

Yemen is the country most at risk of a humanitarian catastrophe in 2021, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has warned, marking the third year running the war-ravaged nation has earned the grim recognition. Continued conflict, widespread hunger and a collapsing international aid response threaten to dramatically worsen the current crisis in Yemen next year, the IRC said on Wednesday.

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Ukraine: ICC investigation a crucial element  for  comprehensive international justice
Amnesty International , 14 Dec 2020

On Friday 11 December, the International Criminal Court (ICC) Prosecutor announced that she has concluded her preliminary examination in Ukraine and will seek a full investigation into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ukraine.  These include murder and torture committed during the ‘EuroMaidan’ protests in 2013 - 2014, and war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by all sides to the conflict in eastern Ukraine since 2014, and in Crimea after the peninsula’s Russian occupation and illegal annexation in 2014.   

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Statement by ICC Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda at the opening of the 19th Session of the Assembly of States Parties
International Criminal Court , 14 Dec 2020

It is an honour to address this Assembly of States Parties (“Assembly” or “ASP”) at the opening of this exceptional 19th session. We meet at the end of a particularly eventful and unprecedented year. If I were to describe the theme for the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”) in 2020, it is one of resilience and commitment in the face of great adversity. 

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UN chief calls for immediate release of abducted children in Nigeria
UN News, 14 Dec 2020

The United Nations Secretary-General has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of hundreds of boys, believed abducted by suspected bandits, after an attack on their school in northwest Nigeria. 

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Caso Regeni, Bonino scrive a Macron: "Perché oggi ci imbarazza la Legion d'Onore come ad Al Sisi"
La Republica, 14 Dec 2020

Dopo la restituzione del riconoscimento da parte di Corrado Augias, anche la senatrice, che lo aveva ricevuto nel 2009, attacca il capo di Stato francese che ha attribuito l'onorificenza al presidente egiziano: "Sconcerto e indignazione". Ecco il testo della lettera dell'ex ministra agli Affari esteri

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Statement of the Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, on the conclusion of the preliminary examination of the situation in Nigeria
International Criminal Court , 11 Dec 2020

As I stated last year at the annual Assembly of States Parties, before I end my term as Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or the "Court"), I intend to reach determinations on all files that have been under preliminary examination under my tenure, as far as I am able. In that statement, I also indicated the high likelihood that several preliminary examinations would progress to the investigative stage. Following a thorough process, I can announce today that the statutory criteria for opening an investigation into the situation in Nigeria have been met.

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Human rights groups detail 'war crimes' in Nagorno-Karabakh
The Guardian , 10 Dec 2020

Human rights organisations have raised the alarm after the emergence of videos of torture, beheadings, and other abuses, much of it shared over social networks, from the recent war between Azerbaijan and Armenia in Nagorno-Karabakh. In a report on Thursday, Amnesty International said it had authenticated 22 videos from the conflict that depict extrajudicial executions, the mistreatment of prisoners of war and other captives, and desecration of the dead bodies of enemy soldiers.

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