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22 Oct 2014 - NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice
Articles
Asylum seekers: Andrew Wilkie takes Australia to international criminal court
By The Guardian, 22 Oct 2014
Andrew Wilkie has written to the international criminal court (ICC) asking it to investigate the Abbott government for crimes against asylum seekers. The independent Tasmanian MP has sent the application, naming the prime minister, Tony Abbott, and his 19-member cabinet, including the immigration minister, Scott Morrison. “In my application I have particularly named crimes against humanity, such as the forced relocation of people, obviously to the Republic of Nauru or Papua New Guinea,” Wilkie said. He also claims that the government’s hardline immigration policies contravene the Refugee Convention, Convention on the Rights of the Child and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It is unclear whether the ICC prosecutor will take up the case but if it proceeds Abbott and Morrison could be called to testify. Wilkie said he had hoped not to take such drastic action against the government, but said he was forced to because of an “absence of movement” on the issue. “I’ve tried repeatedly in the House of Representatives, refugee advocates have tried and tried and tried,” Wilkie said. “Things have deteriorated, really, as far as the government’s asylum seeker policy goes. This is the next step to take.” The Coalition has consistently argued that its offshore processing and resettlement policies have stopped people attempting to arrive in Australia by boat. “There have been no deaths at sea since last year compared with over 300 missing, confirmed or presumed deaths at sea in the year prior to Operation Sovereign Borders under the Labor government,” Morrison wrote in a press release issued to mark the first anniversary of the controversial policy.
ICC cautions Kenya on Kenyatta media leaks
By BBC News, 21 Oct 2014
The International Criminal Court (ICC) has warned Kenya's government against leaking information from President Uhuru Kenyatta's case to the media. Mr Kenyatta became the first serving head of state to appear at an ICC hearing earlier this month. He denies charges of crimes against humanity, including inciting violence after Kenya's disputed 2007 polls. But the court says it is concerned over the Kenyan government's ability to ensure confidentiality of the case. In a report released on Tuesday, the ICC's Trial Chamber V specifically referred to the leaking of details of a confidential request from the ICC judges to help freeze or seize President Kenyatta's assets. The request was issued under seal, however, the Kenyan authorities filed public documents in 2013 referring to the request, which Mr Kenyatta's lawyers later apologised for. Details of the request later resurfaced in Kenyan media in April and September this year, in what the court described as "a pattern of information contained in confidential filings being leaked to the media, in some cases even before the filings have been notified to the chamber". It subsequently issued a "formal caution" to the Kenyan government, noting "cumulative inattention to the taking of appropriate measures to ensure the confidentiality of proceedings".
UN: Israel must uphold human rights law in its treatment of Palestinians
By The Jerusalem Post, 21 Oct 2014
The United Nations in Geneva on Monday rejected Israel’s claim that a major human rights treaty was not applicable to its treatment of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.“No, [Israel] is not responsible for those violations that are committed by the Palestinian Authority or Hamas, quite clearly not,” the chairman of the UN Human Rights Committee, Nigel Rodley, told a high-level delegation of Israelis. “But it is responsible for those violations that are outside the control of the administrating Palestinian authorities and Hamas but are within the control of the state party,” Rodley said. He spoke at the tail end of a day-long periodic review of Israel’s compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Israel ratified the covenant in 1991 and was one of the initial signatories to the treaty when the UN first adopted it in 1966. Israel traditionally works hard to show compliance to the Human Rights Committee, a body that is composed of 18 independent international human rights experts, including one from Israel. The committee last heard testimony from Israel in 2010. Speaking with reporters after the meeting, Justice Ministry director-general Emi Palmor said she was relieved that the delegation had not been extensively quizzed about the IDF’s military actions in Gaza this summer under Operation Protective Edge. Israel had imagined that committee members would focus on that issue. It’s an achievement that this did not happen, Palmor said. She noted that, still, the issue had hovered over their heads throughout the debate.
Oscar Pistorius begins jail sentence for Reeva Steenkamp death
By BBC News, 21 Oct 2014
South African athlete Oscar Pistorius has begun serving time in jail for killing his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp. He was driven to Pretoria's Kgosi Mampuru prison where he is expected to be housed in the hospital wing. Judge Thokozile Masipa gave Pistorius a five-year jail sentence for culpable homicide, but cleared him of murder. His defence said it expected him to serve about 10 months, with the remainder under house arrest. His family say he will not appeal. The parents of Reeva Steenkamp told the BBC they were happy with the sentence and relieved the case was over. Judge Masipa said she considered her sentence "fair and just, both to society and to the accused". She said: "A non-custodial sentence would send the wrong message to the community. On the other hand, a long sentence would also not be appropriate either, as it would lack the element of mercy." She said Pistorius had made an "enormous contribution to society", in his charity work and in changing the public perception of disability.
UK Should Not Hinder Palestine's Right to International Criminal Court
By The Huffington Post, 20 Oct 2014
The recent House of Commons' vote overwhelmingly in favour of Palestine's right to statehood was a welcome step in the direction of justice and respect for international law. However, there seem to be deep contradictions between the UK Government's stated aims regarding the Israel-Palestine conflict, and its actions, specifically in regard to its position on Palestinian accession to the International Criminal Court (ICC). As a Member of the European Parliament's Foreign Affairs Committee, I have been astonished by reports that the UK government has pressured the Palestinian leadership not to seek ICC jurisdiction. Taking the opposite position on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict makes no sense. Accountability is vital to prevent another Gaza war, as well as to bring about resolution of the wider conflict. Since the Oslo Accords, efforts to resolve this conflict have consistently floundered, due in no small part to the ongoing breaches of international law, which have not been pursued adequately.
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