05 June 2019 - NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice

Articles

Could alternative justice help counter-terrorism?
DefenceWeb, 03 Jun 2019

Mali, Niger and Nigeria are under pressure to stop the ongoing terrorist attacks in their countries. How to achieve this is the critical question. Steps have been taken to use the criminal justice system, as promoted by the United Nations and others. This is an improvement on the traditional military response to terrorism, but is placing immense strain on the police and courts. The solution may lie in alternative justice mechanisms for some terrorism cases. Combating terrorism in these West African countries has until now focused on a military approach.

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ICC submission calls for prosecution of EU over migrant deaths
The Guardian, 03 Jun 2019

The EU and member states should be prosecuted for the deaths of thousands of migrants who drowned in the Mediterranean fleeing Libya, according to a detailed legal submission to the international criminal court (ICC). The 245-page document calls for punitive action over the EU’s deterrence-based migration policy after 2014, which allegedly “intended to sacrifice the lives of migrants in distress at sea, with the sole objective of dissuading others in similar situation from seeking safe haven in Europe”.

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One Way to Bring Down Maduro and His Cronies: Indictments
The New York Times, 03 Jun 2019

Just a few months ago Venezuelans were filled with renewed hope: for a new president, for desperately needed humanitarian assistance, for democracy to be restored in their country. But with the failure of an uprising led by the opposition leader Juan Guaidó in April, 2019 has become a frustrating year for the people of Venezuela. In the last few weeks they once again filled the streets to demand freedom and democracy. And yet Nicolás Maduro continues to hang on to an illegitimate claim to power.

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Civil society weighs in as Iraq vows to execute French citizens
Al Jazeera, 30 May 2019

Activists and lawyers have pleaded with the French government to recognise flaws in Iraq's justice system after two more of its citizens accused of ISIL membership were given the death penalty, bringing the total to six. The executions could be carried out at the end of the week. "We have information from Iraqi lawyers who do not want to take on these cases on because it's too dangerous for them," Raphael Chenuil-Hazan, Executive Director of the French NGO Together Against the Death Penalty (ECPM) told Al Jazeera.

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