14 April 2021 - NPWJ News Digest on international criminal justice

NPWJ press release

Justice is still a priority: 27 years since the genocide in Rwanda
NPWJ, 07 Apr 2021

Twenty-seven years have passed since numerous unimaginable atrocities were committed in Rwanda against Tutsi and moderate Hutus. Hundreds of thousands were slaughtered, and other hundreds of thousands raped in this genocide, while the international community, and particularly the United Nations, failed to stop it.

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Articles

Hate crimes are hard to prosecute, but why?
abc news, 13 Apr 2021

Violence and harassment against Asian Americans continue to make national headlines -- but experts and advocates say some of those attacks may never be tried as hate crimes. Several factors can deter investigators from pursuing a crime as one motivated by hate, they said.

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Lubanga case: Chamber sets new final deadline for victims to request reparations to 1 October 2021
International Criminal Court, 13 Apr 2021

On 26 March 2021, Trial Chamber II of the International Criminal Court ("ICC" or "Court") decided to extend until 1st October 2021 the deadline for persons wishing to apply for reparations to make themselves known in relation to the reparations ordered by the Chamber for the victims of crimes for which M. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was convicted.

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UN sees Syria echoes in Myanmar conflict
Al Jazeera, 13 Apr 2021

The United Nations human rights office said on Tuesday it fears the military clampdown on protests in Myanmar risks escalating a civil conflict into that seen in Syria and appealed for a halt to the “slaughter”.

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Peers vote to halt plans to limit UK soldiers’ accountability for war crimes
The Guardian, 13 Apr 2021

Peers have inflicted a significant defeat on the government, voting by 333 to 228 to halt plans to restrict prosecutions of torture and war crimes by British soldiers serving abroad.

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UJAR 2021: The impact of coronavirus on universal jurisdiction
FIDH, 12 Apr 2021

The year 2020 will remain in memories, by and large, as a period unlike any other. The covid-19 pandemic has turned around countless lives, and continues to do so as we write these lines. State institutions worldwide, including judicial bodies, have had to drastically change their functioning and priorities. With so many activities coming to a brutal halt, have cases related to universal jurisdiction also stalled? Luckily, far from it. These are the findings of the joint report published by FIDH, TRIAL, REDRESS, ECCHR, CJA and Civitas maxima on ongoing universal jurisdiction cases in 2020.

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Great Lakes Region ‘on the right track’ to tackling political and other challenges
UN News, 12 Apr 2021

Governments and people across the 13 nations continue to show resilience and determination in the face of the global crisis, he said, while congratulating those which have begun vaccinations through the global solidarity initiative, COVAX.

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Myanmar violence ‘must cease immediately’: UN agencies
UN News, 12 Apr 2021

More than 80 people lost their lives on Friday as security forces reportedly used heavy weapons against protesters in the town of Bago, located about 90 kilometres (56 miles) northeast of the commercial capital Yangon, according to media reports.

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