17 June 2020 – NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice

Articles

Despite U.S. sanctions, the International Criminal Court will keep investigating alleged war crimes in Afghanistan
The Washington Post , 16 Jun 2020

President Trump declared a national emergency last Thursday — but it was not about the covid-19 pandemic or police brutality or nationwide protests. Trump announced that the ICC represents an “unusual and extraordinary threat to the national security and foreign policy of the United States.” The executive order pushes back by authorizing economic and diplomatic sanctions on ICC personnel working on the Afghanistan probe and anyone who helps them. The ICC shows few signs of backing down. Within the day, the court’s public affairs unit responded, calling Trump’s actions an “attempt to interfere,” “an escalation,” “unacceptable” and contrary to the rule of law. 

 

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U.S. wants face-to-face meeting with Iran on prisoners
Reuters, 16 Jun 2020

The United States would like a face-to-face meeting with Iran to discuss prisoner releases and it wants the U.N. Security Council to impose an indefinite arms embargo on the Islamic Republic, a senior U.S. diplomat said on Tuesday. The two adversaries disagree on many issues, including U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision two years ago to abandon the 2015 Iran nuclear deal under which Tehran limited its nuclear program in return for economic sanctions relief.

 

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Civil Rights Law Protects Gay and Transgender Workers, Supreme Court Rules
The New York Times, 15 Jun 2020

(Washington) - The Supreme Court ruled on Monday that a landmark civil rights law protects gay and transgender workers from workplace discrimination, handing the movement for L.G.B.T. equality a long-south and unexpected victory.  Until Monday's decision, it was legal in more than half of the states to fire workers for being gay, bisexual or transgender. 

 

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UN Experts to Probe Alleged Rights Violations in Zimbabwe
AllAfrica , 15 Jun 2020

United Nations human rights experts have called on the government to end what they called "a pattern of disappearances and torture aimed at suppressing dissent". In a hard-hitting statement, the team called on President Emmerson Mnangagwa's administration to "cease all abductions, torture and hold perpetrators to account as a matter of urgency".

 

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Polish judges complain to ECHR over Supreme Court independence
Reuters, 15 Jun 2020

(Warsaw)- A Polish barrister and two judges have filed complaints against Poland alleging a lack of independence in the country’s Supreme Court, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) said on Monday. Poland, the largest post-communist state in the European Union, has been in a long-running dispute with the bloc over judicial reforms which critics say limit the independence of the courts.

 

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