24 June 2020 – NPWJ News Digest on International Criminal Justice

Articles

Head of international criminal court accuses US of acting unlawfully
The Guardian, 24 Jun 2020

The president of the international criminal court has accused the US of acting unlawfully by threatening an economic and legal offensive against the institution following a decision by judges to open an investigation into war crimes in Afghanistan. Chile Eboe-Osuji said the punitive measures announced by the US secretary of state, Mike Pompeo, this month were an attempt at coercion that went against international law as well as domestic law in the US and elsewhere.
 

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ICC: Member Countries Rally Around Court
Human Rights Watch, 23 Jun 2020

(New York) – Member countries of the International Criminal Court ICC) have joined together in support of the court’s crucial work and independence from political pressure, Human Rights Watch said today. A cross-regional group of 67 ICC member countries issued a joint statement on June 23, 2020 in response to the United States administration's June 11 excetive order  that authorizes asset freezes and family travel bans that could be used against ICC officials and potentially others who assist ICC investigations.
 
 

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Kosovo Court Jails Serb Ex-Army Officer for War Crimes
The New York Times, 22 Jun 2020

A Kosovo court on Monday jailed a former Serb army police reserve officer for 22 years for crimes committed during 1998-1999 war. The Prizren court sentenced Darko Tasic for desecration of corpses and also for participation in the illegal confiscation and looting of people's property in the village of Krusha e Vogel. 

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Birth registration can accelerate children’s access to justice: the African Union and UNICEF launch “No Name Campaign”
ReliefWeb, 17 Jun 2020

Aligned with the commemoration of the Day of the African Child observed every 16th of June, and under the 2020 theme of the year “Access to a Child Friendly Justice System in Africa”, the African Union and UNICEF, have launched the “No Name Campaign: For every child legal identity, for every child access to justice”. With the increasing realization that registration of children at birth is one of the key elements to accelerate access to a child-friendly justice system for all African children, the campaign seeks to rally for the speedy implementation of commitments by the African Union member states, towards universal registration of children at birth and the urgency to reposition civil registration and vital statistics in Africa, to address the indignity of invisibility. The launch of the campaign is equally timely as concerns rise on the threat of birth registration rates falling behind amid COVID-19 pandemic.

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