27 Aug 2014 - NPWJ News Digest on international criminal justice

NPWJ press release

First anniversary of Ghouta chemical attack: NPWJ calls for justice and accountability in Syria
By NPWJ, 21 Aug 2014

 On 21 August 2013, a chemical attack, of sarin or a similar weapons-grade nerve agent, struck the opposition-controlled Damascus suburbs of Eastern and Western Ghouta, killing over 1,400 people - mostly civilians, including large numbers of children. Available evidence strongly suggests that President Assad’s forces carried out the attack, although the Syrian Government denied responsibility. This horrific event provoked a worldwide outcry and prompted the unanimous adoption, on 27 September 2013, of Security Council Resolution 2118, calling for the elimination of the Syrian chemical weapons program. Subsequently, under international pressure, the Syrian Arab Republic agreed to join the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC) and accepted a plan to destroy its chemical weapons under the supervision of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the implementing body of the CWC.  On 19 August 2014, the OCPW announced that the removal and destruction of the most lethal chemical weapons declared to be possessed by the Syrian regime had been completed.

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Articles

150 Years After the First Geneva Convention, Switzerland and the ICRC Call for Greater Respect for International Humanitarian Law
By Huffpost, 27 Aug 2014

 One hundred fifty years ago to the day, the first Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded and Sick in Armed Forces in the Field was adopted, enshrining the idea in international law that even in times of war, a certain degree of humanity must be preserved. Switzerland and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which together helped to secure acceptance for international humanitarian law on the world stage at that time, are now calling for stricter compliance with this principle, as there remains a lack of effective mechanisms for encouraging compliance around the globe.

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Islamic State and Syrian government committing war crimes - U.N.
By Reuters, 27 Aug 2014

 (Reuters) - The Syrian government and Islamic State insurgents are both committing war crimes and crimes against humanity in their war against each other, U.N. investigators said on Wednesday.Islamic State forces in northern Syria are waging a campaign to instil fear, including amputations, public executions and whippings, they said.Government forces have dropped barrel bombs on civilian areas, including some believed to contain the chemical agent chlorine in eight incidents in April, and have committed other war crimes that should be prosecuted, they said in a 45-page report issued in Geneva."Violence has bled over the borders of the Syrian Arab Republic, with extremism fuelling the conflict's heightened brutality," said the report, issued in Geneva.

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Pakistan may approach ICJ over water row with India
By Gulf Times, 26 Aug 2014

 Pakistan may approach the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for arbitration if India continues with its stance of constructing the Kishanganga Dam on River Jhelum and four other dams on the Chenab in violation of the Indus Water Treaty (IWT). A 10-member Indian delegation is here on a three-day visit to discuss the issue but so far no headway has been made in the talks. “We have raised serious objections to the designs of the Kishanganga Dam at the Neelum distribution point of River Jhelum and four other projects on River Chenab. Since our objections are logical, we are trying hard to persuade the Indian team to accept these in the light of the IWT,” Pakistan’s Indus Water Commissioner Mirza Asif Baig said. “And if the Indian side continues sticking to its stance, we will have no option but to go for arbitration by the ICJ.”

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Hamas declares support for Palestinian bid to join international criminal court
By The Guardian, 23 Aug 2014

 Hamas has signed a pledge to back any Palestinian bid to join theinternational criminal court, a move which could expose both the Islamist group and Israel to war crimes investigations. The decision revealed by two senior Hamas officials on Saturday would help a bid led by the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, to join the court, a step that would transform his relations with Israel from tense to openly hostile and could also strain his ties with the United States.
Abbas has said he will not make any decision on a bid without the written backing of all Palestinian factions. Last month, he obtained such support from all factions in the Palestine Liberation Organisation

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