The European Union reinstated its sanctions against individuals and companies linked to the Belarus government for another year, due to Belarus’ failure to improve its human rights record. The Council of the European Union called on the Belarusian authorities to mend their ways, stating, “The Council again calls upon the Belarusian authorities to stop the harassment of civil society, the political opposition and the independent media.” According to an EU official, recent elections conducted by the Belarusian president Lukashenko, were marred by the widespread harassment of critics, the use of...
The British Ministry of Defence has stated that 5 Royal Marines have been charged with murder, over an incident that occurred in Afghanistan in 2011. The 5 are part of a group of 9 that were initially arrested, with 4 later released. The arrests occurred after a video was found showing the Marines discussing whether to give medical aid to an injured Taliban fighter. Philip Hammond, the Secretary of State for the Defence, declined to comment on the case but said , “Everybody serving in theatre knows the rules of engagement, they carry cards in their uniforms with the rules on them in case they...
The Scottish First Minister, Alex Salmond, and the British Prime Minister David Cameron signed the agreement for a referendum on Scottish independence in 2014 - 'The Edinburgh agreement'. The referendum will be a simple yes/no vote, despite Salmond's push to have a third option of "devo max", however, as Salmond had campaigned for, the vote will be extended to 16 and 17 year olds. The agreement is a Section 30 Order must be agreed by the governments of Holyrood and Westminister. After being approved the Scottish government will instigate legislation for the vote, which must take place before...
The Colombian government has apologised to the country’s indigenous communities for the devastation caused by the Amazon rubber boom around a hundred years ago. Civil groups say up to 100,000 people were killed when a Peruvian company, backed by the Colombian government, caused devastation while harvesting rubber from 1912 to 1929. The crimes committed include slavery, torture, extra judicial killings and torture. President Juan Manuel Santos asked for forgiveness "for all the dead and their orphans" and said that the government at the time "failed to understand the importance of safeguarding...
The Ministry of Defence has said it will investigate claims by the Sunday Times that arms firms call on retired senior military officers to lobby the government for multi-million pound arms deals. The investigation by the paper saw a fictitious lobbying company contact the “generals for hire”, and secretly filmed them as they boasted about their ability to influence senior figures inside the government, including the prime minister. The Defence Secretary Phillip Hammond denied the claims and said to the BBC that military equipment was "procured in the interests of the armed forces and not in...
New evidence has surfaced that indicates that the Syrian air force has used cluster bombs, reported Human Rights Watch. Videos posted online by Syrian activists displayed the remnants of cluster munitions. The Human Rights Watch arms director, Steve Goose, condemned Syria’s actions, proclaiming, “Syria’s disregard for its civilian population is all too evident in its air campaign which now apparently includes dropping these deadly cluster bombs into populated areas.” Imploring the use of chemical weapons to halt, he said “Cluster bombs have been comprehensively banned by most nations, and...
Former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic is due to start his defence at the Hague this week, as the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia is set to try their last suspect, Goran Hadzic. Karadzic's legal adviser Peter Robinson told AFP , “He will expose his personal views on the crimes listed in the indictment,” Robinson went on to add, “what he challenges is the scale of the massacre... He (Karadzic) does not know how many people were killed, but according to him it’s certainly not 7,000,” “No policy was implemented (at Srebrenica), he did not know prisoners would be...
An United Nations-backed panel discussion at Rutgers University in the US state of New Jersey, has explored the role of genocide and war crimes prosecution in Cambodia and how accountability has helped ‘reconcile’ the country. Speaking at the event, the UN Assistant Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Stephen Mathias stated, “It can be argued that the development of individual criminal responsibility, like we saw in the case of Duch [Kaing Guek Eav], for perpetrators of genocide and war crimes and crimes against humanity has been one of the major legal developments of the last 60 years which...
A resolution adopted by the UN Security Council paves the way for military intervention in Mali's north, where Islamist rebels have taken control of the area after overthrowing the president in March. The resolution urges "detailed and actionable recommendations" to be drawn up by African organisations to be presented to the Security Council within 45 days, and calls on UN member states to provide "co-ordinated assistance, expertise, training and capacity-building support" to Mali's armed forces. Any military intervention on the ground would require a second resolution by the 15-member...
Syria announced on Saturday that it will no longer allow Turkish civilian planes to fly over its territory, just days after Turkey intercepted a Syrian flight allegedly carrying Russian munitions to the Syrian army. According to Syria’s foreign ministry, the ban is a response to a similar move from Ankara, although Turkey has not announced such a ban. A series of cross-border incidents, including several days of cross-border fire and shelling have caused tensions to rise rapidly between the two countries. The opposition-backing Turkish government has called for Syrian President Bashar al-...