Topic: International Crimes
Poland’s Role in CIA Torture and Rendition: Court Hearing Set for December 3
Poland’s role in the torture and secret detention of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, a Saudi national now facing a possible death sentence before a U.S. military commission, will be examined at a public hearing in Strasbourg.
Case Watch: Peacekeepers, Liability and the Srebrenica Massacre
The Netherlands Supreme Court assigned liability for three deaths at Srebrenica to Dutch UN troops, in a ruling with implications for the immunity of UN-mandated peacekeepers.
Case Watch: Kenya Judge Rules against “War on Terror” Renditions
The judgment demonstrated the willingness of the Kenyan judiciary to hold the executive to account for human rights abuses committed in the name of national security and counterterrorism.
Sentencing Private Manning
Private Bradley Manning has been given a 35-year prison sentence for leaking classified U.S. government documents. What penalty would be considered proportionate to the harm caused under international standards?
European Endorsement for Tshwane Principles on National Security and Right to Information
A committee of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has called on member states to take the Tshwane Principles into account when modernizing regulations and practices.
FBI Responds to Kampala Abuse Allegations Cited in Open Society Justice Initiative Report
The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigations has rejected allegations that its officers were involved in the physical abuse of suspects in Kampala as being “without merit.”
The Tshwane Principles on National Security and the Right to Information: An Overview in 15 Points
A 15-point summary of the Tshwane Principles, which address the question of how to ensure public access to government information without jeopardizing legitimate efforts to combat national security threats.
Case Watch: National Security, Secrets, and Deportation
Can deportation be based on secret grounds to protect national security? The Court of Justice of the European Union recently took up the question.
Whistleblowers and Secrets: Twelve Principles
A new set of global principles addresses the question of how to ensure public access to government information, without jeopardizing legitimate efforts to protect people from national security threats.
New Principles Address the Balance between National Security and the Public’s Right to Know
The Tshwane principles focus on how to ensure public access to government information without jeopardizing legitimate efforts to protect people from national security threats.
Understanding the Tshwane Principles
A question-and-answer introduction to the new Global Principles on National Security and the Right to Information.
The Global Principles on National Security and the Right to Information (The Tshwane Principles)
The Tshwane Principles offer global standards on how to ensure the fullest possible public access to information, while protecting legitimate national security concerns.
Case Watch: UN Committee Urges United Kingdom to Confront Iraq Abuses
On the heels of a decision by a national court, the Committee against Torture urged the UK to set up a single independent public inquiry to investigate allegations of torture of detainees in Iraq.
Case Watch: British Judges Raise Standards for Investigating Wartime Abuses
The High Court in London has ordered the UK government to overhaul the way it investigates hundreds of allegations of unlawful killings and detainee abuse by British soldiers in Iraq.
Case Watch: A Court in Pakistan Addresses U.S. Drone Attacks
The Peshawar High Court has ruled that U.S. drone attacks on Pakistani territory are illegal, but without delivering solid supporting legal arguments.
Letter to the African Commission on Human Rights and Terrorism
A joint letter to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights on human rights and terrorism, delivered by the Open Society Justice Initiative, alongside eleven African civil society groups.
Poland’s Damaging Failure to Respond to CIA Black Site Case
Poland’s failure to cooperate with the European Court of Human Rights over a secret CIA prison is jeopardizing its wider commitment to human rights.
Lithuania’s Silence on CIA Abuses Faces European Court Challenge
Lithuania’s refusal to release information related to its role in CIA counterterrorism abuses is being challenged at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg.
Human Rights Monitoring Institute v. Republic of Lithuania
The Lithuanian Customs Department refused to disclose information that might have exposed its complicity in the CIA's rendition, detention and torture programs.
Italian Court Sets a Standard for Accountability for CIA Abuses
An Italian court has set a standard for accountability for the abuses perpetrated by a global network of states that worked with the CIA to secretly detain and extraordinarily render terror suspects after September 11, 2001.