Latest news
14 August 2012
Asylum seekers arriving in Australia by boat will be sent to the Pacific island of Nauru or to Papua New Guinea’s Manus Island for processing, the prime minister Julia Gillard announced on 13 August. The proposal to reopen the detention centres is part of a new plan to prevent overcrowded boats sinking en route and to deter refugees from reaching Australia. The proposal is the result of recommendations of an expert panel convened six weeks ago to find a political solution.
The announcement drew immediate condemnation from human rights groups, who say that ‘sending asylum seekers to places like … Nauru and Papua New Guinea is unacceptable and a complete outsourcing of Australia’s human rights obligations’. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said it would study the proposal in more detail.
Source: International Herald Tribune | Premier of Australia Backs Plan on Refugees
Source: BBC | Australia asylum: MPs debate Nauru and PNG centres
Source: The Guardian | Australia to deport boat asylum seekers to Pacific islands
30 July 2012
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights has ruled in Femi Falana v. African Union that the African Union cannot be sued before the Court on behalf of, or for obligations attributable to, its member states and that it is not subject to obligations arising from the Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Establishment of an African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Source: AfCHPR | Judgment in the matter of Femi Falana v. The African Union
30 July 2012
Negotiations were held in New York from 2-27 July in order to reach an agreement within the United Nations (UN) framework on the regulation of international trade in conventional arms.
The aim of the UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty (ATT) is to establish common international standards for import, transfer and export of conventional arms. These international standards can be used to hold those who sell weapons in an irresponsible manner accountable.
Source: UN | UN Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty
27 July 2012
As part of U.S. efforts to fight drugs, an elite unit of Ghana’s counternarcotics police is trained by U.S. officials. There are plans to train other counternarcotics police squads in Kenya and Nigeria under the so-called ‘West Africa Cooperative Security Initiative’.
(West) Africa is increasingly seen as ‘the new frontier’ in terms of counternarcotics, since cartels from Latin American are more and more using pooly governed states in Africa to smuggle cocaine into Europe.
Source: New York Times | U.S. Drug War Expands to Africa, a Newer Hub for Cartels
12 July 2012
Third state involvement in Israel’s settlement activity which can be characterized as recognition, aid or assistance is incompatible with international law. A state can be held responsible for such wrongful conduct in accordance with the ILC Articles on State Responsibility.
This conclusion is reached by James Crawford, professor of international law at Cambridge University, in his opinion on ‘Third Party Obligations with respect to Israeli Settlements in the Occupied Palestinian Territories’.
The opinion, which is directed towards European governments in general and Great Britain in particular, could inject fresh momentum into campaigns which seek to block the import of produce from settlements. Israeli settlements in the West Bank are considered illegal under international law.
Source: The Independent | Israeli settlements can face trade bans, says counsel