On Wednesday, January 31, the Court of First Instance of the European Communities delivered its judgment in the case Minin v. Commission. The applicant, whose assets were frozen, sought annulment of European legislation implementing the Security Council’s sanctions against Liberia. Since the applicant did not sufficiently support his claim, the action was dismissed. The full text of the judgment is here.
On January 30, the European Court of Human Rights held 5-2 that Turkey had not violated two citizens’ right to free elections. The applicants’ political party had obtained approximately 46% of the votes in local elections, but had not satisfied the 10% national threshold necessary for the applicants to be seated in the national parliament. As a result, the seats were filled by candidates from parties that had received a much smaller percentage of the local vote. Before the Court, the applicants alleged that the Turkish law imposing the 10% limit violated article 3 of Protocol No. 1 to the European Convention on Human Rights. For more information about the case, Yumak and Sadak v. Turkey, see here.
Several NATO member countries, including the U.S. and Denmark, have indicated they will send more troops to Afghanistan, as well as increase aid and civilian personnel to improve reconstruction and development efforts. NATO Foreign Ministers also called for increased coordination between civilian and military efforts in the country.
For more, see http://www.nato.int/docu/update/2007/01-january/e0126a.html.
The Special Court for Sierra Leone has announced that the trial for the former president of Liberia Charles Taylor has been postponed from April 2 to June 4, 2007 at the request of the Taylor Defense. Justice Teresa Doherty ruled on the postponement and several other matters at the Taylor Status Conference on January 26 at the trial venue in The Hague. Taylor is charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity for the recruitment of child soldiers and the killing, mutilation, and sexual violence of thousands of victims during the civil war in Sierra Leone from 1996 through 2002. See here for further details.
On January 29th, Presiding Judge Claude Jorda announced the decision of Pre-Trial Chamber I to refer the charges against Thomas Lubanga Dyilo for a trial before an ICC Trial Chamber. The Chamber found sufficient evidence for all three charges brought against Dyilo by the Prosecutor. These charges include criminal responsibility as co-perpetrator for the enlistment and conscription of children under the age of fifteen years into military training for the FPLC and, subsequently, frontline combat in Ituri (Democratic Republic of the Congo). The Chamber found sufficient evidence to support the reasonable belief that Thomas Lubanga Dyilo assumed an essential general coordinating role in the implementation of these crimes. For more details, see here.
The UNHCR reports that Palestinians in Iraq have been the targets of increasing violence since the overthrow of Saddam Hussein in 2003. There have been reports of threats, kidnappings, torture, and murder. Hundreds of Palestinians have fled to the Syrian border, but Syria has refused to accept them, leaving them stranded. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees is urging neighboring countries and the international community to help the refugees.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=21348&Cr=palestin&Cr1=
