Det danske Fredsakademi
Kronologi over fredssagen og international politik 3 Marts 2009
/ Time Line March 3, 2009
Version 3.5
2. Mars 2009, 4. Mars 2009
03/03/2009
INTERNATIONAL COMMISSION OF JURISTS
Commission internationale de juristes - Comisión
Internacional de Juristas "dedicated since 1952 to the primacy,
coherence and implementation of international law and principles
that advance human rights "
COMMUNIQUE DE PRESSE – COMUNICADO DE PRENSA
33, rue des Bains, P.O. Box 216, 1211 Geneva 8, Switzerland
Tel: +41(0) 22 979 3800 – Fax: +41(0) 22 979 3801
– Website: http://www.icj.org - E-mail: info@icj.org
Top International Law Experts Call on US Administration to
Reject War Paradigm, Reform Counter Terrorism Policies
Prominent Jurists Present Results of Three Year Counter-Terrorism
Investigation to Administration Officials
Washington, D.C., February 26, 2009 - This week the Eminent Jurists
Panel, an independent body of experts convened by the International
Commission of Jurists (ICJ), will present the results of a
worldwide investigation into the impact of counter-terrorism laws
and practices on human rights in Washington D.C.. The report
Assessing Damage, Urging Action is the result of a three-year
investigation that draws on sixteen hearings covering forty
countries in all regions of the world. The report concludes that
many governments have confronted the threat of terrorism with
illconceived measures that have undermined cherished values and
resulted in serious violations of human rights. It illustrates the
devastating effects that notorious counter-terrorism measures such
as extraordinary rendition, torture, arbitrary detention, and
unfair trials have had on human rights worldwide. It warns of the
increasing secrecy preventing accountability, and the danger of
“temporary” measures becoming permanent features of law
and practice in many states, including in democratic societies.
“We urge states to seize this critical moment to take stock
and repeal abusive laws and policies enacted in recent years. In
particular, the new political climate in the United States should
enable it to assume a leadership role in restoring human rights
while countering threats of terrorism ”, said Mary Robinson ,
former President of Ireland and former United Nations High
Commissioner for Human Rights and President of the ICJ.
The report calls for the rejection of the war paradigm in the US as
a basis for its counter-terrorism policy. It notes that the US has
applied the law of war to persons not involved in armed conflict,
and in real situations of warfare it has distorted, selectively
applied and ignored otherwise binding rules, including fundamental
human rights guarantees. This has resulted in human rights
violations, including torture and cruel or inhuman treatment,
arbitrary and secret detention and the denial of the right to a
fair trial.
“The recognition by the new administration that human rights
and security are not mutually exclusive is of paramount importance
,” said Justice Arthur Chaskalson , former Chief Justice of
South Africa and first President of its Constitutional Court.
“The United States should now fully repudiate the war
paradigm and repeal the laws and policies grounded in
it”.
The report emphasizes that the criminal justice system should be at
the heart of the response to terrorism. “Trials of civilians
by military courts, prolonged detention without charge or trial and
the denial of remedies have been used with dire consequences in the
past in other parts of the world. We should heed those lessons and
break with the legacy of the last seven years”, said Robert
K. Goldman, Professor of Law at American University Washington
College of Law.
Assessing Damage, Urging Action was launched last week in Geneva,
Bangkok and London and will be presented Friday, February 27 at
9:30 am at the Brookings Institution in Washington D.C. The Panel
members will also hold private meetings with senior representatives
of the US Administration and Congress.
Background information
The members of the Eminent Jurists Panel:
• Justice Arthur Chaskalson (South Africa), former Chief
Justice of South Africa, first President of South Africa’s
Constitutional Court and Chair of the Eminent Jurists Panel;
• Ms. Mary Robinson (Ireland), former President of Ireland,
former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, and ICJ
President;
• Professor Robert K. Goldman (USA), Professor of Law at the
American University in Washington D.C. former President of the
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and former Independent
Expert of the United National Commission on Human Rights on
counter-terrorism and human rights;
• Professor Georges Abi-Saab (Egypt), Emeritus Professor of
International Law at Graduate Institute of International and
Development Studies, Geneva, former judge at the International
Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and member
of the World Trade Organization’s Appellate Body;
• Ms. Hina Jilani (Pakistan), lawyer of the Supreme Court of
Pakistan and former UN Special Representative of the Secretary
General on the situation of human rights defenders;
• Professor Vitit Muntarbhorn (Thailand), Professor of Law at
Chulalongkorn University, Bangkok and UN Human Rights
Council’s Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights
in North Korea;
• Professor Stefan Trechsel (Switzerland), judge ad litem at
the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,
former President of the European Commission on Human Rights and
Emeritus Professor of Law at University of Zurich;
• Justice Raúl Zaffaroni (Argentina), Judge of the
Supreme Court of Argentina, Emeritus Professor at the University of
Buenos Aires and former Director of the UN’s Latin American
Institute for the Protection of Crime and the Treatment of
Offenders.
Countries and regions covered by the investigation:
Australia, Canada, Colombia, East Africa (Kenya, Tanzania and
Uganda), the European Union and its member states, Israel and the
Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Middle East (Egypt, Jordan,
Syria and Yemen), North Africa (Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia),
Pakistan, the Russian Federation, South Asia (Bangladesh, India,
Maldives, Nepal and Sri Lanka), South-East Asia (Indonesia,
Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand), the Southern Cone
countries of Latin America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Paraguay and
Uruguay) on lessons from the past, the UK (London and Belfast) and
the United States.
A copy of the executive summary and of the report can be viewed at
www.icj.org.
For more information, please contact David Lerner (+1 212 2605000)
or Gerald Staberock (+41 793775446).
03/03/2009
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