News

A sentencing hearing for Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga is taking place today and tomorrow in The Hague with the prosecution, the defense and the legal representatives of victims making submissions. Mr Lubanga was found guilty last March of the war crimes of enlisting and conscripting children under 15 into the Forces… Read More

The European Court of Human Rights today heard its first case involving a victim of the CIA rendition program. The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) heard detailed evidence supporting Khaled El-Masri’s claim that he was subjected to torture and ill treatment in a notorious Afghan prison, after being… Read More

Today, an important UK parliamentary body, the Joint Committee on Human Rights (JCHR) added its voice to those seriously concerned with the Government’s proposed changes to civil court procedures where national security issues may be involved. The JCHR has criticised the overly-broad scope of the proposals contained in last year’s Justice… Read More

The International Criminal Court (ICC) today issued its first-ever verdict, finding Thomas Lubanga Dyilo guilty of the war crime of enlisting and conscripting children under 15 into the Forces Patriotiques Pour la Liberation du Congo (FPLC) and using them actively in hostilities in the Ituri region of the Democratic Republic of… Read More

The International Criminal Court (ICC) will issue its first verdict today in the case against Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. As the leader of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UPC) and the commander-in-chief of its military wing, the Forces Patriotiques Pour la Libération du Congo (FPLC), Lubanga is accused of enlisting and conscripting… Read More

The International Court of Justice today delivered a blow to victims of human rights violations by finding Italy in breach of international law for allowing claims for reparation against Germany to proceed. In a decision which ignores the rights of victims to reparation and adopts an absolutist approach to state… Read More

Today, Kenneth Clarke, Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, announced the close of the ill-fated Detainee Inquiry, established in response to allegations of UK complicity in the torture and ill-treatment of detainees held by foreign intelligence agencies. The reason given for the closure of the Inquiry is the commencement of new… Read More

ECtHR Press Release Today the European Court of Human Rights found that Greek coastguard officials tortured Necati Zontul when he was raped in detention at the port of Chania, Crete, in 2001 and ordered Greece to pay 50,000 euro (£45,000) in compensation. The judgment in Necati Zontul v. Read More