Court Watch
between 1,500 and 2,000 Tutsi, and held them in Father Seromba’s church. With Seromba and oth- ers, Mayor Ndahimana took an active role in plan- ning Kivumu’s three-step process to kill the Tutsi minority, a process that played out in communities across Rwanda that spring.
Step 1 involved rounding up as many Tutsi as pos- sible, under the pretense of protective custody, and holding them in large enclosures with few ex- its. They would then be surrounded by the militant Hutu militia, Interhamwe. Step 2 aimed to weaken the captives by starving them, withholding water and sanitary facilities, and occasionally beating them indiscriminately. Step 3 involved the whole- sale massacre of the captives.
In Kivumu, all three steps were carried out with precision and purpose. Over the three days fol- lowing capture, the Kivumu Tutsi suffered horrific beatings. On April 15, the Interhamwe tossed a grenade into the church and killed the Tutsi who left the church to escape the explosion. Ultimately, at Seromba’s order, the church was bulldozed. The Tutsi who survived the building’s destruction were exposed to tear gas, and killed with machetes. Ndahimana’s role in planning and refusing to offer police protection to the Tutsi population were the basis for his indictment and conviction.
Few cases remain in the ICTR. Forty-two have been completed, although eighteen await appeal, and ten defendants have been acquitted. Three tri- als are underway, and only one defendant awaits trial.
*Submitted by Aaron Lukken
Inter-American Court of Human Rights Takes Columbia Case
On July 25, 2011, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (the Commission) filed an ap- plication with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR) in Case 12.573, Marino López et al. (Operation Genesis). The case concerns a counter-
insurgency operation (Operation Genesis) carried out in February 1997, by the Columbian military and their paramilitary allies, against the Afro-descen- dant communities of the Cacarica River Basin, in Chocó, Colombia. The operation involved bombard- ments and raids on communities in the area that resulted in the displacement of hundreds of indi- viduals, as well as allegations of torture and extra- judicial killings.
The Inter-American Human Rights Structure
The Commission and the IACHR are autonomous organs that make up the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States (OAS). The OAS is a regional international organi- zation comprised of 35 independent states of the American Continent. The OAS gave the Commis- sion the express authority to examine specific instances of human rights violations, and in 1978 the American Convention on Human Rights (the Convention), was entered into force, along with the IACHR.
The main duty of the Commission is to oversee petitions filed against OAS member states. Once a petition has been deemed eligible for admission, the Commission will attempt to formulate a settle- ment. If a settlement cannot be reached, then the Commission files a report, and within three months of issuing its report, the Commission can decide to submit the case to the IACHR; it may do so if it is determined that the State has not abided by the recommendations, or if the case is of particular im- portance or legal interest.
The IACHR is the judicial branch of the OAS respon- sible for protecting the human rights enshrined in the Convention. While the Convention itself is not a legally binding treaty, the Commission and the IACHR hold it be a source of binding international obligations for all OAS member states.
During the mid-1990s, Columbia’s cocaine trade was booming, and Choco was recognized as an area critical to the control of that trade. The land
ILSA Quarterly » volume 20 » issue 3 » February 2012
7
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64 |
Page 65 |
Page 66 |
Page 67 |
Page 68 |
Page 69 |
Page 70 |
Page 71 |
Page 72 |
Page 73 |
Page 74 |
Page 75 |
Page 76 |
Page 77 |
Page 78 |
Page 79 |
Page 80 |
Page 81 |
Page 82 |
Page 83 |
Page 84 |
Page 85 |
Page 86 |
Page 87 |
Page 88 |
Page 89 |
Page 90 |
Page 91 |
Page 92 |
Page 93 |
Page 94 |
Page 95 |
Page 96 |
Page 97 |
Page 98 |
Page 99 |
Page 100 |
Page 101 |
Page 102 |
Page 103 |
Page 104 |
Page 105 |
Page 106 |
Page 107 |
Page 108 |
Page 109 |
Page 110 |
Page 111 |
Page 112