Human Rights and Refugees
Report of the Human Rights Committee
Professional Training Series in Human Rights
Selected Decisions of the Human Rights Committee under the Optional Protocol
Freedom from Fear
This journal aims to contribute to the advancement of knowledge and awareness of the international community's priority issues in the field of justice crime prevention and human rights. The Magazine pursues the promotion of innovative dialogue by spreading awareness creating consensus and a sense of shared responsibility of the problems that affect the global community. As a forum for long-term change the Magazine endeavors to promote democratic values civil stability and aid the international community in developing actions towards greater peace justice and security for all members of social civil and political society.
Disability at a Glance
Reports of the Committee against Torture
World Humanitarian Data and Trends
The war on terror: Separating the (star) fish from the sea
Though hardly a new phenomenon terrorism has assumed greater political saliency since the events of 9/11. Unfortunately this greater saliency has not resulted in more effective strategies to counter the terrorist threat the nature of which is often poorly understood. This essay describes terrorism as a method then develops a model of what terrorist organizations look like and how they function focusing on their evolution from hierarchical insurgent groups of the pre 9/11 era to network-like structures of today such as al-Qaeda. Mao Zedong’s dictum about insurgency says “The guerrilla must move amongst the people as a fish swims in the sea. ”Counterinsurgent strategy has often attempted to “drain the sea”- i.e. separate the guerrilla from his support base in the population. By implication this essay will point out that counterterrorist strategies against contemporary terrorist networks must adapt this drain-the-sea principle to the network model if effective policies are to be developed.
A conversation with history
Freedom From Fear met the leader of Solidarnosc a few days from the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Iron Curtain marking the end of the Cold War during his visit in Italy to Torino Spiritualità to talk about 1989: the year that changed the world.
In the spotlight. Energy security
The geopolitical landscape has changed considerably since the fall of the Berlin Wall with the US maintaining for the time being its economic and military superiority. It seems however that the world is moving towards a fundamental reshuffle of the global balance of power with the emergence of actors whose posture will eventually shape a new global order through alliances reflecting different interests from those currently dominating international politics.
The CBRN threat: Past, present and future
In recent years world leaders news media and experts have warned of the global security threat from chemical biological radiological and nuclear (CBRN) material and weapons. Last December a bipartisan U.S. commission cautioned that “unless the world community acts decisively and with great urgency it is more likely than not that a weapon of mass destruction will be used in a terrorist attack somewhere in the world by the end of 2013.” In parallel with the 20th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall it is interesting to highlight the Cold War origins of many modern-day CBRN challenges. At the same time this article explores how newer developments have been infusing additional complexity into the global CBRN threat landscape.
From Khmer treasures to Chinese antiquities: The ongoing plunder and trafficking in South East Asia
In June of this year in a ceremony associated with much pomp and political significance the Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva handed over to Cambodian officials in Phnom Penh a number of Khmer treasures seized by Thai authorities from smugglers in 1999. The treasures included six massive stone heads of the Hindu God Shiva dating from the 12th Century Angkorian era (Associated Press 2009).
Wall-less Europe
When the wall came down 20 years ago it was the end of a regime whose cruelty was vividly represented by images of the lengths to which it went to keep its citizens within its borders. Who can forget the images of cars being searched as they exited Checkpoint Charlie; border guards doing their utmost to find even the most ingeniously hidden escapee. How can we not remember the dark inventiveness with which a regime seemed to turn every technological advance against its own citizens? How happy one could feel to be a citizen of the free world: free to travel across our own borders with governments who respected our personal liberty not only in this context.
Gaza: A fence away from freedom
There is a fence around Gaza. It stretches from the north to the south. From a distance the fence looks innocent; it is not a tall imposing structure with deep ditches or piercing floodlights. Neither does it appear impenetrable. Yet the fence looks out of place uncomfortable dividing land that otherwise flows gently as far as the eye can see. And as everyone in Gaza knows any seemingly benign features belie the fact that the fence constitutes an absolute – separating people from productive livelihoods family members higher education and indeed freedom itself in the form of access to the rest of the world beyond it.
Has the cold war ended?
Few doubt that the fall of the Berlin Wall is the event that closed the Cold War era and brought in the twenty-first century. Like every event in history this one also has its founding myths.
Youth marginalisation and the burdens of war in Sierra Leone
The transformation of the world system after the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 provided a new era of free democratic uncertainties in the lives of the youth population in both West and Eastern Europe. Uncertainties that have never been free or democratic yet always part of the lives of most youth in Africa. In the case of Sierra Leone young people have been struggling for a factual democratisation process and participatory governance since its independence in 1961 thus revealing the role the Sierra Leonean youth has been keen to play in the country’s political social and economic processes.
UN engagement on the rule of law: Helping States substitute right for might
Promoting the rule of law at national and international level is at the very heart of the global mission of the United Nations. The rule of law is fundamental to achieving a durable peace in the aftermath of conflict to the protection of human rights and to economic progress and development. The basic concept that drives our work is the principle that everyone – from the ordinary citizen to the State and its leaders – is accountable to laws that are publicly promulgated equally enforced and independently adjudicated and which are consistent with international human rights norms and standards. As a lawyer and a former professor of law I retain a deep personal interest in this area of UN engagement.
Corruption undermines health care systems: a human rights issue
Counter the financing of terrorism
The financing of terrorism is often difficult to detect because it follows only few fixed patterns. For instance an investigation into the financial transactions of some high profile terrorists and hijackers showed that most of the individual transactions were not that unusual. The account holders appeared to be foreign students receiving money to fund their studies; in such a way the transactions then would not be flagged as suspicious transactions needing a special scrutiny by the financial institutions involved.
An analysis of Mexico’s organized crime: Narco-police and the dead women of Juarez
The current situation in Mexico has put the international community on alert due to the increas in crime rates; besides common criminality bizarre behaviours have developed and are concerning Mexican citizens their government and foreigners. This situation is out of the country’s control: in the past attacks massive kidnappings and homicides as well as drug trafficking were seen as isolated cases but nowadays they have become recurrent and interconnected issues.
Wide angle: Seventy-year-old views that remain contemporary
In 1947 and 1948 UNESCO conducted a worldwide survey of a diverse group of intellectuals political leaders theologians social activists and other personalities to gather their opinions on the philosophical foundations of human rights. A survey that was not widely publicized at the time but one that is surprisingly relevant today.
Forging new lives, using mobile technology
The case of Moujahed Akil a Syrian refugee in Turkey highlights the fact that innovative mobile learning practices are best driven from within the communities to address real needs sustain development empower members and maximize impact.
Une approche confucéenne des droits de l'homme
« L'homme doit s'acquitter de ses devoirs envers les autres plutôt que de revendiquer ses droits tel est le fondement moral des relations sociales et politiques en Chine. La notion d'obligations mutuelles constitue l'enseignement essentiel du confucianisme » affirme le philosophe chinois Lo Chung-Shu (1903-1985) dans son texte intitulé « Les droits humains dans la tradition chinoise » envoyé à l’UNESCO le 1er juin 1947 dont nous publions des extraits.
Counterfeiting. The hidden crime
Why does the public opinion not consider counterfeiting as serious a crime as drug trafficking or arms smuggling? First of all let us consider what a “serious crime” means to law enforcers and to the general public.
Idées: L’éducation pour les migrants : Un droit de l’homme inaliénable
Le droit à l’éducation est souvent tenu pour acquis… jusqu’à ce qu’on nous le retire. Outil indispensable pour défendre la liberté et la dignité de tous les migrants l’éducation est une condition sine qua non pour qu’ils deviennent membres à part entière de la société qu’ils intègrent. Une aspiration légitime qui se heurte à des obstacles sur le terrain.
Helping teachers to help refugees
Fifty million displaced children worldwide! This was the alarming figure released by the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) on World Refugee Day 20 June 2018. Faced with the trauma and interrupted education of these children who are victims teachers find themselves ill-equipped to deal with these challenges – especially since many of them have little or no qualifications themselves. Now several institutions in different countries are stepping up with initiatives to help teachers give their best.
Illicit exploitation of natural resources
in Angola Mozambique Sierra Leone the Democratic Republic of Congo the Central African Republic Liberia and Côte d’Ivoire warlords and leaders of militias and rebel movements prospered from the pillaging of their nation’s natural wealth as much as financiers of crime rackets dishonest civil servants corrupt politicians or national and international corporations. This impromptu alliance of stakeholders in Africa’s wars and violence could be broken down only with tens of thousands of peacekeepers targeted sanctions against the most persistent looters and with billions of Dollars invested in rebuilding governmental capacities. Still many nations are far from safe. Too heavy is the toll of war violence and corruption to rebuild these countries in a few short years. With global demand for most commodities reaching record heights and while most of these resource rich states’ oversight and law enforcement institutions are still in shambles it is as easy as ever - and much more profitable - to gain access to natural resources. Adhering to legal standards continues to be a minor consideration. For warlords and leaders of militias who have successfully transformed themselves into elites by joining political parties or by becoming businessmen it’s business as usual. Sadly these elites are greatly assisted by the apparent disinterest or inability of leading global companies – the ultimate users of raw materials - to reign-in the continued illegal exploitation of the developing world’s natural resources. Just in the last few months several investigations have revealed once again how criminal behavior is still pervasive in the natural resource business and how it affects each consumer around the world in unexpected ways. For at least four years it has been known that thousands of artisan diggers are exploiting cassiterite deposits (a tin oxide) around Walikale in Eastern DRC. A report by Nicholas Garrett in the Financial Times (6th March 2008) confirmed again that these artisans are laboring under the dictate of the renegade 85th brigade of the Congolese army led by Colonel Samy Matumo. The production not only enriches these bands of soldiers and their commanders but for years the cassiterite has been bought and traded through Western metals exchanges and brokers. Eventually it is used for the production of electronic products made by largest companies in this sector.
Corruption in natural resource management: An introduction
Natural resources often provide fertile ground for corruption. Since a substantial number of partner countries in development cooperation are richly endowed with natural resources these contexts pose a particular challenge for effective donor action. The risk of corruption cuts across several natural resource sectors from non-renewable resources such as oil gas minerals and metals to renewable resources such as forests fisheries and land. There are however important variations in the challenges presented by these sectors and the manner in which corruption in relation to them can be addressed.
UNESCO, on lake chad’s side
In February 2018 UNESCO launched a major project to strengthen the resilience of people living in the Lake Chad basin who have been affected by a devastating drought for the last four decades.
Illicit trade: The worldwide, multi-billion dollar funding stream
Somewhere in the world there is a national health crisis. Doctors quickly receive the life-saving pharmaceuticals. However the “pharmaceuticals” are counterfeits containing a combination of toxic chemicals and are powerless against the pandemic. In another part of the world a country has developed a sophisticated laser-guided missile capable of neutralizing targets with minimal collateral damage. Except some of the missile’s components are counterfeit causing its guidance system to malfunction. Meanwhile a terrorist organization engages in the trafficking of illicit tobacco and antiquities to fund their operations while a crime group moves its proceeds across borders via diamonds. Moreover a rogue nation is circumventing the international community’s sanctions and finances their prohibited activities through illicit trade. Unfortunately these illustrations are not plots from Hollywood movies but examples where illicit trade and security intersect.
Drug industry in Afghanistan
Afghanistan is a male-dominated society. It is also a society where authority and power mean a lot. I think that the fact that I am a guest in their country a foreign woman representing the United Nations – a respected organization – works in my favour. Afghanistan is very different from my own home country Sweden but beyond the surface we are all surprisingly alike. Daily life in Kabul is not very comfortable; I lived in one room for more than a year before I found a small flat in a securitycleared compound. The security situation is very worrying and limits your personal life as well as the work of the United Nations. The suicide attack on a UN convoy in Kandahar province in the south of the country on 14 September which killed two WHO colleagues was a terrible blow to all of us. It is getting increasingly difficult and dangerous. Half of the country is at least partially out of reach for us because of lack of security. The costs of operations are going up because of the volatile situation.
Foul play: Corruption in football
2006 was a dark year for the Italian football nation. The former management of FC Juventus Turin one of the most popular teams in the world was accused of manipulating games with the help of corrupt referees players and officials. As a consequence the team had to dismount to the second division and its last two-championship titles 2005 and 2006 were withdrawn. One of the managers was punished to 5 years of occupational ban. In total 26 officials were accused.
Individual rights and respect for all cultures
How can individual rights be reconciled while respecting the cultural sensibilities of different human groups? For the American anthropologist Melville J. Herskovits (1895-1963) this is the main difficulty facing the formulation of a world declaration of human rights. He elaborates on this dilemma in this excerpt from the text with the title "Statement on Human Rights" which he sent to UNESCO in 1947.
Human rights for the colonized
“It might be predicted that when colonial peoples set about drafting a Bill of Rights their claims will tally generally with those of depressed and disabled groups everywhere but will also show a special distribution of emphasis corresponding to the special character of colonial disabilities” wrote the British anti-colonialist writer Leonard J. Barnes (1895-1977). An excerpt of his article “The Rights of Dependent Peoples” sent to UNESCO from London in June 1947 follows.
Information as the means of free thought
“The same is true of the right to information as of all other rights: its legitimate content must be defined in terms of real needs” wrote the French philosopher René Maheu (1905-1975) adding: “Conditionally of course on the word 'needs' being understood to mean the needs of human development and not of self-interest or passion.” This is an excerpt of his contribution to UNESCO’s survey on the philosophical foundations of human rights which he submitted on 30 June 1947 under the title “Right to Information and to the Expression of Opinion”.
The truth in international criminal trials: A chance to write history?
Since it was first addressed as the right to know the fate of missing and dead persons under international humanitarian law the idea of a ‘right to truth’ has gradually expanded into other fields of law such as human rights law and international criminal law. Though this right has not been codified in a legally binding instrument of international law the Human Rights Council (HRC) as the monitoring body of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) has interpreted that there is a right to truth and that it is a development of the right to remedy. This has been the theme of various of its Resolutions. The United Nations General Assembly Resolutions are no different as they also understand the truth as a right. The jurisprudence of the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights similarly recognized the right to truth this time as an extension to the right to access to justice. It is because of this wide recognition that some commentators including Yasmin Naqvi researcher at the ICRC consider this right to be a general practice of international law which grants it the status of a norm of customary law. But even if considered a right because of its customary status what does the right to truth entail? What is its content? What are its contours? These are questions that remain unanswered.
A confucian approach to human rights
“The basic ethical concept of Chinese social political relations is the fulfilment of the duty to one’s neighbour rather than the claiming of rights. The idea of mutual obligations is regarded as the fundamental teaching of Confucianism.” This is what the Chinese philosopher Lo Chung-Shu (1903-1985) wrote in his text titled “Human Rights in the Chinese Tradition” sent to UNESCO on 1 June 1947. An excerpt follows.
Weapons of mass destruction. A comprehensive approach
Ever since 1947 the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists’ ‘doomsday clock’ is recognized as a symbol for the nuclear threat in the world. The minutes before midnight on the clock demonstrate the actual threat. Since the beginning the clock’s arm has been moved back and forth whenever the nuclear threat situation in the world changed. At the end of the Cold War the clock stood at seventeen minutes to midnight while at the last presentation in 2007 the clock was ticking five minutes to midnight.
Our guest: Fernando Bryce: History in the present tense
“Mimetic analysis” is how Peruvian artist Fernando Bryce describes his work process. It involves using ink on paper and meticulously copying by hand texts and images taken from magazines political pamphlets posters and old newspapers. Using this technique he has captured moments from recent history like the Cuban revolution the Spanish Civil War and the Second World War in his work. In 2015 our magazine was the source of inspiration for a series of drawings called The Book of Needs to which a supplement of this issue of the Courier is dedicated. Let’s find out what it’s all about.
Is Italy facing a migration emergency? Italy’s challenge and its new legal framework
This essay aims to analyse the new 2017 Italian law established for the improvement of both the asylum procedures and the contrast of illegal migration in a context in which Europe is required to improve procedures` efficiency without undermining the rights of people in need of protection.
COVID-19 pandemic and gender aspects
The year 2020 marks two important landmarks in gender equality achievement: the 25th anniversary of the Beijing Declaration and Platform of Action and the 20th year of implementing Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women Peace and Security. Unfortunately the Covid-19 pandemic caused cancellation and postponement of many important international meetings including a shortened version of the 64th session of the Commission on the Status of Women but it is also risking to heavily jeopardize the progress made over recent years.
Cyber-crime during the COVID-19 pandemic
The pandemic of COVID-19 and the imposed lockdown has led to more people to be confined at home with many more hours to spend online each day and increasingly relying on the Internet to access services they normally obtain offline.
How organized crime is expanding during the COVID-19 crisis
Over the last century organized crime has demonstrated a remarkable capacity to rapidly adapt to mutated social political and economic conditions. While in some cases this adaptation was the result of a reactive response to improved legislation targeting their interests in many others it was ignited by the pursuit of new possibilities for economic profit. Examples in this sense include how quickly criminal groups adapted to new scenarios created for instance by geopolitical changes the integration of global markets or the generalized use of the world wide web as a marketplace for a variety of licit and illicit goods and services.
The principles of equality and non-discrimination under viral attack: Stigma, hate speech, xenophobia, racism and discrimination during the COVID-19 pandemic
The principle of equality – the belief that all human beings are born free and equal – along with the correlated prohibition on discrimination are foundations of society. Equality is one of the most basic aspects of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and a pillar on which the United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945. Yet following the emergence of the coronavirus in December 2019 this long-established fundamental human right is being increasingly threatened. Indeed as the UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues Fernand de Varennes observed “COVID-19 is not just a health issue; it can also be a virus that exacerbates xenophobia hate and exclusion.”
Discrimination of aboriginals on native lands in Canada
With inflated proportions of their neighbours in prison on parole or at risk the worlds native communities have another urgent problem to contend with. Statistics show that the percentage of indigenous people in conflict with the justice system is extreme and in many places those numbers may be on the rise.