The Global Refugee Crisis, Part 2: Rights, Rule of Law, & Rational Remedies

Hundreds of migrants who arrived by train at Hegyeshalom on the Hungarian and Austrian border walk the four kilometers into Austria on September 22, 2015 in Hegyeshalom, Hungary (Christopher Furlong/Getty Images).

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Join us for...

The Global Refugee Crisis, Part 2:

Rights, Rule of Law, & Rational Remedies

A non-CLE program proudly presented by

the ABA Section of International Law

Sponsored by 

the Section of International Law International Human Rights Committee

Co-Sponsored by

the Section of International Law Africa Committee, Europe Committee, International Criminal Law Committee, International Refugee Law Committee, International Pro Bono Committee, Middle East Committee, NGO & Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee, UN & International Organizations Committee, U.S. Lawyers Abroad Committee,

ABA ROL MENA

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Wednesday, February 24, 2016

12:00 p.m. - 1:30 p.m. EST 

★ Teleconference Only Event ★

FREE PROGRAM - REGISTER NOW!

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Unprecedented: The Global Refugee Crisis, Part 2 - Rights, Rule of Law, & Rational Remedies teleconference goes beyond the intimate Syrian refugee accounts shared during the first teleconference to explore this unprecedented humanitarian crisis from a larger, global context. The teleconference will begin with brief overview of the current refugee crisis, including the common causes of displacement and global trends. Next, the crisis will be examined from the perspective of those working on or near the front lines -e.g., aid workers, human rights lawyers and advocates, ABA entities, policymakers, and states impacted by the massive influx of refugees. These shared perspectives serve a dual purpose: to highlight the numerous obstacles and legal challenges faced by both refugees and the international community. Finally, the teleconference will highlight some of the successful efforts underway to resolve the underlying conflicts, protect and provide safe passage for refugees fleeing war-torn countries, and ensure the rule of law and basic human rights are observed.

There will be a brief Q&A session at the end of the program. Attendees may submit questions using one of the options below:

• Email at inthumrights@gmail.com
• Twitter via direct message (@ABAIHRC) 
• Twitter hashtag: #ABAGlobalRefugeeCrisis
• Please indicate which speaker your question is for.

Speakers:

• Joseph Jacob, Middle East Committee Vice Chair
• Gigi Nikpour, International Human Rights Committee Senior Advisor 
• Niki Dasarathy, ABA ROLI MENA Senior Advisor 
• Wassem Amin, Middle East Committee Co-Chair

Moderator: 

• Stephanie Williams, Section of International Law Human Rights Committee Co-Chair

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Global Refugee Crisis: Part 2 (Audio)

Global Refugee Crisis: Part 1 (Audio)

OWAAT Cyprus Launches World's First Greek International Human Rights Self-Help Website For Abused Women

ONE WOMAN AT A TIME (OWAAT) furthers the U.S. Fulbright global mission to demonstrate how Cyprus became the first nation to declare the international human rights campaign, "Zero Tolerance of Abuse Against Women."

OWAAT is a sustainable, community-court collaboration to prevent all forms of non-physical, non-violent abuse against women, as unwanted contact interference in violation of their international human right to privacy.

OWAAT was initially launched between August 2014 to May 2015, in Cyprus by a U.S. Fulbright Scholarship grant to Patricia M. Martin, a Denver Colorado attorney who modeled her project after Denver’s County Courthouse “Project Safeguard” and Denver Legal Nights. Today, Ms. Martin continues to help guide OWAAT volunteers in Cyprus to achieve its aims also encouraged and supported by the President of the Supreme Court of Cyprus, a newly elected Justice of the European Court of Human Rights from Cyprus, President of Family Courts in Nicosia and the President of Family Court in Larnaca.

OWAAT aims at empowering women to first know what human rights they have and then be guided to self-help as self-represented civil litigants seeking immediate civil protections court orders for no contact to end their own abuse. 

OWAAT outreach extends to predominantly impoverished women who are usually isolated and need easy, inexpensive ready access to self-help legal options for emergency civil protections and legal enforcement.

OWAAT trained pre-law students on international human rights law; developed self-help civil protection application templates forms for emergency protection order application and self-help divorce applications; conducts human rights legal research and related community program development; facilitated Cyprus Complaint Centers also in cooperation with NGO’s; provides OWAAT Website Training Workshops for NGOs, educators, medical professionals and social services; and offers English and Greek language, web-based hyperlink access to human rights information in simplified, downloadable Powerpoint presentations, complete with pdf fill-in-the-blank self-help forms and related instructions.

The OWAAT website was created by women in Cyprus who volunteered their specialized internet technical expertise to help launch it on December 24, 2014, a gift to their Nation. The website provides the first international, replicable self-help toolbox that allows abused women to learn how to fill-in the legal forms, which previously precluded them from gaining access to court for emergency civil protections. 

 OWAAT volunteers refer abused women to the website’s help guide to obtain more information or disseminate information on applicable international treaties, such as the U.N. Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the European Convention of Human Rights, which require that member states like Cyprus ensure and secure citizen human rights protections. 

In January 2016, OWAAT volunteers launched its website in Greek, and plans for this year include translation to Russian and Arabic.

OWAAT’s goals are also furthered in collaboration with state NGOs, like Freedom Dolls Initiative (FDI) to prevent sex trafficking; Association for the Prevention and Handling of Violence in the Family (SPAVO); Cyprus Bar Association Members; UN Women-Cyprus; Cyprus Certified Meditators Association; Cyprus government and municipal officials; Cyprus church and religious leaders; Cyprus law school, middle school and grammar school educators and guidance counselors; and numerous other professional services providers throughout the nation. For more information, visit OWAAT at www.owaat-cy.com.

Lawyers & Jurists: China Must End Its Intimidation and Detention of Human Rights Lawyers

Activists with the Hong Kong Alliance in Support of Patriotic Democratic Movements of China and China Human Rights Lawyers Concern Group demand the release of detained Chinese human rights activists and lawyers during a protest outside the China Liaison Office in Hong Kong on Oct. 9. (Jerome Favre / European Pressphoto Agency)

We, the undersigned lawyers and jurists, write to express our deep concern about the scores of lawyers detained or intimidated in China. The crackdown began on the night of 9 July 2015 with the detention of lawyer Wang Yu, her husband and their 16-year-old child in Beijing. Since then, hundreds of lawyers, law firm staff and family members have been subject to intimidation, interrogation, detention as criminal suspects, and forced disappearance.

Twelve lawyers and legal assistants remain under criminal detention or arrest. Most of those under arrest are suspected of “subversion of state power” or “inciting subversion of state power”. None of them have so far been allowed access to counsel, friends or family, and they are effectively disappeared. In some cases there is good reason to fear that they were put under pressure to “dismiss” their previously appointed lawyers. Some are not known to be suspected of any crime at all; and in the additional case of lawyer Li Heping, the Chinese government has so far declined to admit that he is being held at all.

We fear that without legal representation of their own free choice or other legal protections, the persons above are at high risk of torture or other cruel and inhuman treatment. Our concern is heightened by the findings of the UN Committee Against Torture, which stated on 9 December 2015 that it “remains seriously concerned over consistent reports indicating that the practice of torture and ill-treatment is still deeply entrenched in the criminal justice system, which overly relies on confessions as the basis for convictions”.

Moreover, the state-controlled Chinese media have in a series of broadcasts denounced a number of detained “suspects” as members of a crime syndicate engaging in “rights-defence-style troublemaking”, and paraded some of those detained “confessing” to wrongdoing before they have even been publicly indicted.

In order to vindicate its claim to be a responsible stakeholder in the international community and to be a respected global superpower, it is imperative that China honour its international commitments. Therefore, we respectfully urge President Xi Jinping to:

• Ensure the release of the detained or arrested lawyers and others held with them without legal basis
• Ensure access to counsel for all those detained, arrested or otherwise held as a criminal suspect
• Confirm the whereabouts of those forcibly disappeared
• Ensure that the rights of those detained, including their right to adequate medical treatment, are safeguarded
• Ensure that those detained and their colleagues will be protected from any future control measures such as: tracking and following, violent attacks, soft detention, “being travelled”, being asked to have “chats”, criminal, administrative, judicial detention, forced disappearance, torture and psychiatric incarceration.

Signatories
Dominique Attias, Vice President of the Paris Bar, France

Robert Badinter, Former French Minister of Justice and former President of the French Constitutional Council

Michel Benichou, President of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe

Gill H Boehringer, Coordinator of the International Association of People’s Lawyers; former Dean of the Macquarie University Law School, Australia

Kirsty Brimelow, QC Chair of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales

Elizabeth Evatt Commissioner, International Commission of Jurists, Australia; former President, Australian Law Reform Commission; former member, UN Human Rights Committee

Tony Fisher Partner, Fisher Jones Greenwood LLP, UK

Patrick Henry, President of the Belgium Bar Association, Belgium

Helena Kennedy, QC Barrister, Doughty Street Chambers; Chair of Justice (British branch of International Commission of Jurists)

Asma Jahangir, Jurist; President of the Supreme Court Bar Association of Pakistan; founding member of the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan

Michael Mansfield, QC Barrister; professor of law at City University, London

Andrea Mascherin, President of the Italian National Bar Council, Italy

Manfred Nowak, Lawyer; former Special Rapporteur on Torture, Austria

Christophe Pettiti, General Secretary of the Paris Bar Human Rights Institute

Stuart Russell, Former Administrative Judge, Australia

Clive Stafford, Smith Human Rights Lawyer

William Schabas, Professor of International Law and Director of Doctoral Institute, Middlesex University

David J Scheffer, Former US Ambassador at-large for War Crimes Issues; Professor and Director, Center for International Human Rights, Pritzker School of Law, Northwestern University

Ulrich Schellenberg, President of the German Bar Association (Deutscher Anwaltverein)

Jean-Jacques Uettwiller, President of the International Association of Lawyers

Primary Source: Guardian UK 

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Recommended: China's Widen Crackdown on Lawyers | The Atlantic

Accountability and Sustainability: Views from Practice on Regional and Global Environmental and Social Performance Standards

Join us for...

A non-CLE program proudly presented by the

ABA Section of International Law

Sponsored by 

the Section of International Law International Environmental Law Committee

Co-sponsored by 

Sheppard Mullin Richter & Hampton LLP
The State Bar of California International Law Section
SEER International Environmental Law Committee
Section of International Law Russia/Eurasia Committee
ABA SIL International Human Rights Committee
International Corporate Social Responsibility Committee
UN and International Organizations Committee

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Tuesday, November 3, 2015

 12:15 p.m. - 1:15 p.m. PST 

In-Person Event at:

Sheppard Mullin 

Four Embarcadero Center 17th Floor

San Francisco, CA 94111

Tel: 415-434-9100

Light refreshments will be provided.

Teleconference Option Available!

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FREE PROGRAM 

REGISTER NOW!

Please register by November 1

This lunchtime panel based in San Francisco is organized for members of the ABA Section for International Law members, ABA Section for Environment and Energy Resources, ABA Section for Business Law, California Bar Section of International Law, California Bar Section for Environmental Law and California Bar Section of Business Law  to learn more about the international and regional practice of developing and implementing environmental and social performance standards to prevent or reduce project impacts from significant infrastructure projects.   The expert panelists will explain how the  implementation of performance standards is relevant to attorneys in private practice, government practice, and civil society. 

Neil Popovic is a partner at Sheppard Mullin and leader of the International Arbitration Team specializing in both commercial litigation and international dispute resolution. Natalie Bridgeman Fields is the Executive Director of Accountability Counsel, an organization working with local communities to ensure environmental and human rights protection are addressed in internationally financed projects. Jeffrey Rector is a partner at Sheppard Mullin specializing in sustainability focused project finance for domestic and international transactions involving clean energy, water, and other infrastructure projects and in advising export credit agencies and multilateral development banks on project finance transactions.

Speakers:

• Neil Popović, Sheppard Mullin, California Bar International Law Section Board Member

• Natalie Bridgeman Fields, Accountability Counsel

• Jeffrey Rector, Sheppard Mullin

Moderator:

• Anastasia Telesetsky, University of Idaho, ABA IEL Committee Co-Chair

FREE PROGRAM 

REGISTER NOW!

Please register by November 1

Obama Apologizes as Doctors Without Borders Seeks Independent Investigation After U.S. Airstrike Kills 22 at Hospital

A personal apology from the president appears to have done little to appease Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF - also known as Doctors Without Borders), which continues to call for an independent investigation into the U.S. airstrike that hit one of its hospitals and killed 22 civilians.

“We received President Obama's apology today for the attack against our trauma hospital in Afghanistan," Médecins Sans Frontières international President Dr. Joanne Liu said in a statement Wednesday night. "However, we reiterate our ask that the U.S. government consent to an independent investigation led by the International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission to establish what happened in Kunduz, how it happened and why it happened." Obama called Liu earlier Wednesday to offer his apology for the strike, the first time the United States apologized for the incident.

"When the United States makes a mistake, we own up to it, we apologize where appropriate, and we are honest about what transpired,” White House press secretary Josh Earnest said Wednesday when telling reporters about the call.

Last weekend, an airstrike carried out by U.S. forces hit the hospital and killed 12 Médecins Sans Frontières staff members and 10 patients, including three children. The strike was requested by Afghan forces under fire from the Taliban. But coalition commander Gen. John Campbell has said U.S. officials signed off on it and so are ultimately responsible.

Three investigations are underway by Pentagon, NATO and Afghan officials.

Médecins Sans Frontières has called the incident a war crime and has demanded an independent investigation.

The International Humanitarian Fact-Finding Commission is a 15-person body established in 1991 by the Geneva Conventions to investigate breaches of international humanitarian law. The United States and Afghanistan would both have to consent for the commission to investigate. In addition to Liu’s statement, on Thursday, Médecins Sans Frontières General Director Christopher Stokes reiterated the charity’s call for an investigation.

Médecins Sans Frontières wants the investigation “to get the facts of what happened, the truth,” Stokes told reporters in Kabul, according to The Associated Press.

An Interactive Look at the Global Refugee Crisis, Region by Region

Kurdish women and children from Syria at a Turkish military checkpoint near Kobani, a Syrian town badly damaged by the war last year. Bryan Denton for The New York Times

The New York Times has published an interactive look at hot spots in what the United Nations says has become the worst migration crisis since World War II.

THE BALKANS - Tens of thousands of migrants and refugees are working their way north through the Balkans. Masses of migrants and refugees, many from Syria, Afghanistan and Kosovo, have been overwhelming border authorities in several Balkan countries as they try to reach Western Europe. The migrants travel in groups of just a few to dozens, moving north by bus, train, taxi or van. Serbian news media reported that some 70 buses of migrants entered the capital, Belgrade. Migrants in Macedonia told reporters that they were especially eager to move after Hungary said it planned to complete a fence along its 109-mile border with Serbia.

THE MIDDLE EAST - Syria’s neighbors have been making it harder for migrants to cross into their territories. Years of violence in Iraq and Syria have stretched the capacities of neighboring countries to accommodate the displaced. In Jordan, unemployment has almost doubled since 2011 in areas with high concentrations of refugees, according to a recent International Labor Organization study. Lebanon began to require visas from Syrians in January. Refugees now make up about 20 percent of Lebanon’s population. In March, Turkey announced it would close the two remaining border gates with Syria.

SOUTHEAST ASIA - Thousands of Bangladeshis and Rohingya, an ethnic minority from Myanmar, have fled from poverty and persecution. Indonesia and Malaysia, countries that in the past have quietly taken in many refugees from Bangladesh and Myanmar, first reacted to the new rise in migrants by vowing to send back smugglers’ boats. Facing public pressure, they reversed their stance in mid-May, saying they would provide shelter to migrants still at sea. An absence of landings and a paucity of sightings suggest that the flow has subsided.

MEDITERRANEAN SEA - The European Union wants to stop smugglers near the African coast. European governments are divided over the fates of those who reach shore. In May, European leaders said they would form a naval force based in Italy to combat people-smuggling. The European Commission also appealed to the bloc’s member states to accept quotas of migrants to relieve the burden on southern states, like Italy and Greece, which are the main landing points. Poverty and war in places like Libya, South Sudan, Eritrea and Nigeria are driving migrants to make the perilous journey across the Mediterranean Sea.

EASTERN EUROPE - Fighting between Ukrainian troops and pro-Russian separatists has severely damaged Ukraine’s industrial belt. Hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians have fled to Russia. But European Union countries, like Poland, Germany and Italy, which are among the top destinations for asylum seekers, have rejected most applications from Ukrainians. Less than a third of the $316 million needed in 2015 for the United Nations’ humanitarian response has been raised so far. The conflict was particularly damaging to Ukraine’s economy, which is expected to shrink 9 percent by the end of the year.

Excerpts, read full article here.

Sources: Internal Displacement Monitoring Center, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, International Organization for Migration

Additional work by Sarah Almukhtar, Wilson Andrews, Joe Burgess, K.K. Rebecca Lai, David Furst, Alison Smale and Derek Watkins.

Nepal Earthquake 2015: How You Can Help

Nepal on Sunday was left reeling in shock a day after a 7.8 magnitude earthquake caused widespread destruction across the Himalayan nation and claimed over 3,617 thus far. More than 6,500 people have been injured, according to the National Emergency Operation Centre. Several climbers were killed when the earthquake caused a massive avalanche around Mount Everest. More than 200 climbers have been rescued. 

The earthquake reduced whole neighborhoods to rubble and sent deadly tremors throughout the region, including in Pakistan, India, Tibet and Bangladesh. Rescuers were unable to reach remote Nepali villages near the quake's epicenter, and aid agencies warned the full extent of death and destruction was just beginning to emerge. As strong aftershocks shook Nepal for a second day, the country's hospitals were overflowing with the dead and wounded. Search teams continued to scour the wreckage for survivors, and hundreds of victims were laid to rest in traditional cremation ceremonies. Grieving relatives flooded the famed Hindu Pashupatinath Temple on the outskirts of the capital Kathmandu to take part in mass funerals.

Such a powerful quake would result in destruction anywhere, but in a nation as poverty-stricken as Nepal, its citizens are particularly vulnerable. Aid groups worldwide have mobilized to help. Click here to look at humanitarian efforts underway and links that allow you to donate online.

ISLP Teams with Avaaz and Namati to Support Communities Confronting Large-Scale Natural Resource Development

November 4, 2013 – Areng Valley (Koh Kong). A monk during a tree-blessing ceremony in a forest nearby Pra Lay Village. Monks tie orange sashes around trees to raise awareness of the environmental destruction the construction will cause to the Areng Valley. © Thomas Cristofoletti / Ruom.


By Heather Eisenlord, ISLP 

Rising global demand for natural resources has made the protection of community lands an urgent priority. As we celebrate our shared planet this Earth Day, we think of the millions who live in countries with limited or no legal defenses to stop their lands and environment from being threatened or damaged by resource exploitation—and consider how lawyers are uniquely positioned to help. 

Around the world, communities are being displaced and denied access to their lands and natural resources on an industrial scale. Consider the villagers of Koh Kong province, Cambodia, where thousands of people have been—and continue to be—forcibly displaced from their ancestral lands to make way for large-scale industrial sugar plantations. Villagers protested, sent formal complaints, and attempted to negotiate with company and government officials, all without success. Two local NGOs contacted the International Senior Lawyers Project (ISLP), whose volunteer lawyers helped them formulate a transnational legal strategy to move their case beyond the jurisdiction of Cambodia’s corrupt and ineffective judicial system. 

But these types of injustices are not inevitable. In Kenya’s Kerio Valley, ISLP has assembled a team of legal experts to help residents achieve positive impacts and benefits from anticipated oil exploration and development on their lands. The team is working closely with local advocates and community representatives to inform them of their rights, gauge expectations, impart valuable negotiation skills, and formulate strategies for continuing engagement with the oil company. These and similar efforts demonstrate that communities, with the right legal support, can make their voices heard. 

There are thousands of communities around the world who could benefit from expert legal support to alleviate the very significant disparities of power that often accompany resource exploitation. With this support, they can also gain timely access to information about development projects that have real and sometimes devastating impacts on their lands and livelihoods. A new initiative, launching today, can help. 

Lawyers for Resource Justice (LRJ), a new collaboration between Namati, Avaaz, and ISLP, connects grassroots organizations with volunteer international lawyers to deliver high-level legal support directly to affected communities. LRJ will help communities prevent or remedy damage from large-scale resource development projects by empowering vulnerable communities to use the law to protect their interests and to amplify their voices internationally. 

Every LRJ project comes from and fully involves local partners, including local lawyers, who provide critical guidance on domestic legal issues. We bolster this expertise with foreign and international lawyers from a range of legal fields who can bring creative solutions and lend cross-jurisdictional legal firepower to efforts to protect community rights, lands, and the environment. Through this approach, we intend to highlight the economic and social value generated when communities gain a seat at the table with governments and corporate interests. Cases like the ones described on our website demonstrate how LRJ can provide communities and local advocates with the legal tools they need to effectively participate in decisions that impact local development and to hold governments and investors accountable if they fail to protect and respect human rights. 

LRJ is now accepting requests for legal assistance at resourcejustice.org. There is no application deadline, but we cannot guarantee support to all applicants. We encourage applications from groups working preventatively on proposed or anticipated resource developments because this allows for a wider range of possible strategies. Lawyers for Resource Justice believes that collaboration between transnational and local experts can yield vital supports for communities to prevent or remedy damages from natural resource projects and foster a true rights-based approach to development. Please support us by sharing this initiative widely. 

APPLY HERE NOW

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Heather Eisenlord is Director of ISLP’s Human Rights Program.

Survey: The World Court of Human Rights Seeks Your Input

The World Court of Human Rights (WCHR) Coalition is an ever-expanding group of NGO's, individual advocates, human rights activists, lawyers, law firms, jurists, and civil society groups who sign up/sign on to support the creation of a global judicial forum for remediating rights violations. 

Over the past two years, the WCHR Development Project and Design Team have researched and drafted a proposed Statute of the World Court of Human Rights Chief justices of the world's courts in plenary session at the 15th Annual Chief Justice Conference in Lucknow, India in December 2014 unanimously passed a Resolution endorsing the creation of the WCHR. 

The WCHR Coalition and Development Project seek your input on the proposed WCHR's overall purpose, importance and operations. Please click on the link below to the complete the online survey. Your feedback can be anonymous and it takes approximately 5 to 10 minutes to complete.

WORLD COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS SURVEY

Your viewpoint is important to the legal, technical and financial implementation of the Court. 

We thank you for time and insights. 

Sincerely, 

David Gallup, Esq., 
Convenor of the WCHR Coalition and President,
World Service Authority 

Mark Oettinger, Esq., 
WCHR Development Project 

Director Paula Cope and Kate McInnis,
Campaign Directors

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*Disclaimer: The ABA SIL IHRC is not in any way affiliated with the WCHR and make no claims as to the veracity of the information above. Additionally, by posting this announcement, we are not making any statement in support or against the content. Instead the IHRC serves as a conduit for the dissemination information we believe might be of interest to our committee members. For more information, visit the WCHR website. 

Taliban Gunmen Storm Pakistan School, Kill Scores Including Over 130 Children

Police stand beside empty coffins at a hospital dealing with those attacked by Taliban gunmen in Peshawar, 16 December 2014. Photograph: Zohra Bensemra/Reuters

First the Pakistani Taliban bombed or burned over 1,000 schools. Then they shot Malala Yousafzai, the teenage advocate for girls’ rights. But on Tuesday, the Taliban took their war on education to a ruthless new low with an assault on a crowded school in Peshawar that killed 145 people — 132 of them uniformed schoolchildren — in the deadliest single attack in the group’s history.

During an eight-hour rampage at the Army Public School and Degree College, a team of nine Taliban gunmen stormed through the corridors and assembly hall, firing at random and throwing grenades. Some of the 1,100 students at the school were lined up and slaughtered with shots to the head. Others were gunned down as they cowered under their desks, or forced to watch as their teachers were riddled with bullets.

Their parents crowded around the school gates, praying their children would survive while listening to the explosions and gunfire as Pakistani commandos stormed the building.

With its chilling echoes of a school in Beslan, Russia, where 186 children were massacred in 2004, the terrorist attack in Peshawar traumatized a scarred city that has suffered intense Taliban violence since the insurgency erupted seven years ago. By evening, mosques were filled with mourners carrying small wooden coffins, and residents cried openly in the streets.

A Taliban spokesman said the attack had been retaliation for the continuing military operation against the group in the North Waziristan tribal region. But the image of children’s bodies on the floor of their school auditorium, some of them not yet in their teens, again demonstrated how the Pakistani Taliban’s war has often been taken out on the country’s most vulnerable citizens.

A wave of outrage crossed national boundaries, with statements of support and sympathy coming from around the world.

Witnesses in Peshawar said the assault started around 10 a.m., when nine heavily armed militants, disguised in paramilitary uniforms, slipped through a military graveyard and leapt over the back wall of the Army Public School. They rushed through the main building, shooting and flinging grenades before reaching the auditorium. There, according to one Pakistani official, a senior army official was giving a first aid course.

First they sprayed the students with bullets; then they singled out the survivors. “Our instructor asked us to duck and lie down,” a student named Zeeshan said in an interview at the hospital. “Then I saw militants walking past rows of students, shooting them in the head.”

Elsewhere in the school, teachers, realizing what was going on, abruptly canceled classes and exams and tried to protect their charges, who ranged in age from roughly 5 to 17. A 7-year-old named Afaq broke down as he described how the militants sprayed bullets as they rushed into his classroom. “They killed our teacher,” he said, his eyes welling with tears.

Although early assessments suggested that the gunmen had been intent on mounting a long siege — some were carrying stores of food, it was later discovered — a senior security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, insisted that they had shown no intention of taking hostages. “They were there to kill, and this is what they did,” he said.

Excerpt, read entire article here.

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The ABA SIL IHRC strong condemns the Taliban's attack against innocent civilians and children. The massacre of more than 140 people, including over 130 children cannot, must not be tolerated in the 21st century. We must work together to find a way to protect children both in their homes and at school. In the meantime, our hearts and thoughts go out to all of those affected by such senseless acts of violence and their love ones.

ABA SIL Fall Meeting 2014: Record Number Attend IHRC's Panel Discussions

The American Bar Association, Section of International Law's 2014 Fall Meeting was held at the Buenos Aires Hilton, in Argentina. The International Human Rights Committee sponsored or co-sponsored four panel discussions. The IHRC's 2-part panel discussion on Freedom of the Press and the Law were the highest attended panels of the week! A short description of IHRC's Fall 2014 Programs is included below. Additional information on each panel, including the names of moderators and speakers, is located under the Programs' tab above.

Special Thanks to IHRC CO-CHAIRS Elizabeth "Liz" Turchi and Joseph "Joe" Federici; IHRC VICE CHAIRS Gregory MacKenzie (Moderator) and Catherine "Cathy" Vernon (Speaker); OTHER SPEAKERS & MODERATORS Marissa Farsi, Kevin Fandl, Anamaria Dutceac Segesten, Gonzalo Smith, Thomas A. Valenti, Robert Cox, Andres D'Alessandro, Daniel Seckman, John Folks, Muria Gonzalez, Leila Mooney, Gerardo Noto, and William Black; and everyone else who help coordinate and/or participate in the ABA SIL Fall Meeting 2014. Without you, none of it would have been possible.


ABA SIL IHRC FALL 2014 PROGRAMS
Buenos Aires Hilton, Argentina (Oct 21- 25) 

Being the Good Global Corporate Citizen: Dealing with the Current Business Guidelines and Standards of Conduct for Multinational Corporations

Thursday, October 23 at 9:00 am – 10:30 am

HUMAN RIGHTS; PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

With the recent development and adoption of guidelines and standards of conduct regulating business conduct with respect to human trafficking, labor rights, privacy, etc., including UN Guidelines, it is clear that the rules are changing for multinational corporations operating in disparate jurisdictions. The panel will present and clarify this new order of business responsibility and conduct, the risks and the best practices for dealing with the current business and regulatory environment.


Primary Sponsoring Committee: International Corporate Counsel Forum

Co-Sponsoring Committees: Corporate Social Responsibility Committee, International Ethics Committee, International Human Rights Committee, International Trade Committee, Latin American and Caribbean Committee, Transnational Legal Practice Committee, UN & International Organizations Committee

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Undoing Business in Latin America: Rule of Law and the Informal Economy

Friday, October 24 at 9:00 am – 10:30 am

BUSINESS / REGULATION / COMPLIANCE; PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

Rule of law programs aimed at strengthening legal institutions in developing countries capture only one segment of the business community—the formal segment. The informal economy—often referred to as the gray market—is often left behind. New ‘formalization’ programs have attempted to bring informal enterprises into the legal fold but have thus far been unsuccessful. The panelists will present their research on rule of law and the informal economy in Latin America using case studies of the Colombian gray market, including an analysis of the newly enacted formalization law in Colombia.

Primary Sponsoring Committee: International Human Rights Committee

Co-Sponsoring Committees: Africa Committee, NGO and Not-for-Profit Organizations Committee

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Freedom of the Press and the Law, Part I: The Prosecution of Journalists

Friday, October 24 at 2:30 pm – 4:00 pm

HUMAN RIGHTS: PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

The killing and prosecution of journalists and human rights defenders has reached alarming proportions. The problem threatens freedom everywhere. The world has seen journalists murdered while covering the Syrian conflict; threatened and killed while covering Mexican drug cartels; and imprisoned in Sub-Saharan Africa for exposing corrupt government activities. Our experts will address the dangers journalists encounter in these regions. In particular, our experts will discuss the prosecution of journalists in Argentina during the “dirty war” and the prosecution and harassment of journalists in South America and the Middle East, among other regions. Through a moderator question and answer format, these case studies will allow the audience to develop an understanding of the legal rights and protections afforded to journalists under domestic, regional and international law.

Primary Sponsoring Committee: International Human Rights Committee

Co-Sponsoring Committees: Middle East Committee

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Freedom of the Press and the Law, Part II: Freedom of Expression in a Post-9/11 World 

Friday, October 24 at 4:30 pm – 6:00 pm

HUMAN RIGHTS: PUBLIC INTERNATIONAL LAW / RULE OF LAW

This panel of experts will explore the protections afforded to journalists under law. In particular, our experts will discuss foundational international instruments securing the Freedom of Expression and other relevant rights, the scope of those freedoms and a State’s ability to derogate therefrom. Our panel will discuss the impact of 9/11 on the Freedom of Expression and recommend what measures the legal community must take to ensure that journalists are able to function without illegal constraint. This panel will look at the freedoms of speech and press and the precarious balance struck by different legal systems when looking at government claims of national security, and will discuss the importance of a free and robust press to democratic societies and how, in the 21st century, that freedom-and the freedom of speech-have become increasingly vulnerable to manipulation, influence and censorship without the heavy-handed repression associated with totalitarian regimes of the past. The program will be presented in a moderated question and answer format.

Primary Sponsoring Committee: U.S. Lawyers Practicing Abroad

Co-Sponsoring Committees: International Courts Committee, International Human Rights Committee, International Judicial Affairs Committee, Latin American and Caribbean Committee, Women’s Interest Network (WIN), Young Lawyers Interest Network (YIN)


❃ ABA SIL Fall 2014 Meeting (Complete Program Guide). 

❃Visit our Programs page for more information.