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International Law

UN Takes First Step To End Israel’s Impunity

By Ali Abunimah for The Electronic Antifada - UN officials are finally moving to hold Israel accountable for breaking international law, though they are facing fierce resistance from Israel and its allies. “After decades of Palestinian dispossession and Israeli military occupation and apartheid, the United Nations has taken its first concrete, practical step to secure accountability for ongoing Israeli violations of Palestinian human rights,” said Omar Barghouti, a founder of the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement. “Palestinians warmly welcome this step.” On Wednesday, Israel’s Haaretz newspaper reported that the UN’s human rights office began sending letters to some 150 companies around the world warning them that they may be added to a database of firms doing business with Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank, including East Jerusalem. This week Nickolay Mladenov, the top UN political official in Jerusalem, told the UN Security Council that “Israel’s illegal settlement activities have continued at a high rate” in gross breach of UN resolutions. There is a growing legal consensus that international law requires governments to prohibit all trade with the settlements.

Israel Violating International Law With Arrests Of Children

By Staff of Addameer - Currently, an estimated 75 Palestinian children from East Jerusalem are being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers. Based on Addameer’s monitoring of 9 recent and current cases of Palestinian children from Jerusalem from the onset of 2017 who were arrested and, as well as exhaustive Addameer statistics and data from several years of monitoring and legal representation in Jerusalem, this factsheet will explore the effects of arrest and house arrest on a child’s education and development. The factsheet relies on information obtained through visit questionnaires, field visits, and court protocols. The trends and data are based on 2015-2016 affidavits taken from Palestinian children from Jerusalem who experienced arrest by Israeli forces and were taken to Beit Alyaho Police Center, Oz police center, Salah Al-Din police station, and Qishleh police center, as well as Al-Moscobiyeh. Interrogation within these centers focused on confessions obtained through coercive methods, including physical violence, in the absence of their parents and attorneys.

There Is A Crack In Everything

By Dud Hendrick for Popular Resistance. Bath, Maine - Guilty, guilty, guilty, 10 times said. We ten among our so-called Zumwalt 12, on trial for an act of civil resistance, silently faced our twelve peers and assessors in Bath, Maine’s District Court on Friday, February 3. After two and a half days of testimony, the verdict came back in twenty minutes. In striving to remove the veils that obscure the costs of American militarism, we had served up a virtual seminar, but had not gotten to even one of them: we had broken a law, enough said! It was this simple alacrity, not the verdict, which amazed us. Still, as a bystander overheard two jurors remark after the proceedings, “I was moved by summa that stuff!” and also, “I’m puttin’ protest on my bucket list.”

Defending Civil Resistance Under International Law

By Editor of Counter Currents - Since the Reagan administration’s ascent to power in 1981, thousands of American citizens have engaged in various forms of non-violent civil resistance activities in order to protest against distinct elements of U.S. foreign policy that violate basic principles of international law. These citizen protests have led to numerous arrests and prosecutions by federal, state, and local governments around the country. The author has given advice, counsel and assistance to individuals and groups who have engaged in acts of non-violent civil resistance directed against several aspects of the U.S. government’s foreign policy: the Nuclear Freeze Movement, the Sanctuary Movement, the Anti-Apartheid Movement, the Plowshares, and the Pledge of Resistance, among others

Women’s Boat To Gaza Intercepted: Participants Siezed

By Veterans For Peace. At 9:58 (EST) organizers lost total contact with the Zaytouna-Oliva. The US embassy confirmed that the boat was intercepted. We do not know where our friends are. It is important to know that this happened in international waters and it is not only illegal but sets a bad precedent in giving a greenlight for other nations to attack civilian ships in international waters. The Zaytouna-Oliva was carrying no material aid. This was by design because Israel, as a premise for their attacks, would claim that weapons and contraband were on board. The owner of Zaytouna-Oliva is Israeli. Ann Wright is a decorated former US diplomat, a member of Veterans For Peace and on our Advisory Board. On board with her were three parliamentarians, an Olympic athlete and Nobel Peace Laureate, Mairead Maguire.

BREAKING: International Criminal Court Paves Way To Prosecute Monsanto

By Ronnie Cummins for Organic Consumers Association - Just as the International Monsanto Citizens’ Tribunal is preparing to hold Monsanto accountable for its crimes in The Hague next month, comes this breaking news from the International Criminal Court (ICC). The ICC, will for the first time in history prioritize crimes “committed by means of, or that result in the destruction of the environment, the illegal exploitation of natural resources or the illegal dispossession of land.”

ICC Investigates Human Rights Abuses In Iraq

By Samuel Oakford for The Intercept - THE LONG-ANTICIPATED Chilcot inquiry into the Iraq War released Wednesday contains stinging indictments of Britain’s role in the U.S.-led invasion, detailing failures starting with the exaggerated threat posed by Saddam Hussein through the disastrous lack of post-invasion planning. An element conspicuously missing from the report, however, are allegations of systemic abuse by British soldiers — accusations that are currently being considered by a domestic investigative body as well as the International Criminal Court.

Michael Ratner, Relentless Radical Lawyer, Dies

By the Center for Constitutional Rights. Michael had the vision to see things on the horizon—things that others barely glimpsed, often dismissed, or were convinced simply didn’t exist. From his work at CCR challenging US imperialism and oppression through policies of brutal militarism from Central America, Iraq and at home, Michael stood for peaceful conflict resolution and accountability for the inevitable abuse that accompanies the use of force. He never shied away from a fight, no matter the odds; indeed, it is likely he specifically selected the cases with the longest odds. After all, those involved in these cases were most in need of solidarity, support and a legal ally. This was obvious in the years he spent dedicated to exposing conditions facing Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank and advocating for adherence to international law and recognition of their human rights.

Report: US Takes Tougher Stance On Israeli Settlements

By Matthew Lee and Bradley Klapper for AP. WASHINGTON (AP) — The United States will endorse a tougher tone with Israel in an upcoming international report that takes the Jewish state to task over settlements, demolitions and property seizures on land the Palestinians claim for a future state, diplomats told The Associated Press. The U.S. and its fellow Mideast mediators also will chastise Palestinian leaders for failing to rein in anti-Israeli violence. But the diplomats involved in drafting the document said its primary focus will be a surge of construction in Jewish housing in the West Bank and east Jerusalem. The U.S. approval of the harsh language marks a subtle shift. Washington has traditionally tempered statements by the so-called "Quartet" of mediators with careful diplomatic language, but the diplomats said the U.S. in this case will align itself closer to the positions of the European Union, Russia and the United Nations, who emphasize Israel's role in the Mideast impasse.

Marshall Islands Sue Over Nuclear Weapons

By Staff of The Guardian - The tiny Marshall Islands will seek to persuade the UN’s highest court to take up a lawsuit against India, Pakistan and Britain, which it accuses of failing to halt the nuclear arms race. The international court of justice – founded in 1945 to rule on legal disputes between nations – announced late on Friday dates for separate hearings for the three cases between March 7 and March 16. In the cases brought against India and Pakistan, the court will examine whether the tribunal based in The Hague is competent to hear the lawsuits.

‘Drone Papers’: More Reasons To End Remote-Controlled Wars

By Sonali Kolhatkar in TruthDig. Drone wars are not conventional wars. As “The Drone Papers” and other journalistic investigations reveal, they are part of a program of targeted assassinations of individuals that President Obama personally authorizes for death by drone. The so-called “kill list” is supposed to include known terrorists in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia, and some have been American and British citizens. If the drone wars are simply targeted assassinations, and if the U.S. posthumously designates most victims as enemies, then it is irrelevant how many people are intended for killing and how many are accidentally killed. Rather then differentiating between intended targets and unintended casualties, we ought to view every single person killed by drones as innocent, given that none of them has ever been tried in a court of law or been sentenced to death.

Palestinians Set To Seek Redress In A World Court

President Mahmoud Abbas moved on Wednesday to have the Palestinian Authority join the International Criminal Court, opening a new front in the Middle East conflict that could lead to war-crimes prosecutions of Israeli officials and that risks severe sanctions from Washington and Jerusalem. The step is part of a strategic shift by the Palestinian leadership to pursue statehood in the international arena after decades of failed American-brokered negotiations with Israel. It came a day after the defeat of a United Nations Security Council resolution that demanded an end to Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory by 2017.

Were The Nuremberg Tribunals Only Victors’ Justice?

Whether it was justice only for the benefit of the victors is our challenge. Will we let international law be a tool only for the powerful? Or will we use Nuremberg as a tool for "Reason over Power"? If we let the Nuremberg Principles be used only against the enemies of the powerful it will have been victor's justice and we will be "putting the poisoned chalice to our own lips." If instead we, we the people, work, demand and, succeed in holding our own high criminals and government up to these same laws it will not have been a victor's court. Justice Jackson's words are an important guide today, "The common sense of mankind demands that law shall not stop with the punishment of petty crimes by little people. It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power and make deliberate and concerted use of it to set in motion evils."

Who Else Labels GMOs?

There are currently 64 countries around the world that require the labeling of genetically modified foods. This includes all of the nations in the European Union, Japan, Australia, Brazil, Russia, and China. Most major food producers in America already have labels on their products with GMO ingredients if they sell their products in these foreign markets. GMO labeling requirements like the Oregon Right to Know initiative promote and protect economic development while enabling shoppers to make informed purchasing decisions.

Argentina Sues US For Violation Of Sovereignty

Argentina filed suit against the United States at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The lawsuit argues that the US 2nd Circuit Court decision between Argentina and predatory hold-out funds violates Argentina's sovereignty. The court is a United Nations body and can only hear the case if the United States government agrees to accept the ICJ's jurisdiction. Eric LeCompte, Executive Director of the religious anti-poverty coalition, Jubilee USA Network, releases the following statement: "This case illustrates that we need basic rules of responsible lending and borrowing in place in order to stop predators. "If we had an international bankruptcy process, countries from Argentina to Grenada never would default and predatory actors are forced to sit at the table."
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