October 29

On this day in ...
... 2005, more than 8 months after the Valentine's Day bombing that killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and others dead in downtown Beirut, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad issued a decree forming a "special judicial committee" of officials in the government's law enforcement and judiciary services, and instructed it, according to a news report, "to cooperate with the independent International Investigating Committee and with the Lebanese judicial authorities in all what is linked to procedures of the investigation clarified by the decree."
That U.N. investigation commission would give rise to the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. As for Assad, his crackdown in his own country this last year and a half has led to calls – some recounted in IntLawGrrls' Syria posts – that he be held accountable before some international criminal forum.

(Prior October 29 posts are here, here, here, here, and here.)

On September 16

On this day in ...

... 1982 (30 years ago today), the BBC published reports that in the midst of civil war in Lebanon, over a thousand Palestinian refugees had been "been killed during a 24-hour rampage by Lebanese militia in West Beirut" (map credit), at the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps. Links between that Christian Phalangist militia and the Israeli government prompted a judicial inquiry in Israel; the inquiry's report led to the 1983 resignation of Ariel Sharon, then Minister of Defense (though he'd be elected Prime Minister in 2001, and would serve till a 2006 stroke, which incapacitates him to this day). Efforts by survivors to sue extraterritorially on allegations of crimes against humanity failed, as detailed by IntLawGrrls contributor Deena Hurwitz in her "Universal Jurisdiction and the Dilemmas of International Criminal Justice: The Sabra and Shatila Case in Belgium," published as a chapter in Human Rights Advocacy Stories (2009), which Deena edited along with colleagues Margaret L. Satterthwaite and Doug Ford.

(Prior September 16 posts are here, here, here, here, and here.)

On August 20

On this day in ...
... 1982 (30 years ago today), a multinational force arrived in Lebanon, site of civil war since 1975. The force, which included 800 U.S. Marines, was tasked with overseeing Palestinian withdrawal from Lebanon. (credit for 1982 photo of Navy amphibian arriving in Beirut) As stated here, it was "a problem-plagued mission that would stretch into 17 months and leave 262 U.S. servicemen dead," as well as scores of French soldiers – most of them killed in suicide bombing attacks on October 23, 1983.

(Prior August 20 posts are here, here, here, here, and here.)

Special Tribunal for Lebanon on jurisdiction

Special Tribunal for Lebanon, Leidschendam, the Netherlands (credit)

Today the Special Tribunal for Lebanon confirmed its own jurisdiction, rejecting claims to the contrary by defense counsel.
The judgment was issued by a Trial Chamber comprising Presiding Judge Robert Roth, former law dean of the University of Geneva, along with Judges Micheline Braidy, who served as a national judge in Lebanon, and David Re of Australia, formerly a prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and an international judge at Bosnia's War Crimes Court in Sarajevo.
The decision paves the way for the trial in absentia of 4 men accused in the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. The current trial date is March 25, 2013.
The 3-page Decision on the Defence Challenges to the Jurisdiction and Legality of the Tribunal in Prosecutor v. Ayyash, dated last Friday and filed today, is available in English here.

On March 23

On this day in ...
... 1978, fewer than 2 weeks after Israel invaded Lebanon following an attack on Israel for which the Palestine Liberation Organization claimed responsibility, the 1st contingent of peacekeeping troops comprising UNIFIL, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon, arrived in the region. The force had been established by the U.N. Security Council in Resolutions 425 and 426, which also called upon Israel to cease fire and withdraw. Israel eventually withdrew in 2000, but crises have erupted in the border territory since then. UNIFIL's mandate has repeatedly been renewed, most recently, by way of Security Council Resolution 2004 (August 2011) .

(Prior March 23 posts are here, here, here, here, and here.)

Bellemare on Lebanon

The Prosecutor for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon is looking forward to his day in court.
So indicated that Prosecutor, Daniel A. Bellemare (right), last week in Ottawa, Canada. (photo credit)
Bellemare spoke at a conference about which we've posted here and here: "Globalization of Crime - Criminal Justice Responses," cosponsored by 2 Vancouver-based groups the International Society for the Reform of Criminal Law and the International Centre for Criminal Law Reform & Criminal Justice Policy.
Since he was appointed in March 2009, Bellemare has seen the Tribunal, set up in the wake of the 2005 Beirut assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister, Rafik Hariri, and others, take shape. Judges have been appointed to serve at the Tribunal headquarters, in a suburb of The Hague, Netherlands. Investigations have been undertaken. Developments in 2011 include:
►On February 16, pursuant to Rule 68(G), added to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence last November, the Appeals Chamber delivered to the Pre-Trial Judge an Interlocutory Decision on the Applicable Law: Terrorism, Conspiracy, Homicide, Perpetration, Cumulative Charging (available in Arabic, English, and French here). The decision set forth the meaning of "terrorism" in Tribunal proceedings. It represents an interpretation of Lebanese law somewhat "expanded," Bellemare said of the definition, about which this 'Grrl's written a skeptical post.
► On June 28, Pre-Trial Judge Daniel Fransen confirmed an indictment, but ordered it sealed for the time being.
► On July 8, Judge Fransen issued international arrest warrants, continued the sealing order, and authorized the prosecution to ask Interpol to issue a red notice (prior post), or "wanted person alert," for each indictee.
► 10 days later, on July 28, the same Pre-Trial Judge granted Bellemare's request to lift confidentiality a wee bit, so that the following information could "be immediately disseminated in public fora": "(i) full name and aliases; (ii) date and place of birth, nationality, last known address, father's name, passport number and civil registration number; (iii) charges against him; and (iv) photographs."
Thus it is now officially known that 4 Lebanese men are under indictment for "crimes involving the use of weapons/explosives" and "terrorism" in connection with the Hariri killing: Salim Jamil Ayyash, 47; Mustafa Amine Badreddine, 50; Hussein Hassan Oneissi, 37, and Assad Hassan Sabra, 34.
Pretty much everything else about the prosecution, however, remains secret. That secrecy has created a vacuum, filled in Beirut with all manner of conjecture.
And so Bellemare awaits his day in court.
Acknowledging the rampant rumor mill, he told his Ottawa audience:

'We have to be patient, to wait for an appropriate time. My answer to that is "See you in court."'

Acknowledging that a segment of society in Lebanon (flag at left) is strongly in favor of the Tribunal while another is strongly opposed, Bellemare asserted that "a huge slice" is undecided, and that once its full contents are unsealed, "the indictment will will make up their minds."
That public reading of the indictment may occur in a courtroom devoid of defendants.
Unique among contemporary international/ized criminal fora, the Tribunal is permitted to conduct trials in absentia. This provision in Article 22 of the Tribunal Statute has caused consternation even among "some donors," Bellemare said. He added that he is prepared if necessary to prosecute in this manner, "though it is not my preferred option."

On November 23

On this day in ...
... 1984, the U.N. General Assembly adopted Resolution 39/17, discussing the "Importance of the universal realization of the right of peoples to self-determination and of the speedy granting of independence to colonial countries and peoples for the effective guarantee and observance of human rights." Occasioning the restatement of the self-determination right were a laundry list of events: continuing apartheid in South Africa, occupation of Namibia and part of Angola by South Africa, and recent invasion of Lebanon by Israel.

(Prior November 23 posts are here, here, and here.)

On October 20

On this day in ...

... 2005 (5 years ago), a commission appointed by the U.N. released a report which attributed the February car-bomb death of Lebanon's former Prime Minister to "a carefully planned terrorist act organized by Syrian and Lebanese intelligence services," the The New York Times reported. German prosecutor Detlev Mehlis, who led the commission that produced what came to be called the Mehlis Report on the death of Rafik Hariri, told the Post: "'The assassination of 14 February 2005 was carried out by a group with an extensive organization and considerable resources and capabilities.'" In 2007, as we've posted, the U.N. Security Council would establish a Special Tribunal for Lebanon at The Hague, Netherlands. to examine the case. To date the tribunal (logo at left; prior posts) has issued no formal charges against anyone. (Last week it appointed its appeals judges; from a look at the tribunal's website, it appears that all its judges are men.) Just a few days ago, a U.S. State Department representative visited Beirut to insist that the tribunal "be allowed to work independently," according to a United Press International report. It quoted him as follows:

'We believe that the tribunal should be allowed to complete its work on its
own timeline and without outside interference until those responsible for the assassinations … are brought to justice.'

(Prior October 20 posts are here, here, and here.)

On August 5

On this day in ...
... 2006, 2 of the 5 permanent Council members, the United States and France, circulated a draft U.N. Security Council resolution calling for a ceasefire in Lebanon, site for nearly 4 weeks of warfare between Israel and Hezbollah. (map credit) The proposal made little headway on account of opposition by Middle East countries. The New York Times reported:

The stalling of progress at the United Nations reflected an outpouring of condemnation across the Middle East, demonstrating a conviction that the proposed resolution spoke to all of Israel's demands, backed by the United States, without addressing those of Hezbollah.

On August 11 the Council would pass a revised ceasefire measure, Resolution 1701 (2006).

(Prior August 5 posts are here, here, and here.)

Cluster bomb ban in force

Chalk up another law regulating the way that war is waged.
The Convention on Cluster Munitions today enters into force for the 30-plus countries that have joined the treaty since it was adopted on May 30, 2008, in Dublin, Ireland. To date this this legal prohibition on the use, production, stockpiling and transfer of cluster munitions has been ratified by these countries : Albania, Austria, Belgium, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Comoros, Croatia, Denmark, Equador, Fiji, France, Germany, The Holy See, Ireland, Japan, The Lao People’s Democratic Republic, Lesotho, Luxembourg, The former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Malawi, Mali, Malta, Mexico, Moldova, Montenegro, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Niger, Norway, Samoa, San Marino, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, Spain, United Kingdom, Uruguay and Zambia.
This November in Vientiane, Laos, states parties will assemble for the 1st time.
The campaign for more states parties to the treaty continues. (Prior IntLawGrrls posts) Campaign tools include the International Committee of the Red Cross publication Death in the fields, a moving comic book, by Swiss-Lebanese cartoonist Chappatte. It depicts the harm that cluster bombs wreak on children and their communities in South Lebanon.

On March 17

On this day in ...
... 1978, the BBC reported on the flight of "[t]housands of Palestinian civilians" following "a third day of Israeli attacks in southern Lebanon." While "[h]eavy artillery shells fell within Israeli-controlled southern Lebanon" and international diplomats endeavored to put an end to the fighting, refugees headed for Beirut in "vans, lorries and old buses," and the death toll reached 150. The offensive was reported to be "in retaliation for the 11 March bus hijacking in Tel Aviv in which 35 people were killed and 100 others were injured." Israeli troops would leave southern Lebanon in June of the same year.

(Prior March 17 posts are here, here, and here)

On March 9

On this day in ...
... 1957, signed into U.S. law was "the Eisenhower Doctrine." President Dwight D. Eisenhower (left) proclaimed, in signing a congressional resolution embodying the doctrine he'd announced 3 months earlier, that the law constituted

'a further demonstration of the will of the American people to preserve peace and freedom in the world.'

Specifically, as reported by The New York Times, the resolution "establish[ed] a policy of United States resistance to Communist aggression in that strategic oil-rich area" of the world known as the Middle East. According to the State Department's website, the 1st "real test" of the doctrine came a year later when, on request of the Lebanese government, Eisenhower sent U.S. troops to Lebanon "as a signal to the Soviet Union that it would act to protect its interests in the Middle East."

(Prior March 9 posts are here, here, and here)

On September 20

On this day in ...
... 1984 (25 years ago today), at least 20 persons died and dozens more were injured when a explosion at the U.S. Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon, "ripped off" the front of the 6-week-old, 5-story building (right). Setting off the suicide bomb, according to the BBC, was "a member of the extremist group, the Islamic Jihad," who "drove at high speed up the main drive of the consulate in a truck containing 500 kg (1,102 lb) of high explosive." U.S. Ambassador Reginald Bartholomew "was buried under rubble" but survived.

(Prior September 20 posts are here and here.)

On July 3

On this day in ...
... 1927, during a local plebiscite, Uruguay became the 1st South American country to permit women to vote. (photo credit) As described and depicted in this essay, suffrage was extended so that Uruguayan women could vote in a referendum on how to organize government in the area known as Cerro Chato. Women would not be permitted to vote in national elections in Uruguay until 1938.
... 1940, Nayla Moawad (below right) was born into a "prominent" family in Bsharri, Lebanon. (photo credit) Following education in Lebanon and at Cambridge University in England, she worked as a journalist, then married René Moawad, who would serve as President of Lebanon for 17 days before being assassinated on November 22, 1989. Thereafter Nayla Moawad herself ran for office. She's served as a member of Lebanon's National Assembly since 1991, and as Minister for Social Affairs since 2005. As stated in this sidebar to her 2008 Spiegel Online interview, "She is known for her outspoken criticism of Hezbollah and Syrian hegemony over Lebanon."

(Prior July 3 posts are here and here.)

Regulating the Domestic Sphere: The Role of States

Given the potential for abuse and widespread lack of regulation, working conditions in the domestic sphere are particularly perilous. Add temporary or nonexistent immigration status to the mix, and the situation becomes even more dire. Though the examples in this post focus on the situation of migrant domestic laborers, largely Asian and female, who work in the Middle East, such abuse has been amply documented in the United States and presumably occurs with regularity around the globe. Stories abound of exploitation ranging from unpaid wages to rape; while awareness of these issues has been raised in recent years, legal frameworks for protection in states that receive such workers are often non-existent or underenforced. Moreover, labor-sending states should be playing a larger role in establishing and enforcing the rights of migrant domestic laborers.

Receiving states are an obvious starting point for protection frameworks, but domestic workers are often excluded from labor law protections. In Lebanon, for example, which hosts over 200,000 migrant domestic workers, mainly Filipina and Sri Lankan women, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights and the International Labor Organization have only just succeeded in creating a common set of standards, in the form of a unified contract, to protect migrant domestic workers. The contract includes basic rights to adequate food and clothing and a private place to sleep, limits workdays to 10 hours per day and 6 days per week, and requires employers to provide monthly paychecks as well as health insurance for domestic employees. Yet the employer still has the right to hold workers' passports, may terminate employment at will, and most importantly faces no enforcement mechanism for violations of the contract. While uniform standards are preferable to the void that existed previously, rights of domestic migrant workers must be given enforceable legal status before they will be taken seriously by employers.

Sending states can also play a role in protecting their workers abroad. Given the financial benefits migrant worker-exporting states reap in the form of remittances -- for example, in 2007, Bangladeshis working in Saudi Arabia and the UAE and Filipinos working in the Arab States each sent home over $2 billion while Sri Lankans remitted $3 billion -- they should recognize the importance of protecting the physical and psychological well-being of these workers. I've blogged here about the Philippines' creative program to protect migrant workers abroad, which offers support to laborers prior to departure, during their work stint, and for repatriation. At the other end of the spectrum, some nations ban their citizens from working in countries notorious for abusing their workers or ban women from participating in migrant labor flows -- a dangerous step likely to push migrant workers underground and eliminate access to protective services. Given the failure of the UN Convention on the Protection of the Rights of All Migrant Workers to attract signatories from migrant-receiving states, sending states might negotiate bilateral treaties protecting the rights of migrant workers, ensuring that those working in the domestic sphere are covered by labor laws. Short of a such a serious commitment, states could ameliorate the situation of their workers abroad through relatively simple programs such as pre-departure rights presentations to migrants and effective outreach and support programs within embassies and consulates.

On March 19

On this day in ...
... 1978, the U.N. Security Council passed Resolutions 425 and 426, which called upon Israel to withdraw all its troops from Lebanon, and further established the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL).
... 1937, France accorded women status in civil society. Specifically, to proceed in any civil action, judicial or administrative, a woman could no longer be required to get her husband's approval.

(Prior March 19 posts are here and here.)

A really bad international legal development

The 11 judges of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon were sworn in yesterday.
Who are they, you ask?
Can't say.
In what has to be among the more backward developments of the current proliferation of internationalized forums for criminal adjudication, these judges' "identities are being kept secret for their safety." So went CNN's uncritical account of the event.
Marlise Simons of The New York Times didn't even bother to remark on her failure to name the judges, though she did volunteer that "only four" are Lebanese. Simons then proceeded to describe what she deemed "an impressive arsenal of security devices, with an extra focus on forestalling car bombs," to be found at the Hague-area headquarters (below left; credit) of this new tribunal (prior posts). She told much of her story through "[l]awyers familiar with the court" who "requested anonymity because of the court’s rules" -- whatever that means.
Transparency and publicity are cornerstones of contemporary norms of criminal procedure, and for good reason. Experience -- ranging from the Star Chamber of 17th C. England to the "Faceless Courts" of 20th C. Latin America to the post-9/11 policies of 21st C. United States -- reveals that secrecy invites arbitrary behavior and unfair proceedings.
► On what ground does Special Tribunal for Lebanon go forward in robes of anonymity?
► Why is it that the judges' names are secret when the prosecutor's is not?
► What does its apparent fear of identification portend for the ability of this bench to presume the innocence of any suspect brought before it?
► How can affected communities evaluate the work of this tribunal if they must glimpse it through veils of unnamed sources?
No doubt some will respond that such precautions are necessary, that this tribunal cannot go forward any other way. Such a response begs yet another question:
► Is sending in the lawyers the right way to address insecurity in post-Hariri Lebanon?

On February 26

On this day in ...
... 1957, "one the greatest athletes in American sporting history," Connie Carpenter-Phinney (left), was born in Madison, Wisconsin. The winner of many national and international cycling championships, she won gold in Los Angeles "in the 1984 Olympic road race, the first ever for women." A dozen years earlier, at age 15, she speed-skated for the U.S. team in the Olympics at Sapporo, Japan. She's the 1st woman to have competed in both Summer and Winter Olympic Games. (photo credit)
... 1984 (25 years ago today), approximately 1,000 U.S. Marines left Beirut, Lebanon, thus bringing to an end American military presence in the city. The withdrawal came several months after a bomb blast killed hundreds of U.S.and French servicemembers.

(Prior February 20 posts are here and here.)

On October 23

On this day in ...

... 1983 (25 years ago today), in the midst of civil war in Lebanon, bombs in Beirut devastated barracks of American and French armed forces, killing 241 American servicemembers, nearly all of them Marines, and 58 parachutistes. Although President Ronald Reagan "insist[ed] Marines will remain," the United States withdrew all troops from the country within months. (credit for photo of the President and 1st Lady Nancy Reagan reviewing caskets of U.S. troops who died in the bombing)

... 1989, in 1 country that had led movements in Eastern Europe away from the Warsaw Pact and toward market economies, Hungary became a republic by proclamation of interim President Mátyás Szűrös. The declaration came on the 33d anniversary of the unsuccessful uprising against Soviet control. Free elections would be held the following year. Hungary (flag at left) became a member of NATO in 1999 and of the European Union in 2004.

Conflict in the Caucasus: Restoring Peace and Principle in that Region and the World

Watching for signs of war with Iran, many of us probably took our eyes off other hot spots where President George W. Bush’s imminent departure is a strategic consideration. In this guest post I turn attention to one such hot spot, the Caucasus.
Georgia’s Mikheil Saakashvili (left) launched his military action to regain control of South Ossetia, no doubt with the departure in mind and probably thinking America’s pro-war administration would back him — that President Bush would tamp down any Russian response while watching the Olympics together with Prime Minister Vladimir Putin (above right).
But Saakashvili’s action was unlawful and foolhardy. The world is rightly condemning the disproportionate Russian response. President Bush and both presidential candidates have done so. The McCain and Obama camps have both cited violations of international law — it must, however, be emphasized that among those violations is the Georgian raid.
Georgia’s claim to title of both South Ossetia and Abkhazia is good. Groups in both regions want independence from Georgia on the basis of human rights violations and historic grievances. Violence has erupted among ethnic groups in both places. In the early 1990s, Georgia agreed to the presence of “peacekeeping” troops to keep order. These have mostly been Russian soldiers supporting those who want independence. The agreements clearly do not strip Georgia of title. But they do mean that until they are terminated and foreign troops are given a chance to exit, Georgia has no right to use military force to expel them. These principles were restated most recently in Armed Activities on the Territory of Congo, a 2005 International Court of Justice judgment.
Given its right to be in South Ossetia, Russia also had the right to take defensive action against Georgia. That means, however, only action necessary and proportional to accomplish the purpose of defense (asI detailed here in 2002). Russian bombing beyond South Ossetia, striking civilians — even inadvertently — cannot be justified. (map credit) Israel was heavily criticized in 2006 in its war with Hezbollah in Lebanon for disproportionate force. Israel also had the right to take defensive action against Hezbollah rockets, but bombing far beyond the rocket positions in heavily populated civilian areas was condemned. Surely Russia joined in that condemnation?
Russia’s purpose in its excessive use of force may well be to create a situation where it can make excessive demands in peace negotiations. It may demand independence for Abkhazia and South Ossetia and that Saakashvili step down.
The right response to the Russians is to repeat back the arguments they have been making for years with respect to Kosovo — that territory does not change hands because of human rights violations against inhabitants. (IntLawGrrl Elena Baylis posted concerns here when Kosovo declared independence.) Territory should never change hands because of the unlawful use of force. International law mandates other means and mechanisms of protecting human rights. Indeed, the Russian use of such arguments now — so close to the European and American arguments for Kosovo — must be intentional. Europe and America are hardly in a position to renounce them now when it comes to Georgia.
But China can. It joined Russia in arguing that Kosovo’s independence violates international law. China should be encouraged to join the mediation of this conflict — thus supporting the international rule of law. It will be so much easier then for the next U.S. president to remind China of the international law with respect to human rights, the environment, trade, and peace. Much easier than it has been for President Bush.
Indeed, the time is right for a general renewal of commitment to peace and the international law that supports it in the face of yet another unlawful, foolhardy, and tragic conflict.