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Showing posts from March, 2007

Corporate responsibility for fundamental human rights norms

Corporations are today major influences on our lives. From the 100 largest economies in the world, 51 are corporations while only 49 are states. While it is could be said that economic development coupled with the rule of law and democracy could be the one best for the entire spectrum of human rights, corporations, especially some transnational corporations, often avoid any from of legal responsibility when they commit human rights violations. Then there is inequality in international legal system. International Law on Foreign Investment guarantees protection to corporations from loosing their investments when investing in developing countries with at times fragile economic and legal systems of the. This is coupled with wide several bilateral or multilateral investment treaties which require States to equally treat foreign investors. In turn, corporations are not asked in any international legal instrument to comply at minimum with fundamental human rights norms. This inequality derive

Fair Trial or Water Boarding?

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It emerged today that Khalid Sheikh Mohammed confessed to the killing of American journalist Daniel Pearl, who was killed in Pakistan in 2002. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, who was apprehended by the American forces in Pakistan in 2003, confessed before a military tribunal at the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba - the centre where the US keeps more than 400 detainees awaiting trials before the special military tribunals the Bush administration set up in wake of the 9/11 atrocities. Mohammed had previous confessed to planning the attacks of 9/11. In addition to this, Mohammed has confessed to have taken responsibility for the 2002 Bali bombings and has made plans for a line of other terrorist attacks. Pearl was working as a journalist for the Wall Street Journal in Pakistan in 2002 when he was kidnapped and later beheaded. Images of the beheading were distributed by the kidnappers on the internet and made for gruesome viewing of Pearl’s last minutes. While the heinous crimes of 9/11 and Pearl's behea

After Scooter Libby, a Topless Bather is Convicted

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Most States have some archaic laws on their books. Some States choose to enforce them. Malta , an otherwise liberal democracy with European ideals, is one of the latter group. The Times of Malta today reports about a human rights appeal in this case . The facts of the case are quite straightforward. On 20th August 2006 a young lady went to one of Malta's many sandy beaches and bathed 'sans bikini top' . That is pretty much it. I presume that she was surprised to find herself accused of a contravention in terms of Article 338 of the Criminal Code . That article, introduced in 1933, provides that 'every person is guilty of an offence against public order who...in the harbours, on the seashore, or in any other public place, exposes himself naked or is indecently dressed.' The Court of Magistrates found the accused guilty. She was discharged on the condition that she did not commit any other offence within a week. She appealed the judgment on the grounds that it was in

The Abolition of the House of Lords: Confining history to history

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The ongoing constitutional reform in the UK took an unexpected but welcome turn yesterday when the House of Commons voted to replace the House of Lords with a completely elected second chamber. Britain was a pioneer of democratic reform in centuries past but resistance to change has left this State with an Attorney General who straddles all three branches of government, a legislative chamber that is composed of political appointees and an electoral system that guarantees perverse results to the detriment of any semblance of proportional representation. Although it isn’t clear that yesterday’s Commons vote will bear fruit, it seems like the ball is rolling. The Lords will resist the measure but the transformation of this State looks inevitable. Britain is far from achieving an acceptable constitutional settlement but there is an unprecedented consensus for modernisation. The coming years should be interesting from a constitutional perspective. The current level of public scrutiny may e

Scooter Libby Convicted

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"Are you ready for that great Atomic Power?" -Charlie Louvin I. Lewis Libby, aka "Scooter" was convicted yesterday for lying to a grand jury and FBI agents. Libby was Vice-President Cheney's chief of staff. The New York Times has a story here . Slate has an excellent feature as well. NPR has audio here , where you can hear interviews from many of the players involved. This is a conviction stemming out of the leak of the identity of CIA agent Valerie Wilson, after her husband diplomat Joseph Wilson was sent to Nigeria to look into claims that Iraq had been attempting to purchase "yellow cake", a substance which could be refined and made into a nuclear weapon. He found no evidence that Iraq was attempting to acquire the material, and when President Bush made such claims at the state of the union address, he publicly criticized the claims. In response, the identity of his wife, Valerie Wilson, was disclosed to the press. Libby was convicted of lyi