Zimbabwe: black farmer evicted despite Tribunal ruling

20th October 2009
HARARE – A pioneering black Zimbabwean commercial farmer has been evicted from his farm in defiance of a Southern African Development Community (SADC) Tribunal ruling barring his eviction.
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Africa backs Darfur crimes court

30th October 2009
African leaders have agreed to establish a new court to bring justice to the Sudanese region of Darfur. The hybrid court would consist of Sudanese and foreign judges appointed by the African Union in consultation with the Khartoum government.
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Zimbabwe: 236 arrested, 12 soldiers tortured to death in CIO search for weapons

31st October 2009
HARARE -- At least 12 soldiers died last week after they were brutally tortured by military intelligence agents following the disappearance of an assortment of guns and bombs from Pomona barracks, we can reveal. (Pictured: UN torture expert Manfred Nowak – Was deported from Zimbabwe last week)
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ICC: National Lawyers Guild Calls for Urgent Action on Goldstone Recommendations

30th October 2009
NEW YORK - October 30 - The National Lawyers Guild (NLG) calls on the United States not to block Security Council action on the Goldstone Report concerning war crimes and possible crimes against humanity committed in Gaza when it votes in the UN Security Council.
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ICC: Gaza war crimes: Why did the PA stall the vote on the Goldstone Report?

30th October 2009
Hours before the UN Human Rights Council voted in Geneva to endorse the Goldstone Report, the Palestinian Authority (PA) bowed to US and Israeli pressure and agreed to defer the vote until March 2010.
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Sudan cautiously welcomes proposals on Darfur

30th October 2009
Sudan's vice president on Thursday cautiously welcomed proposals from a panel of African leaders to end conflict in Darfur but said the question of a special court to try those charged with atrocities needed further discussion
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Zimbabwe: UNHRC must act on Zim - Nowak

29th October 2009
Johannesburg - The United Nations torture expert Manfred Nowak said on Thursday he would recommend that the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) take action against Zimbabwe after his expulsion from the country.
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SALC in the News: Women up in arms against forced sterilisation

23rd October 2009
We have the right to choose.” This was the key message women conveyed when they marching against the alleged sterilisation of HIV-positive women in state hospitals this week. Rosa Namises of Women’s Solidarity Namibia, said the alleged sterilisation of women without their consent is a gross violation of human rights.
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ICC: Nigeria: Yar'Adua asked to order Al-Bashir's arrest or.....

25th October 2009
Nigeria west africa - Four civil society organizations on Saturday asked Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua to use his 'position and leadership to ensure the immediate arrest of President Omar al-Bashir of Sudan", who is expected to attend the forthcoming African Union (AU) Peace and Security Council meeting on Darfur in Abuja, starting 29 October.
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ICC: Human Rights Groups Urge Nigeria to Arrest Sudan's President

26th October 2009
A coalition of human rights groups is calling on Nigerian President Umaru Yar'Adua to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashire when he comes to Nigeria this Thursday, October 29 to attend an African Union-sponsored talks on the crisis in Sudan's Darfur region.
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Botswana: Khama deports the man who 'insulted' him

21st October 2009
As everybody was lost in the electioneering process, President Ian Khama quietly prepared deportation orders for a man alleged to have dared to say something to the effect that he could be of a different sexual orientation. Sayed Fakhan Shah, a businessman of Indian origin has been slapped with a deportation order signed by Khama himself.
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Zimbabwe: NGO leaders held in Zim

26th October 2009
Harare - The heads of the umbrella organisation for all of Zimbabwe's non-governmental organisations were arrested on Sunday amid worsening signs of the disintegration of the country's fragile coalition government.
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Zimbabwe: Zim withdraws invite to UN Rapporteur on Torture

28th October 2009
Zimbabwe has withdrawn an invitation to a United Nations (UN) expert on torture citing a busy schedule because of a visit to the country by the regional bloc’s ministerial to try and unlock a political deadlock between President Robert Mugabe and Prime Minister, Morgan Tsvangirai.
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Zimbabwe: SADC jets in as attacks on MDC & NGO’s escalate

28th October 2009
With a SADC team heading to Zimbabwe Wednesday a leading human rights lawyer said there is a disturbing escalation of conflict and violence in the country. Recent attacks on MDC activists, both in urban and rural areas, have escalated the tense relations between Morgan Tsvangirai and Robert Mugabe. The human rights defender, who asked not to be named, warned that the country was on the brink of a major catastrophe, which if not addressed ‘immediately and decisively’ would plunge Zimbabwe into a crisis worse that last year’s.
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South Africa: AU: Back Mbeki Panel Call for Darfur Prosecutions

29th October 2009
The African Union (AU) should support the High-Level Panel on Darfur's call for prosecutions to provide justice for victims in Darfur, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch said that the panel's recommendation to create a "hybrid court" - along with establishing a truth and reconciliation commission and strengthening the domestic criminal justice system - could usefully supplement justice efforts in Darfur, but not replace International Criminal Court (ICC) cases. The panel's report is being presented to a meeting of the AU Peace and Security Council in Abuja on October 29.
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ICC: Israel signals co-operation on Gaza inquiry

29th October 2009
Israel is moving closer to setting up its own inquiry into the recent Gaza war, in a move designed to ease international pressure without acceding to demands for a full-blown independent committee of investigation.
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ICC: The new US point man on war crimes: Stephen Rapp

29th October 2009
madrid - New US ambassador for war crimes Stephen Rapp knows firsthand what it takes to prosecute man's inhumanity to man. The former Iowa district attorney has already prosecuted participants in the Rwanda genocide and former Liberian strongman Charles Taylor.
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Zimbabwe: UN rights expert deported from Zim

29th October 2009
Harare - United Nations human rights expert Manfred Nowak was deported from Zimbabwe on Thursday after being detained by security officials on arrival overnight, a U.N. official said. "We are boarding the plane to Johannesburg now," the official said by cellphone from Harare airport.
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ICC: Former South African President Thabo Mbeki is set to unveil his report on violence in Sudan's Darfur region.

29th October 2009
He will reveal a proposal for a new "hybrid court" to examine human rights abuses. He will present his findings to other African heads of state in the Nigerian capital Abuja.
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Zimbabwe:Zimbabwe pulls out of SADC court over land reforms

1st October 2009
HARARE – Zimbabwe has pulled out of a regional court, which ruled that 78 white farmers can keep their farms because Harare’s land reforms programme discriminated against them.
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United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict:The Goldstone Report

1st October 2009
Appointment of the United Nations Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza Conflict . On 3 April 2009, the President of the Human Rights Council established an international independent Fact Finding Mission with the mandate “to investigate all violations of international human rights law and international humanitarian law that might have been committed at any time in the context of the military operations that were conducted in Gaza during the period from 27 December 2008 and 18 January 2009, whether before, during or after.”
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Gaza report hobbled by diplomacy?

1st October 2009
The publication two weeks ago of a UN-commissioned report into alleged war crimes during Israel's January 2009 offensive on the Gaza Strip was always going to be controversial.
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Britain becomes Palestinian-Israeli legal battleground

2nd October 2009
Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak had a narrow escape when he visited Britain earlier this week. Immediately prior to his meeting with British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, a group of Palestinians attempted to use the court system to have him arrested for alleged war crimes. Their bid failed.
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UN delays action on Gaza war report

2nd October 2009
The UN today put off action on a report criticising Israel's actions during the war in Gaza after Palestinian leaders suddenly dropped their support for a resolution, apparently under heavy US pressure.
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Zimbabwe: Ten 'MDC' students kicked off presidential scholarship program

7th October 2009
Ten Zimbabwean students at the University of Fort Hare in South Africa have been kicked out of a Presidential Scholarship Fund, for allegedly supporting the MDC. (Pictured: Fort Hare University) The programme is meant to assist under-privileged students, using taxpayer's money, but has been dogged over the years by accusations of being politicized in favour of beneficiaries aligned to ZANU PF
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SALC in the News: SA Must Insist On Justice Without Exception

9th October 2009
Johannesburg — LISTEN to Israel. Listen to Sudan. In their responses to allegations that their officials have committed international crimes they sound remarkably similar. Each maintains it is the victim of selective scapegoating, motivated by prejudice. Each asks: why have we been targeted unfairly for our conduct in Gaza/Darfur, when no investigations have been conducted into the US invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan?
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UN to reopen debate on Gaza war crimes report (Roundup)

13th October 2009
The United Nations Human Rights Council said Tuesday it will hold a special session to debate the war crimes report of Justice Richard Goldstone later this week.
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Botswana: HIV, Aids legislation crucial

14th October 2009
Legal response in the form of legislation in the area of HIV and Aids within the Sadc region has been slow and inadequate, but rather than cite lack of relevant domestic laws and turning away litigants, the courts can turn to international law for guidance, a prominent judge has said.
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Namibia: Sterilisation case goes to High Court

16th October 2009
WINDHOEK – Six of the 15 cases involving HIV-positive women who were allegedly sterilised without their consent will be heard by the High Court starting next week.
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Rights council adopts Gaza report

16th October 2009
The UN human rights council has endorsed the Goldstone report on Israel's war on Gaza, which accused the military of using disproportionate force as well as laying charges of war crimes on Israeli occupation forces and Hamas.
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