April, 18 2014, 04:24pm EDT
Spanish Court Refuses to Close Guantanamo Torture Investigation
Spain's Audiencia Nacional is continuing its investigation into the alleged torture of men formerly detained at Guantanamo prison by U.S. officials, despite recent legislative restrictions stating that Spanish courts can only investigate human rights violations committed abroad if the suspects are present in Spain.
New York, NY
Spain's Audiencia Nacional is continuing its investigation into the alleged torture of men formerly detained at Guantanamo prison by U.S. officials, despite recent legislative restrictions stating that Spanish courts can only investigate human rights violations committed abroad if the suspects are present in Spain. In an order issued yesterday, Judge Pablo Ruz ruled that Spain's obligations under international law to investigate any credible allegation of torture took precedence over the new restrictions, and renewed his request for information from the Obama Administration regarding any U.S.-based investigations into torture allegations.
"We are gratified that the judge rightly placed the demands of the law above any political pressures, in ruling that this effort to hold high-level U.S. officials accountable for their role in the torture of men at Guantanamo prison and other sites can proceed," said Katherine Gallagher, Senior Staff Attorney at the Center for Constitutional Rights. "The court is sending a strong message to the Spanish and U.S. governments that it will uphold its international commitments under the Convention Against Torture to punish and redress torture regardless of who the alleged perpetrator is."
The reforms to Spain's universal jurisdiction law came after a judge in the same court issued arrest warrants for five top Chinese government officials alleging they were responsible for genocide and abuses in Tibet in the 1980s and 1990s. Spain's Popular Party (PP) fast-tracked legislation restricting the court's ability to take on such cases, in an apparent bow to external political pressure and against the strong opposition of human rights advocates. The new restrictions, which went into effect last month, have triggered a flurry of filings followed by decisions from different judges seized with investigations of torture or war crimes committed outside Spain. Thus far, judges have refused to close on-going investigations, including cases involving violations committed in Western Sahara, El Salvador, and the killing of a Spanish journalist in Iraq.
"The Spanish government introduced a law reform contradicting its obligations under international law. We welcome the decision by Judge Ruz to continue the investigations on Guantanamo. Violations of the absolute prohibition of torture must be prosecuted," said Andreas Schueller of the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR).
CCR and ECCHR have both been admitted to the proceedings, as legal representatives for two former Guantanamo detainees. A Spanish resident is among the plaintiffs in the case.
"Judge Ruz has accepted our legal arguments and the case is far from being closed. There is still an opportunity for justice in Spain," said Gonzalo Boye, a Madrid-based lawyer who represents former detainees in the proceedings.
The Center for Constitutional Rights is dedicated to advancing and protecting the rights guaranteed by the United States Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. CCR is committed to the creative use of law as a positive force for social change.
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South Korean Court Hears First Asian Youth Climate Case
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One of South Korea's two highest courts on Tuesday began hearing Asia's first-ever youth-led climate lawsuit, which accuses the country's government of failing to protect citizens from the effects of the worsening, human-caused planetary emergency.
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South Korea's Constitutional Court began hearing a case that accuses the government of having failed to protect 200 people, including dozens of young environmental activists and children, by not tackling climate change https://t.co/XRIGE23KGMÂ pic.twitter.com/snvqBaGGe9
— Reuters (@Reuters) April 23, 2024
Signatories to the 2015 Paris agreement committed to "holding the increase in global average temperature to well below 2°C above preindustrial levels and pursuing efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C."
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Hours after the legislation was passed, French officials announced that at least five people, including a seven-year-old child, had been killed while attempting to cross the English Channel, bound for the U.K. in an overloaded inflatable boat.
At The New Statesman, associate political editor Rachel Cunliffe wrote Tuesday that the tragedy reveals "the flaws of the Rwanda plan," which proponents say could deter migrants from seeking refuge in Britain.
Proponents of the Rwanda plan will inevitably point to today's disaster as further evidence that strong measures are needed to address the issue of Channel crossings. They will accuse Labour and opposition parties of ignoring the human cost of letting this crisis continue and argue that lives are at stake if the government does not act.
[...]
The reality is that a substantial number of people who pay people traffickers large sums of money to crowd them on to a tiny boat do so because they feel they have no other option. Fleeing war and persecution, they are desperate. And so they are prepared to take desperate measures. Measures that sometimes lead to tragedy, but which are deemed necessary given the hopelessness of their situation.
It is hard to see how the threat to send a tiny fraction of those who arrive (Rwanda has said it will only take 150-200 migrants) changes this calculation.
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