RightsBase

human rights news & views

RightsBase regrets an indefinite hiatus

It's the kind of day when I'm itching to blog: about the long-awaited Charles Taylor verdict or the Australian government's callous and disappointing response to the UN Human Rights Committee in refusing to repatriate Stefan Nystrom to his own country, as is his right under article 12(4) of the ICCPR. Or last week's alarming development, […]

UN seeks human rights experts

The United Nations wants to hear about people suited to the top human rights positions known as ‘Special Procedures mandate-holders’.  Also called Special Rapporteurs, Special Representatives or Independent Experts, or appointed to Working Groups, these leading experts investigate human rights violations and their causes. There are presently 13 country mandates concerned with the human rights […]

UN human rights defenders need your protection

A crucial feature of the UN human rights armoury is under threat: the Special Procedures. Some members of the newly constituted Human Rights Council are anxious to end this form of scrutiny, to the alarm of human rights NGOs. The credibility of the UN itself is at stake, says Amnesty International. The United Nations, like […]

US citizen indicted for torture committed abroad

Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia wanted on 17 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity, made headlines last year when he was finally arrested in Nigeria and handed over to be tried by the UN-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone. Now the law has caught up with his son, Charles ‘Chuckie’ Taylor, a […]