Tuesday, 4 October 2011, 17:50

    Message Body

    European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Newsletter No. 20 (October 2011)

    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    UNIVERSAL JUSTICE

    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Jagath Dias, Major General of the Sri Lankan Army during the final stages of the civil war in Sri Lanka and subsequently vice-ambassador for Germany, Switzerland and the Vatican until September 2011, faces several criminal investigations in case of his re-entry to Europe. Based on a Dossier by ECCHR about Jagath Dias, the Swiss Federal Prosecutor announced the initiation of a formal criminal investigation against Jagath Dias in case of his return to the country. Allegations of crimes under international law during the Sri Lankan civil war are already under preliminary investigation in Germany.


    read more…


    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Colonia Dignidad, Chile:

    Criminal complaint filed against Hartmut Hopp

    On 24 August 2011, ECCHR filed a criminal complaint against Hartmut Hopp to the Krefeld Public Prosecutor. The complaint accuses Hopp of participating in cases of severe child sexual abuse between 1993 and 1997, and in the disappearance and murder of three dissidents in 1976. All acts, it is alleged, were committed in Colona Dignidad, Chile. Colonia Dignidad, which has an estimated population of around 280 people, has been the site of frequent human rights violations over the last four decades. During the Pinochet Regime (1973-1990), political opponents were sent to the village to be tortured, murdered and disappeared. German and Chilean children in the area suffered decades of systematic sexual abuse. Hartmut Hopp was one of the community’s leaders.


    read more…


    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Crimes against humanity in Bahrain

    In September 2011, ECCHR sent an advisory opinion to the Bahrain Independent Commission of Inquiry. The statement seeks to draw the commission’s attention to the cases of two persons who suffered severe injuries on 25. March 2011. The men – both of whom are being represented by ECCHR – were shot at by Bahraini security forces before being forcibly removed from hospital, imprisoned, and abused. These two cases stand as an example of countless other human rights violations committed against protesters by Bahrain’s security forces in Spring 2011.


    read more…


    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Podium discussion on state immunity held in The Hague

    On 12 September 2011, ECCHR held a panel discussion together with the German lawyers’ association RAV (Republikanischer Anwältinnen und -anwälteverein). To coincide with the opening of the public hearing before the International Court of Justice in the case of Germany vs. Italy, Professor Michael Bothe presented an expert opinion on the immunity of states in cases of massive human rights violations. Commissioned by Amnesty International Germany, the opinion calls for the suspension of state immunity in cases where severe human rights violations have been committed. In support of his argument, Bothe referred to a number of current developments in international law. Attorneys Martin Klingner and Axel Hagedorn then reported on their experiences in domestic proceedings against other states and against the United Nations. At the center of this discussion are the compensation claims filed by Greek victims of Second World War massacres and survivors and victims’relatives of the Srebrenica genocide.

    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    EVENTS

    19 OCtober 2011, 6.30 p.m., ECCHR-Office

    Palestine at the United Nations: Recent developments and their implication for strategic human rights litigation and accountability

    With Mr. Raji Sourani, founder and director of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights

    read more…

    31 OCtober 2011, 7 p.m., ECCHR-OFFICE

    Counterterrorism and Intelligence Cooperation

    On the occasion of Germany’s hearing before the UN Committee Against Torture in Geneva, Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and ECCHR invite you to a shared presentation of their alternative reports.

    More information coming soon…

    12 NOVEMBER 2011, 7 p.m., ECCHR-Office

    Exhibition and Office Party

    tl_files/Bilder/luftwurzel_low.gif


    With the Argentinean-Armenian artist Silvina Der-Meguerditchian and DJ INAT

    read more…

    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Announcements

    Wolfgang Kaleck has been elected to the Advisory Board of the Forum for International Criminal and Humanitarian Law (FICHL).


    read more…


    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Donations

    ECCHR is registered at Amtsgericht Charlottenburg and is inscribed as a non-profit association at the competent tax office. The Human Rights work of the ECCHR needs your support. Please help us in the legal fight against grave human rights violations and the legal analysis of such cases. The ECCHR is a member in the Human Rights Forum (Forum Menschenrechte), the Coalition Against Impunity (Koalition gegen Straflosigkeit. Wahrheit und Gerechtigkeit für die deutschen Verschwundenen in Argentinien) and the Network for Corporate Accountability (Netzwerk für Unternehmensverantwortung Corporate Accountability (CorA)). Donations are tax deductible.

    Donation Account: 8853607011

    Berliner Volksbank,

    Bank Code: 100 900 00

    IBAN: DE77100900008853607011

    BIC: BEVODEBB

    ECCHR - European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights

    Imprint

    Editorial:

    European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights e.V. (ECCHR)

    General Secretary Wolfgang Kaleck

    Zossener Str. 55-58, Aufgang D

    D – 10961 Berlin

    Tel: +49 (0) 30 40 04 85 90

    Fax: +49 (0) 30 40 04 85 92

    info@ecchr.eu

    http://www.ecchr.eu

    Design: Bureau Mario Lombardo