Mental Meanderings

Human Rights Watch is being heavily criticised by some for its approach to the Israel/Lebanon conduct. In particular, Avi Bell criticises (1, 2, 3) Ken Roth for being anti-Semitic and Kevin Heller (1, 2, 3) and Rosa Brooks (LA Times) protest. This wouldn’t be the first time a human rights organisation is accused of being anti-Semitic, or at least anti-Israel, but at some stage supporters of Israel will have to accept that the country is not above the law. Meanwhile the new Human Rights Council appoints a committee to consider international law violations in the conflict.

The UN Security Council finally adopted a resolution to send a peacekeeping troop to Darfur. China, Russia and Qatar abstained, but the peacekeepers won’t be going until the Sudan agrees. That’s not likely to happen any time soon.

The UN Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities is introduced. Will Ireland ratify and, if we do, will make any difference to, in particular, our abysmal approach to education for people with disabilities? The US won’t sign, but then again if they did they’d just deem it non-self-executing anyway… (heavier Yale Law Journal article explaining non-self-execution in the context of INS v St Cyr – good explanation)

Former Presidential Candidate, Ollanta Humala (a.k.a. Captain Carlos), has been indicted for violations of human rights in Peru, including torture. If he’d been elected would he have enjoyed immunity from prosecution??