Gonzales Confirmation Hearing
On January 5, Alberto Gonzales, the White House counsel whom President Bush nominated to the post of Attorney General, appeared before the Senate for his confirmation hearing. Mr. Gonzales authored the infamous memo that called some provisions of the Geneva Conventions, the international treaty that is critical for protecting American soldiers in wartime, “obsolete” and “quaint.” He helped form the Bush administration’s argument that “unlawful enemy combatants,” including U.S. citizens, could be kept in prison indefinitely without review by the courts. And he solicited and reviewed a memo that concluded that only physical pain “of an intensity akin to that which accompanies serious physical injury such as death or organ failure” would be considered torture punishable by law. Mr. Gonzales thus helped pave the way for the brutal mistreatment of detainees in Iraq, Afghanistan and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and has eroded protections for American soldiers. Even at his confirmation hearing, when asked whether U.S. personnel can legally engage in torture, Gonzales said weakly, “I don’t believe so, but I’d want to get back to you on that and make sure I don’t provide a misleading answer.” Because Global Rights believes that when all countries follow the same universal laws, including those that protect human rights, the world is a safer place, the organization is concerned that Mr. Gonzales’ confirmation to the position of Attorney General would be a dangerous development for the American people and the global community.
- For more on Mr. Gonzales’ record, click here and here.
- For the text of Mr. Gonzales’ confirmation hearing, click here.
- To read letters Global Rights has sent about Mr. Gonzales’ possible confirmation, click here and here.
Continuing Crisis in Sudan
On January 9, Sudan’s government and the rebels in the country’s south signed a peace agreement putting an end to their brutal 21-year conflict. While this agreement, if adhered to, is a welcome development, it unfortunately does not address the crisis still raging in Sudan’s Darfur region. There, conservative estimates have put the death toll at nearly 100,000 and the number of displaced persons at nearly two million. Darfur’s continuing human rights catastrophe was the subject of Global Rights’ annual event, held on December 10, International Human Rights Day. At the event, hundreds of Global Rights’ friends and supporters gathered to hear advocates from Darfur and Kigali, Rwanda discuss the severe human rights abuses that have taken place, and are continuing, in their countries. Just weeks later, the situation in Darfur prompted the U.S. Congress to pass the Comprehensive Peace in Sudan Act, which authorizes $300 million for essential humanitarian aid and to support peace talks for the war-ravaged country. Although the bill was signed into law by President Bush on December 23, the situation on the ground remains dire, with only 1,000 African Union troops in the region to monitor the oft-ignored ceasefire and the humanitarian crisis worsening by the day.
- For more on the situation in Darfur, click here.
- For more on the January 9 peace agreement, click here.
- For suggested actions you can take to help resolve the crisis in Darfur, click here.
Developments in Transitional Justice
Transitional justice is the phrase used to describe the process by which societies emerging from armed conflict or periods of rule by repressive leaders re-establish a commitment to human rights by creating consequences for those who violated those rights in the past. This field saw several critical developments over the past month. On January 4, Chile’s Supreme Court upheld a decision that the country’s former military leader, General Augusto Pinochet, could stand trial for nine kidnappings and one homicide dating back to the 1970s. While Pinochet had been charged with human rights violations previously and had the case dropped when the Supreme Court found him unfit to stand trial, he has since been found to be healthy enough for this second case to proceed. Elsewhere, Cambodia came closer to establishing a tribunal to try the country’s former Khmer Rouge leaders when budget talks with the United Nations were held in Phnom Penh. And at the end of December, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is currently trying former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic among others, received the prosecutor's final indictments (though some remain under seal). The court plans to complete all trials by 2008 and wrap up any appeals by 2010. Finally, in the weeks ahead, Rwanda may finally begin the trial phase of the country’s gacaca courts, set up at the community level to bring to justice thousands of the perpetrators of the country’s genocide.
- For more on the case against Pinochet , click here.
- For more on Cambodia, click here.
- For more on the ICTY, click here.
- For more on Rwanda, click here.
- For more on Global Rights work in the field of transitional justice, click here.
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