¿Sabes qué pasó? Weekly Newsletter from September 25 to October 1.
The dispute between Ukraine and Russia before the International Court of Justice is progressing.
The first week of hearings in the proceedings brought by Ukraine before the ICJ for alleged violations of the Genocide Convention concluded last Thursday, the 21st.
Russia claimed that the cause of its invasion was to defend the Russian-speaking citizens of Ukraine, who, according to the Kremlin, were being subjected to genocide. In view of the falsity of this casu belli, Ukraine argues that the justification is illegal – since the Convention’s requirements for intervening to stop genocide are not met – and therefore demands that the ICJ order a cessation of hostilities and oblige Russia to pay compensation.
For its defense, Russia has relied on contesting formal aspects of the dispute, specifically denying that the ICJ’s jurisdiction in the face of the particularity of Ukraine’s allegations – it is customary for this Convention to be invoked upon the allegation of the existence of genocide.
Apart from the strictly legal issue, this process is being another area in which the international community is showing its support for Ukraine. At the beginning of the process, up to 33 States requested to intervene and have been present at these hearings to defend the international rule of law.
Puedes leer la noticia completa aquí.
Brazilian SC ruling boosts indigenous peoples’ rights.
The Supreme Court has ruled on the case of the dispossession of land from the Xokleng people, who were expelled from their ancestral territories in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
In 1996, their right to the Ibirama La-Klãnõ lands of 15,000 hectares was recognized, but the Xokleng appealed the decision, as they considered the compensation to be insufficient, since their ancestral lands were much larger. In the appeal process, the Santa Catarina state court used the “time frame” argument – the indigenous people claiming rights to some territory must prove that they inhabited that land in 1988, when the Constitution was signed – to dismiss the indigenous claims.
This basis for the court’s decision was manifestly unfair and ahistorical, since it ignored the fact that the Xokleng were expelled long before that date.
Finally, the Supreme Court has ruled against this doctrine and has ruled in favor of the Xoklengs. As an added bonus, in 2019, the SC stated that this case would set a precedent, such that the decision could have repercussions in hundreds of analogous disputes.
Puedes leer la noticia completa aquí.
Pierre Kayondo arrested in France for genocide.
Pierre Kayondo, former prefect of Kibuye (Rwanda), was arrested and imprisoned last Tuesday in Paris for his involvement in the events that led to the genocide against the Tutsi in 1994.
Kayondo had been under investigation since 2021, following a complaint by the civil society organization “Collective of Civil Parties for Rwanda” (CPCR), which had testimonies attesting to the key role he played in the exterminations of Ruhango and Tambwe, in Gitarama prefecture. He is charged with genocide, as well as complicity in crimes of genocide and crimes against humanity.
The Rwandan genocide, according to UN estimates, resulted in more than 800,000 deaths, mainly members of the Tutsi ethnic group, killed between April and July 1994, and the fight against impunity through the prosecution of the perpetrators is essential.
Puede leer la noticia completa aquí.
