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Dr. Aoife Duffy, based at the Human Rights Centre, has just published the new book ‘Torture and Human Rights in Northern Ireland – Interrogation in Depth‘

Each week students at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre prepare an overview of the past week’s human rights related news stories from around the world. This summary contains news articles from 1-7 April 2019

Each week students at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre prepare an overview of the past week’s human rights related news stories from around the world. In response to the protests, with crowds estimated in the hundreds of thousands, army chief Lieutenant General Ahmed Gaid Salah stated publicly that it is time for the country to invoke Article 102 of the constitution, which could allow Algeria’s Constitutional Council to remove the president on account of his failing health. In response to these early protests, internet shutdowns took place across the country while human rights groups reported cases of arbitrary arrests and issued calls for the government to exercise restraint in quelling the demonstrations. One million people without aid after cyclone – News 24 Pope issues new legislation against child sexual abuse in Vatican – Al Jazeera Male aggressors in El Salvador get prison, and masculinity class – Al Jazeera Google revealed as unlikely go-between to help Trump-Cuba relations –

Various developments within international humanitarian law and international criminal law have shaped the principle that a commanding officer is responsible for certain crimes (genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity) committed by his or her subordinates. Within UK military services this norm has been given domestic effect through section 65 of the International Criminal Court Act 2001 which holds that a commanding officer is responsible for offences committed by forces under his effective command, authority, and control, where: ‘he either knew, or owing to the circumstances at the time, should have known that the forces were committing or about to commit such offences,’ and The Saville Inquiry into Bloody Sunday detailed the critical influence that General Sir Robert Ford, Commander of Land Forces, and Lieutenant Colonel Derek Wilford, Commander of the 1st Parachute Regiment, had on the operational environment that day. Yet beyond these shores, there is an investigation into allegations of war crimes committed by British troops in Iraq being conducted at the International Criminal Court, which is focusing on top decision makers within the military and political establishment on the point of command and superior responsibility.