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Articles by Vincent Ploton
La Suprema Corte de Justicia de México y el Impacto constitucional de los crímenes de lesa humanidad
El artículo reflexiona sobre una trascendental decisión de la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación de México en la que reconoce e incorpora al derecho interno los crímenes de lesa humanidad. La Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación de México dictó sentencia en el Amparo en Revisión 406/2023.
In Nigeria, Christmas Is a Ritual That Inflation and Insecurity Can't Stop
LAGOS - It has been another tough year for Nigerians. They have seen inflation erode the value of their currency by more than six percent; they have seen their naira lose value by more than 300 to the American dollar. Still, there is a life that must be lived.
What Does Civil Society Want From the New UN Rights Commissioner?
What Does Civil Society Want From the New UN Rights Commissioner? - PassBlue
Uganda's Museveni Doesn't Deserve a Seat at the US-Africa Summit, Critics Say
President Joseph Biden has invited 49 African national leaders and the head of the African Union to the White House this month for a summit emphasizing America's "enduring" commitment to the continent and continued collaboration on such global priorities as democracy, human rights and peace and security. Four countries have not been invited: Burkina Faso, Guinea, Mali and Sudan, all of which have undergone military coups in the last few years and been suspended from the African Union.
Faulty DNA Testing and Politics Continue to Fail South Africa's Rape Victims
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - When news that a mob of men raped eight young women last summer during a music-video production set in an abandoned mining site in Krugersdorp, Sipehle wasn't optimistic that the culprits would be prosecuted. "My rapist walked free," Sipehle said, explaining that it was because of a delay in DNA testing that her assailant was not convicted.
An Ex-Wagner Group Mercenary Throws Open the Door on the Russian Operation
Marat Gabidullin is throwing open the door on the notorious Wagner Group, the Russian quasi-private army that operates in the shadows and doesn't exist on paper. When he released his memoir in April in French, describing his time as a Wagner fighter and a commander, Gabidullin, 55, became the first operative to go on the record about his experiences in the militia. His book, "I Marat, Ex-Commander in the Wagner Army," was published in France by the firm Michel Lafon.
Israeli Campaign in Germany Blocks Award to Navi Pillay, a Renowned Rights Leader
It was billed as a grand ceremony staged by the United Nations Association of Germany to award its biennial Otto Hahn Peace Medal to Navi Pillay, marking her decades of groundbreaking work in human rights and international criminal law, including through the United Nations. The setting for the ceremony on Sept. 28 would be Berlin's 19th-century Red City Hall, named for its brick façade. The hall, damaged in World War II, had been reconstructed and become a symbolic landmark in the German capital.
The UN General Assembly Must Fix Myanmar's Muddled Representation and Send a Profound Message to the Junta
The United Nations General Assembly will soon make a decision that will affect the lives of 55 million people in Myanmar and could influence the fate of their nation as it stands at a crucial crossroad.
Germany Is Ready to Cut Humanitarian Aid to UN Agencies and Elsewhere
Food prices may still be soaring in crisis-prone countries, but Germany is poised to slash its 2023 contribution to global humanitarian and crisis prevention by nearly $400 million. According to data compiled by the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), food prices are 13.1 percent higher now than they were at this time last year.
Who Makes Up the UN Leader's Inner Circle? Your Rough Guide
António Guterres entered his second term as United Nations secretary-general on the first day in January 2022. With about four and a half years to go in one of the world's most demanding jobs, Guterres keeps a close group of advisers in the UN and a few outsiders to help him in everything from internal communications to phoning combatants in wars. Who are these advisers? What role are they playing in the UN Secretariat, the policymaking center of the organization?
Big Powers and Bad Influence
Individual member states have always exerted a heavy influence on the United Nations. The dominance of individual powers is the nature of multilateralism, but in the UN system it is particularly marked. The Security Council can only do its job if the five veto-wielding members (the P5: Britain, China, France, Russia and the United States) are exemplary supporters of the UN Charter.
Un conseil à l’attention du prochain Haut-Commissaire aux droits de l’homme : impliquez-vous auprès des experts des droits de l’homme de l’ONU
EFE / Valentin Flauraud Lorsque Michelle Bachelet, ancienne présidente du Chili devenue haut fonctionnaire de l’ONU, a annoncé qu’elle ne se représenterait pas pour un nouveau mandat dans son discours d’ouverture de la 50e séance du Conseil des droits de l’homme (CDH) à Genève, beaucoup ont été surpris. Les rumeurs disaient qu’elle pourrait se présenter pour un nouveau mandat de 4 ans, peut-être pendant au moins la moitié comme l’un de ses prédécesseurs, Navi Pillay.
Un consejo para el próximo Alto Comisionado para los Derechos Humanos: que se comprometa con los expertos en derechos humanos de la ONU
EFE/Valentin Flauraud Cuando Michelle Bachelet, expresidenta de Chile que se convirtió en alta funcionaria de la ONU, anunció que no se presentaría a otro mandato en su discurso de apertura de la 50ª sesión del Consejo de Derechos Humanos (CDH) en Ginebra, muchos se sorprendieron. Los rumores apuntaban a que podría presentarse a otro mandato de cuatro años, quizás al menos a la mitad, como una de sus predecesoras, Navi Pillay.
A word of advice to the next High Commissioner for Human Rights: engage with UN human rights experts
United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet addresses a press conference after announcing she would not seek a second mandate, during the opening day of the 50th session of the Human Rights Council at the European headquarters of the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, 13 June 2022.
“Friends of the court” making the most of Amicus Curiae with UN Treaty Bodies
“Friends of the court” making the most of Amicus Curiae with UN Treaty Bodies – EJIL: Talk!
Adapter les outils technologiques pour veiller au respect des droits humains : ce que nous enseigne le Burundi
Les outils technologiques sont synonymes d’opportunités et de défis s’agissant de documenter les violations des droits humains, notamment dans les situations de crise aiguë. Les preuves de violation des droits humains sont de plus en plus manifestes, que ce soit dans les réseaux sociaux ou dans les médias traditionnels. Elles peuvent être utilisées et conservées pour les enquêtes sur les droits humains, comme en Syrie.
La adaptación de herramientas tecnológicas para la vigilancia de los derechos humanos: lecciones de Burundi
Las herramientas tecnológicas pueden ofrecer grandes oportunidades y desafíos para documentar las violaciones de los derechos humanos, especialmente en contextos de crisis aguda. Las pruebas de los abusos de los derechos humanos en las redes sociales y en los principales medios de comunicación se han vuelto cada vez más omnipresentes, y pueden utilizarse y conservarse para las investigaciones sobre derechos humanos, como las que se están llevando a cabo en Siria.
Adapting tech tools for human rights monitoring: lessons from Burundi
Tech tools can provide great opportunities and challenges to document human rights violations, notably in contexts of acute crisis. A Burundian protester reacts as he is detained by police officers during an anti-government demonstration in Bujumbura, Burundi, 20 May 2015. EPA/DAI KUROKAWA Evidence of human rights abuses in social and mainstream media has become more and more ubiquitous, and can be used and preserved for human rights investigations, such those taking place in Syria.
Adapting tech tools for human rights monitoring: lessons from Burundi
Tech tools can provide great opportunities and challenges to document human rights violations, notably in contexts of acute crisis. A Burundian protester reacts as he is detained by police officers during an anti-government demonstration in Bujumbura, Burundi, 20 May 2015. EPA/DAI KUROKAWA Evidence of human rights abuses in social and mainstream media has become more and more ubiquitous, and can be used and preserved for human rights investigations, such those taking place in Syria.
Les droits de l’homme et la gestion axée sur les résultats : adopter les outils venant d’un milieu différent
Les organisations de défense des droits de l’homme sont à juste titre réticentes à utiliser « la gestion axée sur les résultats » mais adopter cette approche peut renforcer leur impact. Les organisations de défense des droits de l’homme sont souvent mal à l’aise avec le concept de gestion axée sur les résultats (GAR), une méthode de management qui vise à définir les objectifs et résultats attendus au cours des étapes d’un projet.
Human rights and results-based management: adopting from a different world
Human rights groups are understandably reluctant to use “results-based management”, but embracing this approach can boost their impact. Human rights organisations are often uncomfortable with the notion of results-based management (RBM), a management strategy that uses feedback loops to achieve its goals. RBM helps organisations map out processes and services to show how they contribute to outcomes, but rarely is this implemented effectively in the human rights world.
Do-It-Yourself-Aid: alternative funding sources for rights work?
Is “Do-It-Yourself-Aid” the answer to funding rights work? Anne-Meike Fechter describes this model, its funding and related implications As Nora Lester Murad has recently argued, alternative models to international aid are much needed. Alongside debates on how things can be done differently within the NGO sector, and presenting models of good practice, there is a whole set of funding streams that tend to go unnoticed in both academic and policy debates.
Government repression and bureaucratic hoops spell gloom for rights groups in Bangladesh
Amidst tighter donor budgets for human rights, NGOs in Bangladesh are also grappling with increasingly intrusive governments. For non-government organizations in the developing world, a major problem is shrinking sources of funding triggered by tighter budgets in the developed world. But many developing world governments are not helping either. In fact, some are becoming increasingly intrusive towards NGO funding, especially toward rights organizations.
Girl, Disrupted: How a Boarding School Shifted the Life of One Young Woman
Shilpa Raj is not a Bollywood name, though she has starred in a documentary. She is not a best-selling author — yet. But she has written a frank, soulful book that can contribute to important discussions about the human costs of a disrupted childhood, however well-intentioned, based on her own extraordinary story.
The UN Secretary-General’s Disappointing Peace-Building Proposal
Since the end of the Cold War, a diverse group of countries at low levels of development emerged from intrastate conflicts and embarked on a complex transition to peace, stability and prosperity. All aspects of such transitions are closely interrelated and reinforce each other. Simultaneous security, political, social and economic activities compete for scarce resources during transition.
Trump’s Jerusalem Move Sparks Backlash From Powerful UN Members
In rare action by two of America’s closest allies, Britain and France called for an emergency meeting of the 15 members of the United Nations Security Council to air their concerns over the decision by Donald Trump of the United States to endorse Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The emergency meeting on Dec.
Financing the UN: Payers, Pipers and Tunes
GENEVA — Change is in the air again on First Avenue. Among numerous reform options being bandied about, none will be more consequential than those on financing the United Nations system. There are the sledgehammer arguments: drastic slashes in funding by Washington and other donors could precipitate dramatic change.
New Investment Law in Peru Undermines Rights of Indigenous Women
WASHINGTON, D.C. — A new law in Peru encouraging investment in the country’s extractive industries has reignited the debate on the lack of power indigenous women have in the mostly rural societies where they often live. The International Indigenous Women’s Forum, which drew more than 60 native women from across the world to Peru last month, highlighted this important issue.
The International Court Judge’s Fight for Justice
The president of the International Criminal Court, Judge Sang-Hyun Song, told a Columbia University audience recently that a major challenge facing the court is what he called a steady lack of political support from the United Nations Security Council and UN member states. “We need a far more consistent and vigilant approach by the Security Council,” Song told students and university leaders at the speech, which was held Feb.
Children Trapped in Syria Suffering From the War
As the Syrian government increasingly resorts to using heavy armaments and long-distance aircraft — and possibly chemical weapons — to attack the opposition movement and other enemies, the risk of children being killed or maimed in the fighting has risen sharply, says the United Nations Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict.
Canadian Native Groups Vow to Fight on for Land Rights
The sounds of drums and chanting outside the United Nations in New York battled to be heard over traffic recently. In a continuation of rallies and demonstrations held in front of the UN earlier in January, seven Native American protestors gathered behind a large purple banner to show their solidarity with the Idle No More movement in Canada.
Malian Refugees Want to Return Home, but Conditions May Be Unsafe
The United Nations is expecting a fresh humanitarian upheaval in Mali as people who have been living since last spring in refugee camps in neighboring nations in West Africa or who relocated to the capital, Bamako, start streaming back to their homes in the north of the country. Nearly 380,000 Malians fled to camps or to Bamako after Islamic extremists captured the region from ethnic Tuaregs in spring 2012, which also coincided about the same time with a Mali Army coup.
Australian Academics Want Women’s Voices Heard at the Security Council
A new network of women academics from Australia and New Zealand is keeping a close eye on Australia’s new two-year term as an elected member of the United Nations Security Council.
Modernizing the Role of Human Rights in the UN Security Council
The Security Council is the most authoritative organ of the United Nations, and supporters of the Council naturally expect it to exercise that authority when gross violations of human rights shock the conscience of humanity. During the Cold War, such actions were rarely done, except partly in relation to situations in southern Africa. Since the end of the Cold War, the Council has stepped forward more to deal with thematic issues as well as conflict-related situations.
What a Stripped-Down State Department Bodes for the UN and Nikki Haley
In Washington, there is no question that the State Department is in a weakened position, a situation that the Trump White House — and the Trump family — seem to relish. To some in the understaffed, stripped-down Foreign Service and to commentators on United States foreign policy, this is a disgrace linked directly to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson.
In Cambodia, Silent Reactions to Sexual Violence May Be the Norm
PHNOM PENH — Kunthear Laut, a 33-year-old Cambodian woman, is a child of marital rape and a victim of two rapes as well as three attempts and at least five years of incest from her uncle. “A woman has to obey a man; otherwise he uses violence,” she said in an interview with PassBlue about these experiences. Her reaction to sexual abuse is not uncommon in Cambodia. “When I was young, I was scared; now I am not anymore and I do not care if this is happening” — that is, being raped.
Judging the UN in Haiti: ‘We Let the Haitians Down’
The population it serves can misunderstand a United Nations peacekeeping mandate. In the host country, with people’s lives, infrastructure and administrative systems often rendered dysfunctional by conflict, the population expects peacekeepers to restore order, build roads and other essentials, provide work, render justice and make life like it was before if not better. They don’t expect peacekeepers to do harm.
Despite the Terrorist Attack on Our Beloved Malian Resort, We Will Come Back
It always took me ages to hit the road to the Kangaba camp. Leaving downtown Bamako can be tricky, especially if your place is baco fé — on the far bank of the Niger River — as they say in Bambara, the local language. The traffic is a nightmare. On weekends, dozens of old yellow Mercedes cabs ride alongside bouncing 4x4s, overloaded buses and a swarm of Chinese motorbikes battling to make their way to the main asphalt roads heading out of town.
Dying in pain in the global South
Throughout the developing world, people are dying in pain due to an inability to access proper medication. But the problem is about much more than money. Español All of us have been close to the pain of a loved one at one point or another: a grandmother with cancer at home, a father with multiple sclerosis, a brother with a chronic respiratory disease. They usually get their pain medication every four hours, and if the pain increases, they can call the nurse and ask for more.
Fixing UN Peacekeeping Operations: The World’s Most Complicated Army
It has been almost a year since a sweeping assessment of United Nations peacekeeping operations by experts recommended significant changes from top to bottom: a reformed hierarchy in New York and greater coordination and discipline among military contingents in ever-more dangerous missions around the world. Few of their substantive ideas have been adopted.
Los derechos humanos y la gestión basada en los resultados: adoptar métodos de un mundo distinto
Las organizaciones de derechos humanos suelen sentirse incómodas con la idea de la gestión basada en los resultados (GBR), una estrategia de administración que trata de identificar los objetivos y resultados esperados durante las distintas etapas de un proyecto. La GBR ayuda a las organizaciones a identificar los procesos y servicios para mostrar cómo contribuyen a los resultados, pero es algo que rara vez se implementa con eficacia en el mundo de los derechos humanos.
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