Search Results for: child abduction

The International Criminal Court (ICC) Thursday unanimously rejected the appeal of Dominic Ongwen, former commander of Ugandan rebel group the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA). In May 2021, the ICC sentenced Ongwen to 25 years in prison for war crimes and crimes against humanity. Ongwen’s defense team filed an appeal on 12 grounds, including claims that [...]

The fall of Afghanistan was a sad end to the longest armed conflict in American history. It resulted in the destruction of a nation-state, over 6 million displaced the world over, and one of the worst refugee crises currently ongoing. For the millions of refugees from the crisis, their trials are far from over. And [...]

International travel in child custody matters is often complicated. On June 15, 2022, the US Supreme Court ruled in Saada v. Golan that a court need not consider ameliorative or safety measures when assessing if a child should be returned to a country where there is a grave risk. The Supreme Court analyzed the application [...]

The US Supreme Court Wednesday broadened federal courts’ abilities to decide whether a child in an international custody dispute has to return to their home country by saying that courts do not need to consider “all possible ameliorative measures” for a child’s return when a child is at risk of grave harm. In the case [...]

Human Rights Watch (HRW) urged the African Union (AU) Friday to focus on civilian protection, human rights, justice and accountability at the upcoming 35th Ordinary Session of the AU Assembly. Since Senegal’s President Macky Sall is set to take over the presidency of the AU, Africa advocacy director at HRW Carine Kaneza Nantulya said: Despite [...]

UNICEF sounded the alarm Friday over surging numbers of child casualties amid armed conflicts. “From Afghanistan to Yemen, and Syria to northern Ethiopia, thousands of children paid a devastating price as armed conflict, inter-communal violence, and insecurity continued,” the organization said in a statement.  UNICEF reported that in conflicts around the world, grave violations of [...]

The Mozambique Islamic State group Al-Shabab (unrelated to Somalian group of the same name), has been kidnapping and forcing children to become soldiers, according to a Human Rights Watch report released on Wednesday. Evidence suggests that the armed group has abducted boys, as young as 12, to be trained in bases in Cabo Delgado and [...]

Grave violations against children in conflict remain alarmingly high, with the COVID-19 pandemic increasing their vulnerability, according to a UN report released Monday. The annual Children and Armed Conflict report covers the period from January to December 2020. It claims that grave violations against children are at nearly 26,500 due to increased vulnerability to abduction, [...]

The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Thursday convicted Dominic Ongwen, a former brigade commander of the African rebel group Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), of 61 war crimes and crimes against humanity committed from July 2002 to December 2005. Ongwen was accused of 70 counts of these crimes. In a 1,077-page judgment, Trial Chamber IX of the [...]

The UN Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan reported Wednesday that senior politicians and government officials have embezzled $36 million since 2016 linked to government entities. The commission also claimed that this amount is what they could trace and it could be higher. “At one end of the spectrum, South Sudan’s political elites were [...]