UN rights commission ends final session News
UN rights commission ends final session

[JURIST] The UN Commission on Human Rights [official website] ended its 61st and possibly last session Friday in the wake of UN Secretary Kofi Annan's announced plans to radically overhaul the 53-member body. Annan and others in the international community have criticized the commission's failure to take definite action on human rights violations throughout the world. Most recently, activists have criticized the commission's lax treatment of alleged genocide in the Sudan and its failure to investigate prisoner mistreatment in Guantanamo Bay. Member nations [member list], many facing criticism on their own human rights records, have been plagued by controversy and political infighting. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Louise Arbour [official website], a former international war crimes prosecutor, has herself stated that the commission lacks "legitimacy and credibility," and hopes that changes planned for next year will lead to a more unified group. Member nations of a new UN rights panel will be elected by a two-thirds majority of the UN General Assembly. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

38 Santee Sioux hanged by US for rebellion

On December 26, 1862, 38 Santee Sioux men were hanged in a mass execution for their roles in a rebellion against US authorities in Minnesota which left hundreds dead and made refugees of some 40,000 white settlers. Government annuities promised under a treaty with the Sioux had failed to arrive on schedule and credit for purchases was not advanced in the meantime, threatening the tribe with starvation. The Santee Sioux Tribe's members were deported first to South Dakota and ultimately to Nebraska, where they remain today. Learn more about the 1862 Minnesota Sioux Rebellion.

Louis XVI put on trial during French Revolution

On December 26, 1792, Romain de Sèze, a defense attorney for deposed King Louis XVI, presented a defense of his client. The former King was on trial before a French Revolutionary court on thirty-three charges, including treason and other crimes against the state. He was convicted on January 15, 1793 executed by guillotine on the following January 21.