UN rights official calls refugee protection ‘obligation’ News
UN rights official calls refugee protection ‘obligation’

[JURIST] A UN human rights official warned Wednesday that the UN High Commission for Refugees was facing increasingly difficult conditions that prevented it from protecting millions of threatened refugees [JURIST news archive], but that protection of those people remained an obligation. UNHCR Director of International Protection Erika Feller addressed [transcript] representatives from the 68 countries on the agency's executive committee [official website] meeting in Geneva and warned of increasing human rights abuses and violence, as well as decreasing cooperation from countries traditionally supportive of human rights. Feller said conflicts in Western Tanzania, Darfur [JURIST news archive] and Colombia [JURIST news archive] had all harmed protection of refugees in those areas. Feller said, however, that the past year has also brought a high rate of return for displaced persons. The UNHCR has a news release on the address.

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.