UN General Assembly Votes to Back the Goldstone Report

In a 114 to 18 vote, with 44 member-states abstaining, the UN General Assembly voted today to endorse the Goldstone report. The report, which details possible war crimes committed by Hamas and Israel during fighting in Gaza last December. The report calls on both governments to investigate the allegations or for the UN to refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.

The United States, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic and the Netherlands were among the member-states who voted against the report. Great Britain and France were among the member-states who abstained.

Read more at Al Jazeera and the Jerusalem Post.

International War Crimes Tribunal Boycott

Radovan Karadzic, a Bosnian war crime suspect, has informed the International War Crimes Tribunal that he has not had enough time to prepare his case, and thus has boycotted. Karadzic, a former Bosnian Serb leader, is accused of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. He has been told that the Tribunal will not make decisions on the start of the trial based on defendant's preparation, instead it falls on the judges to determine the beginning of the trial. He has been advised to show up in order to ensure a fair proceeding. For more go to cnninternational.com

International Pressure on Sri Lanka to Investigate War Crimes

Two reports released this week, by the State Department and the EU, detail allegations of war crimes committed by Sri Lanka in the final year of its 26-year civil war with the Tamil Tigers. The allegations include violations of international humanitarian law, crimes against humanity, and human rights violations. Specifically, the allegations include: civilians and civilian infrastructure were killed and damaged in the armed conflict, children being used in armed combat, combatants in captivity or attempting to surrender were killed, disappearances, and the reports critiqued the current humanitarian situation. More that 250,000 Tamil civilians who were displaced by the fighting currently are being held in closed army-run camps, which some suggest are little more than detainment camps.

World pressure is mounting for Sri Lanka to investigate the allegations. Many of the charges remain unsubstantiated, because of the very limited access of aid groups, humanitarian investigators and journalists to the war zone. The EU is threatening to revoke trade concessions worth tens of millions of dollars and could cause tremendous damage to Sri Lanka's important garment industry. However, the allegations did not prevent Sri Lanka from recently receiving a $2.6 billion dollar IMF stand by arraignment earlier this year, despite British protest over the humanitarian situation.

Read more at NYTimes.com.

UN HRC endorses Goldstone Report

In a twenty-five countries to six vote (including the US and the Netherlands), with eleven countries abstaining and five declining to vote (including France and the UK), the United Nations Human Rights Counsel endorsed the Goldstone report. The report accuses the military of using disproportion force and charges the Israelis and Hamas with war crimes, including terrorizing civilian populations. The report calls on Israel and Hamas to conduct investigations into the allegations, and a UN referral to the ICC if the two sides fail to investigate. Read more at Al Jazeera.

Prior to the vote, Col. Richard Kemp, former commander of British forces in Afghanistan, speaking on behalf of UN Watch, said that the IDF took extraordinary measures to protect civilian populations. Col. Kemp said the IDF dropped leaflets, made thousands of phone calls, and aborted several missions to protect Palestinian civilians. Kemp also said many of the civilian casualties were caused by Palestinian fighters positioning themselves behind a "human shield" of civilians. Read more at Jerusalem Post.