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UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

Clooney’s fiancee turns down UN Gaza probe job

Hollywood star George Clooney's fiancee Amal Alamuddin has declined her nomination to join a commission probing Israel's Gaza offensive, the head of the UN Human Rights Council said on Tuesday.

Published: 12 August 2014 18:27 CEST
Clooney's fiancee turns down UN Gaza probe job
George Clooney with fiancee Amal Alamuddin: her announced appointment to the UN probe was premature. Photo: AFP

In a statement, Baudelaire Ndong Ella said that the Lebanese-born British lawyer had cited "prior professional commitments and regrets that the commission will not benefit from her expertise in the field".
   
Ella, who this year holds the rotating presidency of the top United Nations rights forum, had on Monday named Alamuddin to the three-member commission of inquiry.

But a short time later Clooney’s Hollywood agent, Stan Rosenfield, issued a statement on Alamuddin’s behalf, saying she had declined the post because she was too busy.

“I am horrified by the situation in the occupied Gaza Strip, particularly the civilian casualties that have been caused, and strongly believe that there should be an independent investigation and accountability for crimes that have been committed,” Alamuddin said in the statement.

“I was contacted by the UN about this for the first time this morning," she said.

"I am honoured to have received the offer, but given existing commitments — including eight ongoing cases — unfortunately could not accept this role."

She added: "I wish my colleagues who will serve on the commission courage and strength in their endeavours.”
   
Ella said that he had approached a "number of individuals" as potential candidates before making the announcement, and that Alamuddin had several hours later said that she was not in a position to accept the role.
   
Despite Alamuddin's decision, the commission of inquiry is now operational, Ella said, adding that he would "decide on the way forward".
   
The commission will be led by Canadian international lawyer William Schabas, and also include Doudou Diene of Senegal, who has previously served as the UN's watchdog on racism and on post-conflict Ivory Coast.
   
The UN Human Rights Council ordered the Gaza investigation on July 23rd, in the face of fierce opposition from Israel and the United States.
   
The decision came during a marathon seven-hour emergency session of the 47-nation council, where Israeli and Palestinians delegates traded accusations over each sides' alleged war crimes.
   
The probe team has been tasked with reporting back to the council by March.
   
Alamuddin's family, who are from Lebanon's Druze community, fled to Britain during the country's 1975-1990 civil war.
   
The 36-year-old, who is fluent in Arabic, French and English, is reportedly due to wed 53-year-old Clooney in Italy in September.
   
News that she had stolen the heart of one of Hollywood's most celebrated bachelors caused a global media frenzy back in April.
   
Alamuddin is well versed in international conflict probes.
   
She worked with the international tribunal examining the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri, and assisted ex-UN head Kofi Annan in efforts to make peace in Syria.
   
Among her legal clients have been Ukraine's former prime minister Yulia Tymoshenko and controversial Wikileaks founder Julian Assange.

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UN HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL

US admits police killings thwart civil rights

The United States acknowledged in Geneva on Monday that more needed to be done to uphold its civil rights laws following a string of recent killings of unarmed black men by police.

Published: 11 May 2015 12:13 CEST
US admits police killings thwart civil rights
Riot police contend with demonstration over death of Freddie Gray in Baltimore last month. Photo: AFP

Speaking before the United Nations Human Rights Council, a US representative stressed the advances his country had made in establishing a range of civil rights laws over the past half century.
   
But referring to a long line of recent cases of alleged abuse of African Americans by police, James Cadogan, a senior counselor in the justice department's civil rights division, admitted that "we must rededicate ourselves to ensuring that our civil rights laws live up to their promise."
   
"The tragic deaths of Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Michael Brown in Missouri, Eric Garner in New York, Tamir Rice in Ohio, and Walter Scott in South Carolina have . . . challenged us to do better and to work harder for progress," he said.
   
The United States was undergoing a so-called Universal Periodic Review of its rights record — which all 193 UN countries must undergo every four years.
 
The US delegation, headed by US ambassador to the council Keith Harper and acting US legal advisor Mary McLeod, faced a range of questions from diplomats about law enforcement tactics, police brutality and the disproportionate impact on African Americans and other minorities.
   
The half-day review in Geneva came after the US justice department on Friday launched a federal civil rights investigation into whether police in Baltimore have systematically discriminated against residents, following the death of 25-year-old Freddie Gray in police custody last month.
   
Six police officers have been charged in connection with Gray's arrest and death.

One faces a second-degree murder charge.
   
Cadogan insisted Washington was intent on bringing abusive police officers to justice.
   
"When federal, state, local or tribal officials wilfully use excessive force that violates the US Constitution or federal law, we have authority to prosecute them," he said, pointing to criminal charges brought against more than 400 law enforcement officials over the past six years.
   
Also on the agenda during Monday's review was the continued use of the death penalty, and the US record on addressing its "war on terror" legacy, including Washington's failure to close the Guantanamo Bay detention centre in Cuba and CIA torture revelations.
   
"As President (Barack) Obama has acknowledged, we crossed the line, we did not live up to our values, and we take responsibility for that," McLeod said of the past cases of CIA torture, detailed in an explosive Senate report last December.
   
"We have since taken steps to clarify that the legal prohibition on torture applies everywhere and in all circumstances, and to ensure that the United States never resorts to the use of those harsh interrogation techniques again," she said.

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