DESTINATION DEMOCRACY

PROMOTING DEMOCRATIZATION, HUMAN RIGHTS, AND THE RULE OF LAW

A PROJECT AT CHICAGO-KENT COLLEGE OF LAW

LATEST UPDATES

Chicago-Kent builds an Internet-linked database to track gender-based violence in Iraq

From March to November, 2009, Chicago-Kent students Joe Panza, Chris Bailey-Woon, and Aaron Zaluzec and Professor Henry H. Perritt, Jr. built an Internet-linked database in PHP and MySQL for Heartland Alliance to use in tracking gender-based violence in the Iraqi legal system. The four of them travelled to Sulamaniyah, in Iraqi Kurdistan, in October to deploy the database and train Heartland's local lawyers and social workers supervised by Country Director Sherizaan Minwala. While there, they also interviewed local political leaders and conducted research about Kurdish politics and resistance movements.

Professor Perritt's blog

Photo album

Chris Bailey ROLX paper

Guns for Hire: The War Crimes Act of 1996 & Its Applicability to Private Security Contractors in the War on Terror (Word) (html)

Jason Keck as Rule-of-Law Extern in The Hague, at the ICTY

Jason D. Keck spent the summer of 2009 as a legal assistant for a legal defense team at the ICTY.

Independent Research paper: THE DEMISE OF THE AIDING-AND-ABETTING LAW AT THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOLSOVIA: THE MENS REA (Word) (html)

Reflections on a Summer in The Hague (Word) (html)

Chicago-Kent Students as Rule-of-Law Externs in Kosovo, Venezuela, and Jordan

Brooke Heimann

is spending the summer working as an intern with the Arab Center for the Development of the the Rule of Law and Integrity in Amman, Jordan, working on "Strengthening Legislative and Institutional Capacity for Juvenile Justice in Jordan," funded by the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime ("UNODC"). See her blog: http://wickerparkusa.typepad.com/jordanjd/

Austin Kaplan

is spending the summer working for the Electoral Chamber of the Supreme Court of Venezuela. See his blog: http://wickerparkusa.typepad.com/venesuelo/

First impressions: .wav audio file

Second impressions: .wav audio file

Third impressions: security and rule of law: .wav audio file

Ed Pauker

is spending the summer working for the Special Chamber of the Supreme Court of Kosovo on privatization disputes. See operationkosovo.kentlaw.edu for details.

Sunshine Uzbekistan and the Destination Democracy Team File Human Rights Complaint on Behalf of Jailed Uzbek Opposition Leader Sanjar Umarov.

(READ IT HERE)

GULAM UMAROV, SON OF SANJAR UMAROV VISITS CHICAGO-KENT

(PICTURE 1)

(PICTURE 2)

LATEST NEWS ON ARREST OF SANJAR UMAROV

LATEST NEWS ON ARREST OF NADIRA KHIDAYATOVA

CURRENT PROJECT:

PROMOTING HUMAN RIGHTS, DEMOCRATIZATION, AND THE RULE OF LAW IN UZBEKISTAN

BACKGROUND

The Republic of Uzbekistan is widely regarded to have one of the world's worst records for honoring human rights and the rule of law. Major human rights organizations have documented the Karimov’s regime’s use of the courts and law enforcement agencies in the persecution of human rights and democracy advocates. (See Human Rights Watch Overview of Uzbekistan). The regime has also been very aggressive in closing down all officially registered organizations that provide support to those in need of legal assistance.

Repression in the Republic of Uzbekistan has dramatically increased since the events of May 2005 in Andijan. (See Human Rights Watch Report on Andijan Massacre). According to Human Rights Watch, the GOU has increased repression not only against individuals active in the human rights and democracy movements, but also against individuals and businesses perceived as being potential sources of support and funding for their activities. This repression typically occurs in the guise of “legitimate” investigations of “economic crimes.” According to most independent analyses of the Andijan events, it was precisely this tactic of targeting economic agents sympathetic to reform that catalyzed the public support of the armed incursion into Andijan.

Micro-entrepreneurs and small, independent farmers make up the backbone of the democracy and human rights movement in Uzbekistan. And, despite their being characterized as businessmen, these individuals almost always live on the edge of poverty. As a result, even the brief absence of a family member due to political repression is often enough to drive a family economic unit to abyss of utter poverty. This injustice is compounded by the Karimov’s regime’s well-known tactic of targeting not only the active individual, but also members of the individual’s extended family. This kind of intimidation is generally effective in deterring all but the most dedicated of human rights and democracy building activists.

OBJECTIVE

The flagrant abuses of human rights currently taking place in Uzbekistan must be addressed immediately. The international community must focus its attention on the dire situation in Uzbekistan. Immediate assistance, both financial, political, and legal must be given to the victims of the human rights abuses currently being carried out by the Karimov regime. Destination Democracy aims to raise the level of public attention given to the situation in Uzbekistan, and also aims to work with the international community to address the human rights violations taking place in Uzbekistan today.

Destination Democracy is working with The Human Rights Society of Uzbekistan, and Sunshine Uzbekistan USA, a non-for-profit U.S. corporation established to assist the Coalition for National Unity Sunshine Uzbekistan in developing human rights and democracy building programs in Uzbekistan. For a detailed backgrond of Sunshine Uzbekistan, see the attached press release, or visit http://www.sunshineuzbekistan.org.