The quest for accountability for gross human rights violations in Venezuela

Carlos Lusverti* Versión en español, aquí. What do Burundi, Libya, Myanmar, South Sudan and Venezuela have in common? All of them have been the focus of independent investigation mechanisms established by the UN Human Rights Council to investigate serious human rights violations occurring in these countries. Regarding Venezuela, in 2019 the Council adopted resolution 42/25 establishing an Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM), which is an international investigative body […]

Five meanings of #1M for El Salvador

Ursula Indacochea* Versión en español aquí. On May 1, 2021, the Legislative Assembly of El Salvador resolved -as the first act in its first session- to remove all the magistrates and alternate magistrates of the Constitutional Chamber and the Attorney General of the Republic from their positions, and to directly appoint their replacements, placing in these positions a group of […]

El Salvador and the false discourse on judicial independence

Ursula Indacochea Prevost* Versión en español aquí. Last Wednesday, March 16, a public hearing was held before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) to address the situation of judicial independence in El Salvador. In it, the petitioning organizations presented to this international body a reading of various decisions, facts and arbitrary reforms that occurred […]

A New Law and New Justices, but the Same Old Political Control over Venezuela’s Supreme Court

Carlos Lusverti* Leer en español aquí. On January 19, 2022, the Venezuelan National Assembly, whose members were  elected in the disputed elections of December 2020, adopted a new law that will affect  the Supreme Court (Tribunal Supremo de Justicia, TSJ). On its face, the law does not comply which international human rights standards on judicial independence.  The Venezuelan Supreme […]

The importance of controlling Leviathan

Adriana García García* In the mid-17th century, the English philosopher Thomas Hobbes used the image of a biblical monster, the Leviathan, to illustrate the power of the State and its function of maintaining social order. It has since remained a symbol of fear-invoking power and unmatched sovereign strength. The foundation for the potentially monstrous power […]

A dark night for judicial independence in El Salvador*

Ursula Indacochea** y Sonia Rubio Padilla*** he night of Saturday, May 1, 2021, when the Salvadoran Congress decided to mortally wound the country’s justice system, could be a long night, one of those that darken with the passage of time. But no night lasts forever. President Nayib Bukele and the deputies of his political party […]

Lucha contra la corrupción con un poder judicial independiente y con integridad

Daniel Kempken* La corrupción es un factor de inestabilidad en todo el mundo que sólo puede combatirse con un poder judicial independiente. La implementación de los enfoques prometedores dela Convención de la ONU contra la Corrupción (CNUCC) debería ser reforzada por la comunidad internacional. Para ello, se puede aprovechar una próxima sesión especial de la […]

Judicial immunity: a double-edged sword in Guatemala*

Hannah Jane Ahern** and Ursula Indacochea*** On February 1, 2021, Judge Erika Lorena Aifán Dávila, judge for the First Criminal Court of First Instance, Na and Crimes against the Environment of the department of Guatemala with competence to hear High Risk Proceedings, Group D, issued an arrest warrant against former judge Mynor Mauricio Moto Morataya, […]

Radiografía: la independencia judicial en Venezuela

Santiago Martínez Neira* La independencia del Poder Judicial en Venezuela está profundamente erosionada y su reconstrucción institucional es urgente. En estas líneas, se van a reconstruir algunos sucesos clave que han minado la independencia judicial y han hecho que el Tribunal Supremo de Justicia (TSJ) se convierta en un instrumento político del oficialismo y un […]