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In May 2015, the former Chadian dictator Hisse'ne Habre¤ is scheduled to face trial for brutality against his own people before a special chamber in the Senegalese courts established in 2013. Habre¤'s trial will mark the first time in history that the courts of one country try the former leader of another country for human rights crimes. The advent of the trial, 25 years after Habre¤'s fall, is entirely due to the perseverance of Habre¤'s victims and their non-governmental organization (NGO) allies. The launch of proceedings before the Extraordinary African Chambers has also spurred justice efforts back in Chad, where former agents of Habre¤'s political police now stand trial for torture and murder and the president has finally promised compensation to Habre¤'s victims. The Habre¤ case shows that it is possible for a victim/ NGO coalition, with tenacity and imagination, to create the political conditions for a successful universal jurisdiction prosecution, even against a former head of state. It also highlights many of the practical problems of litigating crimes far away from the territorial state without the complete cooperation of that state's government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes international instruments on political disappearances. The Nazi regime was probably the first to practice forced disappearances of persons to eliminate its victims without a trace. In the 1960's, the Guatemalan security forces began to use forced disappearances as part of their counter-insurgency campaign, a tactic replicated in the 1970's and 1980's by military regimes throughout Latin America. Now, however, it is governments in Asia, including Iraq and Sri Lanka that hold the record for disappearing their citizens. For the most part, those disappeared have been political opponents and members of grass-roots organizations. Disappearances are perhaps the cruelest form of government abuse, causing agony not only to the detainees but to their relatives as well. Detainees are cut off from the outside world, deprived of any legal protection, and subject to the whim of their captors. Most often they are tortured and then secretly killed. The relatives of detainees, meanwhile, are unable to ascertain their fate-whether and where they are being held, whether they are even dead or alive.

Discusses the effects of the trial of General Augusto Pinochet on other officials and politicians who have committed mass murder and other crimes against humanity. Information on the procedures and technicalities of the trial; Possibility of prosecution of other officials who committed mass murder.

Reports that an uproar was caused in Haiti because of the acquittal of two alleged gunmen who were charged with the murder of Haiti's former Justice Minister, Guy Malary. Allegations against Police Chief, Michel Francois; information on Francois; Arrest of Marcel Morissaint; Information on other acquittals; Details of other murder cases; United States and the United Nations involvement.