Julio Cortazar, “Ponti e Cammini“ [Bridges and Paths], Inauguration of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, Bologna, 24 June 1979
Language: Italian
Julio Cortazar, one of the greatest Latin American writers, has accompanied the emergence of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal since the time of the Russell II Tribunal on Latin America, where he participated as a judge in the sessions held in Rome and Brussels from 1974 to 1976. The text proposed here was read as the opening speech of the PPT’s founding act held in Bologna on 24 June 1979.
Luís Moita, “Opinions Tribunals and The Permanent People’s Tribunal”, Janus.net e-journal of Intenrational Relations, Vol. 6, No. 1, May-October 2015, pp. 30-50.
Languages: English, Portuguese, Spanish.
In this article, the sociologist of international relations proposes a reflection on the main functions of opinion tribunals and in particular of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal. This organisation must be distinguished from other citizenry exercises promoted by civil society and similar institutions, such as International Commissions of Enquiry and truth and reconciliation commissions. Moita also questions the legitimacy of these initiatives and the legal innovation they bring to the service of human and peoples’ rights.
Daniel Feierstein, “Nuevos desafíos del Tribunal Permanente de los Pueblos en el siglo XXI: las luchas por la hegemonía en la creación del derecho penal internacional” [New challenges for the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal in the 21st century: struggles for hegemony in international criminal law-making], Rev. nuestramérica, 7, 14, July-December 2019.
Language: Spanish
Feierstein analyses the challenges of international criminal law and the substantial difference in the functioning of opinion tribunals with respect to their ability to judge and confront old and new forms of violations that may recur over time. According to the Argentinean scholar, in this context the Tribunal can play a fundamental role in the evolution of international criminal law and establish the horizon towards which national, regional, and international courts and tribunals should aim for the application of justice and the overcoming of impunity, precisely by virtue of the recent reformulation of its Statute.
On 4 and 5 July 2016, the Fondazione Lelio e Lisli Basso and the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal organised an international conference on human rights in the time of globalisation, to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of the Rights of Peoples.
The two days, which brought experiences and expertise from all over the world to Rome, produced a very rich and intense debate, which we would like to share with all those interested. Videos of the conference are available in Italian and English. Some of the speeches, such as those by Fulvio Vassallo Paleologo, Mrinal Kanti Tripura, Gianni Tognoni, Philippe Texier, Salvatore Senese, Roberto Schiattarella, Antoni Pigrau Solé, Elena Paciotti, Javier Giraldo Moreno, Mary E. John, Luigi Ferrajoli, and Daniel Feierstein are also available.
Juan Hernández Zubizarreta, “The new global corporate law”, In TNI State of Power 2015, An annual anthology on global power and resistance, 13 January 2015 www.tni.org/stateofpower2015
Language: English
In the article, the author illustrates how transnational corporations have succeeded in replacing the rule of law with global corporate law. This article elaborates on how these corporations are using a multitude of norms, treaties and agreements – most recently the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership – to secure their rights to profit over human rights. Hernández Zubizarreta’s analysis has contributed to and guided the numerous works that the TPP has carried out in relation to the responsibilities of transnational corporations in human rights violations.
Luigi Ferrajoli, “Crimini di sistema e diritto internazionale” [Systemic crimes and international law], Teoria Politica, Vol 9, Annali IX, 1 June 2019, pp. 401-411.
Language: Italian
The project of a global and international constitutional order stipulated in the aftermath of the Second World War is currently challenged by human rights violations caused by economic globalisation, which call for a rethinking of the theoretical categories by which it is possible to interpret reality. In the article, Ferrajoli proposes the introduction of the notion of ‘systemic crime’ to designate the violations of peoples’ rights brought about by the uncontrolled exercise of global powers – political, economic, and financial – and the development of capitalism. The notion, recently adopted by the PPT Statute and applied in the case of violations against the rights of migrants and refugees, specifically refers to effects that result from a sum of decisions that are not easily attributable to the responsibility of identified individuals, specific states or specific companies.
Nello Rossi, “La sentenza del Tribunale permanente dei popoli sui crimini in Myanmar” [The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal’s judgment on crimes in Myanmar], Questione Giustizia, 2 March 2018.
Language: Italian
The 20th century has rightly been called ‘the century of genocides’, with the Armenian Genocide, the Holocaust, the Cambodian genocide, the ethnic cleansing that led to the genocide in the former Yugoslavia and the massacre of 80% of the Tutsi population in Rwanda. Today, violence, mass killings, and expulsions in the state of Myanmar against the Rohingya, Kachin and Muslim minorities prolong and project this terrible reality into the 21st century. Is there any hope that the images of the first genocide carried out in the internet era and the voice of an opinion tribunal will be able to break the curtain of silence, obscurity, and apathy that has been so conducive to the commission of this crime in the past? This article briefly traces the established facts and legal assessments contained in the judgment delivered in Kuala Lumpur in September 2017 by the PPT on the ongoing crimes in Myanmar.
“Il procedimento e la sentenza del Tribunale permanente dei popoli sugli omicidi dei giornalisti in Messico, Sri Lanka e Siria” [The Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal proceedings and judgement on the murders of journalists in Mexico, Sri Lanka and Syria], Questione Giustizia, 4 October 2022
Language: Italian
On 19 September, the 51st session of the Permanent People’s Tribunal (PPT) on “Impunity for the Murder of Journalists” closed in The Hague. This session was articulated in thematic hearings dedicated to three exemplary cases of the murder of journalists Miguel Angel López Velasco (Mexico), Lasantha Wickrematunge (Sri Lanka), and Nabil Walid Al-Sharbaji (Syria). Based on the rich and rigorous documentation and publicly presented testimonies, the PPT jury handed down a judgment condemning the States of Mexico, Sri Lanka, and Syria for being guilty of their actions and omissions of all the human rights violations alleged in the indictment. This article by Questione Gustizia covers the four hearings held, addressing the main themes of the session, in particular freedom of the press as an indicator of an effective democratic existence.