www.damocles.org.
A website to help the victims
The Damocles Network, legal arm of Reporters Without Borders, launches its
website. For once, a website doesn't just give you the key legal documents
but offers a guide that victims of international crimes can use.
How do you find your way through the jungle of international law ? How do
you lodge a complaint under the "universal jurisdiction" principle that
caused former Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet so much trouble ? What's
the best way to use the brand-new International Criminal Court ?
What can you do when your country's courts don't work properly ? How can
you defend your rights when they're seriously violated ? The Damocles
Network's website, www.damocles.org, tries to answer all these questions.
For once, a website doesn't just give you the key legal documents but
offers a guide that victims of international crimes can use. It's as easy
as possible to understand given the complexity of international law and has
been devised as a tool for the victims and especially their lawyers. It
asks the questions everyone has in mind when they want to use international
law.
The site is designed like a tree so the laws in different countries (for
the moment only France and Belgium with others soon to be added) can be
readily found. It suggests ways to draw up a legal complaint, based for
example on the kind of crime, the type and rank of person who committed it,
the victim's country and the treaties that country has ratified.
The website of the Damocles Network, which is headed by Baltasar Garzón,
the Spanish judge who pursued Pinochet, also offers a hotline for victims
of terrible crimes, to point them in the direction of those who can best
help them.
Damocles was set up at the end of 2001 by Reporters Without Borders, with
the financial support of the European Commission, to fight against the
impunity too often enjoyed by those who kill and torture journalists. The
legal arm of Reporters Without Borders, it was born out of the alarming
realisation that very few of those responsible for the murder, torture and
forced disappearance of more than 500 journalists over the past decade had
been punished.
To fight this, Damocles sends fact-finding missions to investigate the
abuses and expose, if necessary, the failings and ineffectiveness of police
and legal officials. It also helps victims and their families to take
suitable legal action.
You can also find on the www.damocles.org website the latest news about
freedom of expression and international justice and read articles by
prominent legal and media figures. The site reports on what Damocles is
doing and the legal action it's taking. All its mission reports are
downloadable in full in "pdf" or printable format. It also has the texts of
all the major documents about human rights and international humanitarian
law, a selection of our favourite websites and a list of recent
publications about international law.
The Damocles Network site is easy to use, with a handy tool-bar where each
section has its own icon. It's also compatible with older browsers. The
site is in English and French and designed by Rampazzo & Associates.
http://www.rsf.fr/article.php3?id_article=4401
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