Author: World Jurist Admin

Statement by the WJA and its Human Rights Institute for the death of Fernando Albán

On behalf of the WJA, non-governmental organization with consultative status before the United Nations (UN), which brings together more than 1,000 judges, lawyers, professors and other professionals in various specialties since 1963, before the death in strange circumstances of the Venezuelan opposition politician Fernando Albán, who was under preventive detention in the political police of the Venezuelan government (SEBIN), we strongly condemn such a reprehensible act.

The circumstances of its perpetration, following the international denunciation that Fernando Albán advanced along with other groups of opposition politicians against the Venezuelan government; his arbitrary detention without a warrant, at the airport upon entering Venezuela; procedural delay in holding the first hearing before a judge; the information transmitted by Fernando Albán, to his lawyer and a relative, of being pressured to implicate, in a testimony, other opposition politicians in criminal acts; the untimely conclusion of the Prosecutor General (of null and void appointment), regarding suicide as the cause of death in an incipient investigation still in process; the serious contradictions between the official versions of the facts and the precedents of similar cases inside the political police (SEBIN). All these circumstances, and others, produce serious evidence that generates a serious basis for considering the death of Fernando Albán as a crime against humanity.

Therefore, we demand an objective and impartial investigation, in compliance with the rules of due process, where the right of the family of Fernando Albán to intervene during the procedure, his right to obtain truth and justice for the participants, is guaranteed, including possible determiners.

The WJA adheres to the request made by the UN, by the governments of different countries and by countless international pro-human rights organizations, so that the investigation into the cause of Fernando Albán’s death is carried out in a profound, exhaustive, independent, transparent and international way, and with the integration of his relatives, for which the WJA offers its active participation and contribution, if required. Our organization makes available its World Associations of Judges, Law Professors and Lawyers, in the search for truth and obtaining justice through law.

The death of Fernando Albán in conditions of serious presumption of extrajudicial execution recalls very dark moments in history. Let us remember the case of Steve Biko, an icon of the fight against racial segregation in South Africa, imprisoned for his ideas and killed in 1977 by his custodians of the police who, after twenty years in a truth commission, confessed their crime. On that occasion, several members of the WJA condemned this abominable murder, in similar terms as we do in this act.

The WJA aims to strengthen, promote and spread peace through the rule of law, recognizing the dignity and equal rights of all members of humanity, inspired by the values of freedom, justice and peace, in accordance with the Preamble of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The absence of law in the world community is the greatest threat to the extension of humanity”.

Charles S. Rhyne. WJA Founder

 

Franklin Hoet Linares – WJA Worldwide President

Juan Carlos Gutiérrez – President of the WJA Human Rights Institute

Carlos Sarmiento Sosa – Former WJA Vice-president

 

 

Full Statement PDF in English available here

Pronunciamiento en español en PDF disponible aquí

Arbitration Summit 2019 – Registrations Open

The World Jurist Association proudly invites you to the 7th Annual Arbitration & Investment Summit, Caribbean, Latin America & Other Emerging Markets 2019, to be held on January 25th, 2019, in Nassau, Bahamas.

The event is being organized by the WJA President for the Bahamas, Dr. Peter Maynard, who invites all WJA members to join the Conferences.

The Program is available HERE

Register now at www.maynardlaw.com

Further information, please contact info@maynardlaw.com 

 

 

WJA Madrid Congress – Save the Date!

 

In February 2019, Madrid will become the capital of the International Legal World during the celebration of the 26th WJA Biennial Congress. The program will focus on Globality & Current Challenges to Democracy, offering a holistic view of the great issues that concern humanity, on which the jurist world must respond. Matters that converge with the objectives of the 2030 Agenda of the United Nations, and the achievement of peace and prosperity through sustainable development.

In special, this Congress will represent a milestone for the WJA, as the World Peace & Liberty Award will be presented for the first time. The awarded personality is of the highest interest in Spain, a representative of unwavering commitment to the Rule of Law and the defense of Democracy and Freedom.

The Program of the Congress will integrate the vision of notorious International and Spanish jurists, companies and institutions that support the progress of humanity, and coexistence in democracy and freedom. Keynote Speakers and Panelists already confirmed include Former Prime Ministers, high representatives of the UN, OAS, EU and other relevant international entities, Chief Justices from different Supreme Courts, and prominent legal academics, among other prestigious jurists from around the globe.

Save the date for this Grand Biennial Congress!

Further information and opening of registrations will begin in November 2018. Would you have any quieries, please, do not hesitate to contact our Executive Director, Yacky Rodríguez at wjadirector@gmail.com

Would you like to learn more about our fantastic next location? Visit Madrid’s Official Tourist Website

Looking forward to meeting you in Madrid!

Regards,

 

Franklin Hoet Linares – WJA Worldwide President

 

Peace Starts in Korea

By Franklin Hoet-Linares

Worldwide President of the World Jurist Association

 

When Jesus delivered the Sermon on the Mount: “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God”, among other Beatitudes, he did not specify whether that message was addressed to Jews, Samaritans, Romans or his own followers. Everyone, without distinction. And then, I would add, to ratify that they are concepts that march together: “Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven“.

That is the humble way in which here on Earth we have been working for 40 years at the World Peace Through Law Center, founded in 1965, today World Jurist Association (WJA); without distinctions, exclusions, privileged inclusions, or discriminations. The WJA seeks to strengthen and promote the rule of law and spread peace through law; a recognition of the inherent dignity and equality of inalienable rights of all the members of humanity, founded on freedom, justice and peace in the world, as established in the Preamble to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), approved by the General Assembly of the United Nations (Article III of the WJA Charter).

As WJA Worldwide President for third time, I have committed in the pursuit of our objectives, traveling to different places in the world to actively attend international and regional conferences, among other activities, organized by individuals, associations, corporations, non-governmental organizations and governmental institutions with similar leitmotiv. The cooperation extends to all branches of law: judges, academics and lawyers. We cannot become judges and discriminate those who work for peace, either co-religionists or not, because, in the end, our north is to maintain the inherent dignity of every human being in the process of achieving peace and justice.

Under that mandate and with deep conviction of pursuing a realistic world peace, I attended the invitation of the HWPL (Heavenly Culture, World Peace, Restoration of Light) in Seoul, Republic of Korea, in 2015, to prepare a document that initially was meant to be an international treaty for the promotion of peace and disarmament, with a view to the cessation of wars. Considering the difficulties of achieving such purpose, legal complexity, multiple political interests in the international scenario, especially in the formation of instruments legally binding the community of United Nations States Members, the International Law Peace Committee (ILPC) was created.

I accepted to integrate this Committee, and, within our mission, we achieved our goal after multiple meetings and discussions. A consensus was reached in a document of 10 articles and 38 clauses, called “Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War” (DPCW). The fundamental spirit is the same one that the WJA shares, just governance based on law, not power. Exactly, the same basic concept devised by Sir Winston Churchill when he was presented with our project for a center for peace: “Contribute firmly, from civil society, to strengthen the rule of law“. We were convinced that the future of immediate world peace was being played in Korea.

Or in the words of the inspiring Dwight Eisenhower on our first conference in Washington, by supporting the creation of today’s WJA: “The world has no choice between force and law: if civilization tries to survive it must choose the force of the law“.

This year we attended for second time to Seoul, the peace of the world was centered in those precise moments and territories, between the two Korean countries, with the United States and Russia behind; more precisely, Trump and Putin. Those of us who share the experiences of the Americans and follow the daily news on the media, perceive the almost imminent spectrum of war and, with us and our family, tens of millions more. Imagine how the consequences would be like in North and South Korea. The ILPC finally signaled a laudable solution to the manifest impossibility to obtaining a consensus at the UN General Assembly, as the DPCW restricted the powers of the States and imposed them obligations, which is not realistic at this time of a new international cold war: “Recognize with merit the excellent progress of the President of HWPL in bringing together individual States and regional organizations around the DPCW. Also, recommend that this process will continue until sufficient support is obtained for the presentation of the DPCW before the UN GA with a view to its endorsement in the form of a resolution approved within it“. It is not small thing.

On September 18, I had the historic opportunity of visiting the demilitarized zone. Today, just a few weeks later, in the process of dismantling. Something similar happened in Berlin, when the WJA held a Congress promoting the disarmament and unification of the two Germanies. It is gratifying to contribute, even with a grain of sand.

The UDHR is not an international treaty, it is what it is, a statement of great weight accepted by the entire international community, and that was decided in 1944, when realist legislators realized that it was not possible to obtain a consensus of the main countries for a treaty on fundamental rights, hence decided to produce three instruments. First, the Declaration, not legally enforceable, even though today, after 70 years of validity in international doctrine, it is given a weight of customary law. Subsequently, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICCPR and ICESCR, respectively) were produced. Both were adopted by the UN GA through Resolution 2200 A (XXI) of December 16, 1966, entered into force on March 23, 1976, and have been ratified by 167 States. These two Covenants have a value and can be legally binding among the countries that signed and ratify them.

It is our purpose in the immediate future to extract some fundamental political rights from the DPCW and incorporate them as an amendment to the Covenants. Furthermore, a review of the 30 Clauses or rights of the UDHR. Likewise, we are going to support an initiative of Unite for Rights, a human rights association that is trying to produce a Bill of Rights, to unify the existing human rights legislation in the world, in a simple, accurate and integrative way.

Now, after being sure that the war in the Korean Peninsula is moving away by leaps and bounds, we want to dedicate ourselves to work for peace in Venezuela and continue with the preparation of the XXVI Congress of the WJA in Madrid, to be held from 18 to 20 February 2019

 

Bratislava, October 08, 2018.

2018 HWPL World Peace Summit

Around 1,000 experts in various fields from around the world with a passionate heart for peace gathered in Seoul, South Korea, to participate in the 2018 HWPL World Peace Summit: 4th Anniversary. The Worldwide President of the World Jurist Association, Dr. Franklin Hoet Linares, was among the distinguished guests of this important event being celebrated on 17 – 19 September, 2018.

The main agenda of these meetings was the introduction of the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War (DPCW) to the United Nations (UN) as a binding resolution and the promotion of international cooperation among individuals from all levels and sectors of society for the peaceful reunification of the Korean Peninsula through the DPCW. In addition, plans were discussed and established regarding how to draw support from current heads of state for the introduction of the DPCW as a UN resolution.

Political leaders, including former and current heads of state, ministers, national assembly speakers, Supreme Court justices and jurists from around the world together with HWPL are currently making practical efforts towards the enactment of an international law for peace through the introduction of the DPCW to the UN. At this year’s international law session, high-ranking officials and the HWPL international law advisory committee created concrete measures to advance the process of the realization of the implementation of an international law for peace.

As part of the Summit’s agenda, on September 18, Dr. Hoet was honored by Mr. Man Hee Lee, Chairman of HWPL, with a Plaque of Appreciation in recognition to his outstanding contribution to advocating the Declaration of Peace and Cessation of War and spreading a culture of peace in efforts for the realization of peace and cessation of war.

 

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Letter to the Secretary General of the OAS on the Venezuelan case

 

H.E. DR. LUIS ALMAGRO LEMES

Secretary General of the Organization of the American States

His Excellency,

The World Jurist Association (WJA), aware of the transcendental role that corresponds to it in these critical moments that affect the Venezuelan citizens, presents before you its respectful support and appreciation on behalf of the jurists who integrate it, many of them Venezuelan.

The current humanitarian crisis affecting Venezuela, as direct result of a system described as dictatorial throughout the American continent, and as result of the actions of some of the highest representatives of the Venezuelan regime, who have been qualified as members of criminal organizations with participation in Narcotics trafficking, must be repudiated and taken care of, just as you have courageously claim over the last few years. The real crisis has brought as consequence the notorious and massive diaspora of Venezuelans trying to guarantee their survival by fleeing to the American Continent and the rest of the world, which has also affected the receiving countries and, even more, the neighboring countries which have good sheltered the victims of the Venezuelan regime.

The WJA supports your repeated complaints as Secretary General of the OAS in light of the humanitarian, economic, political and social crisis in Venezuela, as well as the successive ones by multiple international organizations. Likewise, the WJA recognizes your extraordinary and strong humanist position facing the ferocious and repressive Venezuelan dictatorship, in representation of the democratic foundations that inspired the creation of the OAS in 1948. The OAS, in its principles, has always been compatible with the values ​​that guide our organization: Pax Orbis ex Jure, world peace through law; justice through the rule of law.

The WJA adheres to the request of the Independent Panel of International Experts appointed by you on September 14, 2017, who recommended in their report for their conclusions to be presented before the International Criminal Court. The WJA supports the need to process, prosecute and convict the perpetrators of the ongoing  genocide that is being committed in Venezuela, and which is, in light of the Palermo Convention, a crime against humanity.

The four World Associations that integrate the WJA unanimously support and fervently desire successful results in the process of seeking justice for the Venezuelan people during the historic OAS General Assembly that concludes today.

Sincerely,

 

Dr. Franklin Hoet Linares

Worldwide President

 

Read the original text in Spanish (here)

Access the letter in PDF format (here)

Featured image: OAS