Other Legal Issues
The Iraqi Special Tribunal also contains an official English translation of the Iraqi Criminal and Civil Code, which Paul Bremer decreed would be the operating legal code of Iraq until it is changed or modified by the Iraqi government.
One emerging, critical issue to the mission of the Iraqi High Tribunal is that of women's human rights. Women occupy a uniquely vulnerable position in conflict, and the Iraqi High Tribunal is charged with prosecuting gender-based crimes within the Hussein regime. Historically, rape has proven a prolific problem in conflict, and in many Mid-East countries, including Iraq, such phenomena as honor crimes (the killing of rape victims by male family members in order to restore honor to the family name) inhibited gender justice. The Judges of the Iraqi High Tribunal have taken a pioneering interest in gender justice, requesting a training in fall of 2006 on international law tenets that protect women's human rights. Attorney Janet Benshoof of the Global Justice Center was among the legal authorities stressing the importance of upholding women's rights in future Iraqi High Tribunal decisions. The Judges proved very interested in protecting women's human rights in their future decisions, and have requested an amicus (friend of the court) brief from concerned attorneys and women's civil society organizations regarding future gender jurisprudence.
Read more about this topic: Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal
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