A special committee of the United Nations last month, approved a draft resolution calling upon the US to “take into consideration the expressed will of Guam’s Chamorro people. As supported by Guam voters in the referendum of 1987 and as subsequently provided for in Guam law regarding Chamorro self-determination efforts.”  

Two former Argentinean navy officials have been sentenced to life for crimes against humanity committed under military rule between 1976 to 1983.

Captains Alfredo Astiz and Jorge Eduardo Acosta were found guilty of involvement in torture and murder of hundreds of political opponents, reports the BBC.

The two high ranking military officials were among a group of 54 people that faced sentences ranging from 8 to 25 years.

It is estimated that 30,000 people were killed after a military junta led by General Jorge Rafael Videla took power of Argentina.

The military regime operated secret torture and killing centres by the military during the takeover.

An exhibition on genocide in Syria is to open at the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC.

In addition to documenting Nazi crimes, the Holocaust Museum, on Washington’s National Mall, is also tasked with alerting against modern-day genocides. As such, the Syrian civil war is on the museum’s watchlist as one of the most serious ongoing mass atrocities.

A former Bosnian Croat general has died after drinking a phial of poison in whilst receiving his war crimes sentence at the Hague.

Seconds after the judges of the UN mandated tribunal sentenced him to 20 years, Slobodan Praljak, shouted “Praljak is not a criminal. I  reject your verdict. I just drank poison.”

An official statement from the International Criminal Tribunal on Yugoslavia ICTY, said,

The United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) called on Myanmar to provide an “exceptional” report with information concerning sexual violence and rape against Rohingya women by state security forces.

The experts requested information on “investigations arrests, prosecutions, convictions and sentences or disciplinary measures imposed on perpetrators, including members of the armed forces, found guilty of such crimes,” reports Reuters.

Former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, who was expelled by Spain’s central government after Catalonia’s independence referendum, reaffirmed his commitment to make the region an independent state.

Speaking from Belgium, whilst awaiting a Spanish court verdict that could see him imprisoned for 30 years, Mr Pugdemont said,

“The people of Catalonia have shown the world we have the capacity and the will to become an independent state.”
Catalonia’s Deputy President Oriol Junqueras and half the rest of Catalan’s ousted cabinet remain in prison.  Mr Puigdemont currently faces charges of rebellion in Spanish courts.

Myanmar and Bangladesh have agreed to accept UN assistance to start the repatriation process for hundreds of thousands of Rohingya Muslims who fled violence in Myanmar, said Reuters.

Speaking at a press conference in Dhaka, Bangladesh Foreign Minister Abul Hassan Mahmood Ali said,

“Both countries agreed to take help from te UNHCR in the Rohingya repatriation process. Myanmar will take its assistance as per their requirement.

At least 235 people have been killed with several more injured in a bomb and gun attack on a mosque in the north Sinai region of Egypt.

A bomb exploded in the mosque during Friday prayers followed by four gunmen who opened fire on worshipers.

Speaking immediately after the attacks, Egypt’s president Abdel Fattah al Sisi, said,

The United States has condemned the Myanmar’s military actions against the Rohingya communtiy and labelled the crimes committed as ethnic cleansing.

A press release made by the US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, after returning from Myanmar, read,

“These abuses by some among the Burmese military, security forces, and local vigilantes have caused tremendous suffering and forced hundreds of thousands of men, women, and children to flee their homes in Burma to seek refuge in Bangladesh. After a careful and thorough analysis of available facts, it is clear that the situation in northern Rakhine state constitutes ethnic cleansing against the Rohingya.”

Former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, during a historic hearing at the Hague, was sentenced to life in prison for a litany of crimes including genocide.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) set up by the United Nations, convicted Mr Mladic of 10 crimes including extermination, murder and persecution of civilian populations.

The former army general faced two charges of genocide, five of crimes against humanity and four violations of the laws of customs of war.