Since the beginning of January, Sweden is part of the UN Security Council for two years. Read the critical article in The Indicter: How Sweden bribed its way to a seat in the UN Security Council using millions taken from the public budget for aid to poor countries. Another critical voice has also been heard on Swedish Radio (in Swedish).

Since the 1 January 2017, Germany has changed their law, which previously clearly outlawed even preparing war of aggression. Read more and consider signing the open petition (both in German).

This is a translation of one of the comments, from a person who signed the petition:

As a member of the Bundeswehr, I am committed to maintaining peace. And the abolition of § 80 from the Criminal Code is a considerable threat to peace and, in my view, is a preparation to endanger peace in the near future.

However, already before this change, the old law didn’t stop Germany from participating in wars of aggression.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has been heavily criticized for not following the will of Alfred Nobel, and for sometimes even awarding alleged war criminals. One such example is Henry Kissinger, who is this year invited as an honored guest by the Norwegian Nobel Committee and the University of Oslo. The Nobel Peace Prize Watch and a number of co-signatories now call for prosecutorial action by Norway. Read more about the controversy regaring Kissinger’s prize in Time and the request for summons on nobelwill.org. Earlier, the antiwar group CodePink has attempted to perform a citizen’s arrest on Kissinger.

See the article in the Philippine Star.

Read the article Human rights absence from reform package in Jakarta Post, which reminds about the murder of rights activist Munir Said Thalib (see also Garuda’s Deadly Upgrade).

After fifteen years of the latest war in Afghanistan, the International Criminal Court (ICC) is reported to consider to opening a full-blown investigation on war crimes in Afghanistan. Chief prosecutor Fatou Bensouda said the Taliban, Afghan government forces and US troops as well as the CIA all appeared to have carried out war crimes. What took ICC so long? And what about the European countries, Canada and Australia, which have cooperated with the US/NATO? ICC has lost much credibility, because of their focus on crimes committed in Africa, while turning a blind eye to much of the rest of the world. Because of ICC’s track record of selective justice, it is not surprising that South Africa, Burundi and Gambia are leaving ICC and it would be very surprising if ICC would really go ahead and accuse the powerful (remember the “Hague invasion clause”).

The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC) outlaws the use of death penalty on a person who was under 18 when they committed a capital offence. However, that has not stopped Iran from placing juveniles on death row. Read about the case of Zeinab Sokian and Amnesty’s report Growing up on death row.

Read the article in The Indicter about Sweden’s arms deals with Saudi Arabia, which is reported to be financing terrorists and waging war on Yemen together with the USA.

In many parts of the world, authorities are interfering in journalism, for example by bribes or criminal prosecution of journalists. Many people are realizing that our world is not as free as we have thought, not even in what we usually call democratic countries, and that the concept of “free press” is at risk almost everywhere. One of the latest examples is that a North Dakota state prosecutor has sought to charge Amy Goodman from Democracy Now with participating in a “riot” for filming an attack on anti-pipeline protesters. As Jason Reynolds writes:

So, what is the real purpose of the criminal charges and the arrest warrant? That’s what you should be concerned about: a government that will stifle and silence a reporter for airing a story that they don’t agree with.

This is taking place in a country where the people thought that the First Amendment of their Constitution would guarantee freedom of speech and free press. And it is not the first time US authorities have participated in silencing a journalist. We remember Gary Webb (see, for example, Managing a Nightmare: How the CIA Watched Over The Destruction of Gary Webb and Gary Webb Was Right).

As The Guardian has noticed, Britain has been perpetually at war for over 100 years, but many may not be aware of that. Now T.J. (Tim) Coles, director at Plymouth Institute for Peace Research, has published the book Britain’s Secret Wars. Read the book review by Paul Richard Harris at Axis of Logic.