The Permanent Peoples' Tribunal on Rojava vs. Turkey will be held on 5-6 February in Brussels.

The Tribunal will focus on the Turkish state’s attacks on Rojava between 2018 and 2024, and will present them for scrutiny in a broad and documented format. Already, the reports / documents / data made by the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Syria, prestigious human rights institutions, and many civil society organizations have shed some light on the picture.

The organization committee have announced the names of the judges that will sit at the session in Brussels. 

The judges

Giacinto Bisogni (Italy)

 

 

 

 

 

Magistrate since 1981 and at the Court of Cassation since  2002. He has been working on international and EU law issues since 1997, collaborating with the European  Commission on European civil codification projects. He is the author of numerous essays and commentaries on the protection of fundamental rights. He worked in the Legal Service of the European Commission from 1999 to 2022. Currently, he has ongoing collaborations with various universities, including the Law & Anthropology department of the Max Planck Institute.

Domenico Gallo (Italy)

 

 

 

 

Former Section President of the Court of Cassation, he entered the judiciary in 1977, actively participated in the life of the current “democratic magistracy” and the European Association of Magistrates “MEDEL”. In September 1994 he was elected Senator. At the end of the legislature, in 1996 he returned to the judiciary, where he served until 31 December 2021. He has edited numerous publications on topics relating to institutional issues and human rights. Among these: Da Sudditi a Cittadini – il percorso della Democrazia, Edizioni Gruppo Abele (2013); Ventisei Madonne nere, Delta Tre Edizioni (2019); Il Mondo che verrà, Delta Tre Edizioni (2022) e Guerra Ucraina, Delta Tre Edizioni (2023), Guerre, Delta Tre Edizioni (2024).

José Elías Esteve Molto (Spain)

 

 

 

Senior lecturer of Public International Law and international relations. Director of the Master’s Degree in Human Rights, Democracy and International Justice (2019-2023) and Secretary of the Human Rights Institute at the University of Valencia (2012-2021). He is currently in charge of the International Human Rights Department of the Legal Clinic of the Law Faculty of this university. Investigator advocate in claims related to international crimes committed in Tibet and Burma before the Spanish tribunals through universal jurisdiction. He has published dozens of articles in journals and book chapters on topics associated with international crimes, international humanitarian law, business and human rights focusing the attention on cases as the Union Carbide disaster of Bhopal.

Czarina Golda S. Musni (The Philippines)

 

 

 

 

Human rights lawyer and member of the Union of Peoples’ Lawyers in Mindanao (UPLM). She focuses her work on the defence of the land rights of the peasants and indigenous communities in Mindanao against extractive industry companies and the government policies which results in the displacement, destruction of livelihood, environmental plunder and even killings and enforced disappearances of community leaders and members. She is also active in the campaigns for peace talks between the Government of Philippines and the Communist Party of the Philippines – National Democratic Front to resolve the ongoing armed conflict in the country. For her actions, she has been a victim of the red-tagging phenomenon that criminalises, stigmatizes and threatens those who defend human rights, those who criticise the government and those who call for a just and lasting peace in the Philippines. Due to the intensified persecution against her, she had to flee from her country for her safety and security.

Gabrielle Lefèvre (Belgium)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Belgian journalist since 1972: at La Cité until 1995; then at Le Soir until 2009. Columnist on the alternative news website www.entreleslignes.be since 2009. Specialist in development cooperation, social issues including migration, poverty and poor housing. Non-magistrate member of the Belgian High Council of Justice, representing the press, from 2008 to 2012. Member of various professional journalism bodies, including the Commission d’agréation au titre de journaliste professionnel and founding member of the Conseil de déontologie journalistique. Member of the Henri La Fontaine Foundation, dedicated to pacifism. Former President and member of the Board of Directors of the Pro Renovassistance Foundation, dedicated to housing the most disadvantaged, in Brussels, and author of several books.

Rashida Manjoo (South Africa)

 

 

 

Professor Emerita at the University of Cape Town, South Africa where she taught for many years in the Faculty of Law and convened the LLM Human Rights Program. Between 2009 and 2015, she held the position of United Nations Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences. Her UN work has included monitoring and reporting on States’ compliance in responding to and preventing violence against women, its causes, and consequences, both generally and in different country contexts. Prof Manjoo is the former Parliamentary Commissioner of the Commission on Gender Equality, an institution created by the Constitution of South Africa, with a mandate to oversee the promotion and protection of gender equality and women’s rights. She has also been involved in social context training for judges and lawyers, where she has designed both content and methodology.

Frances Webber (UK)

 

 

 

 

Former barrister who specialised in immigration, refugee and human rights law until her retirement in 2008, and acted as a junior barrister for Amnesty International in the Pinochet extradition case of 1998-99. She is a trustee of the Institute of Race Relations, having served as vice-chair for many years, and is  an honorary vice-president of the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers. She co-edited Macdonald’s Immigration Law and Practice (5th and 6th editions, 2001 and 2005) and Halsbury’s British Nationality, Immigration and Asylum (4th edition, 2002 reissue), and is the author of Borderline justice: the fight for refugee and migrant rights (Pluto, 2012). After retirement she lectured at Warwick and Birkbeck (University of London) for some years, and she has spoken and written extensively on migration and human rights issues.