UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay on Dec. 2 urged the UN Security Council to refer the situation in Syria to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for investigation into possible crimes against humanity committed by the Syrian government. Pillay said that during the eight-month uprising the death toll in Syria has surpassed 4,000 with tens of thousands arrested and over 14,000 detained as a result of the crackdown. The Human Rights Council established an Independent International Commission of Inquiry to investigate the human rights violations in Syria during the eight-month uprising. Pillay stated:

A Tunisian military court on Nov. 30 convicted former president Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in absentia on torture charges. Ben Ali and eight others were found guilty of the torture of 17 military generals in connection with a 1991 coup attempt. Ben Ali was sentenced to five years in prison. This week's sentence adds to a 35-year prison sentence handed down in June after his conviction in absentia on charges of theft and illegal possession of money, jewelry, drugs and weapons. Ben Ali, who remains in exile in Saudi Arabia, has denied the charges against him. His most recent conviction resulted from the first trial held against a former Tunisian government official since the new democratically-elected government took power earlier this year.

A team of investigators from the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrived in Libya on Nov. 30 to begin an inquiry into new allegations of sex crimes committed by loyalists of former leader Moammar Qaddafi. Jane O'Toole is leading the ICC investigation into allegations that Qaddafi ordered mass rapes and provided troops with sexual stimulants for the purpose of enforcing an official rape policy. According to chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC has evidence that rape was used to punish women, instill fear and subdue the population. Ocampo stated his investigation is nearly finished, and the results of this investigation may be used to file additional charges against Libya's chief of intelligence, Abdullah al-Senussi, among others. It has been alleged that al-Senussi was involved in the ordering and organizing of mass rapes.

An estimated 7,000 detainees are still being held without due process by Libyan revolutionaries, according to a UN report made public Nov. 28. The report to the UN Security Council, by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, says that most of the prisoners are being held in facilities maintained by independent brigades not under the control of the government, and that there have been allegations of abuse of prisoners. The report says that many of the prisoners are Black Africans suspected of being mercenaries for former Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi. Among the alleged abuses of prisoners there have been allegations of torture, targeting individuals based on race, detaining women in facilities with all-male guards, and detaining children in facilities alongside adults. Ban urged immediate action to end the abuse of prisoners:

Nobel peace laureate Tawakkul Karman on Nov. 28 uged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to conduct an investigation into the violent crackdown on dissent and alleged human rights violations by the country's former president, Ali Abdullah Sakeh. Although Karman presented ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo with a file on crimes she believes were committed by Saleh's regime, the Nobel laureate was also quick to acknowledge that her plea will likely fail due to the fact that Yemen has not signed the court's founding treaty, the Rome Statute, and is therefore not a member of the ICC. Consequently, the only way the prosecutor can begin such an investigation is if the UN Security Council instructs him to do so. While the Security Council has yet to make such an order, it has issued a statement on Yemen reiterating that "all those responsible for violence, human rights violations and abuses should be held accountable." Saleh stepped down as president last week in a deal that would grant immunity to the country's former leader.

International Criminal Court chief prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo said Nov. 23 that the ICC would allow Libya to conduct the trial of Saif al-Islam Qaddafi, son of late Libyan leader Moammar Qaddafi. Despite concern from human rights groups, including Human Rights Watch, about whether Saif al-Islam Qaddafi can receive a fair trial in Libya, Ocampo said he trusts the new Libyan government will be able to try him fairly and maintained that the ICC will not intervene as long as it does not stray from ICC standards. The ICC issued a statement clarifying that, "[s]hould the Libyan authorities wish to conduct national prosecutions against the suspect, they shall submit a challenge to the admissibility of the case before Pre-Trial Chamber I... Any decision on the admissibility of a case is under the sole competence of the Judges of the ICC." On the issue of the trial of Moammar Qaddafi's former intelligence chief Abdullah al-Senussi, Ocampo denied reports by Libya's National Transitional Council that he had been captured.

The relatives of 57 people killed in a 2009 Philippines massacre on Nov. 22 sued former president Gloria Macapagal Arroyo for allegedly assisting the perpetrators. The families seek five million pesos (USD $345,000) from Arroyo for damages caused by her alleged support of the Ampatuan family, whom government prosecutors claim were behind the November 2009 Maguindanao Massacre. Arroyo has denied any wrongdoing. The lawsuit comes at a particularly difficult time for Arroyo after Philippine authorities formally charged her on Nov. 19 with electoral sabotage, a day after she was arrested on a warrant [text] issued for charges of corruption and election fraud that occurred during her time as president.

A federal court in Brazil ruled Nov. 9 that work on the Belo Monte dam being constructed on the Xingu River in the Amazon rainforest may continue. The Federal Court of the First Region had ordered that dam construction cease until indigenous groups are consulted and given access to environmental impact reports, but the court reversed that decision in a 2-1 vote, upholding the decree issued by Para state authorizing the dam's construction. Maria do Carmo Cardoso, a court judge, held that the indigenous communities are entitled to be consulted, but the law does not say that this must be done before approval of the work. When completed, the $11 billion, 11,000-megawatt dam will be the world's third largest behind China's Three Gorges dam and the Itaipu, which straddles the border of Brazil and Paraguay. The project is expected to employ 20,000 people directly in construction, flood an area of 500 square kilometers (200 square miles) and displace 16,000 persons. Environmentalists and indigenous groups say the dam will devastate wildlife and the livelihoods of as many as 40,000 people who live in the area to be flooded. The government says the dam will provide clean, renewable energy and is essential to fuel Brazil's growing economy. The federal prosecutor's office in Para plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court.