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Julia Crawford

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Julia Crawford has been working as a journalist and translator for Justice Info since June 2015. She is an experienced journalist, editor and journalism trainer, specialized in African affairs and transitional justice. She has previously worked for SwissInfo.ch, Radio France International in Paris, as editor of the Hirondelle News Agency in Arusha, Tanzania, for IRIN in Nairobi, the Committee to Protect Journalists in New York and BBC Media Action in London.

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In Switzerland, crimes committed against nomadic peoples (Yenish, Sinti and Manouche) have been recognised by the government as ‘crimes against humanity’. Photo: Yenish children play the schwyzerörgeli, a small accordion, in front of a vehicle parked in an encampment.
This was a “dark chapter in Swiss history”
28 February 2025 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
On February 19, Switzerland admitted it committed a “crime against humanity” in removing thousands of Traveller children from their families over a period of 50 years. Adult Yenish and Sinti people were also victimized. This is th [...]
Will Anura Kumara Dissanayake, the President of Sri Lanka, be able to put in place a genuine transitional justice process? Photo: Dissanayake during his election campaign in September 2024. Can Sri Lanka now break with the past?
3 February 2025 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Sri Lanka’s bloody civil war ended nearly 16 years ago, with war crimes committed on all sides. Victims have seen no justice. A new President and parliament were elected last year, representing a break with traditional parties and [...]
Guantánamo: the American prison (in Cuba) where torture is still practised along with various other violations of human rights (or of the Law in general). Photo: a prisoner in an orange uniform is photographed from a distance, behind barbed wire, surrounded by soldiers. Guantánamo: legacy of torture and abuse still haunts America
18 October 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Donald Trump and Kamala Harris, candidates for the US presidential elections on November 5, have been silent so far on what they would do about Guantánamo. Many have called for the closing down of this US military prison on Cuba, [...]
Persecution of LGBTQ people: a crime against humanity? Photo: in Uganda, a gay activist wears a mask on which he has stuck a rainbow flag. Persecution of LGBTQ, a crime against humanity?
17 September 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
More than 60 countries, notably in Africa and the Middle East, criminalize LGBT people. These laws are used to harass, arrest, imprison and attack people. Some countries have de-penalized in recent times, but some have seen a back [...]
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Gender apartheid for women in Iran and women in Afghanistan - Photo: a woman wearing a hijab walks down a street, closely followed by a Taliban patrol.
20 June 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Crimes against Afghan women drive push to recognize “gender apartheid” Richard Bennett, UN Special Rapporteur on Afghanistan, told the UN Human Rights Council on Tuesday that violations against women and girls in that country were “so severe and extensive” that “they may amount to crimes against huma [...]
At the end of March 2024, officials from the International Criminal Court (ICC) visited officials from Nigeria. Photo: around fifteen people pose.
30 April 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
The ICC on Nigeria: Years of words, but no action How did Africa’s most populous country get buried in the recesses of the ICC? Focusing on Ukraine and Gaza, Prosecutor Karim Khan seems to have forgotten a case opened by his predecessor, who herself took ten years to conclude tha [...]
War in Yemen: justice at a standstill. Photo: Yemenis brandish weapons in support of Palestine.
28 March 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Yemen: a decade of war with no sign of justice Houthi attacks on ships in the Red Sea, ostensibly to support Palestinians in Gaza, and retaliatory United States-United Kingdom airstrikes have reminded us in these last months of Yemen’s forgotten war. The conflict has been ongo [...]
In-depth interview with Catherine Marchi-Uhel, Head of the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria. Image: drawing of Marchi-Uhel.
12 March 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Catherine Marchi-Uhel: “The results of the Syria Mechanism are becoming more visible” Catherine Marchi-Uhel of France is the first head of the first UN evidence-gathering mechanism, the International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM) for Syria, created in 2016 in Geneva. After seven years in office, she w [...]
3 years after the coup in Myanmar: what justice? Photo: soldiers stand guard on a blockaded road to parliament (February 1, 2021).
1 February 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Three years after the coup, hopes of justice for Myanmar? February 1 marks three years since the coup in Myanmar, where the military regime is accused of widespread abuses against civilians. It is also more than six years since 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee to Bangladesh. With the [...]
Gambia - Sonko trial in Switzerland - Photo: Swiss federal court in Bellinzona
8 January 2024 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Gambian trial starts in Switzerland for crimes against humanity Ousman Sonko, former interior minister of the Gambia, goes on trial in Switzerland this Monday January 8 for alleged crimes against humanity committed between 2000 and 2016 in his country. This long-awaited trial before Switzerlan [...]
Independent enquiry and commission into the crimes of British Special Forces (SAS) in Afghanistan - Photo: a British soldier carries out a night raid.
10 November 2023 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
UK military abuses in Afghanistan: SAS in the firing line In London, an independent inquiry into alleged British Special Forces abuses against civilians in Afghanistan has started substantive hearings. The United Kingdom government agreed to the probe at the end of last year, after inten [...]
Transitional justice in Ethiopia is flawed - Photo: a woman crosses a road seen from a military truck with a broken window, in the Tigray region.
19 October 2023 by Julia Crawford (Justice Info)
Flawed transitional justice in Ethiopia The UN and NGOs say atrocities are continuing in Ethiopia, despite a peace agreement, and the government’s approach to transitional justice is flawed. But the latest session of the UN Human Rights Council ended last week without r [...]
Algeria - General Khaled Nezzar is accused in Switzerland of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
2 October 2023 by Julia Crawford
Assad and Nezzar: Swiss justice finally moving, but not so convincingly The Swiss have finally moved on two long-running, politically sensitive universal jurisdiction cases. But the chances of Algerian ex-defense minister Khaled Nezzar and former Syrian vice-president Rifaat al-Assad being brought to [...]
Belarusian Yuri Harauski acquitted after Swiss trial
29 September 2023 by Julia Crawford
In surprise move, Swiss court acquits Belarusian of enforced disappearances Belarusian Yuri Harauski was on Thursday September 28 acquitted by a Swiss cantonal court, despite his confession, of forcibly disappearing leading opposition figures in his country in 1999. The court said his statements were cont [...]
Yuri Harauski on trial in Switzerland for enforced disappearances in Belarus
19 September 2023 by Julia Crawford
Belarus “hit squad” member on trial in Switzerland for enforced disappearances The Belarusian has confessed to the crimes. His trial, which opens on September 19 under universal jurisdiction at canton St. Gallen district court in Rorschach is scheduled to last only two days. A former official under President [...]
Human rights and transitional justice in the Maldives - Photo of a paradise beach with an image of a demonstration against the enforced disappearance of Ahmed Rilwan.
8 September 2023 by Julia Crawford
Justice in paradise The Maldives, an Indian Ocean tourist paradise with a history of political violence and human rights abuses, are to hold presidential elections on September 9. The outcome could determine the future of the archipelago’s difficult [...]
France-Cameroon commission - Can a commission of historians help the two countries on the road to reconciliation? Presidents Emmanuel Macron and Paul Biya speak at a press conference in Cameroon.
25 July 2023 by Julia Crawford
Colonial past: can a historians’ commission help reconcile Cameroon? Exactly one year ago, on 26 July 2022, French President Emmanuel Macron announced the creation of a commission of historians to shed light on France's colonial past in Cameroon. One year on, this commission has barely got off the [...]
Ousman Sonko indicted in Switzerland for crimes against humanity in Gambia
25 April 2023 by Julia Crawford
Gambian Ousman Sonko will be tried for crimes against humanity in Switzerland This is said to be the highest ranking individual to be prosecuted in Europe under the principle of universal jurisdiction. Ousman Sonko, former Interior Minister of The Gambia, was officially indicted on April 17 by a Swiss prose [...]
Reparation for colonial crimes - Emmanuel Macron in Burkina Faso
11 April 2023 by Julia Crawford
Colonial crimes: the reparations movement stalls in Europe The wave of restitutions expected after French President Emmanuel Macron’s 2017 promise to return stolen art to Africa has hit legal and political roadblocks. But while former colonial powers are shying away, it seems “New World” [...]
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