[JURIST] The Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association has adopted two annual days of remembrance to highlight the plight of judges deposed following the declaration of emergency [JURIST report] by President Pervez Musharraf in November 2007. The Bar Association will observe [Daily Times report] Independence of Judiciary Day every year on July 20, and Black Day on November 3 of every year. The Bar Association also announced an August 14 deadline [Daily Times report] for the reinstatement of the deposed judges, after which the lawyers' movement would engage in a campaign of civil disobedience to force the government into action. Among the deposed judges are a number of justices of the Supreme Court of Pakistan [official website], including former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammed Chaudhry [JURIST news archive]. Speakers at a lawyer's movement protest [JURIST report] two weeks ago, including prominent lawyers' movement leader Hamid Khan, urged the PPP and the Pakistani government to implement the conditions of the Murree Accord [News backgrounder], and indicated that the movement would not accept judges who had been appointed as a result of the declaration of emergency. From Pakistan, the News has more.

Last week, the reconstituted Supreme Court of Pakistan upheld Musharraf's declaration of emergency rule and the ouster of the judges [JURIST report]. Days before the judgment, Pakistani Supreme Court Bar Association President Aitzaz Ahsan [JURIST news archive] strongly criticized US policy on Pakistan [JURIST report], including its refusal to condemn the declaration of emergency rule. In June, members of the lawyers' movement concluded a "long march" protest [JURIST report] from Lahore to Islamabad, calling for the reinstatement of the dismissed judges. Earlier that month, the Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz called for Musharraf's impeachment [JURIST report] and released a "charge sheet" outlining misuse of presidential authority, including the dismissal of the country's superior court judges.

[JURIST] Cambodia has submitted a letter to the UN Security Council [official website; JURIST news archive] seeking to draw UN attention to its border dispute with Thailand. Disagreement between the two countries has arisen over the border area surrounding the Preah Vihear temple [Telegraph backgrounder], which both countries claim lies within their borders. AP reports that Cambodian Information Minister Khieu Kanharith said, "Cambodia is not asking for UN intervention," and indicated that the letter was simply an attempt to highlight the conflict between the two countries. Last week, Thai protesters petitioned the country's National Counter-Corruption Commission (NCCC) [officials website], asking it to bring new corruption charges against a number of government officials for allegedly granting Cambodia's full claim to the temple in exchange for personal favors to former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra [BBC backgrounder; JURIST news archive]. AP has more. The Bangkok Post has additional coverage.

Two weeks ago, Thailand's Constitutional Court [official website, in Thai] ruled that current prime minister Samak Sundaravej [BBC profile] violated the country's constitution by dropping Thai claims [JURIST report] to the temple without parliamentary approval. Opponents of the temple transfer have called for those involved to be impeached and charged with treason [JURIST report], while others have called for the government to rescind its recognition of the bid or join in the multinational force [Bangkok Post reports] that will guard the site. The UN notification arises three weeks after the UN Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) [official website] approved a Cambodian application [UNESCO press release, in French] for recognition of the temple as a UNESCO World Heritage site. Tensions have long existed between Thailand and Cambodia concerning the Preah Vihear temple, as both countries have claimed a right to the structure. In 1962, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ruled [opinion, PDF] that the temple was officially located in Cambodia.

[JURIST] The Human Rights Annual Report 2007 [text, PDF] released Sunday by the UK House of Commons Foreign Affairs Committee [committee website] recommended that the UK not rely on any assurances made by the US that it does not use torture. The report also calls on the UK to fully investigate US interrogation tactics to ensure that no torture techniques are being used on US detainees. The report's section on torture focuses on waterboarding [JURIST news archive] and the disconnect between US statements that the practice does not constitute torture and testimony by UK Foreign Secretary David Miliband [official website] that "water-boarding [sic] amounts to torture." The Foreign Affairs Committee wrote in the report:

We conclude that the Foreign Secretary's view that water-boarding is an instrument of torture is to be welcomed. However, given the recent practice of water-boarding by the US, there are serious implications arising from the Foreign Secretary's stated position. We conclude that, given the clear differences in definition, the UK can no longer rely on US assurances that it does not use torture, and we recommend that the Government does not rely on such assurances in the future. We also recommend that the Government should immediately carry out an exhaustive analysis of current US interrogation techniques on the basis of such information as is publicly available or which can be supplied by the US. We further recommend that, once its analysis is completed, the Government should inform this Committee and Parliament as to its view on whether there are any other interrogation techniques that may be approved for use by the US Administration which it considers to constitute torture.