[JURIST] Thabo Mbeki [official profile] announced Saturday that he would resign as president of South Africa in the wake of allegations that he had interfered in a corruption case against political rival and current African National Congress [party website] leader Jacob Zuma [JURIST news archive]. Earlier this month Judge Chris Nicholson effectively dismissed [JURIST report] the latest case against Zuma on the grounds that Zuma had been deprived of the chance to respond to claims made against him and that "political meddling" in the case by Mbeki and others could not be excluded. Zuma had said that the charges were part of a politically motivated effort by Mbeki to upset his plans to run in the 2009 presidential election and that Zuma had both a constitutional and statutory right to state his case before charges were brought. Following a direct call for his resignation by top ANC officials Friday, Mbeki issued a statement [text] saying he "will step down after all constitutional requirements have been met". Observers expect this to be in the next few days following meetings Mbeki has already scheduled at the UN in New York in conjunction with the latest session of the General Assembly.

Zuma has been facing corruption allegations [BBC timeline] and other charges for several years. He was first charged with corruption in 2005, but those charges were later dismissed [JURIST report] because prosecutors failed to follow proper procedures.

[JURIST] Council of Europe (COE) [official website] Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg [official profile] expressed concern with several UK asylum and immigration procedures in a memorandum [text] released Friday. The memorandum was the result of visits by Hammarberg to the UK last February and March, which included visits to the Colnbrook and Yarl's Wood Immigration Removal Centres [corporate websites]. Hammarberg flagged the UK's Detained Fast Track program, under which administrative and judicial proceedings are aimed at an accelerated determination of refugee status applications which are proved to be unfounded. He said the process conflicts with the European Convention on Human Rights [text] and the established case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) [official website], and that the acceleration of immigration adjudication proceedings violates rule of law principles in the interest of meeting time objectives set by Parliament. He recommended that the UK "consider regulating this issue by introducing special legislation fully in compliance with the standards laid down by the European Convention on Human Rights," and that the UK Border Agency [official website] "adopt a more cautious and flexible approach towards the 'Fast Track Processes' and its announced policy of making and enforcing the majority of asylum decisions within six months." Hammarberg also recommended that the UK enter into full compliance with Council Directive 2003/9/EC [text] on the minimum standards for the reception of asylum seekers. BBC News has more.

Responding to Hammarberg's memorandum and recommendations, the UK Home Office [official website] said that only a small proportion of all asylum seekers, around ten percent of the total, are subject to the Detained Fast Track process, and insisted that "the operation of the Detained Fast Track process within existing time frames is reasonable and fair." The UK government also asserts in the memorandum that it is in full compliance with the European Convention on Human Rights, the ECHR case law, and that Council Directive 2003/9/EC is already considered to apply to immigration detention facilities in the UK.

[JURIST] The Venezuelan government ordered two senior officials of Human Rights Watch (HRW) [advocacy website] to leave the country Thursday night after the group released a report [press release] concluding that democracy and human rights have suffered during the presidency of Hugo Chavez [official profile, in Spanish; BBC profile]. According to a statement [text, in Spanish] from Venezuela's Foreign Ministry [official website, in Spanish], HRW Americas director Jose Miguel Vivanco [profile] and deputy director Daniel Wilkinson were expelled because they had "attacked the institutions of Venezuelan democracy" and "illegally interfered in the internal affairs of our country." Escorted by armed soldiers, the men were flown to Brazil, where Vivanco told the New York Times in an interview [report] that the expulsion "reveals yet again the degree of intolerance of this government." The 230-page HRW report [text] stated that "[d]iscrimination on political grounds has been a defining feature of the Chávez presidency." The executive summary [text] of the report concluded:

A country's citizens cannot participate fully and equally in its politics when their rights to freedom of expression and association are at risk. Ensuring these essential rights requires more than constitutional guarantees and political rhetoric. It requires institutions that are capable of countering and curbing abusive state practices. Above all, it requires a judiciary that is independent, competent, and credible. It is also critical that non-state institutions - such as the media, organized labor, and civil society - are free from government reprisals and political discrimination.

President Chávez has actively sought to project himself as a champion of democracy, not only in Venezuela, but throughout Latin America. Yet his professed commitment to this cause is belied by his government's willful disregard for the institutional guarantees and fundamental rights that make democratic participation possible. Venezuela will not achieve real and sustained progress toward strengthening its democracy—nor will it serve as a useful model for other countries in the region—so long as its government continues to flout the human rights principles enshrined in its own constitution.