[JURIST] The Pakistan Bar Council (PBC) on Saturday voted down a challenge to the constitutionality of Chief Justice Abdul Hameed Dogar's [official profile] appointment, as Pakistani Law Minister Farooq H. Naek defended Dogar as the lawful chief justice. The PBC unanimously adopted a measure denouncing as illegal the November 2007 declaration of emergency rule [JURIST report] by then-Pakistan president Pervez Musharraf that led to the ousting of former Chief Justice Iftikhar Mohammad Chaudhry [JURIST news archive]. Despite the condemnation, the PBC voted 6-12 against [Dawn report] a call to reinstate Chaudhry as chief justice. Also defeated was a resolution to take action against Dogar for allegations that he abused his position to secure his daughter's admission to medical school. Following the vote, National Assembly Standing Committee on Education Chairman Abid Sher Ali sent a letter [News report] to President Asif Ali Zardari urging him to seek Dogar's resignation.

The challenges to Dogar were introduced by recently-elected president of the Pakistan Supreme Court Bar Association Ali Ahmad Kurd, who has taken up the charge to reinstate Chaudhry [JURIST report] as the "constitutional" chief justice of Pakistan. Last month, members of the Pakistan lawyers' movement [NYT backgrounder; JURIST news archive] renewed their demands for the reinstatement [JURIST report] of all superior court judges dismissed by Musharraf's emergency rule. Although Pakistani officials have now reinstated most of the over 60 judges ousted by Musharraf, Naek has repeatedly insisted that Chaudhry will not be reinstated [JURIST report] because Dogar was legitimately appointed [JURIST report] and the Pakistani Constitution [text] does not permit the appointment of two chief justices.

[JURIST] Rape and sexual warfare have been employed by the national army of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) [JURIST news archive] as well as by rebel groups, according to an Amnesty International (AI) [official website] report released [Reuters report] Friday. The report, based on an AI research mission to North Kivu [AI Livewire report], said that army units engaged in looting, killing, and rape without oversight or punishment, and victims were reportedly threatened if they attempted to seek medical attention. AI field operatives said that army commanders denied the abuses when confronted. AI Secretary-General Irene Khan called for immediate [AI press release] increased presence and protection from UN Mission in DR Congo (MUNOC) [official website] peacekeepers, particularly in refugee camps and along major roads. Khan also urged the DRC to prosecute human rights abusers, and for international bodies including the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) [official website] to hold the DRC government accountable for its troops' actions.

The report came the same day that the UN Security Council announced [UN News Centre report; press conference] evidence gathered by a designated Group of Experts that Rwandan authorities and the Congolese army provided assistance to enemy rebel groups in the eastern DRC. The group's report [PDF] found that the Rwandan government informally aided the rebel National Congress in Defence of the People (CNDP) [group website] to recruit soldiers, supplied military equipment, and sent Rwandan military units to support the predominantly-Tutsi CNDP. The report also cited "strong evidence" that the DRC national army provided military support to the majority-Hutu rebel group Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda(FDLR) [GlobalSecurity backgrounder] in operations against the CNDP.

Earlier this month, the UNHRC adopted a resolution [JURIST report] condemning human rights violations in the DRC, but was criticized for failing to reinstate an independent monitor and commence a fact-finding mission to investigate abuses. Last week, Human Rights Watch reported [HRW materials] that from November 4-5, 150 civilians were summarily executed just outside a MUNOC base in the North Kivu province. That report noted that the DRC armed forces are openly hostile to MUNOC efforts, and called for "bridging troop" support from the European Union. Current European Union President Nicolas Sarkozy immediately rejected the prospect of EU military intervention [Xinhua report] in the region. In 2006, UN officials declared [JURIST report] that sexual abuse of women and girls by soldiers in DRC combat zones had "become a cancer in Congolese society that seems to be out of control."