Feb 5, 2016 | News
The ICJ is monitoring the ongoing trial under court martial of the 23 members of the Lesotho Defence Forces in the case The King vs Brigadier Mareka and 22 Others.
The Court Martial was convened through a government order issued and signed by the Minister of Defence and National Security Hon Tseliso Mokhosi on 13 August 2015.
Under the convening order, Brigadier Mareka and 22 others were generally accused of charges related to planning and or involvement in mutiny and violence.
The convening order also identified the names of the members of the court martial as well as the prosecuting authority at such court martial.
The court martial raises issues around observance of human rights, the rule of law and good governance in Lesotho.
Its significance is reflected in the fact that the Southern African Development Community (SADC), an inter-governmental organization, is also seized with the matter as part of its mandate under the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation, and directed the convening of a SADC supported Commission of Inquiry into the issues related to the court martial.
The subsequently-established Commission of Inquiry has completed its work and filed its report with the SADC Organ on Politics, Defence and Security Cooperation and the Prime Minister of Lesotho.
The report is yet to be made public and is planned to be released on the 8th February 2016.
The ICJ will particularly monitor the consistency of the Court Martial trial with international fair trial standards, both in terms of the conduct of proceedings, and the independence and impartiality of the tribunal including in light of the manner of selection of the Court Martial members, in which a number of junior soldiers were promoted in rank in order to justify their presiding in a disciplinary case over their superiors.
In particular the promotion of the President of the Court Martial Major General Letsoela seems to have been done to facilitate that he as a junior officer sits to determine a case involving Brigadier Mareka and another brigadier who ordinarily are his superiors in terms of rank.
The ICJ will also monitor whether the Court Martial and investigative authorities act in accordance with international standards in responding to the credible allegations of human rights violations committed against Brigadier Mareka and 22 others.
The allegations include prolonged incommunicado detention, torture, inhuman and other degrading treatment while in custody, being inhibited from fully consulting with and briefing their legal representatives, and defiance of High Court orders by the Lesotho Defence Forces including that the soldiers should be detained in open prison and not a military detention facility and should not be kept in leg irons.
Contact
Arnold Tsunga, ICJ’s Africa Director, t: +277 16405926 ; e: arnold.tsunga(a)icj.org
LESOTHO-Brig Mareka and 22 Others-News-Web story-2016-ENG (full story in PDF)
Feb 3, 2016 | News
Yesterday’s decision of the Indian Supreme Court to refer to a larger bench of the same Court the petition challenging Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC), offers the opportunity to undo the appalling 2013 judgment of a two-judge bench of the SC in the Suresh Koushal case, says the ICJ.
“This order of the Supreme Court is a crucial opportunity to undo the injustice of the Suresh Koushal decision,” said Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Asia Director. “It is an important test of the Supreme Court’s commitment to equality and ending discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity.”
After the December 2013 Suresh Koushal decision – when the Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality of section 377 and reversed the Delhi High Court’s courageous and much celebrated decision – the petitioners filed a review petition, which was dismissed.
The petitioners then filed “curative petitions” in 2014, stating that the Supreme Court’s judgment of December 2013 violated principles of natural justice for several reasons. A “curative petition” allows the Supreme Court to re-assess its previous decisions on limited grounds, even after appeals and reviews have concluded.
Yesterday the Supreme Court referred the curative petition, and the major constitutional questions it raised, to a five-judge bench of the same Court, thus acknowledging doubts about the correctness of its 2013 ruling. A five-judge bench will now be set up to hear this challenge.
“The referral highlights the Supreme Court’s recognition of the need for a judicial response to the ongoing discrimination against people on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity,” Zarifi said.
“After 16 years within the court process, this issue clearly could not be resolved with the highly problematic Suresh Koushal decision, which ignored the reality of consensual same sex behavior in India and the fact that Section 377 criminalizes people for who they are and leads directly to serious human rights violations.”
By criminalizing consensual same-sex adult sexual conduct, Section 377 is inconsistent with India’s obligations under international human rights law, including in respect of the rights to sexual autonomy, equality, non-discrimination, privacy, dignity, free expression, and life.
Many of these rights are guaranteed in India’s Constitution.
India is also a party to several international instruments, which require that these rights be respected, protected and fulfilled.
The Yogyakarta Principles – which apply international human rights law to issues of sexual orientation and gender identity – clarify that the rights to equality, non-discrimination and privacy require states to “repeal all laws that criminalize consensual sexual activity among persons of the same sex who are over the age of consent.”
The Supreme Court referred to these principles in the 2014 National Legal Services Authority v Union of India (NALSA) case where it also acknowledged that Section 377 was “used as an instrument of harassment and physical abuse against Hijras and transgender persons”.
“Yesterday’s decision offers hope that the Supreme Court intends to reaffirm the principle that people in India cannot be subjected to discrimination, harassment and violence, simply on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity,” Zarifi said.
Background
Section 377 makes it an offence to “voluntarily ha[ve] carnal intercourse against the order of nature with any man, woman or animal” and has been used to persecute people for their real or purported engagement in consensual same-sex sexual conduct. The penalty can extend to life imprisonment.
Several reports document how Section 377 has been a tool for discrimination, blackmail, extortion, and violence by state and non-state actors against the LGBTI community.
It has adversely affected HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, and has also reinforced harmful social stereotypes and taboos against sexual minorities.
The petitioners in the original challenge against section 377 have waged this legal battle for over a decade. The constitutional challenge against Section 377 was filed in 2001.
In 2009, in Naz Foundation v. Government of NCT of Delhi and Others, the Delhi High Court held that Section 377 denied “a person’s dignity and criminalises his or her core identity solely on account of his or her sexuality”.
It went on to find that this criminalization of identity denied “a gay person a right to full personhood which is implicit” in the notion of life under Article 21 of the Indian Constitution, and also violated the constitutional right to equality and non-discrimination. The High Court held that Section 377 was unconstitutional insofar as it criminalized consensual same-sex sexual conduct.
However, its judgment was appealed to the Supreme Court.
On appeal, in 2013 the Supreme Court reversed the decision of the Delhi High Court, holding the section to be constitutional.
The Supreme Court also affirmed that legislature would “be free to consider the desirability and propriety of deleting Section 377 IPC from the statute book or amend the same as per the suggestion made by the Attorney General”.
Jan 29, 2016 | News
La CIJ expresa su preocupación frente a una nueva denuncia abusiva de la Fundación contra el Terrorismo, esta vez contra el Director de la CIJ para Centroamérica y un consultor que contribuye con el Bufete de Derechos Humanos, y contra el Director de Centro de Acción Legal, Ambiental y Social.
Esta denuncia se suma a otras en contra de abogados y abogadas de Guatemala. A través de querellas y acusaciones falsas, esta Fundación pretende afectar la función que estos profesionales cumplen como defensores de los derechos humanos.
Estas denuncias falsas son parte de una campaña iniciada hace más de un año y que ha querido afectar a más de cien personas, a quienes la Fundación contra el Terrorismo ha calificado como terroristas y guerrilleros (as), sin aportar pruebas.
Efectivamente se han presentado denuncias contra funcionarios y ex funcionarios del Ministerio Público, como la ex Fiscal General Claudia Paz y Paz y la actual Fiscal General Thelma Aldana, el Fiscal de Derechos Humanos o en contra de jueces y juezas del Organismo Judicial que ejercen su función en forma independiente, promoviendo un discurso de odio en contra de estas personas que actúan como defensores y defensoras de derechos humanos.
Ante esto hechos, la CIJ demanda:
- Que el Estado de Guatemala, por medio de las autoridades correspondientes, inicie una investigación exhaustiva e imparcial acerca de las actividades que realiza la Fundación contra el Terrorismo sobre todo, que investigue el origen de aquellas actividades que dirige en contra de defensores y defensoras de Derechos Humanos;
- Que el Estado de Guatemala, por medio de las autoridades correspondientes, brinde la protección debida a defensores y defensoras de derechos humanos;
- Que una vez finalizada la investigación el Estado de Guatemala, a través de las autoridades y mecanismos correspondientes, adopte las medidas necesarias de acuerdo a derecho con respecto a la Fundación contra el Terrorismo y su Director, por llevar a cabo campañas de odio en contra de defensores y defensoras de derechos humanos.
Jan 29, 2016 | Comunicados de prensa, Noticias
La CIJ expresa su preocupación frente a una nueva denuncia abusiva de la Fundación contra el Terrorismo, esta vez contra el Director de la CIJ para Centroamérica y un consultor que contribuye con el Bufete de Derechos Humanos, y contra el Director de Centro de Acción Legal, Ambiental y Social.
Esta denuncia se suma a otras en contra de abogados y abogadas de Guatemala. A través de querellas y acusaciones falsas, esta Fundación pretende afectar la función que estos profesionales cumplen como defensores de los derechos humanos.
Estas denuncias falsas son parte de una campaña iniciada hace más de un año y que ha querido afectar a más de cien personas, a quienes la Fundación contra el Terrorismo ha calificado como terroristas y guerrilleros (as), sin aportar pruebas.
Efectivamente se han presentado denuncias contra funcionarios y ex funcionarios del Ministerio Público, como la ex Fiscal General Claudia Paz y Paz y la actual Fiscal General Thelma Aldana, el Fiscal de Derechos Humanos o en contra de jueces y juezas del Organismo Judicial que ejercen su función en forma independiente, promoviendo un discurso de odio en contra de estas personas que actúan como defensores y defensoras de derechos humanos.
Ante esto hechos, la CIJ demanda:
- Que el Estado de Guatemala, por medio de las autoridades correspondientes, inicie una investigación exhaustiva e imparcial acerca de las actividades que realiza la Fundación contra el Terrorismo sobre todo, que investigue el origen de aquellas actividades que dirige en contra de defensores y defensoras de Derechos Humanos;
- Que el Estado de Guatemala, por medio de las autoridades correspondientes, brinde la protección debida a defensores y defensoras de derechos humanos;
- Que una vez finalizada la investigación el Estado de Guatemala, a través de las autoridades y mecanismos correspondientes, adopte las medidas necesarias de acuerdo a derecho con respecto a la Fundación contra el Terrorismo y su Director, por llevar a cabo campañas de odio en contra de defensores y defensoras de derechos humanos.
Jan 29, 2016 | News
The Myanmar authorities must immediately release and drop all charges or quash convictions against all people detained for allegedly having the “deliberate and malicious intention to insult religion,” said the ICJ today.
While President Thein Sein had declared an amnesty on 22 January for 102 prisoners, including 52 political prisoners, it is unclear exactly how many prisoners continue to be detained in prison under section 295A of the Penal Code and awaiting trials for blasphemy.
“Charging and imprisoning people on charges under Myanmar’s blasphemy laws is inconsistent with human rights including freedom of opinion and expression, freedom of thought, conscience, and religion, the right to liberty, and the right to equality before the law without discrimination,” said Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Asia Director.
“The problem is compounded in Myanmar when courts have been convicting individuals in unfair trials and in the absence of evidence of any deliberate and malicious intent to insult religion,” he added.
Last week, President Thein Sein pardoned Philip Blackwood, a New Zealand citizen sentenced to two and a half years with hard labour for posting on Facebook a psychedelic image of the Buddha wearing headphones to promote a bar.
His colleagues Tun Thurein and Htut Ko Ko Lwin, Myanmar citizens, do not seem to have been released (although it is possible that they may have been granted amnesty as well).
Another detainee, Htin Linn Oo, a writer and National League for Democracy information officer who was sentenced to two years imprisonment with hard labour, has not been released.
U Nyar Na (aka) Moe Pyar Sayar Taw, a monk arrested in Kachin state in 2010 and charged under various provisions of the Penal Code, including section 295A, was sentenced to imprisonment for 20 years. His reported release during the amnesty last week remains unconfirmed.
These charges and convictions are in violation of international law, including a range of human rights guaranteed by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and by international treaties, the ICJ says.
“The laws must be repealed or fundamentally changed, ongoing prosecutions ended, and those imprisoned for their beliefs or protected speech and other expression immediately and unconditionally released,” Zarifi said.
“These prosecutions seem to be a result of intense political pressure from extremist Buddhist political groups. As the Myanmar judiciary and legal system try to emerge from decades of political interference on with independence, it’s crucial that they act in the interests of justice and human rights,” he added.
The ICJ urges the Myanmar authorities to drop all charges against the accused persons who have not yet been tried; take immediate measures to secure the quashing of convictions under the law; and take effective measures to ensure the immediate and unconditional release of all detainees held pursuant Section 295A.
The ICJ also calls on the government to act to repeal or amend section 295A to bring it in line with international law and standards.
Contact:
In Bangkok: Sam Zarifi, ICJ Regional Director, Asia-Pacific Programme, t: +66807819002 ; e: sam.zarifi(a)icj.org
In Myanmar: Vani Sathisan, ICJ International Legal Adviser, t: +95 9250800301 ; e: vani.sathisan(a)icj.org
Additional information:
Myanmar’s Constitution guarantees the right to freedom of expression, conscience, and to freely profess and practice religion.
The UN Human Rights Committee established by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) emphasizes that “Prohibitions of displays of lack of respect for a religion or other belief system, including blasphemy laws, are incompatible with the Covenant”. The only limited exception under the Covenant would be for proportionate and non-discriminatory measures to prohibit “advocacy of…religious hatred that constitutes incitement to discrimination, hostility or violence”. Section 295A falls far short of this threshold.
