Jul 8, 2015 | News
The National Prosecuting Authority (NPA) of Zimbabwe convened its first strategic planning workshop with technical support from the ICJ, under recently launched European Union (EU) funded project to contribute to an improvement in administration of justice in Zimbabwe.
The strategic planning workshop took place in Harare from 6 to 8 July 2015.
The NPA is established under section 259 of the 2013 Constitution as a separate, independent and accountable institution responsible for instituting and undertaking criminal prosecutions on behalf of the State, promoting a just and fair system for all persons approaching the courts and protecting the rights of the arrested and detained persons as provided for by the Constitution.
The strategic plan will allow the NPA to set its vision, objectives and including stakeholders’ expectations as guided by the Constitution and the National Prosecuting Authority Act for the next 5 years.
The NPA held this strategic plan as its first ever strategic stakeholder’s engagement since its establishment under the Constitution in May 2013.
To validate and ground the strategic plan and outputs, the NPA invited civil society organizations, law based institutions, human rights advocates, women lawyers associations, legal aid institutions, the Parliament Thematic and Standing Committee representatives, law enforcement agencies, and law professors, among others.
The Judicial Service Commission and Law Society of Zimbabwe, ICJ’s partners in EU funded project on improvement in the administration of justice, also attended the NPA strategic planning session.
The strategic plan will inform further interventions and activities for strengthening the observance of the rule of law, fair trial and access to justice by the NPA with support from ICJ’s EU funded project.
Once developed and adopted, the strategic plan will further open opportunities for other technical partnerships and funding opportunities for the NPA.
Contact:
Arnold Tsunga, ICJ Regional Director for Africa, t: +27 73 131 8411, e: arnold.tsunga(a)icj.org
Jul 7, 2015 | Advocacy
The ICJ and 15 other NGOs participating in the first session of the OEIWG to elaborate a treaty on business and human rights highlighted that in principle all conduct by all types of business enterprises, whether local or transnational, shall be addressed in the legally binding instrument.
The footnote in the preamble should not be interpreted as limiting in any way the scope of possible discussions in the Open Ended Intergovernmental Working Group (OEIWG) or any analysis or recommendations that may be reported back to the Council on a future treaty.
Business enterprises that do not have any or any significant transnational operations no doubt are capable of and in many instances have been responsible for human rights abuses no less serious in scale or severity than those of transnational businesses.
The people whose human rights are abused directly or indirectly by businesses are unlikely to distinguish whether the business enterprise that causes them harm has transnational ownership or operations; nor are affected people likely to excuse abuses they suffer from a “local” business simply because the entity lacks a transnational element.
From the point of view of those whose human rights are affected by business activities, the key consideration is not the formal character of the business entity, but instead the their practical access to effective remedy and reparation for the harm they have suffered.
If a treaty is going to take the view and needs of those adversely affected by business activity as a central concern, it must address all business enterprises that can potentially carry out abuses and not only on those with transnational links.
The statement can be downloaded here: Joint Oral Statement on Scope v.2
Jul 4, 2015 | Artículos, Noticias
Venezuela está intimidando y hostigando a defensores y defensoras de derechos humanos y les ha acusado infundadamente de que estarían intentando desestabilizar la democracia en el país, indicaron hoy 28 organizaciones de derechos humanos internacionales y latinoamericanas.
Los señalamientos de las autoridades se refieren a las funciones legítimas que ejercen estas organizaciones al documentar abusos y representar a víctimas ante organismos internacionales de derechos humanos.
Las autoridades venezolanas deberían desistir inmediatamente de esta táctica, expresaron las organizaciones. Los gobiernos que participarán en la Cumbre de las Américas, que tendrá lugar en Panamá el 10 y 11 de abril de 2015, deberían exigir al gobierno de Nicolás Maduro que asegure que las defensoras y los defensores de derechos humanos puedan realizar su labor sin temor a sufrir represalias, dijeron las organizaciones.
La persecución del gobierno apunta claramente a desacreditar e intimidar a organizaciones que documentan violaciones de derechos humanos, indicaron las organizaciones.
Venezuela-Harassment of HRDs-News-web stories-2015-SPA
Venezuela-Harassment of HRDs-News-web stories-2015-POR (em Português)
Jul 2, 2015 | News
The Royal Thai Government must immediately end its harassment and intimidation of human rights lawyer, Sirikan Charoensiri, the ICJ said today.
Sirikan Charoensiri (photo), a lawyer with Thai Lawyers for Human Rights (TLHR), has been providing legal aid to 14 students who were arrested on 26 June 2015 after carrying out peaceful protests calling for democracy and an end to military rule.
Since then, the Royal Thai Police have threatened Sirikan Charoensiri with legal action, publically announced they are considering charging her with a crime, and visited her home and questioned her family.
“The government must immediately end its harassment and intimidation of human rights lawyer Sirikan Charoensiri,” said Matt Pollard, Head of the ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers in Geneva. “The case against her clients clearly violates Thailand’s obligations under international law, and cannot be a valid basis for the police to take any action against her for defending their rights.”
On 30 June 2015, the ICJ met in Geneva with staff members of the United Nations Special Rapporteurs on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, and on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders, in order to bring Sirikan Charoensiri’s case to their attention.
“The ICJ has been repeatedly warning of Thailand’s steady slide away from open democracy and the rule of law,” added Pollard. “These actions of the police, targeting peacefully protesting students with prosecution in a military court, and then targeting the lawyer who comes to their defence, underscores the urgent need to restore respect for human rights in Thailand.”
Contact:
Matt Pollard, Senior Legal Adviser, ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, t: +41 22 979 38 12, e: matt.pollard(a)icj.org
Background
The 14 students were arrested during the evening of 26 June 2015 and were brought to a police station in Bangkok and then to the Bangkok Military Court for a hearing on pre-trial detention, which proceeded until midnight.
The students have been charged with violating order 3/2015 of the National Council for Peace and Order (which prohibits the public assembly of more than five people for political purposes) and a ‘sedition’-type offence under section 116 of Thai Criminal Code, which carries a maximum sentence of seven years imprisonment.
Upon hearing of the students’ arrest, Sirikan Charoensiri and three other lawyers drove in her car to the Bangkok Military Court in order to provide legal aid to the students.
Following the hearing and during the early morning of 27 June 2015, the police asked Sirikan Charoensiri for her permission to search her car for the student’s phones, without a warrant. She refused to consent to the warrantless search. As a result, the Police impounded her car, which contained the lawyers’ case files and personal computers, and five phones belonging to the students.
At 12:45pm, Sirikan Charoensiri went to the police station to file a complaint of malfeasance regarding the seizure of her car. The police refused to accept the complaint and in the meantime another police team searched her car with a warrant. Five phones belonging to the students were seized as evidence.
At 18:00pm, Sirikan Charoensiri again attempted to file a complaint at the police station for malfeasance. A senior investigator told her that the police had power to search her car and suggested that if she filed a complaint, it would not finish there and that the police would consider countering with some form of legal action against her. The police finally accepted the complaint at 11:00pm.
On 28 June 2015, a senior police officer told the media that they had found “important evidence” in Sirikan Charoensiri’s car and are considering whether to charge her with a crime.
On 29 June 2015, the police visited Sirikan Charoensiri’s family home and asked her parents to identify her in photos and questioned them about her background.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Thailand is a State Party, guarantees the right to peaceful assembly; the right to freedom of expression; the prohibition of arbitrary arrest or detention and the right to a fair and public hearing by a competent, independent and impartial tribunal established by law (including the right of prompt access to a lawyer and precluding jurisdiction of military courts over civilians in circumstances such as these); and the prohibition of arbitrary or unlawful interference with privacy, family, home and correspondence (which includes arbitrary searches or seizures).
The UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders affirms the right of everyone peacefully to oppose human rights violations. It prohibits retaliation, threats and other harassment against anyone who takes peaceful action against human rights violations, both within and beyond the exercise of their professional duties. It protects the right of persons to file formal complaints about alleged violations of rights. The UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers provide that governments are to ensure that lawyers are able to perform their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.
Sirikan Charoensiri formerly served as a National Legal Consultant with the ICJ.
Thailand-Sirikan case-News-press releases-2015-THA (full text in PDF, Thai version)
Jul 2, 2015 | News
The Human Rights Council today adopted a resolution on the independence of judges & lawyers, with several new provisions on gender balance in the judiciary, judicial accountability, children and court proceedings, and development of professional guidance on marginalized and other groups.The resolution builds on past resolutions of the Human Rights Council.
The full text of the resolution is here: HRC29-ResolutionJudgesLawyers-2015 Its official resolution number has not yet been assigned.
The main sponsors of the resolution were Australia, Botswana, Hungary, Maldives, Mexico, Thailand. The resolution was adopted by consensus (without a vote).
A resolution on this topic will next be presented in 2017.
