The ICJ in the intervention on 13 December 2007 pointed to the necessity of the mandate on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism because of increase of terrorism and rapid developments in counter terrorism.
The ICJ today called on all governments to raise the voice and take bold measures to protect human rights wherever vigorous action is needed.
The call came after the UN Human Rights Council concluded its resumed 6th session on 14 December 2007. The ICJ is concerned at the termination of the mandate of the Group of Experts on Darfur and the Council’s failure to adopt sound measures in response to human rights crises in Myanmar and Pakistan. “The negotiations on country resolutions strove for consensus, not for real improvements in human rights protection. Human rights discourse cannot be subordinated to consensus at almost any cost”, said Nicholas Howen, Secretary-General of the International Commission of Jurists.
6th Session Human Rights Council-Press releases-2007 (full text, PDF)
The ICJ welcomed the report of the Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, and expressed again its revulsion at the extent of human rights violations during the recent crackdown on peaceful protest.
The ICJ today welcomed the order of Nepal’s interim Legislature-Parliament instructing the Government to draft a law on enforced disappearances.
The ICJ says that the formal lifting of the state of emergency in Pakistan will have little meaning unless all constitutional rights and freedoms are restored and the legal and physical attacks on the judiciary reversed.
Pakistan-Lift State Emergency-Press releases-2007 (full text, PDF)
Tunisia: Quash sham conviction and sentence of judges’ association President, Anas Hmedi
The UN Human Rights Council makes significant but limited progress in addressing human rights around the world, as atrocities multiply in the Middle East and elsewhere
ICJ hosts an African Regional Convening in Kenya on Transformative Equality Jurisprudence
Russian Federation: Arbitrarily detained human rights lawyer Maria Bontsler must be released