Mar 24, 2021 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
Today, at the close of the 46th regular session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, the ICJ and other NGOs highlighted key achievements and failures.
The joint civil society statement, delivered by International Service for Human Rights (ISHR) on behalf of the group, outlines the main achievements and shortfalls of this last 46th regular session.
In the statement, the undersigned organisation comment on the engagement of civil society in online sessions, welcome the adoption of the resolution on vaccines and of resolutions to sustain scrutiny and accountability including in Belarus, Iran, Myanmar, Nicaragua, Sri Lanka, South Sudan and Syria. The NGOs have underlined the fact thatover 30 States have united in a long-overdue condemnation of Egypt’s misuse of counter-terrorism measures to imprison peaceful critics, and over 40 States raised concern over the shrinking civic space in Russia.
The civil society organisations have urged the Council to take prompt action on Algeria, Cameroon, China, India, and in Kashmir, and for the upcoming session, to set up an international accountability mechanism on the Philippines, and independent monitoring on pushbacks and other violations faced by migrants and refugees.
The statement is endorsed by:
- International Service for Human Rights;
- Franciscans International;
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR);
- International Commission of Jurists (ICJ);
- International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR);
- Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA);
- African Centre For Democracy And Human Rights Studies;
- International Federation for Human Rights Leagues (FIDH);
- MENA Rights Group;
- International Lesbian and Gay Association;
- Impact Iran;
- Ensemble contre la Peine de Mort (ECPM);
- Siamak Pourzand Foundation;
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS);
- ARTICLE 19;
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation.
Read the full statement: UN-JointStatement-UNHRC46-Advocacy-EndOfSession-ENG-2021
Contact:
Massimo Frigo, ICJ UN Representative, e: massimo.frigo(a)icj.org, t: +41797499949
Mar 24, 2021 | News
The High Court of Singapore decision ordering a blogger to pay the Prime Minister thousands of dollars in a defamation suit continues the country’s troubling trend of restricting online freedom of expression, the ICJ said today.
Mar 22, 2021 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ joined today seven other organisation in a statement before the UN Human Rights Council expressing concern at the systematic human rights violation and the persistent impunity in the Philippines and calling for more accountability.
The joint statement delivered by FORUM ASIA reads as follows:
“Madam President,
Nearly six months since its adoption, Human Rights Council resolution 45/33 offering technical assistance to the Philippines has proven to be utterly insufficient to address the systematic human rights violations and persistent impunity documented in the High Commissioner’s report. The Philippine Government’s policies and actions since the Resolution’s adoption have been completely at odds with the commitments outlined in it.
Extrajudicial killings in the so-called ‘war on drugs’ have continued. To date, the Government has made no tangible progress towards accountability against those most responsible for such killings. In December 2020, the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICC found that there is “reasonable basis to believe that the crimes against humanity” of murder, torture, the infliction of serious physical injury and mental harm, and other inhumane acts were committed between at least 1 July 2016 and 16 March 2019.
Human rights defenders pursuing legitimate work, especially those who advocate for international accountability, including lawyers, continue to be attacked and accused of belonging to terrorist groups. Rights defenders continue to be arrested and jailed. The draconian Anti-terrorism Act, passed last year, exacerbates risks to defenders. The killing of nine human rights defenders and activists on 7 March, two days after President Duterte ordered the police and military to “finish off” and “kill” those purported to be “communist rebels”, illustrates clearly the persistent killings and attacks faced by activists and defenders. It is very clear that no amount of technical assistance or capacity building will end the killings as the President and top government officials continue to incite murder and violence as official policy.
In this context, it is imperative that the Council set up an international accountability mechanism to end the cycle of violence and impunity in the Philippines.
Thank you.”
The statement was endorsed by:
- Amnesty International
- Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA)
- CIVICUS: World Alliance for Citizen Participation
- Human Rigths Watch
- International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
- International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH)
- Philippines Alliance of Human Rights Advocates (PAHRA)
- World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Contact:
Massimo Frigo, ICJ UN Representative, e: massimo.frigo(a)icj.org, t: +41797499949
Mar 22, 2021 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
Today, before the UN Human Rights Council, the ICJ called on Ukrainian authorities to ensure the security of lawyers and the independence of the judiciary, essential elements to make effective any human rights technical assistance and capacity building.
The statement reads as follows:
“Madame President,
In Ukraine, a number of lawyers, including those who defend human rights, in and outside of courts, including to face threats, harassment, and other attacks on their security.
Lawyers continue to be associated with their clients and may face detrimental consequences for representing them.
For example, in November 2020, lawyer Nikolay Osipchuk was physically attacked by the local Prosecutor and several other people in the court room of a district court. A pattern of such attacks was identified by the ICJ in a report issued last year.
The ICJ is further concerned at recent the attempts of interference by the Government with the independence of the judiciary in Ukraine.
The ICJ welcomes the withdrawal of the presidential draft law by which all judges of the Constitutional Court would have been dismissed. However, it is concerning that, following a criminal case initiated against him, the President of the Constitutional Court was suspended by a decision of the President of Ukraine. This decision, on dubious legal grounds, undermines the independence of the judiciary.
The ICJ urges that Ukraine:
- Ensure prompt, thorough, impartial and independent investigations of all attacks on lawyers, leading where appropriate, to bringing those responsible to justice;
- refrain from any acts which interfere with the independence of the judiciary and annul the suspension of the President of the Constitutional Court.
I thank you.”
Contact:
Massimo Frigo, ICJ UN Representative, e: massimo.frigo(a)icj.org, t: +41797499949
Mar 19, 2021 | News
The ICJ called today on the Turkish authorities to immediately release human rights defender and lawyer Öztürk Türkdoğan, who was arrested this morning after an unlawful search of his home. The charges against him, if any, are unkown and he is currently being held without access to his lawyer.
Öztürk Türkdoğan is the chair of the Human Rights Association and a lawyer and member of the Ankara Bar Association.
“The arrest and search of Öztürk Türkdoğan’s continues a systematic pattern of misuse of the criminal law to harass and persecute human rights defenders and lawyers in Turkey in recent years,” said Roisin Pillay, ICJ’s Europe and Central Asia Programme Director. “Öztürk Türkdoğan must be released immediately. If he remains in detention then he must be ensured immediate and confidential access to a lawyer, and be informed of the nature of any charges against him and brought promptly before a court.”
The arrest occurred during a search of Öztürk Türkdoğan’s home without the presence of a lawyer, which is in direct contravention of Turkish criminal procedural law.
While no information has been made available on the charges against Öztürk Türkdoğan, he is currently being detained without access to a lawyer for 24 hours, which indicates that the charges are likely related to terrorism or to offences against the State. These offences, contrary to obligations under international human rights law, are vaguely and broadly defined and have been long used and abused by prosecutors in Turkey to suppress human rights defenders, lawyers and political opponents.
Under international human rights law, anyone arrested has a right to prompt and confidential access to a lawyer, and to information on the charges against them. Arrests and searches of homes must not be arbitrary and must be carried out in compliance with international standards and national laws and procedures.
“Hundreds of lawyers, judges and prosecutors have been improperly arrested, harassed and detained in the past few years by Turkish authorities ” said Roisin Pillay. “Using the criminal justice system in this way is contrary to the most fundamental principles of the rule of law.”
Background
Systematic violations of human rights in investigation and prosecution of counter-terrorism offences in Turkey have also been documented by the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, theWorking Group on Arbitrary Detention, the Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, and the Commissioner for Human Rights of the Council of Europe.
The ICJ has extensively documented these violations:
