ICJ submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Guatemala

ICJ submission to the Universal Periodic Review of Guatemala

Under the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on the UPR will be undertaking a review of Guatemala during its 14th session.

In a submission to the Working Group, the International Commission of Jurists has focused on the discrete issues of:

  1. lack of independence of the judiciary;
  2. impunity for gross human rights violations committed during the armed conflict;
  3. lack of access to justice for indigenous people and impunity for human rights violations against them;
  4. abolition of the death penalty; and
  5. Guatemala’s party status to international human rights instruments and its cooperation with the UN treaty bodies and the Council’s Special Procedures.

Guatemala-ICJ submission UPR-non-judicial submission-2012 (full text in English, PDF)

Guatemala-Comparison second cycle-advocacy-2012 (full text in English, PDF)

UN Human Rights Council: military jurisdiction inadequate for ensuring justice in Mexico

UN Human Rights Council: military jurisdiction inadequate for ensuring justice in Mexico

The ICJ and other human rights groups underscored the rejection by the international human rights bodies of the use of military prosecutors and courts in cases involving abuses against civilians in Mexico.

The organizations said that the jurisdiction of military courts should be limited to offenses that are strictly military in nature. It was pointed to the practices by the Mexican military prosecutors and courts that routinely investigate members of the military accused of committing human rights violations, which violate Mexico’s obligations under international law and appear to contravene Article 13 of Mexico’s Constitution.

Mexico-Joint Oral statement-non-legal submissions-2009 (full text, PDF)

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