Since President Kais Saied’s institutional power grab of July 25, 2021, followed by his decree of September 22 of the same year, which implicitly repealed the constitutional order, and the adoption of a tailor-made Constitution a year later, the judicial system has been subjected to constant attacks aimed at crushing its independence and sweeping away the right to a fair trial.
Authorities in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) continue their sustained assault on human rights and freedoms, including targeting human rights activists, enacting repressive laws, and using the criminal justice system as a tool to eliminate the human rights movement. These policies have led to the closure of civic space, severe restrictions on freedom of expression, both online and offline, and the criminalisation of peaceful dissent.
For more than 10 years, UAE authorities have been unjustly detaining at least 60 Emirati human rights defenders, civil society activists, and political dissidents who were arrested in 2012 because of their demands for reform and democracy or their affiliation with the Reform and Social Guidance Association (al-Islah). Some from this group, commonly known as the “UAE 94” because of the number of defendants in their mass trial, were subjected to enforced disappearance, torture and other ill-treatment. They were sentenced to between 7 and 15 years in prison during a trial in 2013 that failed to meet minimum fair trial standards.
In a briefing paper released today, the International Commission of Jurists points out that, “while the right to clean and healthy environment is protected under the 2013 Fiji Constitution, it must be actioned, which requires a whole of government and a whole of society approach and technical and financial resources must be reflected accordingly.” This paper provides recommendations on how the environmental laws and policies in Fiji can be strengthened to protect women’s rights to a clean and healthy environment.
Statement on the implementation of the Yazidi Survivors Law: NGOs and experts raise concerns over requirement for survivors to file criminal complaints to receive reparation
The statement is available in Arabic here.
“Civil society organisations dismayed by inadequate Human Rights Council Libya resolution despite worsening situation”
On 4 April, the UN Human Rights Council (HRC) adopted resolution 52/L.33 on “Technical assistance and capacity-building to improve human rights in Libya” that fails to establish a mechanism to follow-up on the work of the UN Independent Fact-Finding Mission (FFM). The 52nd session of the HRC marked the end of the FFM’s mandate.
Following the conviction today of journalist Nguyen Lan Thang on spurious charges, the ICJ has called on the Vietnamese judiciary to quash the conviction and immediately and unconditionally release him.
South Sudan: Extend UN Investigations Amid Deteriorating Human Rights Crisis
Nepal: Publish Reports on Violent Crackdowns on Protests
EU: ICJ publishes strategic litigation guide on children and immigration detention
Myanmar: Five years after the coup “justice system” remains an instrument of repression