Nov 17, 2016 | Events, Multimedia items, News, Video clips
The 7th annual Geneva Forum of Judges & Lawyers, 17-18 November 2016, brought together judges, lawyers, and refugee and migration experts from around the world, as well as UN agencies to discuss the role of judges and lawyers in situations of large-scale movement of refugees and migrants.
Participants reflected on practical, policy, and legal challenges posed by contemporary movements of refugees and migrants, perceived as exceptional in terms of their scale and speed. Particular situations to be considered include those in Europe (with people coming primarily from and through North Africa and the Middle East, including from Syria, Eritrea, Iraq and Afghanistan); in the Americas (including people coming to the United States of America from Central and South America); in Asia (including in relation to the Rohingya across Southeast Asia, and in relation to practices involving Australia and the Pacific); and within and from parts of Sub-Saharan Africa.
In most of these situations, the legal protections available and the respective roles of the executive, legislative and judicial branches of government in securing these protections has been a matter of debate.
Authorities world-wide have faced the challenge of ensuring that in all circumstances people have access to fair and effective procedures in relation to key decisions about their rights and interests, such as: determinations of a person’s entitlement to international protection, including determinations as to refugee status; decisions about detention or criminal proceedings based on one’s entry or presence in the country; and decisions about expulsion or onward transfer.
In some cases governments have departed radically from ordinary procedures. The framework of “crisis” or “emergency” has been increasingly invoked, sometimes to reduce judicial protections and guarantees and access to justice.
Forum participants were invited to analyze relevant legal and policy frameworks and practices at the national, regional and universal levels, and to make recommendations about the particular role of judges and lawyers in such situations, including relative to the executive and legislative branches of government.
During the Forum, the forty distinguished judges and lawyers from around the world reaffirmed the essential role of judges and lawyers in securing the rule of law and human rights in relation to large movements of refugees and migrants.
The Forum concluded with substantial agreement and reaffirmation of the essential role that judges and lawyers must be enabled to play, and must fulfil in practice, if the rights of refugees and migrants and the rule of law are to be secured, including in the context of large movements.
Participants exchanged challenges and solutions, and deliberated on a wide range of issues, including:
- on methods for best assessing evidence and credibility;
- on means for overcoming the legal, policy, and practical challenges when judges and lawyers face large numbers of claims and cases;
- on reforms to better enable immigration judges to meet basic standards of independence and impartiality;
- on the need for judiciaries and legal professions to ensure practitioners receive appropriate training and better access to information about international standards and reliable information about country situations;
- on the importance of effective access to competent legal advice and representation, including free of charge when necessary, for refugees and migrants to be able to exercise their rights and for judges to be able to decide cases in an efficient and just manner;
- on ways of supporting judges who courageously exercise their independence to uphold the rule of law and human rights, including in the face of interference or reprisal from the executive or legislative branches of government, or intense media criticism or majoritarian pressure;
- on ensuring that refugees and migrants who are victims of crime or victims of human rights violations are able to have effective access to justice and effective remedy, without discrimination arising from their status;
- on the importance of ensuring that legal processes are sensitive to the particular situation of women and children migrants, and migrants in detention.
The main output of the Forum, published in May 2017, is the ICJ Principles on the role of judges and lawyers in relation to refugees and migrants.
The Principles complement ICJ’s 2011 (updated 2014) Practitioners’ Guide No 6 on Migration and International Human Rights Law, and Practitioners Guide No 11 on Refugee Status Claims Based on Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity (2016).
The 2016 Geneva Forum of Judges & Lawyers was made possible with the support of the Republic and Canton of Geneva, Switzerland.
The ICJ is also grateful to the Swiss Confederation, and the Centre d’Accueil Genève Internationale (CAGI), for their in-kind support.
The Programme for the 2016 Forum can be downloaded in PDF format here:
en-programme-2016gf-09-11-2016
esp-programme-2016gf-09-11-2016
The List of Participants can be downloaded in PDF format here: participants-2016gf-09-11-2016
Information about the Geneva Forum from past years is available by clicking here.
The final output of the 2015 Geneva Forum was the publication of ICJ Practitioners Guide No. 13, on Judicial Accountability, available in PDF format by clicking here.
For further details, please contact Matt Pollard, senior legal adviser, matt.pollard(a)icj.org
Voices from the Geneva Forum 2016: Sanji Monageng
Voices from the Geneva Forum 2016: Guy Goodwin-Gill
Voices from the Geneva Forum 2016: Maya Sahli-Fahdel (in French)
Voices from the Geneva Forum 2016: Mónica Oehler Toca (in Spanish)
Information about related ICJ work on refugees and migrants can be accessed by clicking the links below:
ICJ and others call on the EU to protect refugee and migrant children’s rights (November 2016)
Nov 11, 2016 | Agendas, Events
The ICJ and Foundation Raices are holding a training on the rights of migrant children and on accessing international human rights mechanisms from 11 to 12 November in Madrid (Spain).
The training aims to support the strategic use of national and international mechanisms to foster children’s access to justice.
The training will focus on accessing the international mechanisms in order to protect and promote the rights of migrant children, the child’s right to be heard and related procedural rights, the best interests of the child, age assessment and the presumption of minority.
Trainers will include representatives of the ICJ and Foundation Raices, as well as experts from the Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Spanish Constitutional Court and the office of the Spanish Ombudsman.
The training is based on draft training materials prepared by the ICJ (to be published in the second half of 2017) and the ICJ Practitioners Guide no. 6: Migration and International Human Rights Law.
The training is organized as part of the FAIR project co-funded by the Justice and Equality Programme of the EU and OSIFE.
Download the agenda of the training here:
spain-fair-training-events-agenda-2016-eng (in PDF)
Oct 25, 2016 | Events
The ICJ convenes today a roundtable at the United Nations gathering several stakeholders to discuss on a possible future treaty on business and human rights.
Tuesday 25 October, 2016
13:00 to 15:00 hrs
Room XXVII- Palais des Nations
The second session of the Open Ended Intergovernmental Working Group to elaborate a legally binding instrument on Transnational Corporations and other business enterprises in relation to human rights, offers the opportunity to significantly advance the process of establishing an effective treaty that assist in preventing and addressing business related human rights abuses. Advancing the process will require stakeholders to reach a common platform of understanding on some core concepts and foundational elements before textual details can be elaborated and negotiated.
The objective of the roundtable is to assist in this process by creating a space for various stakeholders to address issues of importance for the treaty process from diverse points of view with the goal of enhancing mutual understanding among stakeholders of concepts and element that can serve as the basis for possible agreement for the future. This panel has a multistakeholder nature with a view to create a space of dialogue and understanding among the most important actors of the process.
Moderator:
Mr Ian Seiderman, Legal and Policy Director, International Commission of Jurists
Speakers:
Mr Ariel Meyerstein- United States Council of International Business, representing the International Organization of Employers
Mrs Makbule Sahan, Legal Advisor, International Trade Union Confederation
Prof Douglas Cassel, School of Law, University of Notre Dame, Indiana, United States
Prof Surya Deva, member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Mr Humberto Cantú Rivera, Researcher at University of Panthéon-Assas, Paris II
Mrs Debbie Stothard, Secretary-General, International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH)
icj-side-event-2nd-session-flyer (download the flyer)
Oct 10, 2016 | Events, News
The ICJ, OSCE and Group 484 are holding a training on migration and international human rights law starting on From 10 to 13 October in Zlatibor (Serbia).
The training has been organised by the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) and the Serbian NGO “Group 484” and will be given by the International Commission of Jurists.
It will focus on international protection of migrants and asylum seekers, access to territory and asylum and the principle of non-refoulement, in light of the current migrants and refugee crisis and drawing from the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, of the UN human rights systems and from EU law.
The training will be centred on the ICJ Practitioners Guide no. 6: Migration and International Human Rights Law.
serbia-jointtrainingmigrationhr-events-2016-eng (download the agenda)
Sep 14, 2016 | Events
This panel discussion features two Iraqi torture survivors, Salah Hassan Nsaif and Ali Shallal Abbas, who will share their first-hand accounts serious abuse suffered at Iraq’s notorious Abu Ghraib prison, and the role of U.S. contractors in that torture and abuse.
The event organised by the International Commission of Jurists, the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH), and the Center for Constitutional Rights, takes place 15 September 2016, 11:00-12:00, at the Palais des Nations Room XXVII in Geneva, Switzerland.
CCR Senior Staff Attorney Katherine Gallagher will discuss legal cases, Saleh v Titan and Al Shimari v CACI, brought in the United States on behalf of victims as they seek justice. The cases will be placed in context of broader corporate accountability efforts, including those of the UN Working Group on Mercenaries and the Open-Ended Working Group on a legally binding instrument on transnational corporations and other business enterprises.
Speakers:
Salah Hassan, journalist and photographer for Al Jazeera network and Abu Ghraib torture survivor
Ali Shallal Abbas, Founder and President of the Association of victims of the American and Iranian prisons in Iraq, and Abu Ghraib torture survivor
Katherine Gallagher, Senior Staff Attorney, Center for Constitutional Rights
Carlos Lopez, Senior Legal Adviser, Business and Human Rights, International Commission of Jurists (moderator)
Remarks will also be made by Patricia Arias, Chair of the UN Working Group on Mercenaries.
Following the event, there will be the opening of an art exhibit organized by the UN Working Group on the use of mercenaries. Ms. Arias, Mr. Nsaif, and Mr. Abbas will make remarks, and guests are invited to engage with the photographs, multimedia display, and virtual reality film. The exhibit is open to delegates, NGOs, and the public. “Private Actors in Warfare: Stories from victims of private military and security companies and foreign fighters” will take place at 13:00 – 15:00 in Palais des Nations Room XXIII.
A flyer for the event may be downloaded, in PDF format, here: side-event-pmsc-abu-graib-sept2016
Jun 23, 2016 | Events
Side-event to the 32nd regular session of the Human Rights Council
24 June 2016, from 13:30 to 15:00 hrs
Room IX, Palais des Nations, Geneva
Accountability and remedy for business-related human rights abuse have been key advocacy objectives for many human rights organizations over the years.
Accountability and remedy have been identified as being some of the most salient normative and governance gaps in business and human rights. States and international organizations are now taking some action in response to those gaps and are considering initiatives and ways to tackle accountability and remedy deficits.
The Human Rights Council is currently engaged in a treaty-making process through an Intergovernmental Working Group, and it is considering a report by OHCHR on Accountability and Remedy during its 32nd session. Just one week prior, the International Labour Conference carried out crucial deliberations about ways to address those governance gaps and promote decent work in the global supply chain and to deter abuse.
This panel will look at these issues from the perspective of civil society and practitioners’ work, drawing from concrete experiences, recent achievements in the field and ongoing concerns.
Introduction:
- Surya Deva, UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights
Panel:
- Gabriela Kletzel – CELS
- Richard Meeran – Leigh Day
- Anna Biondi – ILO
- Gaëlle Dusepulchre- FIDH
- Moderator : Carlos López – ICJ
From the groundbreaking work to investigate and prosecute serious abuse against workers during the Argentinian military regime to the forward looking work of litigators of cases concerning parent and subsidiary companies’ responsibilities, exploring the new paths being broken in the recent International Labour Conference’s decisions on decent work on supply chains and the UN IGWG on transnational corporations and other business enterprises with respect to human rights, this panel will discuss ways in which these initiatives may address the crucial issues of accountability and remedy looking at past and present achievements and plans for the future.
The event flyer may be downloaded (PDF) here: Past abuses and remaining challenges_flyer_side event_HRC32
The event is organized by ICJ, Franciscans International, FIDH and CELS.
