Jun 22, 2017 | News
Pakistani authorities need to ensure a prompt, impartial and effective investigation into a barrage of assaults and threats against lawyers in the premises of the Lahore High Court, the ICJ, Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International said today.
The Government needs to defend the rule of law and prosecute those responsible for any criminal conduct.
On 20 June, during proceedings of a case involving the alleged abduction and subsequent “disappearance” of a 26-year old woman and her two-year old son, supporters of the accused, a prominent lawyer, physically assaulted the complainant’s counsel Shabbir Hussain and Usama Malik, and made abusive remarks and threats against another member of the complainant’s legal team, Noor Ejaz Chaudhry.
The attackers were mostly lawyers and members of the local bar association.
The attackers also made abusive and threatening remarks against Asma Jahangir (photo), a notable human rights lawyer, Honorary Commissioner of the ICJ, and former President of the Supreme Court Bar Association.
Asma Jahangir was not present in the court but was represented by her legal team comprising of Shabbir Hussain, Usama Malik, Mian Liaquat Ali and Noor Ejaz Chaudhry.
“The legal profession is one of the pillars of the administration of justice. It is deeply worrying that instead of discharging their responsibility to uphold the rule of law, certain lawyers would resort to threats and violence in a clear attempt to obstruct justice,” said Ian Seiderman, ICJ’s Legal and Policy Director.
Under international standards, including the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, Pakistan has an obligation to ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.
Where lawyers are threatened as a result of discharging their functions, authorities must ensure they are adequately safeguarded.
“Lawyers must be able to go to court without fearing violent assaults and abuse,” Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch said. “That such assaults take place with increasing frequency in Pakistan and without accountability represents a serious failure of the Pakistani authorities to ensure rule of law.”
It is the responsibility of the bar councils and associations to ensure that allegations of professional misconduct against their members are promptly, independently and impartially investigated, and if lawyers are found in breach of their codes of conduct after a fair hearing, disciplinary action is taken against them.
Any disciplinary action must be subject to an independent judicial review.
Threatening and assaulting opposing counsel is not just against the law, but also in breach of lawyers’ professional code of ethics,” said David Griffiths, Amnesty International’s Senior Adviser on South Asia. “The respective Bar Councils must take notice of the allegations, and use this condemnable incident as an opportunity to tackle the culture of impunity which impacts even the legal profession in Pakistan.”
Background
In May 2017, Bilquis Zareena filed a habeas corpus petition in the Lahore High Court for the recovery of her daughter Ayesha and grandson Alyan Ali, who have allegedly been missing since November 2016.
According to Bilquis Zareena, her daughter had secretly been married to Maqsood Buttar, a prominent lawyer and member of the Pakistan Bar Council, the highest regulatory body for lawyers in the country.
Bilquis Zareena claims her daughter and grandson’s lives could be in danger as Maqsood Buttar had previously threatened and even attempted to kill Ayesha.
The next hearing in the case is on Friday, 23 June 2017.
Contact:
Ian Seiderman, ICJ Legal and Policy Director, e: ian.seiderman(a)icj.org
Reema Omer, ICJ International Legal Adviser (South Asia), e: reema.omer(a)icj.org
Jun 20, 2017 | News
The Martin Ennals Foundation and the ten human rights organizations that make up the jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA), including the ICJ, today renewed their appeal to the UAE government to release immediately and unconditionally Ahmed Mansoor.
Ahmed Mansoor is the last remaining human rights defender in the UAE who had previously been able to criticize the authorities publicly, they say.
Ahmed Mansoor received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders in 2015.
Three months ago today, in the pre-dawn hours of 20 March about a dozen security officers arrested Ahmed Mansoor at his home in Ajman, about 150 kilometres northeast of Abu Dhabi, the capital of the UAE.
“We urge the UAE government to end the incomprehensible three-month imprisonment of Ahmed Mansoor. This is really about the UAE failing to respect basic principles of justice,” said Dick Oosting, Chairperson of the MEA Board.
“The purported case against Ahmed Mansoor beggars belief. States have the duty to bring to justice those whom they suspect of having committed criminal offenses,” he added.
“Yet what is clear is that the UAE authorities have arbitrarily deprived him of liberty and taken him away from his family for peacefully exercising his human right to freedom of expression. The three-month lapse and total lack of transparency indicates, likewise, that the authorities merely wanted to silence him,” he further said.
On 20 March, the UAE authorities stated that Ahmed Mansoor was accused of using social media websites, including to “publish false and misleading information that harm national unity and social harmony and damage the country’s reputation,” under the UAE’s repressive 2012 Cybercrime Law, which authorities have used to imprison numerous human rights activists and which provides for long prison sentences and severe financial penalties.
On 28 March, a group of United Nations human rights experts called on the UAE government to release him immediately, describing his arrest as “a direct attack on the legitimate work of human rights defenders in the UAE.” They expressed their fear that his arrest “may constitute an act of reprisal for his engagement with UN human rights mechanisms, for the views he expressed on social media, including Twitter, as well as for being an active member of organizations such as the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, and an active supporter of others, including Human Rights Watch.”
The next day, the UAE authorities responded directly to the statement, disputing the allegation that Ahmed Mansoor’s detention was arbitrary, and stating that he “has the freedom to hire a lawyer and that his family has full access to the place of confinement and is allowed to visit him.”
The government has detained Ahmed Mansoor in Abu Dhabi.
It is too far from his home for regular visits from his family, who have only been able to see him once in the last three months.
The authorities appear determined to isolate Ahmed Mansoor from his own family.
Despite government assertions that he is able to do so, it appears that he has not been able to appoint an independent lawyer of his own choosing.
This is a necessary component of the right to a fair trial.
The right to see a lawyer is a basic right of anyone detained as outlined in article 16 of the Arab Charter on Human Rights, which the UAE has ratified.
The ten human rights organizations that make up the jury of the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders reiterate their call to the UAE authorities to release Ahmed Mansoor immediately and unconditionally, since the charges against him relate solely to his human rights work and his right to freedom of expression.
In the meantime, he should be granted immediate and regular access to his family and a lawyer of his choosing. The UAE must end their harassment of human rights defenders and critics of the authorities.
Signatories
Organizations forming the jury of the Martin Ennals Award:
Agency for Diakonia and Development, Germany
Amnesty International
FIDH
Front Line Defenders
Human Rights First
Human Rights Watch
International Commission of Jurists
International Service for Human Rights
HURIDOCS
World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)
Jun 20, 2017 | News, Training modules
Today, the ICJ and Bundesfachverband unbegleitete minderjährige Flüchtlinge (BumF) are holding a training for lawyers on the rights of migrant children and on accessing international human rights mechanisms in Berlin.
The training aims to support the strategic use of national and international mechanisms to foster migrant children’s access to justice.
The training will take place over the course of two days: 20-21 June 2017.
The training will focus on accessing the international mechanisms in order to protect and promote the rights of migrant children, the child’s procedural rights including the right to be heard, the right to family life and family reunification.
A practical case analysis will be part of the training.
Trainers include Karolína Babická, Legal Adviser of ICJ’s Europe Programme, Claudia Kittel from the CRC Monitoring body in Germany, Sigrun Krause from JUMEN e.V. and Joris Sprakel, Lecturer at the Hague University.
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.
It is organized as part of the FAIR project co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union and OSIFE.
The past trainings on the rights of migrant children within the FAIR project took place in Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Malta, Greece and Ireland. The Strategic litigation Retreat, which will bring three lawyers of each of the national trainings together with experts on in-depth insights and strategising on accessing international mechanisms will follow in October this year.
Download the agenda (in German) here:
Germany-FAIRtraining-Event-Agenda-2017 (in PDF)
Jun 16, 2017 | News
Justice Prafullachandra Natwarlal Bhagwati, former ICJ Commissioner and Honorary Member and Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of India, passed away at the age of 95, on 15 June 2017, following a brief illness.
“The International Commission of Jurists benefited greatly from Justice Bhagwati’s engagement and leadership. He was a giant of the human rights movement, dedicated to enlarging and ensuring access to justice for everyone, including those who couldn’t seek and receive justice due to their economic or social status,” said Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Secretary-General.
“His dedication and ground-breaking approach to human rights accountability inspired many within and outside of the ICJ, and the values he represented will continue to inspire and inform our work,” he added.
Justice Bhagwati had a long history of promoting and protecting human rights, both at home and on the international stage, particularly for the most marginalized and vulnerable individuals and groups.
Former Chief Justice of India, Justice P.N. Bhagwati held a long and illustrious career within the Indian judiciary.
He introduced many innovative reforms within the Indian judicial system that increased access to justice for the poorest and most disadvantaged, including as a pioneer of public interest litigation and absolute liability.
Outside of India, Justice P.N. Bhagwati played a prominent role in the international human rights movement, for example as a member of the Committee of Experts of the International Labour Organization and Chair of the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
He was also actively involved in a number of non-governmental organizations, including the ICJ, where he committed to a high number of missions, seminars, publications and other activities on behalf of the organization.
He also served as a long-standing Chair of the Advisory Board for the ICJ’s Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.
Jun 13, 2017 | News
The ICJ welcomed today the Special Rapporteur’s report on Turkey and his preliminary findings on his visit to the country last November.
The ICJ welcomes and concurs with the finding that the “situation of the judiciary is undermining freedom of opinion and expression”.
Mass dismissals of judges have had a devastating effect on the judiciary’s independence, already weakened by the current state of emergency. Furthermore, we are concerned at the claim by the President that the state of emergency will remain in place until Turkey reaches “peace and prosperity”. Whatever other questions there may be about their validity, maintaining emergency derogations to human rights law instruments for such an open-ended period would clearly not be in line with international law.
The ICJ is also concerned at the constitutional amendments approved on the 16th of April by a referendum. Among other things, the amendments have given powers to the President and the Parliament to appoint all the members of the High Council of Judges and Prosecutors, the body tasked with protecting the independence of these professions.
The judiciary has had in the past an important role in implementing legislation that has severely limited the freedom of journalists to carry out their job.
The independence of the judiciary has now been eroded to its core in Turkey. Without it, there is no effective remedy in the country to protect freedom of opinion and expression.
Further reading: ICJ’s briefing paper Turkey: the Judicial System in Peril
Jun 8, 2017 | Events, News
Today, the ICJ and FIDH are organizing a side event to to the 35th Regular session of the Human Rights Council on business and human rights.
Business responsibility to respect human rights
Challenges and opportunities six years after the adoption of UNGPs
A dialogue to move forward
Thursday 8 June 2017, 15.30-17.00
Meeting Room VIII
Palais des Nations, Geneva
After the adoption of the UNGP in 2011, standards on business responsibility to respect human rights and business human rights due diligence have gained prominence in the global debate on business accountability.
Many companies claim to comply with the UNGP by performing a human rights due diligence including across their global supply chain.
Several initiatives have emerged at regional and national level to promote companies’ due diligence processes, including the EU Directive on non-financial reporting, the UK Modern Slavery Act, the French law on company devoir de vigilance.
Despite the progress, serious human rights abuses still occur in both developing and developed countries.
The ability of companies to identify, monitor and prevent negative human rights impacts in their operations and relationships is still weak and the access to effective remedy remains difficult if not impossible.
This is an opportune moment to take stock of the progresses made to date and the challenges ahead in order to create a level playing field that will effectively promote the respect of human rights in business global operations.
Welcome speech
Saman Zia-Zarifi, ICJ Secretary General
Moderator
Carlos Lopez, ICJ
Panelists
Fernanda Hopenhaym, PODER/ESCR-net CAWG steering group
Maddalena Neglia, FIDH
Michael Addo, UN Working Group on BHR
Olivier De Schutter, UN Committee on ESCR/University of Louvain
