Sep 20, 2010 | News
An ICJ delegation visited Maldives to assess progress towards the establishment of an independent, impartial, and competent judiciary, and make recommendations.
The ICJ urged collaboration by all political parties and authorities to support the consolidation of an independent, impartial, and competent judiciary. The delegation noted remaining challenges in this regard as well as steps to take the process beyond recent controversies.
Maldives-independent judiciary-web story-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
Sep 20, 2010 | News
Only thirty-three states have signed and two states have ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Sep 17, 2010 | Events
The side event, held during the 15th session of the UN Human Rights Council, will look into the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of May 2009.
The post-conflict phase in Sri Lanka is failing to meet minimal expectations on rule of law, democratic participation, investigation of, and accountability, for human rights violations, and ending impunity; not to mention social rehabilitation and political reconciliation after war. The side event will particularly focus on three issues: alleged war crimes, the fate of surrendered Tamil combatants and the governance on human rights and impunity.
Sri Lanka-rights challenges-event-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
Sep 7, 2010 | E-bulletin on counter-terrorism & human rights, News
Read the 46th issue of ICJ’s monthly newsletter on proposed and actual changes in counter-terrorism laws, policies and practices and their impact on human rights at the national, regional and international levels.
Aug 30, 2010 | Events
El seminario (Sao Paulo, 30 Agosto 2010) va a discutir el tema de “Impacto de las actividades de Empresas Multinacionales en la puesta en práctica de las obligaciones internacionales en materia de derechos humanos”. El seminario está dirigido a miembros regionales de órganos de tratados internacionales de derechos humanos y busca crear un espacio de diálogo y coordinación entre miembros de los diferentes comités de derechos humanos y tendrá lugar como continuación de otro seminario que tuvo lugar en Ginebra en Junio del 2010.
Brazil-multinational corporations-events-2010-spa
Brazil-multinational corporations-events-2010-por
Aug 22, 2010 | Agendas
The scale of human rights violations committed by the armed forces, police and rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo has meant that little attention has been directed to other failings of the justice sector, including the inadequate regulation of companies and the lack of effective remedies for victims of corporate abuse of human rights. Several studies and reports on human rights violations in the DRC have established the extent of corporate involvement or complicity and the State failure to protect people against violations by business corporations. It is necessary to mobilize and strengthen the capacity of legal professionals to use the law to ensure greater accountability by business for their numerous violations and that victims of such violations be afforded effective redress
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in conjunction with Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, the African Association for the Defense of Human Rights and the SADC Lawyers Association will, at the sidelines of the Annual General Meeting of the SADC Lawyers Association,hold on 22nd August 2010 a Lawyers’ Dialogue on “Business Involvement in Human Rights Violations and Victims’ Access to Justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo”.
The Dialogue is intended to bring together experts from the DRC and SADC legal fraternity in a one-day activity to reflect on how human rights law can creatively and effectively be used to bring business entities and players to respect human rights standards and to account for their involvement or complicity in violation thereof. In exploring this key question, the following subsidiary questions shall be answered:
- What is the current status of DRC laws regarding business activities in the country?
- How can business entities and actors be held accountable under international and DRC laws?
- How could international criminal law and regional as well as sub-regional legal frameworks be used to punish and prevent corporate involvement in international crimes in the DRC?
- How effective is the domestic civil liability regime in respect of business involvement in gross human rights abuses?
What are the obstacles facing access to justice for victims of business gross human rights abuse in the DRC, and how can they be overcome?
DRC-dialogue violation justice-agenda-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
DRC-dialogue violation justice-agenda-2010 (full text in French, PDF)
