The ICJ, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch urge Pakistan’s government to stop the deplorable practice of state agencies abducting hundreds of people throughout the country without providing information about their fate or whereabouts.
On the eve of the annual International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the ICJ once again calls on the Nepali authorities to provide justice to the hundreds of victims of enforced disappearances committed during the decade-long armed conflict.
The ICJ is delighted to announce five new Commissioners: Professor Kyong-Wahn Ahn (Republic of Korea), Justice Adolfo Azcuna (Philippines), Professor Miguel Carbonell (Mexico), Justice Yvonne Mokgoro (South Africa) and Justice Ajit Parkash Shah (India).
The Protection of Pakistan Act 2014 signed today by the President will aggravate human rights violations in the country instead of helping to protect Pakistani people from attacks by armed groups, the ICJ says.
The Nepal government should immediately fix crucial flaws in the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) Act, particularly those highlighted in a new United Nations evaluation, the ICJ and other rights groups said today.
The ICJ’s International Legal Adviser, Reema Omer, participated in a panel discussion on ‘Rule of Law in Bangladesh’, convened on 19 June 2014 in the margins of the Human Rights Council’s 26th regular session in Geneva.
The event was co-sponsored by the Asian Legal Resource Centre, CIVICUS, FIDH, OMCT and Human Rights Watch and was moderated by Mr Mandeep Tiwana, Head of Policy and Research for CIVICUS. Panelists included Mr Adilur Rahman Khan, Secretary of Odhikar; Mr M.D. Ashrafuzzaman, Urgent Appeals Programme Coordinator of the Asian Legal Resource Centre; Mr Gerald Staberock, Secretary General of OMCT; and Ms Reema Omer, International Legal Adviser of the ICJ’s Asia Pacific Regional Programme.
The ICJ’s intervention focussed on the incompatibility of the Bangladesh Information and Communication Technology Act 2006 (ICTA) and its 2013 amendments with international human rights law and standards. Based on the ICJ’s briefing paper on the ICTA from November 2013, and referring to recent cases, Reema Omer highlighted how the Act and its amendments amount to an assault on the freedom of expression and a stifling of public discourse. Her intervention also spoke of the judiciary’s responsibility to prevent such attacks on freedom of expression.
Bangladesh-ICT-Brief-2013 (download the ICJ’s briefing paper on the ICTA)
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