The Beirut Bar Association (BBA) must immediately withdraw its arbitrary restrictions on lawyers’ right to freedom of expression and end any related disciplinary proceedings against them, said the International Commission of Jurists today.
The Lebanese authorities must stop harassing judges who act independently and must revoke the unnecessary and disproportionate limitations they have imposed on their freedoms, the International Commission of Jurists said today.
The ICJ today welcomed the determination by the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka regarding the constitutionality of the private member’s bill entitled Penal Code (Amendment) Bill 2023 whose stated objective is to repeal “provisions that make sexual orientation a punishable offence”. The Bill had been challenged by three petitioners who sought a determination by the Supreme Court that the Bill was inconsistent with provisions of the Constitution relating to Sovereignty, Fundamental Rights and Directive Principles of State Policy, and that it required the approval of a two-thirds majority in Parliament and the approval of the People at a referendum. Petitions in support of the Bill were also filed by a number of interveners, such as civil society organizations working to advance the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) persons in Sri Lanka, academics, and activists, including Professor Savitri Goonesekere who had previously served as a member of the Committee on Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and Dr. Radhika Coomaraswamy, who had formerly been a United Nations Under Secretary General and the Special Representative on Children and Armed Conflict.
The Lao authorities must carry out a prompt, independent, impartial and effective investigation into the shooting of Anousa “Jack” Luangsouphom, a prominent human rights defender, to identify and bring to justice those responsible, called the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today.
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.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) expresses serious concern over the potential adverse repercussions for refugees, migrants and others arriving in Italy following the declaration of a six-month state of emergency on 11 April 2023.
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