Feb 6, 2009 | News
The UK government and the new US administration must ensure that the independence of the courts, and their ability to disclose information essential to accountability for crimes of torture, is not undermined.
The main threat is the withdrawal of intelligence co-operation, the ICJ said in response to yesterday’s Divisional Court judgment in R (Binyam Mohammed) v Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs.
UK-US-Governments must not impede courts’ disclosure of torture allegations-web story-2009 (full text, PDF)
Jan 20, 2009 | News
The ICJ today expressed its grave concern at the murder in Moscow yesterday of prominent human rights lawyer Stanislav Markelov and called for a thorough, prompt and independent criminal investigation.
Russian Federation-ICJ calls for investigation and accountability-Press releases-2009 (full text, PDF)
Jun 24, 2008 | News
The ICJ today expressed its concern at government attacks on the independence of the judiciary in relation to a case involving the Prime Minister, Mr Silvio Berlusconi.
In a letter to the President of the Senate, read out to the Senate last week, the Prime Minister alleged that a criminal prosecution against him had been initiated for political purposes by “extreme left magistrates”, and accused judges and prosecutors involved in the case of politicisation and bias.
Italy-ICJ calls for end to government interference with judicial independence-Press releases-2008-Eng (full text, PDF)
Italy-ICJ calls for end to government interference with judicial independence-Press releases-2008-Ita (full text in Italian, PDF)
Apr 18, 2008 | News
The ICJ today urged the Government of Poland to respond fully to concerns about the adequacy of its investigations into allegations of CIA-run secret detention centres in Poland and renditions of terrorism suspects.
The call follows the review of Poland’s human rights record at the first session of the UN Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Poland-UPR detention renditions-press release-2008 (full text, PDF)
Apr 16, 2008 | News
On 14 April 2008, the UN Human Rights Council began assessing human rights compliance in Poland as part of a new mechanism monitoring the condition of human rights in the world.
As part of the Universal Periodic Review, the situation in each of the countries will be assessed every four years on the basis of reports submitted by the governments of those countries and documents prepared at the same time by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (among others, on the basis of reports submitted by NGOs). At yesterday’s UN meeting, the Polish delegation, led by the under-secretary of state at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Witold Waszczykowski, presented the report of the Government of the Republic of Poland on human rights and answered questions asked by the representatives of other countries.
Poland-Polish Government Submits Report to the UN Human Rights Council-Web-2008 (full text, PDF)
Jun 8, 2007 | News
The ICJ today called for criminal and other investigations in Poland and Romania, following a report which confirms that the highest authorities of both countries authorised CIA secret detentions on their territories.
