Aug 10, 2022 | News
The ICJ, together with Chulalongkorn University’s Center for Social Development Studies (CSDS), held a consultative meeting on 10 August 2022 with a wide range of stakeholders involved in helping the Mekong countries set up SEZs to discuss the adverse human rights consequences of the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) in the region at the Faculty of Political Science, Chulalongkorn University.
Aug 9, 2022 | News
The Sri Lankan Parliament should reject the ‘22nd Amendment to the Constitution Bill’ and, instead, should amend the Constitution to remove the President’s unfettered authority, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today.
Aug 9, 2022 | News
Singapore’s authorities must immediately halt any impending executions, and cease using punitive cost orders against lawyers representing death-row inmates, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today.
On 5 August 2022, Singapore executed two persons, Abdul Rahim Shapiee and Ong Seow Ping, for “drug possession for the purpose of trafficking”. Their execution followed the Court of Appeal’s denial of Abdul Rahim Shapiee’s stay of execution request based on a lawsuit he and 23 other death-row inmates had filed alleging obstructions in their access to lawyers.
Aug 8, 2022 | Advocacy, News
The staff of the Socio-Economic Rights Institute of South Africa (SERI) – a South African human rights non-profit organisation – have received death threats and other threats of violence, forcing the organization to temporarily close down its offices. This follows SERI’s decision to provide legal representation to a group of about 600 informal traders to help them challenge their eviction by the City of Johannesburg from their trading stalls before the Gauteng Local Division of the High Court, Johannesburg
Aug 5, 2022 | News
The International Commission of Jurists is part of a group of 13 organizations that have issued a joint statement condemning the Sri Lankan authorities’ violent crackdown and increasing reprisals against peaceful protesters in Sri Lanka. This includes arrests, intimidation and the brutal attack on the protest camp in Colombo on 22 July 2022. The Sri Lankan authorities must ensure that security forces do not use excessive force and will respect the rights of peaceful protesters at the ‘Gotagogama’ site, which authorities have ordered to be vacated by 5:00 pm on 5 August 2022.
Aug 2, 2022 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Lawyers for Human Rights (LHR) are disappointed by the 2 August judgment of the South African Constitutional Court in the Relebohile Cecilia Rafoneke v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services (Rafoneke) case, which the Court heard together with the Bruce Chakanyuka & Others v Minister of Justice and Correctional Services & Others (Chakanyuka) case. Rafoneke concerns the constitutionality of Section 24(2)(b) of the Legal Practice Act 28 of 2014 (LPA), which prohibits otherwise qualified lawyers from practising law in South Africa solely on the basis of their citizenship.
