Nepal’s authorities have largely failed to comply with their obligations under international law as well as the country’s constitution to guarantee the right to heath of all people facing the continued threat of the COVID-19 pandemic, said the ICJ in a briefing paper published today.
Thailand must ensure that its responses to the COVID-19 pandemic comply with the international human rights law protections for economic, social and cultural rights, the ICJ said in a new briefing paper published today.
The Government of Pakistan must urgently respond to serious and ongoing persecution of individuals from religious minority groups by State and non-State actors, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said in a new briefing paper released today.
Venezuela’s judiciary has become a tool for political control of the country by the Executive branch rather than a defender of the rule of law, said the ICJ in a report launched today.
The 55-page report Judges on the Tightrope documents the undermining of judicial independence in the country, due to the political control or influence on the judiciary, and because of the role the Supreme Court of Justice (SCJ) has played in undermining the independence of judges around the country.
“Justice is a human right and it is a fundamental right for the protection of other rights. Without the essential guarantees of the independence and impartiality of judges, we do not have justice. In Venezuela today, the right to justice is not guaranteed, to the extent that we do not have a system of independent and impartial judges,” said Carlos Ayala, ICJ’s vice president.
Venezuela’s Supreme Court of Justice, long controlled by the country’s Executive branch, has overseen a collapse of the rule of law in the country, with some 85 percent of judges holding provisional posts that subject them to political pressure, and courts receiving direct pressure to return verdicts in support of the government and against human right defenders and critics of the government.
“The political takeover of the SJC has placed judges on a tightrope in Venezuela, rendering them unable to defend the rule of law, to provide accountability for the many gross human rights violations in the country, or to protect the rights of the Venezuelan people”, said Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Secretary General.
The ICJ recommended Venezuela to depoliticize the judiciary in general, and specifically the Supreme Court of Justice. In addition, the report sets a series of specific recommendations to achieve these goals, in particular by:
The ICJ called on Venezuelan authorities to comply with international human rights law and international standards related to judicial independence, as well as with the decisions and recommendations that different bodies in the United Nations and Inter-American Human Rights System have made, and allow access to the country for international human rights procedures and mechanisms that will contribute to accountability and the restoration of the rule of law.
The ICJ also urged the UN Human Rights Council to maintain a mechanism to address proper accountability for gross human rights violations until the Venezuelan prosecutors, courts and tribunals are capable of effectively investigating, prosecuting and judging with independence and impartiality those violations.
Contact
Carolina Villadiego Burbano, Latin American Legal and Policy Adviser, email: carolina.villadiego(a)icj.org
Download
Venezuela-Judges on the tightrope-Publications-Reports-Thematic reports-2021-ENG
The Thai authorities should immediately reform laws, policies and practices that have led to increasing violations of human rights in the digital sphere, the ICJ said in a new report launched today.
The 75-page report, Dictating the Internet: Curtailing Free Expression and Information Online in Thailand, documents a range of laws that does not comply with international human rights law and standards. These laws contain vague and overbroad provisions, wrongly criminalize free expression or prescribe disproportionately harsh penalties, and are applied without independent oversight mechanisms.
These arbitrary restrictions have intensified in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and pro-democracy protests.
“The Thai authorities have continued their systematic abuse of existing and new deficient laws to curtail not only the right to freedom of expression, opinion and information online, but also the rights to peaceful assembly, health and other rights,” said Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Secretary General.
The Thai authorities have also pressured and co-opted big technological companies to improperly restrict or block content on their platforms, through court-enforced demands and the filing of criminal complaints for failing to comply.
The report further documents how the Thai authorities have failed to adequately protect individuals against the human rights abuses of private actors, who include companies harassing its critics through legal processes and perpetrators of online speech inciting discrimination, hostility or violence.
The report provides specific recommendations to the Thai authorities and technological companies in the communications sector to safeguard in law and practice the rights to expression, opinion and information online as well as offline. These recommendations call for the authorities to, among other recommendations:
“The Thai authorities must act urgently to stem this deteriorating trend of human rights violations and abuses in the digital space, by repealing or substantially amending its laws, policies and practices in line with Thailand’s international legal obligations,” added Zarifi.
The report follows on from the ICJ’s December 2019 regional report entitled Dictating the Internet: Curtailing Free Expression, Opinion and Information Online in Southeast Asia assessing non-human rights compliant legal frameworks and case studies across Southeast Asia, including Thailand.
Report Launch
The report will be launched on 22 June 2021. The launch includes a panel discussion, which draws together human rights defenders, diplomats, journalists, lawyers and civil society to discuss the increasing attacks on freedom of expression and information online in Thailand through non-human rights compliant laws and practices.
The discussion will include as panelists:
Download
The full report is available in English here and in Thai here. The executive summary of the report is available in English and Thai. (PDF)
Contact
Sam Zarifi, ICJ Secretary General, e: asiapacific@icj.org, t: +66-62-702-6369
See also
ICJ, ‘Southeast Asia: ICJ launches report on increasing restrictions on online speech’, 11 December 2019
ICJ, ‘Vietnam: authorities must act to safeguard rights online and end harassment of those expressing themselves – ICJ new report’, 9 December 2020
European legislators should reject the Screening Regulation proposal and revise the amended Asylum Procedures Regulation proposal that were proposed as part of the European Union Pact on Migration and Asylum. These proposals would result in the prolonged detention of migrants and refugees, said the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in a briefing paper released today.
“These proposals would result in impermissible detention of people not having committed any crime including those fleeing danger and seeking safety in the European Union in violation of international law, and would be especially cruel for children, who should not be detained at all,” said Karolína Babická, Legal Adviser at the ICJ.
The briefing paper published today comments on two proposals of the EU Pact, focusing on the impact of the new proposals on immigration detention and deprivation of liberty, providing recommendations to co-legislators in relation to the proposed EU Screening Regulation and the border procedures that would be established by the amended Asylum Procedures Regulation proposal.
If the proposals are adopted as proposed by the European Commission, prolonged immigration detention will inevitably result in practice, due to a lack of safeguards in the legislation. And there is a high risk of systematic detention at the border in breach of international human rights and refugee law.
In order to comply with international law obligations, detention during the screening and border procedures must only be used as a measure of last resort, applicable only in well-defined situations and based on a case-by-case assessment of the situation, while privileging alternatives to detention. Furthermore, children, as well as people in need of special procedural guarantees or with special reception needs, must not be detained.
The new EU Pact on Migration and Asylum developed by the European Commission was communicated by the Commission to other EU institutions on 23 September 2020. The Pact proposes a set of new legislation and amends existing proposals. The proposed Regulations will be directly applicable in EU Member states when adopted.
See the full briefing paper here: Detention in the EU Pact proposals-briefing-2021-ENG
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