The ICJ welcomed the decision of President Obama’s administration to seek a seat on the UN Human Rights Council.
A reversal of the Bush administration’s decision to disengage from the Council came at the right time, as the Council continues to grapple with some of the most pressing human rights situations and concerns.
United States–US decision to run for membership reaffirms-web story-2009 (full text, PDF)
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)
The ICJ applauds the signing of four executive orders by President Barack Obama aimed to reverse some of the most abusive policies and practices instituted by the previous administration in its “war on terror”.
“The new administration has taken as among its first order of business a process of restoring the rule of law to its counter-terrorism programs”, said Wilder Tayler, Acting ICJ Secretary General. “These steps should initiate a full repeal or revision of the laws, policies and practices that had such a corrosive effect on human rights and the rule of law both domestically and globally. It should also encourage other States to help bring arbitrary detention at Guantanamo to an end, including by accepting detainees for resettlement.”
United States-ICJ welcomes first steps to restore human rights in countering terrorism-web story-2009 (full text, PDF)
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