Dec 21, 2018 | News
CORE and the ICJ have been granted permission to intervene in an appeal before the United Kingdom Supreme Court (Vedanta Resources PLC and another v. Lungowe and others).
The two organizations will provide evidence on comparative law and international standards regarding the responsibilities of companies in relation to human rights and environmental protection, in particular the recognition of a duty of care of parent companies in relation to the communities living in the surrounding of companies operations.
In August 2015, 1800 Zambian villagers launched a legal action in the UK against mining company Vedanta Resources Plc and its Zambian subsidiary, Konkola Copper Mines, claiming that their water sources and farming land were poisoned from the copper mining operations of both companies.
Last year, the Court of Appeal upheld a High Court ruling that the Zambian claimants had a legal right to bring a claim through the courts in the UK and that a parent company may owe a duty of care to third parties affected by its subsidiary. Vedanta is appealing this ruling in the Supreme Court.
CORE and the ICJ have been lead participants in the elaboration processes of all major international instruments in the field of businesses’ human rights responsibilities in the last decade and are also specially situated to provide information on the state of the law in various jurisdictions.
Our submission is that the Court of Appeal’s conclusion that Vedanta arguably owed a duty of care to the claimants is supported by: international standards regarding the responsibilities of companies in relation to human rights and environmental protection; material published by the UK government with the aim of implementing those international standards; and comparative law jurisprudence.
The hearing will take place on 15-16 January 2019.
Dec 21, 2018 | Multimedia items, News, Video clips
The ICJ invited a number of women lawyers to Geneva to participate in a training workshop and gain practical experience of UN human rights mechanisms as part of a project supported by the German Mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
One group of women came to Geneva in June during the 38th session of the UN Human Rights Council and 70th session of the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, and the other group came in September to coincide with the 39th session of the Human Rights Council.
During the week long training workshops participants learned about the international human rights mechanisms available to tackle issues of women’s access to justice and gained hands-on exposure to the operation of these mechanisms in practice.
Participants spoke about the impact that the CEDAW Convention has had in their domestic legislation.
Donia Allani a lawyer and lecturer at the Faculty of Legal, Political and Social Sciences of Tunis, discussed the impact of CEDAW in shaping legislation in Tunis to eliminate violence against women and facilitate access to justice but noted that women still faced stigmatization.
Donia Allani commented, however, that UN mechanisms could be improved to ensure that all activists and feminists can access these mechanisms without fear of reprisals.
Uzbek lawyer Sabina Saparova, also spoke of the impact that international law and standards can have domestically. She explained that Uzbekistan’s ratification of the CEDAW Convention provided an international commitment to incorporating equality between men and women into its legal structure. Recently the president of Uzbekistan initiated the first steps toward the adoption of a law on the prevention of domestic violence.
Dec 20, 2018 | News
The ICJ today called on Hungarian President Áder János not to sign the Law on the Administrative Courts but to send it back to the Parliament for further review and discussion. In particular, the law should be re-considered in light of international standards as well as the forthcoming reasoned opinion of the Venice Commission, the ICJ said.
On 12 December, the Hungarian Parliament adopted, in a highly contested process, the Law on the Administrative Courts (T/3353). The vote took place despite the fact that an opinion of the Council of Europe Venice Commission on the new law is still awaited.
The administrative courts will have significant competencies in matters of public interest concerning the action of the executive and other public institutions. They will have jurisdiction over “administrative disputes” as well as other issues transferred to their jurisdiction by law (Article 1(3)).
The ICJ is concerned at the significant powers conferred on the executive over the proposed Administrative Courts, in particular the Minister of Justice’s powers in the appointment of administrative judges (Article 72(2)) as well as the powers of the Minister of Justice and of the Parliament in regard to the annual budget of these courts. Under the new law, judges of the administrative courts would be appointed by the Minister of Justice on the advice of a newly-established National Administrative Judicial Council, with the Minister having a discretion to reject the first-ranked nominee of the Council. In a context where the independence of the Hungarian judiciary is already being eroded, this role of the executive raises significant concerns regarding the independence of the new courts.
The new law comes at a time when measures put in place by the Hungarian government since 2011 have led to a severe deterioration of the rule of law and human rights, by weakening Constitutional rights protection, limiting judicial independence, suppressing independent media, civil society and academic institutions, and imposing arbitrary laws that violate the human rights of marginalized sections of society.
The ICJ recalls that judicial independence and the separation of powers are the bedrock of the rule of law. International law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights, and other international standards such as the United Nations Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, reflect the fundamental role of an independent judiciary in protecting human rights and the rule of law.
Dec 16, 2018 | Agendas, Events
Today begins in Ankara (Turkey) a two-day international workshop for lawyers and CSO practitioners representing and working with migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
This event is organized by ICJ, in cooperation with its partners Refugee Rights Turkey, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), Mülteci-Der (MD) and ICJ-EI, as part of the EU co-financed project Fostering Access to Rights for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Turkey.
Lawyers and civil society practitioners – representing numerous bar associations and relevant organisations from the Istanbul area and other nearby key migration and asylum locations – are taking part in the workshop that takes place on 16-17 December.
The international conference on “Legal avenues and the role of lawyers in protecting migrant and refugee rights” includes a section on strategic litigation on asylum and migration law and European experiences.
In the second part of the conference, a final workshop is held on 17 December to discuss efforts to support expertise and effectiveness of Turkish lawyers on asylum and immigration law. This workshop will bring together key stakeholders and interlocutors to strategize about the remaining gaps and needs and the next steps in this field.
During this workshop, the organisers will present their project and its results.
The project “Fostering Access to Rights for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Turkey” is funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) of the European Union.
Turkey-Workshop-Agenda-MigrationAsylumIHRL-Ankara2-2018-eng (download the agenda in English)
Turkey-Workshop-Agenda-MigrationAsylumIHRL-Ankara2-2018-tur (download the agenda in Turkish)
Dec 15, 2018 | News
From 10 to 14 December, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) conducted a research mission to Uzbekistan to identify some of the main obstacles impeding access to justice for economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights.
ICJ experts met with key stakeholders, including relevant State bodies, CSOs, independent experts and other actors to discuss legal and practical aspects of access to justice for ESC rights.
Adopting a legal aid system for cases related to ESC rights, public accessibility of court judgements including on ESC rights and its effect on enjoyment of ESC rights, relevant reforms which concern vulnerable groups were discussed among other things with the stakeholders.
The findings will be part of the report on access to justice for ESC rights in Uzbekistan.
The mission included Jarna Petma, ICJ Commissioner as well as a number of staff members of the ICJ Europe and Central Asia Programme.
The ICJ appreciates the facilitation of the Government of Uzbekistan and of the European Union Delegation, for essential support in organisation of the mission.
