Jun 24, 2022 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in coordination with the Office of the Attorney General (OAG) organized a workshop on 17 and 18 June 2022 with the Attorney General, Chief Attorneys (CAs) and other senior governmental legal personnel, with a view to ensuring effective and coordinated monitoring of places of detention. Detention monitoring is essential to prevent torture, ill-treatment and other human rights violations, in line with Nepal’s legal obligations under the Convention against Torture and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Workshop participants highlighted the importance of implementation of international law and standards on monitoring places of detention, including the revised Standard Minimum Rules for Treatment of Prisoners (Mandela rules) and standards concerning children in detention. The Constitution of Nepal also prohibits “physical or mental torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment” against persons arrested or detained.
Jun 21, 2022 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ today denounced attacks on lawyers across the world, in particular in the Russian Federation, Myanmar, Nepal, Venezuela and Turkey, in its statement during the dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers.
The statement before the UN Human Rights Council reads as follows:
“Mr President,
The ICJ welcomes this timely report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, which demonstrates that lawyers are targets of attacks, harassment, and arbitrary prosecutions and disbarment worldwide.
In the Russian Federation, contrary to international law and standards on the role of lawyers, law enforcement officials routinely impede the work of lawyers attempting to represent people detained or charged in connection with anti-war protests, including by using violence.
In Myanmar, where the judiciary is subservient to the executive, lawyers and their families face daily threats of arrest, detention and harassment solely for their professional activities.
In Nepal, the police have injured the Bar Association’s executive members, including its General Secretary, when they used excessive force against lawyers protesting against the corruption in the Supreme Court, and calling for an investigation of the Chief Justice. Similar violations occur in Venezuela.
In Turkey, legislative reforms have been introduced undermining the independence of the legal profession. Moreover, prominent human rights lawyers are subject to arbitrary prosecutions, including Cihan Aydin and Öztürk Türkdoğan.
The ICJ calls on this Council and all its Special Procedure to pay particular attention to attacks on lawyers whose work is essential for access justice and effective remedies to protect everyone’s human rights.
I thank you.”
Contact:
Massimo Frigo, ICJ UN Representative, e: massimo.frigo(a)icj.org, t: +41797499949
May 9, 2022 | News
On the 30th of April the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), in collaboration of the High Court Bar Association, Nepalgunj, Lumbini Province held a workshop on the potential for strategic litigation in Nepal as a tool to ensure the realization of the right to education. The workshop focused on international human rights law and standards relating to the right to education, such as the Abidjan Principles on the human rights obligations of States to provide public education and to regulate private involvement in education (the Abidjan Principles), and those emerging from the jurisprudence of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR) under International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR).
Feb 9, 2022 | News
Nepal authorities must immediately comply with the Supreme Court’s directives on measures to ensure equal access to COVID health services, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) said today.
Nov 20, 2021 | News
Nepal has made no progress on justice for crimes under international law in the 15 years since the signing of the Comprehensive Peace Agreement, Amnesty International, International Commission of Jurists, Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International said today.
