Sep 17, 2020 | Events, News
The ICJ in cooperation with the Ukraine National Bar Association will hold an online roundtable discussion “Security of lawyers and state of legal profession in Ukraine”.
The event of 18 September 2020 will assemble leading legal experts and practitioners from Ukraine and other countries who will discuss the state of the legal profession in Ukraine in light of the international standards on the role and independence of lawyers, and national legislation and practice. The discussion will center around the challenges to security of lawyers, especially where they protect human rights, as well as the institutional independence and self-governance of legal profession in Ukraine.
The round table follows an ICJ mission report, Between the Rock and the Anvil: Lawyers under Attack in Ukraine, that documents and analyses the state of the independence of the legal profession in Ukraine and risks that lawyers face in their work in defence of their clients.
The event is open for participation upon online registration. Please contact Leyla Madatli at Leyla.Madatli@icj.org.
The working languages of the event is Ukrainian, Russian and English. The roundtable will continue from 10.00 to 14.00 Ukraine time (CET 9.00-13.00).
Agenda in English.
Sep 2, 2020 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ has made submissions to the Human Rights Committee, today, on Ukraine’s implementation of, and compliance with, the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
The ICJ broughtto the Committee’s attention some issues of concern pertaining to Ukraine’s compliance with and implementation of the ICCPR.
This submission highlights a number of concerns relating to the security and independence of lawyers in Ukraine, and their consequences for the protection of certain Covenant rights. In particular, this submission addresses:
- the institutional independence of the legal profession;
- security of lawyers and their right to life;
- restrictions on access to clients and the rights of the defence; and
- security of lawyers and access to justice in uncontrolled territories in Ukraine.
These concerns highlight Ukraine’s lack of compliance with its obligations under the Covenant, including in respect of the right to life under article 6 and the right to a fair trial under article 14, in particular, as well as under other Covenant rights, such as Ukraine’s obligations under articles 2, 7, 9, 10, and 17 of the ICCPR.
Ukraine-ICJ-Submission-CCPR-Advocacy-Non-Legal-Submissions-2020-ENG
Sep 24, 2019 | Events, News
The side event aims to identify current threats against lawyers’ professional rights and guarantees in the OSCE region.
The speakers will identify and analyze the current trends through a discussion of recently gathered data and specific cases of violation of lawyers’ rights from Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, Ukraine, Azerbaijan, Russia and Belarus. They will also make recommendations regarding the way forward to increase protection for lawyers and the independent legal profession in these countries and the OSCE region as a whole.
A flyer for the event is available here.
The agenda for the event available here.
Aug 30, 2019 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ has presented information to the UN Human Rights Committee in preparation for the Committee’s examination of the eighth periodic report of Ukraine under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
In this submission, the ICJ draws the Committee’s attention to the situation with the security and independence of the legal profession and Ukraine’s compliance with and implementation of its obligations under Articles 2, 6 and 14 of the ICCPR, as well as the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.
The ICJ stresses that attacks on lawyers are likely to lead not only to violations the rights of the individual lawyers concerned, but also to violations of the rights of the clients they represent, including the right to a fair trial (Article 14 ICCPR), the right to liberty (Article 9 ICCPR), the right to freedom from torture or other ill-treatment (Article 7 ICCPR), and the right to an effective remedy (Article 2.3 ICCPR) as attacks on lawyers may, in turn, hinder the provision of effective legal representation.
Ukraine-List of Issues-Advocacy-non legal submission-2019-ENG (full submission, in PDF)
Aug 22, 2019 | News
The ICJ calls on the Ukrainian authorities to investigate the murder of lawyer Olexandr Ivanov, killed today with an automatic weapon near SIZO (Pre-trial Dentention Centre) №6 in Kropyvnytskyi.
The shooting was carried out from a car by unknown persons. The lawyer died on the spot. Another person injured in the incident was hospitalized in critical condition.
“The killing of lawyer Oleksandr Ivanov must be independently, promptly, and thoroughly investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice,” said Temur Shakirov, ICJ Senior Legal Adviser.
“Such crimes strip any legal reforms of their positive impact if lawyers’ life is always in danger when exercising their functions,” he added.
The police have confirmed the occurrence of the killing and initiated an investigation preliminarily qualified as intentional murder under article 115-2 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian National Bar Association (UNBA) is planning to convene an emergency meeting of the Committee on Protection of Lawyers Rights and Professional Guarantees. The UNBA has also referred to the leadership of regional prosecution and police authorities to bring the case under personal control.
“During its recent mission to Ukraine the ICJ heard of cases of killings of lawyers and this case demonstrates that little progress has been achieved in addressing the security of lawyers in Ukraine,” said Shakirov.
Additional information:
International human rights law, including the European Convention on Human Rights to which Ukraine is a party, requires that states take steps to protect the life and physical integrity of persons who they know or ought to know are at real risk of violence.
According to the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, governments must ensure that lawyers are able to perform all of their professional functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference (principle 16). The UN Basic Principles specify that “[w]here the security of lawyers is threatened as a result of discharging their functions, they shall be adequately safeguarded by the authorities” (principle 17).
