Oct 8, 2013 | News
The Joint Mobile Group was selected as the 2013 Laureate Martin Ennals Award. The ICJ is one of the ten members of the jury.
The Award is given by the International Human Rights Community to Human Rights Defenders who have shown deep commitment and face great personal risk.
The aim of the award is to provide protection through international recognition.
Strongly supported by the City of Geneva, the Award was presented here today.
After the murder of several human rights activists working in Chechnya, Igor Kalyapin (photo) started the Joint Mobile Group.
To reduce the risk they send investigators on short missions to Chechnya to document Human Rights abuses.
This information is then used to publicize these abuses to seek legal redress.
Igor Kalyapin speaking of the effect of international publicity said: “When the international community is watching us it is more difficult for the authorities to take steps against us.”
Micheline Calmy-Rey, Chair, Martin Ennals Foundation said: “The choice of the Jury has again shown that human rights defenders are the most crucial actors and can make a difference on the ground.”
The Jury also selected two recipients of the New Martin Ennals Prizes: Mario Joseph, who is referred to as Haiti’s most important Human Rights lawyer and has worked on some of the most important cases in Haiti, including the current case against the former dictator Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier; and Mona Seif, from Egypt, core founder of the “No To Military Trials for Civilians” national movement.
The main award of the human rights movement, the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders (MEA) is a unique collaboration among ten of the world’s leading human rights organizations to give protection to human rights defenders worldwide. The Jury is composed of the following NGOs: ICJ, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, World Organisation Against Torture, FIDH (International Federation for Human Rights), HURIDOCS, Human Rights First, Front Line Defenders, International Service for Human Rights and German Diakonie.
Watch the MEA movie on Joint Mobile Group
Oct 4, 2013 | Events
On 2 and 3 October 2013, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights held a workshop on business and gender with the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on Discrimination against Women.
The ICJ participated in the workshop, addressing some of the ways in which business actors may be involved in women’s rights abuses and how States may fail to discharge due diligence obligations in this context. The ICJ’s presentation had a particular focus on accountability and the right to redress, and also explained the relevance to those issues of States’ extraterritorial obligations in respect of economic, social and cultural rights.
ProgrammeAgenda-BusinessAndGenderWorkshop (download the programme agenda for the workshop)
Oct 2, 2013 | Events
The ICJ today welcomed the launch of the OSCE/FBA Handbook for Monitoring Administrative Justice as a tool able to contribute to the open administration of justice.
Noting that trends throughout the world see administrative cases dealt with in a manner that lacks transparency and fails to comport with the open administration of justice, the ICJ expressed the hope that the tool will be used by practitioners and officials to make an impact on the ground. The ICJ pointed to several reasons why the open administration of justice, in all forms of proceedings, is important to human rights and the rule of law:
- As a starting point, it is widely recognised, including by the UN Human Rights Committee in its General Comment on the right to a fair trial, that the open and transparent administration of justice is an important safeguard for the interests of both the individual and society at large.
- The conduct of administrative and other proceeds in an open and transparent manner helps to ensure the integrity of such proceedings and protect against potential abuse.
- Publicly accessible documentation, including timely and reasoned decisions, protects individuals from being subject to arbitrary decisions.
- Transparency and openness contributes to accountability by enabling parties to determine the viability of any appeal or review, including the possibility of taking a case to regional or international mechanisms.
- In all these ways, the open administration of justice also helps guarantee the right of individuals and society to access justice, including remedies and reparation.
The Handbook is a publication arising from a joint initiative of the Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) Rule of Law Unit and the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights. Work began on the Handbook in May 2011. The ICJ participated in expert meetings on the development of the Handbook in 2011 and 2012.
OSCE/FBA Handbook for Monitoring Administrative Justice
Oct 2, 2013 | News
The ICJ welcomes the endorsement today by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe of the Tshwane Principles on National Security and the Right to Information.
The ICJ was one of a number of civil society groups and government representatives who contributed to the development of the Principles.
Headline stories such as the Bradley Manning, Edward Snowden, and David Miranda cases, and the large number of other similar cases and situations around the world that do not necessarily receive the same media attention, demonstrate the timeliness and relevance of the Principles.
The ICJ hopes that the precedent set by the PACE will now be followed by other inter-governmental organisations at the global and regional levels, recognizing and endorsing the Principles.
Links to the resolution and recommendation by the PACE:
http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?fileid=20190&lang=EN
http://assembly.coe.int/nw/xml/XRef/Xref-DocDetails-EN.asp?fileid=20194&lang=EN
Global-Tshwane Principles on right to information-position paper-2013 (full text in pdf)
Sep 12, 2013 | News
Yesterday, during the 24th session of the UN Human Rights Council, the ICJ and TRIAL (Swiss Association against Impunity) jointly held a parallel event on promoting accountability through human rights mechanisms in Geneva.
The event was co-sponsored by the Permanent Missions of Switzerland, Estonia and Costa Rica to the United Nations Office at Geneva.
A corresponding report produced by ICJ and TRIAL was also launched at this event in two versions, one aimed at civil society and another aimed at States.
Panellists at this event included Ian Seiderman of the ICJ, Gabriella Citroni of TRIAL and Theo van Boven, former Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment and ICJ Honorary Commissioner.
Mona Rishmawi of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) chaired the event.
The main topic of this event was the ICJ-TRIAL report, which reviews the legal framework for promoting accountability and suggests possible action by civil society and States to engage with the human rights mechanisms in Geneva to better promote and achieve accountability for human rights violations.
The role of national mechanisms, such as national human rights institutions, working in cooperation with the UN mechanisms was also highlighted.
The report focuses specifically on the Human Rights Council and its subsidiary bodies, such as the Universal Periodic Review and the special procedures mechanisms.
OHCHR’s role was further emphasised in regards to sharing best practices as well as ensuring follow-up to issues of accountability as they come to the attention to the UN.
