Today, the ICJ announced that four new members have been elected to its Commission: Dr. Elisabeth Odio Benito (Costa Rica), Dr. Adnan Buyung Nasution (Indonesia), Dr. Yow Yokota (Japan), and Dr. Pedro Nikken (Venezuela).
Today, the ICJ expressed its utter dismay over the five-year imprisonment sentence against the Tunisian human rights defender and opposition Member of Parliament Mr. Khémais Chammari, aged 54.
Today, the ICJ approved the decision of the Council of Europe to impose a sine die bar on Russia’s application to join the organization.
The ICJ stated that Russia’s application to join the Council of Europe is incompatible with the measures applied by its armed forces against non-combatants in Chechnya which violate both the European Convention on Human Rights and the Geneva Conventions.
The ICJ is concerned by reports of a growing number of international observers present in the region of Grozny, that systematic torture and beatings, as well as mock executions of Chechen prisoners, including civilians, are being carried-out by the Russian forces in Chechnya. Similarly, some reports seem to indicate that a number of dead bodies of Russian soldiers also showed signs of torture. Until these reports are verified, Russia’s membership application to the Council of Europe should be frozen.
The ICJ has already condemned the outrageous massive bombing of civilian targets in and around Grozny which has resulted in the death of thousands of non-combatants. The ICJ condemns the disproportionate use of force exerted on a daily basis by the Russian army since the beginning of the hostilities seven weeks ago.
The ICJ believes that the acceptance of Russia as a member State of the Council of Europe without proper consideration of the behaviour of its agents in Chechnya would result in the dampening of the European Convention on Human Rights and damaging of the credibility of the Council of Europe, an organization reputed for its promotion of the Rule of Law.
The ICJ expresses its appreciation to the Commissioner of Elections of Sri Lanka for the invitation extended to it to send observers to the recently concluded parliamentary general elections.
The ICJ observers were its commissioners Justice Dorab Patel, former judge of the Supreme Court of Pakistan, Emeritus Chairman of the Pakistan Human Rights Commission and former Chief Chairman of the Pakistan Elections Commission; and Dato’ Param Cumaraswamy, UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of the Judiciary and President of Lawasia.
They joined 42 international observers from 12 countries and their task was to assess and evaluate whether the elections had been free and fair. The ICJ Commissioners reported that they were “generally free and fair” except for the elections in the districts of Jaffna and Vanni.” The reason being that Jaffna and Vani, situated in the north of Sri Lanka, have been subjected to armed confrontation between the Sri Lanka security forces and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and, consequently, the government controls only 20% of the land in Jaffna. The observers reported that in both districts people had been subjected to extensive intimidation by an armed political group who also presented candidates for the election.
Elections throughout the 22 Electoral Districts of the country including Jaffna and Vanni proceeded on 16 August 1994. The observers stated that “the elections in those two districts were not only not free and unfair,” but that “the genuineness of the same elections is questionable.” They added, “We express our concern over the impact of the outcome of the elections in those districts on the outcome of the overall results of the General Elections.” The ICJ Commissioners nevertheless concluded that “otherwise the election had been conducted with the highest democratic standards in difficult circumstances” and expressed their great admiration to the electorate of Sri Lanka who turned out in large numbers.
The ICJ regrets the Government of Pakistan’s attempt to influence the result of the ICJ report on Kashmir.
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