The ICJ today called on the Syrian authorities to request that all pending criminal charges against Mazen Darwish (photo), Hussein Gharir and Hani Al-Zitani be quashed, and to release the three prominent Syrian human rights defenders immediately and unconditionally.
On 11-12 September 2014, the ICJ held an academic seminar on “The Principle of Inadmissibility of Evidence Obtained by Unlawful Means and Hearsay Evidence: International Standards Compared to Thai Law” for Judges, prosecutors and lawyers working in Thailand’s deep South.
The objective of the seminar held in Hat Yai was to discuss the provisions of the Thai Criminal Procedure Code that address hearsay and unlawfully obtained evidence and compare them to international standards.
Speakers at the seminar included Justice Jaran Pakdeethanakul of the Constitutional Court of Thailand; Associate Professor Narong Jaiharn, Dean of the Faculty of Law, Thammasat University; and two international Judges who spoke about the approach to hearsay and unlawfully obtained evidence in the inquisitorial and adversarial legal systems.
The ICJ, Amnesty International, and Human Rights Watch urge Pakistan’s government to stop the deplorable practice of state agencies abducting hundreds of people throughout the country without providing information about their fate or whereabouts.
On the eve of the annual International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the ICJ once again calls on the Nepali authorities to provide justice to the hundreds of victims of enforced disappearances committed during the decade-long armed conflict.
Matt Pollard and Alex Conte, of the ICJ’s International Law and Protection Programmes, will give presentations during the Global Consultation on the Right to Challenge the Lawfulness of Detention, to be held in Geneva on 1-2 September 2014.
The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, in cooperation with the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, will convene the Consultation. The aim of the two-day meeting is to seek input on the development by the Working Group of draft basic principles and guidelines on remedies and procedures on the right of anyone deprived of his or her liberty, by arrest or detention, to bring proceedings before court, in order that the court may decide without delay on the lawfulness of his or her detention and order his or her release if the detention is not lawful.
ICJ experts, Matt Pollard and Alex Conte, will be members of two panel discussions during the Global Consultation, respectively on the framework, scope and content of the right to court review of detention and on exercise of that right in situations of armed conflict, state of emergency or for counter-terrorism purposes.
The ICJ has already made two written submissions to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on the subject, in November 2013 and April 2014.
Go to the OHCHR webpage on the Global Consultation
See the ICJ’s written submissions to the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Latvia’s planned withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention – a setback for the human rights of women and girls
ICJ submission highlights discrimination as key obstacle to women and girls with disabilities in enforcing their human rights
EU: Experts highlight the need to address inequality and expand alternatives to child pre-trial detention in criminal proceedings