During a half-day of general discussion held today by the Human Rights Committee, the ICJ supported the establishment by the Committee of a General Comment on the right to security and liberty of the person under article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
As an update to its General Comment No 8 of 1982, the Human Rights Committee (the Committee) has commenced a process to develop a new General Comment on article 9 of the ICCPR. Responding to a list of issues prepared by the Committee for potential expansion within the General Comment, the ICJ supported the initiative and called for clarification of certain issues in this work.
The ICJ’s submission and statement also called on the Committee to give express consideration to the following thematic issues within the General Comment:
The meaning of ‘arbitrary’ deprivation of liberty;
Application of article 9 in international and non-international armed conflicts, including in the context of administrative detention;
Control orders and other mechanisms involving restrictions of movement and the extent to which such mechanisms might interfere with liberty rights;
Detention of asylum-seekers and irregular migrants; and
The role and accountability of legal entities.
The Committee is scheduled to consider and adopt a first draft of the General Comment during its session in March 2013. The ICJ intends to make substantive submissions on this first draft.
The ICJ is holding a workshop on access to justice and the right to fair trial from 22 to 24 October in Juba, South Sudan.
The workshop, organized in collaboration with the South Sudan Law Society, is aimed at judges, prosecutors, lawyers, and legal staff of the Ministry of Justice. It covers inter alia general fair trial standards, the role of the prosecutor and an independent legal profession, and specific standards applicable to arrest, pre-trial detention and trial proceedings. An ICJ delegation consisting of Judge Charles Mkandawire (ICJ Commissioner and Registrar of the SADC Tribunal), President Judge Anaclet Chipeta (High Court of Malawi), former Judge Thomas Masuku (High Court of Swaziland), Arnold Tsunga (ICJ Africa Regional Programme Director) and Ilaria Vena (CIJL Associate Legal Adviser) lead the training and debate sessions, together with representatives of the South Sudan Law Society.
The ICJ commented on the UPR of the Russian Federation, addressing issues including torture and ill-treatment, impunity, judicial independence, NGO laws and “homosexual propaganda” bans.
The International Commission of Jurists has brought to the attention of the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the UPR and to the Human Rights Council issues concerning:
prevention of torture and ill-treatment and other gross human rights violations;
impunity for gross human rights violations;
independence of the judiciary; amendments to NGO laws;
non-refoulement; homosexual propaganda bans; and
Russia’s engagement with international human rights instruments and mechanisms.
In an interactive dialogue with representatives of its government, the ICJ called on India to accept recommendations to expedite the ratification of the UN Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol. Watch the webcast.
The ICJ delivered its statement today during the adoption by the UN Human Rights Council of the Universal Periodic Review outcome document on India, during the course of the 21st regular session of the Council.
A new report by the ICJ says there have been multiple violations of human rights in the arrest and trial of Azimzhan Askarov, a prominent Kyrgyz human rights defender.
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During a half-day of general discussion held today by the Human Rights Committee, the ICJ supported the establishment by the Committee of a General Comment on the right to security and liberty of the person under article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).
