May 29, 2009 | News
The ICJ is disappointed at verdict delivered by a Thai court.
“We are disappointed at the verdict delivered today by the Songkhla Provincial Court, which found that the 78 men who were transported from Tak Bai to Ingkayuthaborihaan Army Camp in October 2004 died as a result of suffocation, without acknowledging all the factual circumstances that caused their deaths,” said Roger Normand, Asia-Pacific Director of the ICJ.
Thailand-Court delivers disappointing post-mortem inquest findings-web story-2009 (full text, PDF)
May 28, 2009 | News
The ICJ urged the UN Human Rights Council’s special session to call on the Government of Sri Lanka to take several human rights measures.
In particular, the Government of Sri Lanka must ensure unhindered humanitarian access and assistance to the internally displaced persons (IDPs), protection of IDPs, safeguards against attacks on journalists and human rights defenders and effective accountability, including through an independent international investigation into human rights and humanitarian law violations.
The ICJ deplored that the draft resolution L.1/Rev.2, which was later adopted by vote, failed to address the most pressing concerns.
SriLanka-UNcouncil-news-2009 (full text, PDF)
May 27, 2009 | News
The ICJ welcomes the convening of a Human Rights Council’s special session today in Geneva to address for the first time the humanitarian and human rights crisis in Sri Lanka.
“The human rights and humanitarian crisis continues to unfold following the Government of Sri Lanka’s announcement last week that its military operations against the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) had ended and that all civilians had left the conflict zone,” said Wilder Tayler, Acting Secretary General of the International Commission of Jurists.
SriLanka-UNcouncil-IDPs-news-2009 (full text, PDF)
May 19, 2009 | News
“There is a continuing and acute need for the Human Rights Council to act on Sri Lanka notwithstanding a reported end of fighting between the Sri Lankan Army and the Tamil Tigers.”
“Even though the fighting may have dissipated, any nation’s reconstruction requires respect for international law, accountability and the rule of law principles, which today remain largely absent in the wake of this lengthy conflict,” said Wilder Tayler, Acting Secretary-General of the ICJ.
SriLanka-UNCouncilspecialsessions-news-2009 (full text, PDF)
May 18, 2009 | News
“Reviving Military Commissions is a setback for the rule of law. It will entrench a fundamentally flawed system with some amendments and set a terrible precedent to the rest of the world.”
“We need a clear break with the past and the laws and policies grounded in the ill-conceived concept of a ‘war on terror’,” said Wilder Tayler, Acting ICJ Secretary General.
The comment comes as the US administration announced that it would revive the suspended military commission system to try certain detainees presently held in Guantánamo Bay.
According to this information the administration will introduce amendments to the Military Commission Act (MCA) 2006 increasing legal protections, including the prohibition of evidence obtained by torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment and the introduction of greater choice of legal counsel.
United States-Reinstituting military commission wrong way out-Press releases-2009 (full text, PDF)
