Feb 12, 2018 | News
The ICJ mourns the loss of its former Commissioner, Executive Committee Member and Honorary Member, Asma Jahangir, who was at the frontline of the struggle for the rule of law and human rights in Pakistan and around the world.
Ms. Jahangir died of cardiac arrest on Sunday, 11 February, in Lahore, Pakistan. She was 66.
“The ICJ benefited immeasurably from Asma Jahangir’s contribution and leadership. She was a giant of the human rights movement, dedicated to defending the rule of law and fighting for the rights of everyone – including her fiercest detractors,” said Sam Zarifi, ICJ’s Secretary General.
Asma Jahangir was elected to the ICJ in 1998, and went on to serve on the organization’s Executive Committee until the end of her term.
She continued to work closely with the ICJ as an Honorary Member.
Asma Jahangir started her journey as a human rights defender as a petitioner is a case challenging the military dictatorship of Yahya Khan. She was only 19 at the time.
She continued throughout her life to be an outspoken critic of military rule and abuses in Pakistan and at the forefront of the struggle for human rights and the rule of law in the country.
In 1987 she co-founded the Human Rights Commission of Pakistan, which remains one of the oldest and most preeminent human rights organizations in the region.
Asma Jahangir was a senior advocate of the Supreme Court with a legal career spanning nearly forty years.
In 1987, along with other women lawyers, she established the first legal aid cell in the country for free legal representation to women, children, bonded laborers and religious minorities.
She also made lasting contribution to the human rights globally, and served as a UN Special Rapporteur for three different mandates: Extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions (1998 to 2004); freedom of religion or belief (2004 to 2010); and the situation of human rights in Iran (2016 – 2018).
In the course of her work as a human rights activist, she was repeatedly threatened, put under house arrest and even imprisoned. However, these attacks did not deter her from her commitment to human rights.
“Asma Jahangir’s brave, powerful voice for human rights and dignity has fallen silent much too soon. We will miss her and strive to live up to her example,” said Zarifi.
Last year, Asma Jahangir participated in ICJ’s Women profiles video series:
Asma Jahangir profile
Jan 22, 2018 | News
The ICJ today called on the Egyptian Parliament to adopt a Draft Law on the appointment of women to the judiciary and to eliminate longstanding discrimination against their appointment as judges.
The Draft Law was introduced by member of the Parliament (MP) Nadia Henry this month and is supported by another 60 MPs.
The Speaker of Parliament has referred it to the legislative committee for review.
“Ensuring women’s full and equal participation in Egypt’s judiciary is necessary for a fair legal system reflective of the community it serves,” said Said Benarbia, ICJ MENA Director.
“It’s also necessary to end decades of discriminatory practices that have meant only a handful of women judges have ever been appointed despite explicit guarantees of equality in the Constitution,” he added.
Article 11 of the Constitution requires the State to ensure the “achievement of equality between women and men in all civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights,” including the right of “holding public and senior management offices in the state and their appointment in judicial bodies and authorities without discrimination”.
Women were first appointed to judicial office in 2007. Between 2007 and 2017 there were less than 67 female judges across Egypt, for a population of more than 100 million.
This significant under-representation of women is entrenched in a widespread discriminatory view, including within the judiciary itself, that working as a judge in court was an inappropriate profession for women.
“The Draft Law is significant first step towards challenging these discriminatory views and harmful practices. The Authorities must not only adopt it, they must also adopt other urgent, practical and structural measures to fully guarantee the rights of women to have equal access to judicial office and ensure their equal representation in the judiciary,” Benarbia added.
Background
The first article of the draft law places an obligation on all judicial bodies to appoint women to judicial offices and ensure that the conditions of their appointment are consistent with those that are applicable to men.
In its second article, the draft law nullifies any law that infringes on the obligation set forth in Article 1. Article 3 of the draft law invalidates any procedures in relation to the appointment of judges if such procedures do not comply with the Article 1 of the draft law.
Article 10 of the UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary provide that, “In the selection of judges, there shall be no discrimination against a person on the grounds of race, colour, sex, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or status…”.
The Convention for the Elimination of Discrimination against Women and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, key human rights treaties to which Egypt has been party since the early 1980s, also explicitly prohibit discrimination against women, including in relation to access to public office such as judicial appointments.
Contact
Saïd Benarbia, Director of the ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, t: +41.22.979.3817, e: said.benarbia(a)icj.org
Egypt-women judges-news-2018-ARA
Dec 21, 2017 | News
The ICJ today called on the Moroccan authorities to effectively investigate and prosecute sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) offences, including by ensuring the rights of victims to effective remedies and reparation and by combatting the impunity prevailing in Morocco over such offences.
The statement came following a high-level mission to Morocco from 18 to 21 December 2017 in which the ICJ launched its memorandum Morocco: ensuring the effective investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls, and engaged with members of the government, the Parliament and the judiciary on the findings and recommendations of the memorandum.
Based on a review of 75 judgments handed down by Moroccan First Instance Tribunal and Courts of Appeal in cases involving SGBV offences, and on interviews with various actors in the justice system, the ICJ documented how the lack of guidelines on investigating and prosecuting SGBV, combined with the inadequacy of evidentiary rules and procedures, frustrate the successful prosecution of SGBV cases in Morocco.
Cases are often dismissed on grounds of insufficient evidence; and sentences, in those cases brought to trial, are often disproportionately lenient. This is partly due to the prevalence of judicial stereotyping, reduction of sentence when the defendant marries the victim (a practice that itself raises human rights concerns), and the arbitrary or unexplained application of mitigating circumstances such as the “social situation of the defendant” or “the relative seriousness of the acts that were committed”.
“Moroccan authorities should overhaul the framework and procedures on investigation and prosecution of SGBV,” said Saïd Benarbia, Director of the ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme. “They should ensure effective and timely protective measures for the victims; provide for clear guidelines and protocols for law enforcement officers, prosecutors, doctors and other health professionals, and consolidate and supplement the victims’ testimony with additional evidence, in particular medico-legal and forensic evidence.”
“Those in charge of investigations and prosecutions must also minimize the burden on the victims with a view to avoiding their secondary victimization; refrain from stereotyping, victims’ blaming and other harmful practices that undermine the rights of the victims, and challenge, by way of appeal, disproportionately lenient sentences,” concluded Martine Comte, honorary judge and former President of the Court of Appeal of Orléans, France, who led the ICJ Mission.
Contact:
Saïd Benarbia, Director of the ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, t: +41.22.979.3817, e: said.benarbia(a)icj.org
Additional information
The mission was led by Martine Comte, honorary judge and former President of the Court of Appeal of Orléans, France, and included Saïd Benarbia, Director of the ICJ MENA programme, and Giulia Soldan, Programme Manager of the ICJ MENA programme.
The ICJ delegation met with Mr Mohamed Aujjar, Minister of Justice; Mr Adil El Bitar, President of the Commission on Justice, Legislation, and Human Rights at the Chamber of Deputies; Mr Mohamed Abdennabaoui, President of the Office of the Public Prosecutor and Prosecutor General of the Cassation Court; and representatives of civil society.
This Press Release is also available in Arabic (in PDF format), here: MOR Mission Dec PR ARABIC
The memorandum Morocco: ensuring the effective investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence against women and girls is available (PDF format):
Dec 18, 2017 | Multimedia items, News, Video clips
Raquel Yrigoyen Fajardo, Karabo Ozah and Charles Dinda talk about traditional justice systems in video interviews recorded at the 2017 ICJ Geneva Forum.
Dr. Raquel Yrigoyen Fajardo, Lawyer and Professor at the Law Faculty of the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, and founding member of the International Institute on Law and Society (IIDS), describes the survival and contemporary recognition of justice systems of indigenous peoples in the Americas, despite the history of colonial domination.
She argues that indigenous justice systems often already reflect many international human rights standards, and where there may be discrepancies change should be sought through respectful engagement and consultation rather than coercive imposition.
In contrast, Ms Karabo Ozah, Deputy Director of the Centre for Child Law at the University of Pretoria in South Africa, argues that it is crucially important to ensure that customary and traditional courts respect domestic legislation and international standards on human rights.
Otherwise she warns, based on her experience, customary courts too frequently fail to protect the rights of marginalized groups, children, LGBTI, and women.
Charles Dinda, Senior Legal Adviser with the Danish Institute for Human Rights in Zambia, points out that while traditional and customary justice institutions are the most easily accessible and in many respects most credible institutions for some populations, their decisions are too often inconsistent or unfair.
To avoid this, he insists on the importance of understanding and studying the way these systems operate and on the need to engage with them to learn about their practices and to build their capacities so that they have better knowledge of international human rights standards and indeed of the national laws in the countries where they operate.
Watch the interview with Dr. Raquel Yrigoyen Fajardo
Watch the interview with Karabo Ozah
Watch the interview with Charles Dinda
NOTE:
The views expressed by the participants do not necessarily reflect those of the ICJ.
For more information about the 2017 Geneva Forum on Customary and Traditional Justice Systems, click here or contact matt.pollard(a)icj.org .
Nov 25, 2017 | Multimedia items, News, Video clips
Over the last year, since 25 November 2016, the ICJ has published a series of (video) profiles introducing the remarkable work of ICJ women Commissioners and Honorary Members.
“The ICJ has a strong focus on the struggle to eliminate violence against women. It is supporting the judiciary, independent civil society organizations and women’s rights defenders, in their work to promote international standards, ensure that victims are made visible and that States understand their responsibilities and obligations. At the same time, the ICJ provides much-needed judicial education on gender-based violence,” said Justice Radmila Dragicevic-Dicic, ICJ Commissioner, member of ICJ’s Executive Committee, and Justice of the Supreme Court of Serbia, on the occasion of 25 November, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women.
ICJ Commissioners have been at the forefront of the work to reform justice systems to make it easier for women to take cases of domestic violence to the courts, to punish perpetrators of rape and sexual assault as a war crime, to challenge discriminatory religious and family laws and to support victims of human trafficking and forced prostitution.
The ICJ has also supported judicial training programmes on access to justice for women. In 2016, the ICJ, in collaboration with UN Women, hosted a workshop for representatives from the judiciaries of Indonesia, Philippines, Timor Leste, and Thailand.
The participants of the workshop developed and adopted the Bangkok General Guidance for Judges in Applying a Gender Perspective.
In follow up, for example, the Supreme Court of Indonesia has now issued a Regulation based on the General Guidance, requiring judges to apply a gender perspective as they consider cases before them that involve women’s human rights.
Working in partnership with other organizations and the UN, the ICJ and its Commissioners will continue to work to ensure justice for women and to end gender-based violence.
The video interviews of ICJ women Commissioners and Honorary Members can be accessed here:
Justice Radmila Dragicevic-Dicic has worked on issues of organized crime and human trafficking. In the Serbian Constitution, human trafficking is now categorized as a crime against humanity and is taken very seriously. Radmila highlights the importance of ensuring the non-punishment, safety and protection of victims as well as their right to access compensation.
Prof Jenny Goldschmidt is a former President of the Equal Treatment Commission of the Netherlands and has combined academic research with practical work, with a particular focus on non-discrimination and the concepts of equality. She considers it is vital to take cases to the Treaty Bodies and courts everywhere to establish severe measures against discrimination and domestic violence.
Asma Jahangir is an Honorary Member of the ICJ, and the co-founder of Pakistan’s first all female law firm. She worked on a number of landmark cases including on issues such as whether women could get married without their father’s permission, be entitled to family maintenance or whether women should be judged according to religious law.
Imrana Jalal is a human rights lawyer and gender specialist in the Asian Development Bank in Manila. Imrana helped draft and negotiate the passage of the ground-breaking Fiji Family Law Act, which took twelve years to pass. She considers that in the area of family law, some progress has been made but it is hard because it is based on the premise that women have an equal right to property and this directly confronts social norms.
Hina Jilani is an advocate of the Supreme Court of Pakistan and served as the first UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders. She considers domestic violence in Pakistan as a major problem. Although the Pakistani judiciary is traditionally very conservative, Ms Jilani considers there has been progress because women’s rights advocates present cases in such a way as to make the social inequalities and injustices apparent.
Justice Sanji Monageng is a member of the International Criminal Court. She considers that the ICC has not done very well in prosecuting sexual and gender-based violence so far. The new Chief Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda, has created a policy on sexual violence and gender issues, establishing a dedicated unit. She says is it evident in the cases that now come before her, there is a lot more attention being paid to sexual violence.
Karinna Moskalenko is a Russian lawyer and a founder of the International Protection Centre in the 1990s after Russia had ratified the Optional Protocol to the ICCPR. She explains her work to support women who are much more vulnerable than men, particularly because of the problem of domestic violence.
The former ICJ Vice-President Michèle Rivet was the first President of the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal from 1990 and until 2010. For Michèle, those who work in the field of human rights form a global village and have a duty to help women victims of violence: “we must all walk together on the long march to equality.”
Prof. Leila Zerrougui is Algerian and has served at the Algerian Supreme Court. She worked in the DRC as part of the UN Stabilization Mission and was Special Representative of the Secretary General for Children and Armed Conflict. In the DRC, she established mobile criminal justice system, with an investigator, prosecutor and a mobile court and prison in every Province. In this context, she explained how rewarding it was to see a colonel taken to the village where he and his soldiers had raped women to face justice there.
