Feb 26, 2018
In a private letter sent to select UN member states, nearly 20 human rights organizations called for clear and concrete actions to denounce China’s current rollback in respect for human rights at the UN Human Rights Council, which opens its session in Geneva today.
The groups highlight five cases of human rights defenders that would benefit from further pressure being brought to bear on the Chinese government. They include:
– Liu Xia, a poet kept under house arrest after the death of her husband, Nobel laureate Liu Xiaobo, in July 2017;
– Wang Quanzhang, a rights lawyer held incommunicado since July 9, 2015;
– Gui Minhai, a Swedish citizen arbitrarily detained in China since he vanished from Thailand in October 2015;
– Tashi Wangchuk, a Tibetan cultural rights and education advocate who has been detained more than two years on charges of inciting separatism; and
– Yu Wensheng, a prominent human rights lawyer disbarred, then arbitrarily detained, in January 2018.
The report of the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders, Mr Michel Forst, to the current Human Rights Council session, describes the dire situation for human rights lawyers and other defenders in China (see paragraphs 277 to 297 of the report.
‘These are just five cases among hundreds, if not more. Taken together, they show that the ferocious crackdown on human rights defenders, including lawyers, that has intensified since President Xi Jinping assumed power continues unabated’, say the authors of the letter.
‘The Human Rights Council should take further steps to show China that undermining key legal protections for freedoms of expression and association and the rights to a fair trial, not to mention disappearing or arbitrarily detaining dissenting voices, is unacceptable behaviour – especially for a would-be “global leader”’.
In March 2016, twelve States presented a historic joint statement focused on the human rights situation in China. Following President Xi’s consolidation of power at the 19th Party Congress in November 2017, a renewed commitment to a joint statement condemning China’s human rights violations has never been more timely.
The organisations urge the governments to call for the release of all arbitrarily detained individuals; condemn the use of ‘residential surveillance in a designated location’, which the UN Committee against Torture has said ‘may amount to incommunicado detention in secret places,’; and promptly grant relevant UN experts unhindered access to all parts of the country.
‘The Council’s credibility is based on its ability to act swiftly and effectively to address human rights situations and to uphold universal values. However, this has come under attack in recent years, particularly from China and likeminded governments’.
‘In this context, it is critical for countries to demonstrate their commitment to the protection and promotion of human rights in China, and to defend the values underlying the international human rights system’.
This year is particularly important, as human rights defenders inside and outside China prepare for the country’s next Universal Periodic Review, scheduled for November 2018.
The letter to governments concludes: ‘For human rights defenders to have the courage to engage in this important process, with all the risks that it entails, it’s critical that they know that they are not alone’.
China – UNHRC Accountability -Advocacy-Open letter – 2018 – ENG (full report in PDF)
Feb 23, 2018 | News
The ICJ today called on the governments of Syria and Russia to cease all attacks on the civilian population in Eastern Ghouta.
Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population and civilian objects, including hospitals, constitutes a war crime.
All those responsible for such crimes must be held accountable.
“The UN Security Council is blatantly failing to discharge its primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security. It’s so paralyzed by division that it cannot even enforce its own resolutions on protecting the civilian population in Syria and ensuring unimpeded humanitarian access,” said Said Benarbia, Director of the ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“After 7 years of shielding the Syrian regime from accountability for its egregious crimes, including the use of chemical weapons, Russia is joining forces with this regime’s cynical enterprise to murder and starve its own people,” he added.
The air and artillery bombing campaign conducted by the Syrian government, with the backing of Russia, have caused hundreds of victims since Sunday.
The destruction of hospitals and the lack of basic supplies and medicines are making the living conditions of the civilian population extremely dire.
Under international humanitarian law, the Syrian government and its ally Russia have obligations to protect the civilian population and to grant rapid and unimpeded passage to humanitarian relief for the residents of Eastern Ghouta.
The UN Security Council imposed a disarmament plan concerning the Syrian chemical arsenal, yet credible reports of government use of chemical weapons against civilians continued to emerge as late as January and February 2018, in particular in Eastern Ghouta and Saraqeb.
In its last report in October 2017, the OPCW-UN Joint Investigative Mechanism established the responsibility of the Syrian government for the use of chemical weapons.
In the same month, Russia vetoed a resolution to renew the Mechanism’s mandate.
“States must act individually and collectively to stop the escalation of horrors we are witnessing in Eastern Ghouta. They must also ensure, including through any means available in their national legal systems, as well as at the regional and international level, that all those responsible for the war crimes, crimes against humanity and other international crimes committed in Syria, irrespective of their nationality, rank or status, are brought to justice,” Benarbia added.
Contact
Said Benarbia, Director of the ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, tel: +41 798783546, e-mail: said.benarbia(a)icj.org
Syria – Ghouta Bombing – News – Webstory – 2018 – ARB (Arabic translation in PDF)
Feb 15, 2018 | News
Thailand should immediately cease misusing criminal and civil defamation laws to legally harass victims, human rights defenders and journalists who raise allegations of torture or other ill-treatment, the ICJ said today.
Yesterday, the Director of the Internal Operations Security Command (ISOC) Region 4, Lt. Gen. Piyawat Nakwanich, reportedly authorized Lt. Col. Seathtasit Kaewkumuang to lodge defamation complaints against Isma-ae Tae, a founder of Patani Human Rights Organization (HAP).
ISOC is responsible for security operations in Thailand’s deep South.
“It is astonishing that after all of the Government’s repeated commitments to address allegations of torture and protect victims and human rights defenders, ISOC is now misusing the justice system to legally harass an alleged victim of torture,” said Kingsley Abbott, the ICJ’s Senior International Legal Adviser for Southeast Asia.
“Thailand should immediately stop these defamation complaints against Isma-ae Tae and ensure an investigation that meets international law and standards is conducted into all allegations of torture or other ill-treatment without delay,” he added.
The accusations relate to a TV program entitled “Policy by People” that aired on the Thai PBS channel on 5 February 2018 in which Isma-ae Tae described being tortured and ill-treated by Thai soldiers when he was a student in Yala, located in Thailand’s restive deep South.
Criminal defamation in Thailand carries a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment and a fine of up to 200,000 Baht (USD $6,300).
The imposition of harsh penalties such as imprisonment or large fines under these laws has the effect of discouraging victims of torture or other ill-treatment from coming forward to seek the remedies and reparations to which they are entitled under international human rights law binding on Thailand, the ICJ said.
The complaints were made against the backdrop of a ruling by the Supreme Administrative Court on 19 October 2016, which ordered the Royal Thai Army and the Defence Ministry to pay 305,000 baht (USD $9,700) compensation to Isma-ae Tae, after it found he was “physically assaulted” during detention and had been illegally detained for nine days – exceeding the limit of seven days permitted under Martial Law Act B.E. 2457 (1914) (Martial Law).
“Even more astonishing is that a superior Thai court has already found that the military physically assaulted Isma-ae Tae and awarded him compensation, which only serves to highlight the injustice of these complaints”, added Abbott.
In 2008, Isma-ae Tae was arrested pursuant to Martial Law and allegedly tortured in order to purportedly extract a confession in relation to a national security case. To date, no perpetrators have been brought to justice.
Contact
Kingsley Abbott, Senior International Legal Adviser, ICJ Asia Pacific Programme, t: +66 94 470 1345, e: kingley.abbott@icj.org
Thailand-Isma-ae Tae defamation case-News-Press releases-2018-ENG (full story with additional information, in PDF)
Thailand-Isma-ae Tae defamation case-News-Press releases-2018-THA (Thai version of full sory, in PDF)
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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
Feb 9, 2018 | Artículos, Noticias
Hoy la CIJ y varias otras organizaciones presentaron un amicus curiae a la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos (Corte IDH) en el contexto del proceso de supervisión de cumplimiento de las sentencias dictadas en los casos Barrios Altos y La Cantuta.
Esta supervisión se solicitó a causa de la Resolución Suprema N° 281-2017-JUS del 24 de diciembre de 2017, que concede al ex presidente Alberto Fujimori “el indulto y derecho de gracia por razones humanitarias”.
El indulto otorgado tiene como efecto que el ex mandatario se encuentre actualmente en libertad, a pesar de haber sido condenado a 25 años de prisión por la comisión de graves violaciones de derechos humanos, creando asi un incentivo a la impunidad en el país.
El amicus curiae sostiene que el indulto, tal como ha sido otorgado, es contrario a obligaciones internacionales asumidas por el Perú y, en concreto, desacata lo establecido por la Corte IDH en las sentencias de los casos Barrios Altos y La Cantuta.
El escrito plantea que la potestad presidencial para conferir indultos en el Perú debe ser ejercida en el marco de un Estado Constitucional y Democrático de Derecho.
Si bien el indulto es una atribución presidencial discrecional, ésta no debe ser ejercida arbitrariamente. Se trata de una institución que tiene límites y que debe ejercerse de manera excepcional, siguiendo las normas internas sobre la materia.
El indulto no procede en casos de graves violaciones a los derechos humanos o crímenes de lesa humanidad, como lo son Barrios Altos y La Cantuta.
Los términos en que fue concedido incumple la garantía de necesidad frente a otras medidas que pudiesen preservar la dignidad y la salud del señor Fujimori.
Amiciconcluye que el indulto y gracia otorgados a Alberto Fujimori son contrarios a las obligaciones internacionales en materia de derechos humanos asumidas por el Perú. Se pide a la Corte Interamericana ordenar al Estado dejar sin efectos la Resolución Suprema N° 281-2017-JUS.
Las otras organizaciones que presentaron el amicus curiae con la CIJ son Abogados sin Fronteras, la Clínica de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad de Ottawa, la Clínica de Derechos Humanos de la Universidad de Quebec en Montreal, la Fundación para el Debido Proceso, y el Instituto de Democracia y Derechos Humanos de la Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú (IDEHPUCP).
Peru-Amicus Curiae CorteIDH Casos Barrios Altos y La Cantuta-Advocacy-Legal submission-2018-SPA (Amicus Curiae en PDF)
