The ICJ visited Singapore to investigate and report on the detentions under the Internal Security Act of a total of 22 men and women accused of participating in a ‘Marxist conspiracy’ to overthrow the Singapore government.
Inspired by U.S. Congressional initiatives in the 1970’s which made human rights an integral part of the foreign policy of the US, the American Association for the ICJ has helped arrange a series of fora over the last eight years for bilateral exchanges of view on this key issue.
It has long been observed by the American Association for the ICJ (AAICJ) that one of the main instruments employed by governments to repress and deny the fundamental rights and freedoms of peoples has been the illegal and unwarranted Declaration of Martial Law or a State of Emergency.
Very often these measures are taken under the pretext of the existence of a “ public emergency which threatens the life of the nation” or “ threats to its national security.”
The abuse of applicable provisions allowing governments to limit and derogate from certain rights contained in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights has resulted in the need for a closer examination of the conditions and grounds for permissible limitations and derogations in order to achieve an effective implementation of the rule of law. The United Nations General Assembly has frequently emphasized the importance of a uniform interpretation of limitations on rights enunciated in the Covenant.
With this in mind, the A AICJ initiated a colloquium composed of 31 distinguished experts in international law, held at Siracusa, Italy, in the Spring of 1984. This meeting, the first of its kind, was co-sponsored by the ICJ, the Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, and the International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences.
The participants examined the limitation and derogation provisions in the Covenant, seeking to identify:
The document contains:
Siracusa principles-ICCPR-legal submission-1985-eng (full text in English, PDF)
In view of the events of July – August 1983 in Sri Lanka, the International Commission of Jurists has decided to reprint the report “Ethnic Conflict and Violence in Sri Lanka” by Professor Virginia A. Leary, written after her mission to Sri Lanka in July – August 1981.
This is a report concerning the human rights situation in Suriname, based upon a mission to that country carried out between 3 and 17 February 1981 by Prof. J .Griffiths. The facts herein reported are as of 1 7 February 1981.
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