Aug 28, 2020 | News
The ICJ contributed to and has endorsed a groundbreaking new UN standard aimed at ensuring effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, published today in Geneva.
Published today by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities were adopted jointly by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility. They have been endorsed by the ICJ and the International Disability Alliance.
The ICJ contributed to the development of the Principles and Guidelines, including through participation in expert consultations alongside disability rights experts, organizations of people with disabilities, State representatives, academics, and other judicial and legal practitioners. The ICJ also plans to assist with promotion and implementation of the Principles and Guidelines at the global and national levels.
Building on the provisions and interpretations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international standards and best practices, the document affirms ten key principles of access to justice for people with disabilities and sets out detailed guidelines on how to implement each one.
The Principles and Guidelines are intended to be a practical tool to help inform the design and implementation of justice systems that provide equal access to justice for persons with disabilities, in line with international human rights standards.
The Principles and Guidelines can be downloaded by clicking here.
Further information about the process of their development is available here, and the UN press release announcing their publication is here.
Aug 17, 2020 | Incidencia
La CIJ y 83 organizaciones de derechos humanos le piden al Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas renovar y fortalecer el mandato de la Misión Internacional Independiente de Investigación de los Hechos sobre Venezuela en el próximo periodo de sesiones. También, le piden asegurar recursos adecuados para que la Misión continué su importante trabajo.
La falta de independencia judicial en el país, recientemente analizada por la Alta Comisionada de Derechos Humanos y documentada por la CIJ durante varios años, representa un obstáculo para que las víctimas de graves violaciones de derechos humanos accedan a recursos y reparaciones efectivas. Además, ha habido casi total impunidad para los responsables de dichas violaciones. Así, la falta de una efectiva rendición de cuentas hace que el trabajo de la Misión Internacional sea indispensable.
El año pasado, en su periodo de sesiones No. 42, el Consejo de Derechos Humanos de las Naciones Unidas estableció la Misión Internacional Independiente de Investigación de los Hechos para Venezuela, con el mandato de investigar ejecuciones extrajudiciales, desapariciones forzadas, detenciones arbitrarias y torturas u otras formas de trato cruel inhumano o degradante desde 2014.
El Consejo expresó “gran preocupación por la alarmante situación de los derechos humanos en la República Bolivariana de Venezuela, en la que se repiten sistemáticamente violaciones que afectan de forma directa e indirecta a todos los derechos humanos (…) en el contexto de la actual crisis política, económica, social y humanitaria.”
El Primer informe de la Misión Internacional se presentará en la próxima sesión del Consejo, programada para el 14 de septiembre al 6 de octubre de 2020.
El comunicado conjunto suscrito por 85 organizaciones dice que el informe “marcará un importante primer paso en la senda de la rendición de cuentas en Venezuela mediante la documentación de la participación de aquellas personas de las que se sospecha que son penalmente responsables. Es fundamental que el Consejo de Derechos Humanos responda de manera significativa a las conclusiones y recomendaciones del informe”.
Por otro lado, la CIJ observa que la pandemia de la COVID-19 ha generado mayor tensión sobre la situación de derechos humanos en Venezuela. Así, la Oficina de Naciones Unidas para Coordinación de Asuntos Humanitarios (OCHA por sus siglas en inglés) informó en Julio de 2020 que “[u]na evaluación de las condiciones de agua, saneamiento e higiene en 17 hospitales realizada por la OPS/OMS en 2019 reporta que el 88,3% de los hospitales evaluados tienen un riesgo alto que las condiciones higiénico-sanitarias contribuyan al agravamiento del estado de salud de sus usuarios; el resto tienen un riesgo medio.”
El comunicado conjunto se encuentra disponible en español aquí.
Aug 17, 2020 | Advocacy, News
Today, the ICJ joined 83 other human rights organizations to call the United Nations Human Rights Council to renew and strengthen the mandate of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission (FFM) on Venezuela in its upcoming session in September, and to ensure it has adequate resources to continue its critical work.
The ICJ considers that the lack of judicial independence in the country, recently addressed by the High Commissioner and documented by ICJ during several years, presents a major obstacle to victims seeking to access effective remedies and reparation for gross human rights violations in the country. There has also been near complete impunity for those responsible for such violations. The lack of effective accountability makes the work of the FFM indispensable
Last year at its 42nd session, UN Human Rights Council established the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission with a mandate to investigate extrajudicial executions, enforced disappearances, arbitrary detentions and torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment since 2014.
The Council expressed “grave concern at the alarming situation of human rights in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela, which includes patterns of violations directly and indirectly affecting all human rights (…) in the context of the ongoing political, economic, social and humanitarian crisis.”
The FFM’s first report is expected to be presented at the Council’s next session scheduled for 14 September to 6 October.
The NGO joint statement stressed that the report “will mark an important first step on the path to accountability in Venezuela through the documentation of the participation of those suspected of criminal responsibility. It is critical that the Human Rights Council respond meaningfully to the findings and recommendations in the report”.
The ICJ notes that the COVID-19 pandemic has engendered further stresses on the human rights situation. The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported in July 2020 that an “assessment of water, hygiene and sanitation (WASH) conditions in 17 hospitals conducted by PAHO/WHO in 2019 found that 88.3 per cent of the assessed hospitals present a high risk that hygiene and sanitary conditions pose a health risk to patients and staff; the rest face a medium risk.”
The joint statement is available here.
Aug 7, 2020 | News
The ICJ deplores the explosion at Beirut’s port district on 4 August 2020 that caused a large number of fatalities and casualties and calls for the prompt establishment of a special, independent, impartial and transparent mechanism to investigate the devastating blast with a view to ensuring accountability and redress for the victims.
The shockwave from the blast rippled across Lebanon’s capital, killing at least 157 people and injuring some 5,000 others, according to latest figures. The death toll is expected to rise as emergency services continue to search for dozens of missing persons under the debris of destroyed buildings. The Governor of Beirut estimates that the widespread destruction caused by the explosion has left some 300,000 people without shelter after their homes were rendered uninhabitable.
“Tuesday’s explosion has immeasurably compounded the suffering of a society already reeling from political unrest, prolonged economic mismanagement and a surge in COVID-19 cases,” said Said Benarbia, Director of the ICJ’s Middle East and North Africa Programme.
“Given the Lebanese legal system’s politicization and lack of independence and accountability, Lebanon should work with the United Nations to establish a special, independent mechanism to carry out the investigation in line with international law and standards with a view to establishing the facts, making recommendations for appropriate accountability measures, including criminal prosecutions if warranted, and for preventing such a catastrophe from happening again.”
According to international human rights law and standards, and specifically the Minnesota Protocol on the Investigation of Potentially Unlawful Death, the probe into the explosion must be prompt, thorough, independent, impartial and transparent.
While the Lebanese authorities have pledged to conduct a “transparent investigation” into the blast and mete out “severe punishment” to those responsible, given the Lebanese justice system’s systemic flaws and shortcomings, the persistent allegations of corruption, and a long-entrenched culture of impunity and de facto immunity of the country’s political leadership, the ICJ considers that the Lebanese authorities would not be capable of conducting such an investigation in a manner compatible with international human rights law and standards. The organization has extensively documented how improper executive influence and interference have continued to undermine the independence of the Office of the Public Prosecutor and of Lebanon’s judiciary. As a result, allegations of political corruption, chronic mismanagement and systematic abuses of power have not been investigated and have therefore gone unpunished over the years, eventually fuelling the 2019-2020 popular uprising against the government and the political system.
The ICJ has called on the Lebanese authorities to introduce and implement extensive legal and policy reforms to strengthen judicial independence and accountability in the country. None of these reforms have materialized.
“The independent mechanism should have a mandate to establish the truth, provide adequate, effective and prompt redress and reparation to the victims for the harm suffered, including through the award of compensation, and by ensuring that those responsible are held to account,” Benarbia concluded.
The ICJ further calls on the international community to support the establishment of such a mechanism.
The international community should also provide humanitarian aid and facilitate its delivery within the country ensuring that it reaches first the most in need and vulnerable among the population as they struggle to access healthcare, shelter, food and water.
The Lebanese authorities must be transparent and ensure the right of each individual to receive the necessary information on the potential health risks in the aftermath of the explosion, including as result of exposure to toxic fumes. Consistent with their obligations under international human rights law and standards to guarantee the rights to life and health, the Lebanese authorities must also take all necessary measures to prevent people from suffering additional harm.
Thus far, a number of Beirut port officials have been placed under house arrest pending the Lebanese authorities’ investigation into the explosion. With respect to this, the ICJ calls on the authorities to ensure due process and fair trial guarantees to persons deprived of their liberty who may eventually be charged with criminal offences.
Background information
President Michel Aoun and Prime Minister Hassan Diab have linked the blast to a stockpile of approximately 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate, which had been stored in a waterfront warehouse at Beirut’s Port district for at least six years. The circumstances surrounding the ignition of the highly combustible material, however, remain unclear.
Furthermore, reports indicate that customs officials overseeing the ammonium nitrate’s storage at the warehouse contacted Lebanese officials, including members of the judiciary, on multiple occasions to alert them to the danger posed by such storage and to seek guidance on how to deal with it, but their repeated calls were ignored.
The explosion strikes Lebanon as it grapples with multiple crises, including the COVID-19 pandemic, and against the backdrop of an ongoing popular protest movement against rampant corruption, dysfunctional institutions and sectarian power structures, in addition to an acute State-induced socio-economic crisis that has eroded living standards and left many destitute and literally hunger-stricken. Successive governments and legislative authorities have consistently failed to effectively address these hardships and institute comprehensive and necessary reforms.
Contact
Said Benarbia, Director of the ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, t: +41 22 979 38 17; e: said.benarbia(a)icj.org.
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Aug 5, 2020
The ICJ has joined families of victims of police violence in the United States of America, the ACLU, and more than 360 civil society organizations, in a letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights highlighting key elements for her upcoming report to the UN Human Rights Council.
143 families of victims of police violence and over 360 civil society organizations endorsed this letter to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights regarding the implementation of the recent Human Rights Council Resolution 43/1 adopted on 19 June 19 2020. This resolution followed an Urgent Debate “on current racially inspired human rights violations, systemic racism, police brutality and violence against peaceful protests.”
The letter can be downloaded in PDF format here: UN-Advocacy-JointOpenLetterPoliceRacism-2020
