Apr 19, 2012
In this submission, the ICJ highlights the failure of the Syrian authorities to comply with the Committee’s previous recommendations.
By letter of 23 November 2011 to the Permanent Mission of the Syrian Arab Republic to UNOG, the Committee against Torture requested Syria to present a special report, prompted by by the Committee’s deep “concern at numerous, consistent and substantiated reports and information, from various reliable sources, about the widespread violations of the provisions of the Convention by the authorities of the Syrian Arab Republic since the adoption of the Committee’s Concluding Observations on the State Party’s initial report to the Committee (CAT/C/SYR/CO/1), in May 2010”.
In response to this special reporting procedure, the ICJ is highlighting the Syrian authorities failures to: incorporate into Syrian domestic legislation the crime of torture as defined in the Convention; reform the Syrian legal framework in accordance with international human rights standards; investigate thoroughly all cases of torture and ill-treatment committed in Syrian prisons and detention facilities; and address the pressing issue of impunity for acts of torture and other serious human rights violations in Syria.
Syrian Arab Republic-Special report Torture- non-legal submission-2012 (full text in English, PDF)
Oct 14, 2011
In this submission, the ICJ highlights the failure of the Moroccan authorities to comply with the Committee’s previous recommendations.
During its 47th session on 31 October to 25 November 2011, the UN Committee against Torture will undertake an examination of the fourth periodic report of the Kingdom of Morocco. In preparation for this examination, and in response to Morocco’s combined report, the Committee issued a list of issues to be considered during the forthcoming examination. The ICJ has submitted a parallel report to the Committee against Torture, which includes replies to aspects of some questions in the Committee’s list of issues, and sets out concrete recommendations for Morocco’s implementation of obligations under the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. The ICJ’s submission focusses in this respect on three thematic areas: (i) torture under the Moroccan legal framework; (ii) torture and ill-treatment in the context of the United States-proclaimed “war on terror” and United States-led “secret renditions” program; and (iii) torture and ill-treatment in the context of combating “terrorism” in Morocco.
Oct 14, 2011
In this submission, the ICJ highlights several issues which it considers should be of particular concern to the Committee in its consideration of the periodic reports of Greece.
During its 47th session on 31 October to 25 November 2011, the UN Committee against Torture will undertake an examination of the combined fifth and sixth periodic reports of Greece. The ICJ has submitted a parallel report to the Committee against Torture, which focusses on the failure of the Greek asylum system, in practice, to comply with the obligations of non-refoulement (as this applies to article 3 of the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment); and at the prevalence of conditions of detention for migrants, as well as living conditions for migrants, that amount to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment in violation of obligations to prevent such treatment under articles 2, 11 and 16 of the Convention.
Mar 17, 2011 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
Since 1963, under the framework of a State of Emergency, serious and widespread human rights violations have been committed in Syria, including torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Suspected political opponents, human rights lawyers and other defenders have been regularly and arbitrarily detained, ill-treated and, in many cases, held without charge or trial for several years. Others have been convicted and sentenced, under the emergency law and other restrictive dispositions of the Syrian Penal Code (in particular Articles 267,273, 285, 286, 287, 288, and 307),to lengthy prison terms after grossly unfair trials before military courts, the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC), or civilian courts.
In spite of the persistent and consistent reports of these human rights violations, Syrian authorities have failed to investigate them promptly and independently, and to bring to justice State officials and laws enforcement officers allegedly responsible for these violations. They have enjoyed effective impunity.
Syria-UPR submission ICJ-non-legal submission-2011 (full text, PDF)
Feb 25, 2011 | News
The ICJ welcomes the adoption today by the UN Human Rights Council of one of the strongest resolutions in the short history of the five-year old Council.
During a special session on the situation of human rights in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the ICJ had called on the Human Rights Council to take the strongest possible action in response to the gross and systematic human rights violations being committed in Libya.
Libya-HRC-humanrightsviolations-news-2011 (full text, PDF)
