The time has come to ensure that people denied their economic, social and cultural rights, in particular those living in poverty, are able to access justice.
Only thirty-three states have signed and two states have ratified the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
The side event, held during the 15th session of the UN Human Rights Council, will look into the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, in the aftermath of May 2009.
The post-conflict phase in Sri Lanka is failing to meet minimal expectations on rule of law, democratic participation, investigation of, and accountability, for human rights violations, and ending impunity; not to mention social rehabilitation and political reconciliation after war. The side event will particularly focus on three issues: alleged war crimes, the fate of surrendered Tamil combatants and the governance on human rights and impunity.
Sri Lanka-rights challenges-event-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
The scale of human rights violations committed by the armed forces, police and rebel groups in the Democratic Republic of Congo has meant that little attention has been directed to other failings of the justice sector, including the inadequate regulation of companies and the lack of effective remedies for victims of corporate abuse of human rights. Several studies and reports on human rights violations in the DRC have established the extent of corporate involvement or complicity and the State failure to protect people against violations by business corporations. It is necessary to mobilize and strengthen the capacity of legal professionals to use the law to ensure greater accountability by business for their numerous violations and that victims of such violations be afforded effective redress
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) in conjunction with Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa, the African Association for the Defense of Human Rights and the SADC Lawyers Association will, at the sidelines of the Annual General Meeting of the SADC Lawyers Association,hold on 22nd August 2010 a Lawyers’ Dialogue on “Business Involvement in Human Rights Violations and Victims’ Access to Justice in the Democratic Republic of Congo”.
The Dialogue is intended to bring together experts from the DRC and SADC legal fraternity in a one-day activity to reflect on how human rights law can creatively and effectively be used to bring business entities and players to respect human rights standards and to account for their involvement or complicity in violation thereof. In exploring this key question, the following subsidiary questions shall be answered:
What are the obstacles facing access to justice for victims of business gross human rights abuse in the DRC, and how can they be overcome?
DRC-dialogue violation justice-agenda-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
DRC-dialogue violation justice-agenda-2010 (full text in French, PDF)
On 13th and 14th August 2010, the Tanganyika Law Society (TLS) held their Half Annual General Meeting in Dodoma, Tanzania, with Arnold Tsunga, Director of the ICJ Africa Regional Programme, as a guest speaker.
The theme of the meeting was The TLS at 56 – Interrogating the Role of the Law Society in Consolidating Rule of Law and Democracy in Tanzania. Arnold Tsunga (photo) presented a paper at the meeting titled “Rule of Law and Elections in Africa – Recent Experiences.
Tanzania-Law election experiences-event-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
Latvia’s planned withdrawal from the Istanbul Convention – a setback for the human rights of women and girls
ICJ submission highlights discrimination as key obstacle to women and girls with disabilities in enforcing their human rights
EU: Experts highlight the need to address inequality and expand alternatives to child pre-trial detention in criminal proceedings