The ICJ and other human rights groups considers that “the draft resolution before the Council falls far short of what is needed”.
“If the Council adopts the resolution as it stands, it will have failed in its fundamental mission to advance the protection of human rights,” they fear.
Human Rights Council Resolution 12/2 invites the Secretary-General to provide a ‘compilation and analysis of any available information’ of alleged reprisals and to formulate ‘recommendations on how to address the issues of intimidation and reprisals’.
NGO experience highlights the lack of protection for victims of reprisals and the resulting reluctance to report such cases. The absence of broader and more long-term recommendations on addressing reprisals compounds this lack of protection. This panel discussion seeks to explore ways in which various actors can raise awareness about and increase the effectiveness of the Council’s efforts to combat reprisals, including by improving protection for those concerned.
Kasha Jacqueline, a bold and courageous human rights defender, is a co-founder and Executive Director of Freedom and Roam Uganda, an LGBT rights organization.
Kasha has been at the forefront of the civil society campaign against the Anti-Homosexuality Bill, which would impose the death penalty for certain acts of “aggravated homosexuality” and also criminalizes freedom of expression and association concerning promotion of homosexuality.
Uganda-winner of the 211 Matrin Ennals award-web story-2011 (full text, PDF)
Photo by Amnesty France
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)
Seven years after the arrest and killing of Maina Sunuwar, the Government of Nepal should take immediate steps to ensure that criminal proceedings move forward, the ICJ and other Human Rights groups said today.
Advocacy Forum (AF), Amnesty International (AI), Human Rights Watch (HRW) and the ICJ express their solidarity with Maina’s family, and call on the Nepali authorities to immediately transfer Major Niranjan Basnet to the Kavre District Court where he has been charged with murder, and arrest Babi Khatri, Sunil Prasad Adhikari and Amit Pun who have all been implicated in her death.
That Maina’s family is still waiting for justice for her killing, as in so many cases of crimes during the armed conflict, suggests that the realization of victims’ right to a judicial remedy for serious crimes remains a distant dream in Nepal.
Nepal-MainaSunuwar-news-2011 (full text, PDF)
South Africa: Constitutional Court’s affirmation that principles of judicial independence are fully applicable to military courts is a welcome step forward
EU: Lawyers and civil society call for mandatory humanitarian clause in anti-smuggling directive
EU: Access to a lawyer in juvenile justice proceedings remains a key concern in several EU Member States