Mar 10, 2020 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ today spoke in the final interactive dialogue with the current UN Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The statement read as follows:
“The ICJ salutes what the current Special Rapporteur has achieved in the mandate despite withdrawal of cooperation by the Government, and shares the concerns expressed in this final report (A/HRC/43/59), particularly the urgent need to establish peace and security in Rakhine State without compromising human rights law and international criminal accountability for gross human rights violations.
The ICJ recalls the obligations of Myanmar under international human rights law. The Government must ensure that human rights are not violated in the context of conflict with the Arakan Army. The longstanding internet shutdown in Rakhine and Chin States must be ended. Due process rights of persons arrested must be respected.
The ICJ also welcomes the Order of provisional measures in the case brought by The Gambia at the International Court of Justice. Myanmar must comply and prevent further acts of genocide.
The Myanmar Government must also ensure accountability for mass atrocities. In a briefing paper last year, the ICJ proposed Constitutional, legislative and institutional reform of Myanmar’s National Human Rights Commission to enable it to independently and effectively investigate allegations of human rights violations. The Myanmar Government should also cooperate with the Independent Investigative Mechanism for Myanmar and the International Criminal Court.
The ICJ would like to ask: based on your experience in the mandate, how can States best strengthen support for the mandate and the various international accountability initiatives underway?”
Mar 9, 2020 | News
The ICJ today expressed regret at the death of Judge Khanakorn Pianchana, who committed suicide on 7 March 2020. Judge Khanakorn was widely known after an attempted suicide in October 2019 following the delivery of a verdict which he claimed was interfered by a senior judge.
Judge Khanakorn previously served as Vice Presiding Judge of the Yala Provincial Court in Thailand’s restive southern region. He passed away on 7 March 2020 at his home in Chiang Mai province.
Background
Before the suicide, Judge Khanakorn posted a two-page letter on his Facebook page, in which he claimed that he had been subject to disciplinary proceeding and had criminal charge brought against him after he had publicized his concerns about interference by a superior judge into certain rulings. These involved five individuals detained and interrogated under special security laws in southern Thailand.
In October 2019, Judge Khanakorn claimed in a public letter that he had been ordered by a senior judge to rewrite a ruling in which he exonerated the five individuals charged with murder, for lack of evidence. Following his delivery of the verdict, he shot himself in the chest in a courtroom at Yala Provincial Court.
After his first suicide attempt, according to the Office of the Judiciary’s Press Release dated 18 November 2019, the Judicial Commission initiated an investigation against him for violations of provisions on discipline of judicial officials. He was subsequently transferred to the Court of Appeal Region 5 in Chiang Mai, at which time he was further investigated for committing criminal offences under the Firearms, Ammunition, Explosives, Fireworks and Imitation Firearms Act.
On 7 March 2020, according to the interview gave by Secretary-General of Office of the Judiciary, an initial investigation of the Judicial Commission found that there had been no improper interference, and the disciplinary actions and the criminal charges that are brought against Judge Khanakorn were based on his actions for carrying a gun into court and using the gun to attempt suicide.
Contact
Frederick Rawski, ICJ Asia-Pacific Director, t: +66 64 478 1121; e: frederick.rawski(a)icj.org
Download
To download the statement in Thai, click here.
Mar 9, 2020 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada have highlighted the link between human rights violations and corporate accountability in South Sudan, at the Human Rights Council in Geneva.
The statement, delivered in an interactive dialogue with the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan, read as follows:
“The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada thank the Commission on Human Rights in South Sudan for its report (A/HRC/43/56).
We underline the Commission’s ongoing concerns about lack of access to justice, entrenched impunity for serious crimes and human rights violations; continued threats against human rights defenders, journalists, and dissidents; and corruption in oil and non-oil sectors.
We appreciate the Commission’s continued investigation into enforced disappearances, including the 2017 enforced disappearances and extrajudicial killings of human rights lawyer Dong Samuel Luak and opposition politician Aggrey Idri.
We remain concerned by the lack of effective oversight of oil and non-oil enterprises and revenue misappropriation that has fueled violations. In the light of the findings by the Commission’s 2019 report (A/HRC/40/69, A/HRC/40/CRP.1) pointing to the oil industry as a “major driver” in the continuation of the armed conflict and resulting human rights violations, we would like to ask what follow up to those findings does the Commission intend to conduct in the future?
Potential corporate complicity with crimes under international law demands investigation and a strong monitoring mechanism for the use of oil revenues should be established.”
Mar 9, 2020 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ today urged the UN to more effectively protect and promote human rights in Myanmar, and the Human Rights Council to monitor implementation of the Rosenthal Inquiry recommendations to this end.
The statement, delivered in a discussion of the Secretary-General’s oral update on the involvement of the United Nations in Myanmar, read as follows:
“The ICJ welcomes the report of Mr. Gert Rosenthal entitled, ‘A Brief and Independent Inquiry into the Involvement of the United Nations in Myanmar from 2010 to 2018.’
The ICJ concurs with the conclusions, including that the UN suffered from ‘systemic and structural failures’ that effectively prevented it from stopping or mitigating the atrocities in Rakhine State in 2016 and 2017.
We welcome the initiative to brief the Council on the report, which the ICJ and other non-governmental organizations recommended to the Secretary-General in a letter last year.
The ICJ further urges that concrete steps be taken to:
1) improve coordination at all levels of the UN, including the adoption of a common strategy and agenda among agencies at the country level to promote accountability for human rights violations, which would also advance the Call to Action by the Secretary General;
2) hold UN officials responsible for failures to mitigate or prevent acts of violence constituting crimes under international law; and
3) publish annual progress reports until the recommendations are fully implemented.
The need for a concerted and system-wide commitment to promote and protect human rights in Myanmar is as urgent as ever given the intensification of armed conflict in Rakhine State and the potential for conflict as national elections approach.
We urge the Council to monitor implementation of the reforms identified in the Rosenthal report.”
Mar 8, 2020 | News
The ICJ commemorates International Women’s Day by calling on States all over the world to take decisive steps to abolish or amend laws, policies and practices that discriminate against women and girls, including those belonging to Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and Expression and Sex Characteristics (SOGIESC) minorities.
“All over the world, we are facing increasing attacks on the rule of law, which intensify existing inequalities resulting in compounded and intersecting forms of discrimination against women and girls, especially women from SOGIESC minorities,” said Emerlynne Gil, ICJ’s global focal point on gender.
The ICJ also calls on frontline justice actors, such as judges, lawyers and law enforcement officers, to take proactive steps in eliminating gender discriminatory practices in their work to further enhance access to justice for women.
Such action includes an open and inclusive discourse on regressive interpretations of religious and customary laws that discriminate against women.
The ICJ also urges States to acknowledge the diverse voices of women in this discourse, including those of women who belong to SOGIESC minorities.
“Women and girls, including those from SOGIESC minorities, are at a heightened risk of human rights abuses, most especially because a greater number among them is now living in poverty and is unable to access information about their rights, as well as justice for the violations they suffer,” added Emerlynne Gil.
.International Women’s Day is a symbolic acknowledgement of women’s struggle for gender equality in all spheres of life.
While celebrating the recognition of women’s legal rights and entitlements, the ICJ also notes with deep concern the growing trend around the world to push back on these advances in a manner that fundamentally violates the rights of women.
In 2019, the ICJ adopted the Tunis Declaration on Reinforcing the Rule of Law and Human Rights (Tunis Declaration), wherein it highlighted how “culture, tradition, or religion are being used to justify laws, policies, and practices that discriminate against women and girls”.
The proliferation of these discriminatory laws, policies and practices “come at a time when there is growing inequality, accelerating climate change, conflict, and large-scale displacement of people.”
Upholding cultural practices is often invoked as a convenient excuse to justify the continued existence of laws, policies, and practices that discriminate against women and girls, including those belonging to SOGIESC minorities.
While the ICJ affirms the importance of respecting cultural rights, these must be exercised in a manner consistent with core rule of law principles of non-discrimination, equality and equal protection of the law.
The ICJ notes that claims of cultural preservation are often based upon harmful gender stereotypes and deeply problematic patriarchal norms and attitudes that undergird the sanctification of discriminatory cultural, religious, traditional, and customary norms.
In the Tunis Declaration, the ICJ recognized “the persistent, deep entrenchment of patriarchal culture that perpetuates gender stereotypes in many national and international institutions, including those of the legal profession and judiciary.”
Harmful gender stereotypes, in turn, severely hamper women from enjoying their human rights and from equal access to justice, including for crimes of sexual and gender-based violence perpetrated against them.
Contact
Emerlynne Gil, ICJ Senior International Legal Adviser, email: emerlynne.gil(a)icj.org
