Jul 14, 2023
In response to a Call for Inputs to inform an upcoming thematic report by the United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression (the Special Rapporteur), the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) provided a substantive submission providing concrete examples of gendered disinformation and of the responses by States, companies and organizations, as well as potential solutions to combat this phenomenon. The Special Rapporteur’s report is to be presented at the UN General Assembly’s 78th Session in October 2023.
Jul 12, 2023
everal civil society organizations, members of theObservatory of International Organizations on Guatemala, deeply regretted that the State of Guatemala has not accepted 81% of the recommendations aimed at guaranteeing judicial independence, resuming the fight against corruption and impunity, strengthen the justice system and stop the criminal and spurious persecution against justice operators, journalists, and human rights defenders,received during the Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
Jul 12, 2023 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) welcomes the judgment of the Harare High Court which has acquitted human rights activists Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Revai Chimbiri following their arrest on 10 June 2020. The case reviewed magistrate Faith Mashure’s decision to charge the women for “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State”, or alternatively, “defeating or obstructing the course of justice”. The high court held that the magistrate’s finding of a prima facie case against the human rights activists was grossly unreasonable and attributed to bias and mala fides.
Jul 11, 2023 | News
The ICJ condemns the violent attacks on human rights lawyer, Obey Shava, who was severely beaten by four unidentified assailants The Zimbabwean authorities must conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into his assault and bring to justice those responsible for the attack. They must also take measures to protect Obey Shava’s well-being and physical safety
Obey Shava is a human rights lawyer, co-founder of Shava Law Chambers, and a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR). He has been providing legal representation to activists from the Zimbabwean opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). CCC spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere, described the incident as a cowardly act done at a time Shava has been litigating on behalf of her party in the double candidates fraud cases as well as electoral appeals that have emerged in the build-up to the country’s harmonized elections on August 23.
Jul 7, 2023 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) today condemned a series of violent assaults against lawyers and a journalist in the Russian Federation.
The assaults targeted lawyer Alexander Nemov and Yelena Milashina, a journalist of the independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta in Chechnya, followed by another attack on lawyer Elena Ponomareva in Moscow. They are part of a worrying broader pattern of violence against persons for carrying out their important professional functions as lawyers and journalists.
