Sep 22, 2023
Joint Oral Statement
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) deplore the widespread and systematic human rights violations in Belarus. We condemn the escalating pattern of retaliation against lawyers for representing the political opposition and protesters and, upholding the rule of law.
Since 2020, over 100 lawyers have faced harassment and have been forced to flee the country. On 27 July 2023, prominent lawyer Yuliya Yurgilevich and journalist Pavel Mazheika were sentenced to six years’ imprisonment on spurious charges, including against Yurgilevich for publicizing her disbarment and disseminating information on political prisoners .
We remain concerned at the apparent enforced disappearance of political prisoners, including Maria Kalesnikava and Viktar Babaryka, detained without access to the outside world, including lawyers.
The recent presidential decree from 4 September, restricting Belarus nationals in exile from accessing consular services, is unacceptable. It jeopardizes the enjoyment of human rights for those exiled and their families including the right to freedom of movement, to work, health, education, and housing
We urge:
- Belarus to immediately release all arbitrarily detained individuals, including lawyers and other political prisoners, and to ensure that all detained person have access to lawyer, doctors and family and cease their persecution, immediately withdraw the presidential decree on consular services.
- Host States to provide all necessary assistance to protect the rights of exiled Belarus nationals and their families.
This statement was delivered by:
Francesca Restifo
Senior Human Rights Lawyer and UN Representative
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
For further information please contact
Francesca Restifo, IBAHRI, francesca.restifo@int-bar.org
Sandra Epal Ratjen, ICJ, sandra.epal@icj.org
Sep 22, 2023 | Advocacy, News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and International Bar Association Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) called the Human Rights Council’s attention to the serious abuses amounting to crimes under international law linked to mercenary activities in the Sahel region of Africa, including allegations of unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment, rape and other sexual violence, and enforced disappearances. Read the full statement below.
Oral Statement of the ICJ and the IBAHRI on the recruitment and activities of mercenaries and private military and security companies
“Mr President,
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) deplore the practices of predatory recruitment of people usually in vulnerable situations, such as detainees, and the harsh and risky conditions of service they endure as described in the report of the Working Group on the Use of Mercenaries (A/HRC/54/29).
The report describes opaque and deceitful contract terms, and orders to take direct part in hostilities in foreign countries without their prior consent. These practices sometimes amount to forced labour and debt bondage, in addition to human trafficking.
We remind the States with jurisdiction over persons and practices of their obligation to protect the human rights of persons in such vulnerable situations. ICJ and IBAHRI especially calls this Council’s attention to the serious abuses amounting to crimes under international law linked to mercenary activities in the Sahel region of Africa, including allegations of unlawful killings, torture and ill-treatment, rape and other sexual violence, and enforced disappearances.
We are deeply concerned at repeated allegations that some of these serious human rights abuses are committed by the so-called Wagner Group and call States concerned to promptly, thoroughly and impartially investigate these allegations and bring the perpetrators to justice.
ICJ and IBAHRI support the Working Group’s recommendations for renewal of the mandate of the Intergovernmental Working Group on an international regulatory framework on private military and security companies and call all States to constructively participate in its work (para. 42 g).
Thank you.”
For more information, contact:
Carlos Lopez Hurtado, ICJ Senior Legal Adviser, e: carlos.lopez@icj.org
Sep 21, 2023
For decades within its own borders, Russian authorities have undermined and attacked independent civil society, persecuted human rights defenders, activists, lawyers, and opposition and dissenting voices, banned independent media, silenced journalists, and have effectively outlawed any form of peaceful protest.
It has never been more dangerous to be a human rights defender in contemporary Russia. This environment, at least in part, enabled the Russian authorities to launch a renewed invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022. At the same time as the danger has increased, protections have decreased. The judiciary is not independent and cannot provide effective protection for human rights. Victims of Russian human rights violations no longer have the ability to bring their cases before the European Court of Human Rights, and Russia has even failed to turn up to United Nations Treaty Body reviews, specifically those of the Human Rights Committee, in 2022.
Ahead of the first Interactive Dialogue by the new UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation at the Human Rights Council, this in-person side event at the 54th session allows for an opportunity to discuss critical updates on the human rights situation in Russia, as well as further action to respond to Russia’s human rights crisis and to the legitimate calls for support from domestic civil society.
The panel will focus on the following key questions:
¨ What are the most pressing human rights issues in Russia today?
¨ Why should the Human Rights Council look to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur during the 54th session?
Speakers
Mariana Katzarova
UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of
human rights in the Russian Federation
Violetta Fitsner
OVD-Info
Zhargal Budaev
Memorial Human Rights Defence Centre
Dmitry Gurin
European Prison Litigation Network
Closing statements
Oleg Kozlovsky
Amnesty International
Damelya Aitkhozhina
Human Rights Watch
Moderator
Dave Elseroad
Human Rights House Foundation
Sep 21, 2023
Joint Oral Statement
The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) condemn the widespread and escalating attacks on independent lawyers, including legal harassment, disciplinary actions, disbarments, and arbitrary criminal charges.
We deplore the abusive Foreign Agents Law, with its overbroad definition that covers any persons under “foreign influence”. The Law has been instrumentalized to violate the rights to freedom of expression, association, assembly, and public participation. Lawyers are repeatedly labelled as “foreign agents”, for exercising their human rights and performing their legitimate duties, and many had their licenses suspended.
The Ministry of Justice has listed lawyers as “foreign agents” for lawfully representing human rights defenders, including lawyers Pavlov and Vetoshkina.
Russia’s Constitutional Court has abdicated its responsibility to protect rights by summarily dismissing challenges to legislative provisions criminalizing “public actions aimed at discrediting” the Russian Armed Forces.
We are concerned that the Bar Association intends to set up an Integrated Information System of the Bar of Russia, with the legal obligation for every lawyer to be part of this system, increasing risks of digital surveillance, breach of lawyer-client confidentiality and further harassment.
The repressive legislation in Russia leaves few domestic options to seek justice. It is imperative to maintain rigorous monitoring. We therefore urge this Council to renew the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and ensure additional resources necessary to fulfil its role.
This statement was delivered by:
Francesca Restifo, Senior Human Rights Lawyer and UN Representative
International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
For further information please contact:
Francesca Restifo, IBAHRI, francesca.restifo@int-bar.org
Sandra Epal Ratjen, ICJ, sandra.epal@icj.org
Sep 21, 2023 | Incidencia, Noticias
Entre el 18 y el 20 de septiembre de 2023, la Comisión Internacional de Juristas (CIJ), la Red de Aprendizaje sobre Acceso a la Justicia (Access to Justice Knowledge Hub) y el Programa de Acción por la Igualdad y la Inclusión Social (PAIIS) de la Universidad de los Andes celebraron conjuntamente un taller regional en Bogotá, Colombia, sobre el uso discriminatorio, desproporcionado y a menudo arbitrario de los sistemas de justicia penal contra personas y grupos marginados en América Latina. El evento reunió a unas 30 personas de organizaciones de la sociedad civil, actores judiciales, juezas, jueces y representantes de instituciones gubernamentales. Las y los participantes procedían de diversos países latinoamericanos, como Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, México, Paraguay y Perú.
El evento giró en torno a “Los Principios del 8 de marzo para un Enfoque de Derechos Humanos en el Derecho Penal que Proscribe Conductas Asociadas con la Vida Sexual, la Reproducción, el Consumo de Drogas, la Falta de Hogar y la Pobreza” (Principios del 8 de marzo) de la CIJ y los “Principios y Directrices Internacionales sobre el Acceso a la Justicia para las Personas con Discapacidad”” del Relator Especial de la ONU sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad. Las y los participantes coincidieron en que la alarmante tendencia mundial a la sobrecriminalización es también evidente en América Latina. Esta tendencia obstaculiza el avance de los derechos humanos, especialmente los derechos de las personas y grupos marginados, como las personas LGBTI+, las personas que viven con el VIH, las mujeres con discapacidad y las mujeres que viven en la pobreza.
En su presentación, el Comisionado de la CIJ Rodrigo Uprimny habló de “la inevitabilidad del derecho penal”, describiéndolo como “una amarga necesidad de la convivencia social”. Ciertas conductas, argumentó, como los actos que constituyen violaciones de los derechos humanos, deben ser inevitablemente criminalizadas por los Estados. En este contexto, Uprimny también señaló que en América Latina existe una tendencia al “populismo punitivo”, que a menudo se traduce en un uso desproporcionado y discriminatorio del derecho penal en diversos contextos, como la protesta social, el consumo de drogas y el aborto. En ese sentido, comentó la importancia de los Principios del 8 de marzo en América Latina:
“La realidad demuestra que en comportamientos que [los] Principios desarrollan son precisamente los comportamientos en donde usualmente es muy fuerte el impacto discriminatorio del derecho penal. (…) Con todos los criterios de discriminación, género, raza, discapacidad, pobreza, etc. (…) Los Principios lo llaman a uno a la cautela de la tendencia a la sobrecriminalización (…) El tema de la sobrecriminalización no es solo hoy un asunto de las derechas más autoritarias de América Latina. Hay también en el mundo de los derechos humanos una fuga hacia el punitivismo. (…) [El uso del derecho penal puede estar] justificado, pero a veces puede tener efectos perversos”.
Las y los participantes reflexionaron sobre los problemas comunes y las barreras que los sistemas de justicia penal imponen a los grupos e individuos marginados en América Latina, incluyendo el impacto desproporcionado del derecho penal sobre las mujeres, las personas sin hogar, las personas que viven con el VIH, las personas que consumen drogas y las personas con discapacidad.
Un elemento central del debate fue que las violaciones de derechos humanos, como resultado de procesos penales, implican el fracaso de una serie de actores –incluidos juezas y jueces, fiscales, agentes de policía y otros actores de la justicia, así como psiquiatras y servicios sociales– a la hora de comprender y aplicar las normas internacionales de derechos humanos. En este sentido, las y los participantes destacaron, entre otras cosas, la falta de conocimiento y aplicación de la Convención sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad y de la jurisprudencia del Comité de la ONU sobre los Derechos de las Personas con Discapacidad, en relación con el acceso a la justicia de las personas con discapacidad. Como resultado, las personas con discapacidad en América Latina, y en particular aquellas con discapacidad psicosocial, se enfrentan a serios obstáculos para ejercer su derecho a la capacidad jurídica en procesos penales.
Las y los participantes se comprometieron a establecer una agenda común para la incidencia conjunta, incluyendo mediante la organización de talleres dirigidos a los actores de la justicia, como juezas y jueces, en América Latina. En particular, se necesita un conocimiento más profundo de la normas y estándares internacionales de derechos humanos en el contexto de la justicia penal, así como de los derechos de las personas con discapacidad.
Contactos
Rocío Quintero Martínez, Asesora Legal de la CIJ para el Programa de América Latina, e: rocio.quintero@icj.org
Timothy Fish Hodgson, Asesor Sénior de la CIJ en Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, e: timothy.hodgson@icj.org
