The Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers of the ICJ, in its report released today, expressed its satisfaction that the President of the Diyarbakir (Turkey) Bar Association and three other lawyers, who had been charged with “professional misconduct” were acquitted.
The ICJ and its United States National Section, the American Association for the ICJ, have submitted a joint amicus curiae brief to the United States Court in the case of Fawzi Khalid Abdullah Fahad Al Odah, et al., and Shafiq Rasul, et al., v. United states, et al. and George W. Bush, et al.
La CIJ considère qu’en son état actuel, la Charte arabe des droits de l’Homme est entachée de défaillances fondamentales.
Avancée dès 1970, l’idée d’un instrument protecteur des droits de l’Homme pour la région arabe n’a été concrétisée qu’en 1994, lors de l’adoption par les Etats de la Ligue des Etats arabes de la Charte arabe des droits de l’Homme.
Signée par un seul Etat et jamais ratifiée, la Charte arabe a été soumise à un processus de “modernisation” décidé en 2001 par le Conseil de la Ligue des Etats arabes.
Pour l’heure, la CIJ estime qu’elle comporte des omissions importantes, ne garantit que de façon superficielle des droits, offre des possibilités étendues de restrictions et de dérogations aux droits garantis et surtout ne contient aucun mécanisme véritable de contrôle du respect des droits garantis.
Le processus de “modernisation” envisagé doit au moins viser à amener la Charte arabe des droits de l’Homme au niveau des normes internationales en matière de droits de l’Homme.
Un exercice dans un sens contraire n’aurait pas de sens, considère la CIJ.
Arab Charter-position paper-2003-fra (Plaidoyer en PDF)
Arab Charter-ICJ recommendations-position paper-2003-fra (Recommandation en PDF)
Racial discrimination remains a pervasive problem in criminal justice systems. While some countries are starting to recognize the deeply rooted nature of the phenomenon and to compile date in order to counter it, there is still little awareness for it in many countries.
Also, Government reports are often incomplete.
In order to give guidance to States on the issue, a General Recommendation by the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination is timely and useful.
This paper seeks to gather some ideas of recommendations from national reports, reports of the UN Special Rapporteurs and experts, NGO reports and other material. The recommendations are organized according to the different stages of the criminal justice system: police conduct, courts and prisons. It also gives some elements to be taken into account in more structural manner: access to justice, methods of structural, institutional change and data collection.
CERD Racial discrimination administration of justice-recommendations-eng (full text in English, PDF)
The ICJ monitored the trial of Sezgin Tanrikulu, the President of the Diyarbakir Bar Association and three other lawyers, Sabahattin Korkmaz, Burhan Deyar and Habibe Deyar.
El Salvador: Crimes against humanity within the framework of public security policy
HRC61: Joint oral statement of The ICJ in the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on Counter-terrorism and Human Rights
A Human Rights-Based Approach to Decriminalizing Conduct Associated with Poverty and Status
HRC61: Oral statement of The ICJ in the interactive dialogue with the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities