Feb 22, 2023
Today, more than 15 years after Thailand became a State Party to the UN Convention Against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (UNCAT), its long-delayed Act on Prevention and Suppression of Torture and Enforced Disappearance comes into effect. The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Amnesty International welcome the law’s entry into force. Both organizations urge the authorities to follow this positive step with measures both to enforce the law and to make further international human rights commitments protecting against torture and ill-treatment and enforced disappearance.
Aug 31, 2022
On the occasion of International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Amnesty International consider the adoption of the long-delayed legislation on torture, ill-treatment and enforced disappearance bill to constitute an important step toward the prevention and redress of these crimes. The organizations regret, however, that deficiencies in some provisions mean that it will fall short of becoming a fully effective legal instrument.
Jul 26, 2022
The governments in the Mekong region (including Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, and Vietnam), relevant United Nations agencies, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights, donor communities, development agencies, and private sector actors must take effective steps to address serious deficiencies in the policies and legal framework governing economic development in Special Economic Zones (SEZ), urged civil society actors at an online meeting organized by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), EarthRights International, and the Land Watch Thai on 19 July 2022.
Jan 31, 2022
The ICJ launched a briefing paper entitled “Sri Lanka’s Vagrants Ordinance No. 4 of 1841: A Colonial Relic Long Overdue for Repeal” in a webinar held on January 28, 2022.
May 20, 2021
The ICJ has published a briefing paper on decrees of the President of Ukraine on removal of judges of the Constitutional Court. These decrees are assessed in terms of their compliance with international law and standards and the national law of Ukraine.
Based on an analysis of international law and standards on the independence of the judiciary as well as national law, the ICJ concluded that the decrees of the President of Ukraine in respect of the judges of the Constitutional Court of Ukraine (CCU) fail to comply with international law and standards on the independence of the judiciary as well as Ukraine’s own national legal framework.
In particular, a series of measures including the legislative initiative of the President to dismiss the CCU judges, presidential decrees to withdraw appointment of the CCU judges, followed by a criminal investigation against the CCU president, appear to be linked to a CCU judgment with which the government disagreed. If this is the case, it would amount to retaliation against the CCU and individual judges of the CCU as a result of the legitimate exercise of their judicial powers within their competence. This constitutes a violation of the rule of law and the independence of the judiciary.
More precisely, an attempt to dismiss judges of the CCU, by revoking the decrees appointing them seven years after their adoption in a due manner, is not provided for by the law of Ukraine and as such constitutes an extra procedural means to dismiss a judge of the CCU. Dismissal of individual judges by Presidential decree outside the existing procedure strips judges of guarantees of security of tenure, contrary to international law and standards on the independence of the judiciary.
The ICJ stressed that the well-established principles of separation of powers and the independence of the judiciary require that there must be no interference by the executive in the exercise of the judicial functions by the judiciary. This includes disguised means of dismissals of judges duly appointed in accordance with the established procedure.
The ICJ recommended that the State authorities of Ukraine take all legal actions to respect and ensure judicial independence in Ukraine, in particular, by providing effective remedies and reparation to the judges of the CCU concerned in line with the principle restitutio in integrum as recognised in international law, including by revoking their removal and restoring them to their terms of office.
Read full briefing paper here: Ukraine Const Court-ICJ_legal brief_final_eng
