Jan 23, 2017
On 16 January 2017, the ICJ with other civil society organizations submitted a third-party intervention in the case of E.S. v. Spain before the European Court of Human Rights.
The case (application no. 13273/16) arose from the attempted removal of a gay asylum applicant to Senegal. The third-party submissions focus on the relevance of the Refugee Convention — as interpreted by a number of domestic courts — and of the EU asylum acquis and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights to the determination of the scope and content of non-refoulement obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of those Contracting Parties that are also EU Member States.
The submissions, in particular, address the following:
- Enforced concealment of one’s same-sex sexual orientation constitutes persecution under refugee law and is incompatible with the ECHR, in particular, Article 3;
- The criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual conduct gives rise to a real risk of Article 3 prohibited treatment, thus triggering non-refoulement obligations under that provision of the Convention; and
- The risk of persecution based on sexual orientation in Senegal.
The comments drew upon the European Court’s case-law; authoritative interpretation of other applicable sources of international law and comparative international law.
The ICJ made the submissions jointly with the Human Dignity Trust, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles, the European Region of the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual Trans and Intersex Association (ILGA-Europe) and the AIRE Centre (Advice on Individual Rights in Europe).
SPAIN-ECtHR joint amicus in ES v SPAIN-Advocacy-LegalSubmission-2017-ENG
Nov 24, 2016
In April and July this year, the ICJ and four other NGOs filed two sets of written submissions with the Constitutional Court of Romania in the case of Coman Relu Adrian, Hamilton Robert Clabourn and Association Accept v. General Inspectorate for Immigration and Ministry of Home Affairs.
The case concerns the Romanian authorities’ refusal to recognize either de facto or de jure the same-sex marriages of migrant EU citizens with third-country nationals.
In their original original third-party intervention of April 2016, the ICJ, the AIRE Centre, ECSOL, FIDH and ILGA-EUROPE argued that such refusal violates relevant EU law and the European Convention on Human Rights.
In their supplementary intervention, filed in July 2016, the five NGOs made additional written submissions to the Constitutional Court of Romanian in light of the judgment by the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Taddeucci and McCall v. Italy of 30 June 2016.
romania-cc-joint-amicus-re-third-country-national-spouse-legal-submissions-april-2016-eng
romania-cc-joint-amicus-re-third-country-national-spouse-legal-submissions-july-2016-eng
Nov 8, 2016
The ICJ intervened today before the European Court of Human Rights in the cases of three human rights lawyers who had been denied Bar membership because of their human rights activity.
The cases concern the compliance of the procedures of admission to and disbarment from the Bar Association of Azerbaijan of human rights lawyers Annagi Hajibeyli, Khalid Bagirov and Intigam Aliyev.
In its submissions, the ICJ stressed that, while lawyers have to perform their professional functions in conformity with ethical standards, the legal profession’s systems of admission and discipline must not enforce such obligations in a way that impairs the exercise of human rights by lawyers or their capacity to effectively represent their clients.
Based on the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, as well as international standards governing the legal profession, the ICJ submission addresses:
- permissible restrictions of lawyers’ rights to respect for private (including professional) life under article 8 ECHR and to freedom of expression under article 10 ECHR,
- procedural safeguards required to apply such restrictions under article 6 ECHR.
- key findings of a recent ICJ fact-finding mission to assess the compliance of the governance of the legal profession in Azerbaijan with international law and standards.
icj-bagirovothers-amicusbrief-azerbaijan-2016-final (download the third party intervention)
Oct 21, 2016
Today, the ICJ has made a submission to the Standing Committee on Social Justice and Empowerment of the Parliament of India on the Transgender Persons (Protection of Rights) Bill, 2016.
india-transgender-bill-advocay-legal-submissions-2016-eng (full text, in PDF)
Sep 22, 2016
The ICJ intervened today before the European Court of Human Rights in a case of extradition of a Kyrgyz national of Uzbek ethnicity to his country of origin, where he could be at risk of torture or ill-treatment.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) intervened in the case of Shavkatbek Salyzhanovich Rakhamanov v. Russia.
In its submissions, the ICJ analysed the legal framework governing extraditions from the Russian Federation to Central Asian States, in particular Kyrgyzstan, as well as Russia’s extradition practice, including through the use of diplomatic assurances. These submissions aim to assist the Court in assessing the compliance of this law and practice with the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and, in particular, with its procedural non-refoulement obligations.
The ICJ concluded that the analysis of the law and practice reveals a number of critical human rights deficits.
The ICJ submitted that the lack of respect for the procedural aspect of the principle of non-refoulement, the consequent ineffectiveness of domestic remedies in this regard, in the Russian Federation, and the abysmal record of Kyrgyzstan in upholding its obligation to respect and protect the prohibition of torture or other ill-treatment mean that extraditions from the Russian Federation to Kyrgyzstan entail a high risk of violations of both substantive and procedural aspects of the principle of non-refoulement.
russianfederation-icj-amicusbrief-rakhmanov-ecthr-legalsubmission-2016 (download the third party intervention)
