Feb 23, 2016
In January 2016, ICJ provided an expert legal opinion to the applicant’s legal counsel in the case of “X” before the Swedish Migration Agency with a view to assisting them in assessing “X”’s asylum claim.
The case in the context of which this expert legal opinion was submitted concerns a sur place application for refugee status under the Refugee Convention based on a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons of the applicant’s membership of a particular social group, namely one defined by his sexual orientation.
Sweden-Expert legal opinion sur place asylum claims-Advocacy-Legal submissions-2016-ENG
Feb 16, 2016
In mid-February 2016, the ICJ made a submission to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in advance of Committee’s examination of Namibia’s combined Initial, First and Second Periodic Reports under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
In its submission, the organization drew the Committee’s attention to the detrimental impact of the extant criminalization of consensual anal intercourse between males and of other various forms of sexual activities between consenting men through the crime of “unnatural sexual offences” on the enjoyment of Covenant rights, including, in particular, the principle of non-discrimination and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health by gay and bisexual men and, more generally, by the gay, bisexual, lesbian and transgender community in the country.
The ICJ’s submission contains a number of recommendations that the organization considers the Committee should address to the Namibian’s authorities to address its concerns.
(Full text in PDF)
Feb 9, 2016
Today, the ICJ intervened before the European Court of Human Rights in two cases against the United Kingdom challenging the compliance of mass surveillance programmes with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ICJ submitted third party interventions in the cases Big Brother Watch and others v. the United Kingdom and Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Alice Ross v. the United Kingdom.
In its interventions, the ICJ addressed:
- the scope of the rights to privacy and freedom of expression within the meaning of articles 8 and 10 ECHR and of their limitations in relation to metadata;
- the attribution of State responsibility under international law for Convention violations caused via mass or ‘bulk’ surveillance programmes, in particular those involving the gathering of metadata and the related positive obligations of states, and
- the application of the Convention to the extra-territorial dimensions of mass surveillance programmes on the enjoyment of these rights.
UK-ICJ-AmicusBrief-BBW&others-ECtHR-legalsubmission-2016 (download the intervention in BBW and others v UK)
UK-ICJ-AmicusBrief-BIJ&Ross-ECtHR-legalsubmission-2016 (download the intervention in BIJ and Ross v UK)
Feb 1, 2016
Today is the first of a four-day hearing at the UK Supreme Court in joined appeals from the High Court (Al-Waheed v Ministry of Defence) and the Court of Appeal (Ministry of Defence v Mohammed and Others), in which the ICJ intervened.
The case concerns the detention of persons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the non-international armed conflict phases of British military operations in those countries. Together with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Open Society Justice Initiative, the ICJ submitted an intervention in the joined appeal, addressing:
- The complementary application of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) in situations of armed conflict.
- The lack of authority under IHL, whether treaty or customary law, for internment in situations of non-international armed conflict (NIAC), including consideration of the inapplicability in NIAC of internment rules that govern situations of international armed conflict.
- The requirement that detention in NIACs is compliant with IHRL, the implications of this and the key means by which internment can be lawful while also responsive to the exigencies of the situation.
UK-GlobalSecurity-DetentionArmedConflict-Advocacy-Legal submissons-2016-ENG (download the joint intervention)
Jan 15, 2016
Today, the ICJ submitted a third-party intervention in the case of M.B. v. Spain before the European Court of Human Rights.
The case arose from the attempted removal of a lesbian asylum applicant to Cameroon. The ICJ’s written submissions focus on the relevance of the Refugee Convention, as interpreted by a number of domestic courts, and 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 ICJ’s intervention, in particular, addresses the following:
- the requirement of coerced (including self-enforced) concealment of one’s same-sex sexual orientation, which constitutes persecution under refugee law and is incompatible with the ECHR, in particular Article 3; and,
- the criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual conduct, which gives rise to a real risk of Article 3 prohibited treatment, thus triggering non-refoulement obligations under that provision of the ECHR.
Spain- ECtHR MB v Spain – advocacy – legal-submissions-2016-ENG
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