Apr 16, 2013
In view of the discussion by the Committee of Ministers, the ICJ and nine other NGOs wrote an open letter to all member states of the Council of Europe on draft Protocol 15 to the European Convention on Human Rights.
Amnesty International, the AIRE Centre, the European Human Rights Advocacy Centre (EHRAC), the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (HFHR), Human Rights Watch, Interights, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), JUSTICE, Open Society Justice Initiative and REDRESS wrote an open letter to all member states of the Council of Europe on Draft Protocol 15. In the letter, the organizations draw the states’ attention to a specific shortcoming in article 1 of the Protocol in relation to the insertion of a reference to the doctrine of the margin of appreciation in the Preamble to the Convention.
OpenLetter-Joint-CouncilofEurope-Protocol15-2013 (download the open letter)
Mar 26, 2013
The ICJ, TRIAL, FIACAT, ACAT-France and CFDA have presented to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances a submission on the respect by France of the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance.
The joint submission focuses on both current French legislation and practice and a draft law (Projet de loi No. 250), pending before the State’s legislature, which aims to bring the French legal system into compliance with the obligations enshrined in the Convention.
France-UNCED-JointSubmission-2013-français (download the submission in French)
France-UNCED-SummarizedSubmission-2013-english (download the summarized submission in English)
Photo credit: © Montecruz Foto (the author of the picture has no involvement in nor does support this submission)
Mar 18, 2013
The ICJ today called on the Human Rights Council to take all effective measures at its disposal to halt the Israeli policy on the construction, expansion and encouragement of settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory.
Noting that the policy is in violation of obligations under international law, the ICJ’s statement was delivered in the General Debate under Item 7 of the Human Rights Council’s agenda (human rights situation in Palestine and other occupied Arab territories) during the Council’s 22nd regular session (25 February to 22 March 2013).
Israel-oPt-HRC22-Item7GD-IsraeliSettlements-NonLegalSubmission-2013 (download full statement in PDF)
Mar 14, 2013
The ICJ today called on the Government of Guatemala to fully and effectively implement recommendations and undertakings concerning consultations with indigenous peoples, impunity and the protection of human rights defenders.
The statement was delivered during an Interactive Dialogue on the adoption of the UPR outcome document on Guatemala (Item 6 of the Council’s agenda) during the 22nd regular session of the Human Rights Council (25 February to 22 March 2013).
Guatemala-HRC22-Item6Statement-NonLegalSubmission-2013 (download full oral statement in PDF)
Guatemala-UPR-StakeholderSubmission-LegalSubmission-2012 (go to webpage on the ICJ’s submission on the UPR of Guatemala)
Mar 13, 2013
The ICJ today called on the Human Rights Council and its subsidiary bodies to reject efforts to introduce the language of traditional values into the framework of human rights.
Noting the conclusion of the Council’s Advisory Committee that traditional values can be negative and have been used to justify the subordination of women and other vulnerable or minority groups, the ICJ recalled that emphasis should always be on the implementation of human rights law regardless of tradition and culture.
The ICJ’s statement was delivered today during the General Debate under Item 5 of the Council’s agenda (human rights bodies and mechanisms) as part of the 22nd regular session of the Human Rights Council (25 February to 22 March 2013).
HRC22-Item5GD-TVReport-LegalSubmission-2013 (download statement in PDF)
