Mar 11, 2013
The ICJ has brought to the attention of the UPR mechanism issues concerning judicial independence, freedom of assembly and association, freedom of expression and security measures in Malaysia.
The ICJ’s submission comes ahead of the consideration of the situation of human rights in Malaysia by the Human Rights Council’s Working Group on the Universal Periodic Review (21 October to 1 November 2013). It includes suggested recommendations to be taken up in the UPR of Malaysia.
Malaysia-ICJ-UPR17-StakeholderSubmission-Legal submission-2013 (full text in PDF)
Malaysia-UPR17-AdvocacyNote-LegalSubmission-2013 (download short advocacy note in PDF)
Malaysia-ICJ-UPR17-ComparisonChart-2013 (full text in PDF)
Mar 6, 2013
The ICJ and the Centre for Reproductive Rights (CRR) have addressed the Human Rights Committee on the issue of women’s access to therapeutic abortions in Peru.
In an alternative report for the Committee’s examination of the fifth periodic report of Peru under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the ICJ and CRR submission addresses the failure of Peru to take steps toward implementation of views of the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (KL v Peru and LC v Peru). Both communications concerned the failure of Peru to enable young women access to therapeutic abortions, found to have amounted to violations of the rights of the applicants.
Peru’s fifth periodic report will be under consideration during the 107th session of the Human Rights Committee (11-28 March 2013), following which the Committee will issue Concluding Observations and recommendations.
Peru-HRCttee107-JointAR-CRR-ICJ-LegalSubmission-2013 (download full submission in Spanish)
Feb 25, 2013
The ICJ and ECRE presented a second joint detailed submission on the situation of detention, application procedures and remedies for asylum seekers in Greece to the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe.
The submission was presented in occasion of a meeting of the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe on the implementation by Greece of the European Court of Human Rights’ judgment in the case of M.S.S. v Belgium and Greece. The submission highlighted legal and practical shortcomings in the Greek system on detention of asylum seekers, conditions of detention, judicial review and access to an effective remedy, living conditions of asylum seekers, access to information and non-refoulement.
Greece-ICJECRE-MSS-CommitteeMinisters-2ndsubmission-legal submission-2013 (download the submission)
Photo credit: © notfrancois (the author has no involvement in nor does support this submission)
Feb 19, 2013
In two recent submissions to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), the ICJ called on CEDAW to address key barriers to justice faced by women.
The submissions came as the Committee embarks on drafting a General Recommendation on women’s access to justice.
In a joint submission, the ICJ and Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES) have called on the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) to reaffirm obligations on States to effectively regulate the activities of business actors in order to ensure women’s access to justice.
The submission focuses on the issue of women’s access to justice for infringements of rights committed by non-State actors, and more specifically in the context of business activities and operations.
It makes recommendations on how States might more effectively regulate business activities so as to ensure women’s protection against discrimination and inequality and access to effective and accessible remedies when they face abuses.
In a standalone submission, the ICJ presented an overview of key barriers women face across jurisdictions when seeking justice. This submission draws on findings from ICJ in-country initiatives exploring barriers to justice faced by women.
The first general discussion on the General Recommendation took place during the CEDAW’s 54th session in Geneva on 18 February 2013.
CEDAW-Submission-A2J-BHR-LegalSubmission-2013 (download joint submission by ICJ and FES)
CEDAW-Submission-Women’sA2JNormativeObstacles-LegalSubmission-2013 (download ICJ submission)
Feb 13, 2013
The ICJ presents this legal opinion regarding the possible withdrawal of the license of lawyers R
aziya Nurmasheva and Iskander Alimbayev (photo) of the Almaty City Lawyers Collegium.
This case against the lawyers raises issues of international law and standards, in particular, Kazakhstan’s international obligations on protecting the role of lawyers and their right to a fair hearing. It further concerns the duty of the State to ensure that lawyers are able to carry out their functions without intimidation, hindrance, harassment or improper interference.
Kazakhstan-Expert legal opinion Nurmasheva-legal submission-2012 (full text in pdf)
Kazhakstan-Expert legal opinion Nurmasheva-legal submission-2012-RUS (full text in pdf)
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