Jul 21, 2011
The ICJ and other human rights groups submitted a brief amicus curiae to the United States Supreme Court.
It supports the plaintiffs’ petition of a writ of certiorari in relation to the 2nd Circuit Appeals Court’s majority decision in late 2010 denying the application of international law to transnational corporations in the context of the U.S. Alien Tort Statute- ATS.
Amicus submit that a general principle of law exists that corporations can be held liable for egregious conduct that falls within the scope of the ATS. The majority’s failure to consult general principles of law warrants immediate review and remand.
United States-Supreme Court transnational corporations-legal submission-2011 (full text, PDF)
Jan 17, 2011
The ICJ and other human rights groups submitted an amicus curiae brief to the US Supreme Court in the leading rendition case of Mohamed and Others v. Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc.
The defendant is a private company accused of providing flight services to facilitate the US rendition program involving the unlawful transfer of detainees to situations of arbitrary and secret detention, torture and enforced disappearance.
The brief supports review by the Supreme Court with the view to reverse the decision of the Court of Appeals dismissing the case for reasons of state secrecy and addresses the obligations under international human rights law on the right to an effective remedy and reparations for torture, enforced disappearances and other human rights violations.
The brief is also joined by Swiss Senator Dick Marty, former Rapporteur of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe inquiry on Alleged Secret Detentions and Unlawful Inter-State Transfers of Detainees involving Council of Europe Member States, Professor Manfred Nowak (former UN Special Rapporteur on Torture (2004-2010)), Professor Robert Goldman (former UN Independent Expert on Terrorism and Human Rights) and Professor Stefan Trechsel, (Judge ad litem at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)). Professor Goldman and Professor Trechsel served on the ICJ’s Eminent Jurists Panel on Terrorism, Counter Terrorism and Human Rights.
USA-amicuscuriae-advocacy-2011 (full text, PDF)
Oct 13, 2010
The ICJ and other human rights groups present this application in response to the Co-Investigating Judges’ Order of 28 July 2009, which was appealed against on 11 September.
The Applicants are well placed to assist the Pre-Trial Chambers in the proper determination of the issues on appeal. Both their experience in combating impunity for crimes under international law, including torture, and their struggle against torture throughout the world are decades-long, internationally-known and well-publicised.
Cambodia-Amucus Curiae submission-legal submission-2009 (full text in English, PDF)
Jul 16, 2010
The ICJ and other human rights groups intervened as a third party in the case of Bayatyan v Armenia, concerning the right of conscientious objectors not to perform compulsory military service.
The interveners argued that rights to freedom of thought, conscience and religion under Article 9 ECHR requires recognition of conscientious objection and provision of alternatives to compulsory military service.
Armenia-written comments NGOs-legal submission-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
Photo by Ministry of Defense of the Republic of Armenia
Jul 2, 2010
The ICJ and other human rights groups submitted an intervention in Schalk & Kopf v. Austria case.
In Schalk & Kopf v. Austria, the European Court of Human Rights held that the denial of a marriage license to a same-sex couple did not run counter to Austria’s obligations under Article 12 of the European Convention, but the Court did hold for the first time that an unmarried same-sex couple without children constituted a family for the purposes of privacy under Article 8. Moreover, three of the judges held that there was a violation of Article 8 in conjunction with Article 14.
Austria-case Schalk Kopf-judgement-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
Austria-written comment-legal submission-2010 (full text in English, PDF)
