Jun 21, 2018 | Events, News
The ICJ will participate today in the side event “State of emergency and attacks on the legal profession in Turkey” organized by IBAHRI, the Law Society, and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales.
This side event at the Human Rights Council takes place on Thursday, 21 June, 15:00-16:00, room XXV of the Palais des Nations.
It is co-sponsored by Lawyers for Lawyers, Union Internationale des Avocats, Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada.
In this side event, panelists will share their analysis on the impact of the state of emergency on the rule of law and the ongoing obstacles faced by the legal profession in Turkey since the failed coup in 2016.
They will also discuss Turkey’s derogations from its international and regional human rights obligations, as well as the response of regional and international human rights mechanisms to this situation.
Panelists:
- Özlem Zingil, Turkish lawyer;
- Massimo Frigo, International Commission of Jurists;
- Tony Fisher, Chair of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Society of England and Wales;
- Stephen Cragg QC, Secretary of the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales;
- Natacha Bracq, Programme Lawyer, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute.
Geneva-SideEvent-StateofEmergencyLawyersTurkey-IBAHRI&others-June2018-ENG (download the flyer)
Jun 20, 2018 | News
The Trump administration’s broader rejection of multilateralism and rule of law, its actual practices, and paralysis of other States, are the real issues, says the ICJ.
On the evening of 19 June, the United States of America announced it was formally abandoning its membership of the UN Human Rights Council.
“The withdrawal of the United States from the United Nations Human Rights Council is symptomatic of its broader rejection of multilateralism and rule of law, and how it acts in practice, both at home and abroad,” said ICJ Secretary General Sam Zarifi in reaction.
The inhuman caging of thousands of migrant and refugee children, and turning a blind eye to the grave human rights violations in North Korea, are but two recent and glaring examples, along with a recent highly critical report by the UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, following his visit to the US last year.
Even more concerning, the US retreat comes at the same time as openly racist and nationalist authoritarianism rises across Europe. Even where they are not immediately succeeding in coming to power, such movements are slowly paralyzing Europe at exactly the time its moderating or progressive influence on world affairs in general, and human rights in particular, is most needed.
The US in fact is cooperating in New York with the very same countries it publicly condemns, to cut the funding and mandate for the day-to-day human rights work of the UN – whether through the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the Secretary General’s Rights up Front Initiative, or UN country offices. And many many other countries are complicit in that exercise by their silence.
With moves by other powerful States to seize and dilute the UN’s human rights machinery, it has never been more important for other States sincerely committed to defending human rights and the rule of law to step into the empty seats the US is leaving behind.
Jun 19, 2018 | Адвокаси
МКЮ приветствует предложение Парламентской ассамблеи Совета Европы (ПАСЕ) в своей Рекомендации 2121 (2018), в которой содержится призыв к разработке Конвенции Совета Европы о профессии юриста.
МКЮ считает, что такая Конвенция может внести важный вклад в укрепление верховенства права и защиты прав человека в регионе Совета Европы, основываясь на существующих стандартах Совета Европы и юриспруденцией Европейского суда по правам человека.
МКЮ особенно приветствует призыв ПАСЕ к созданию эффективного механизма контроля, который будет создан в соответствии с новой Конвенцией, поскольку недавние события в ряде государств-членов Совета Европы показывают значительный пробел в осуществлении стандартов Совета Европы в отношении независимости и безопасности юристы.
Юристы, наряду с судьями и прокурорами, являются одним из столпов, на которых опирается защита верховенства права и прав человека через систему правосудия.
Признавая это, МКЮ с момента своего основания в 1952 году работала над защитой находящихся под угрозой юристов и разрабатывала международные стандарты независимости, роли и целостности профессии.
Последовательные заявления МКЮ, принятые ведущими юристами из всех регионов мира, подтвердили, что роль юридической профессии является «первостепенной задачей в защите прав человека и верховенства закона» (Декларация МКЮ 2008 года о закреплении верховенства закона, роли судей и юристов во времена кризиса.
В любой правовой системе юридическая профессия играет ключевую роль в обеспечении доступа к правосудию и эффективных средствах правовой защиты и ответственности за нарушения прав человека, а также отстаивании права на справедливое судебное разбирательство, права на свободу и права на свободу от пыток и других видов жестокого обращения в процессе уголовного правосудия.
Защищая уголовные дела, консультируя и представляя жертв нарушений прав человека и их родственников или оспаривая в суде национальное законодательство или политику, противоречащие правам человека, юристы оказывают практическое воздействие на гарантии прав человека и принципы верховенства права.
Важность этой роли была признана международными стандартами, а также судебной практикой Европейского суда по правам человека, в которой подчеркивается «особый статус юристов [имеющих] центральную позицию в отправлении правосудия в качестве посредников между обществом и судами”.
Таким образом, принципиально важно, чтобы адвокаты могли выполнять свои профессиональные обязанности без вмешательства. Как отметил Европейский суд по правам человека, «преследование и домогательство членов юридической профессии наносят удары по самой сути системы Конвенции».
Полный текст на английском, PDF: Europe-Drafting-a-EU-Convention-on-the-Profession-of-Lawyer-2018-ENG
Jun 18, 2018 | News
The ICJ today called on the Hungarian National Assembly to reject Bill No. T/333 that, if approved, would risk criminalizing the work of civil society, lawyers and other human rights defenders and lead to violations of the rights of migrants, especially refugees.
The National Assembly of Hungary is considering today Bill No. T/333 tabled by the Hungarian Government that amends immigration and criminal law.
“This draft law would effectively punish activities that aim to apply legal procedures” said Massimo Frigo. “This attack on the work of lawyers and human rights defenders does not constitute a legitimate aim that would allow for a permissible restriction on the rights of freedom of expression, assembly and association consistent with international human rights law.”
The ICJ warned that the draft law, if approved, would, in contravention of international standards, open the way to arrest, prosecute and convict lawyers or representatives of civil society who assist asylum seekers in filing their application for international protection. It would also make funding of such activities a crime.
The law would effectively prevent lawyers and civil society organizations, under threat of criminal punishment, from providing assistance to asylum-seekers unless they can verify that the person is entitled to international protection, even before the person has begun the refugee status determination procedure.
It would further criminalize any activity aimed at regularizing the position of an irregular migrant who had, for example, married a Hungarian citizen or became a parent of Hungarian children.
“This draft law should be rejected because it could in practice deny legal assistance to any asylum seeker, preventing them from defending their rights, ” said Massimo Frigo.
Bill T/333 has been criticized by UNHCR, the Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights and several national and international civil society organisations. An opinion of the Venice Commission on the law is expected to be published shortly.
Background
If approved in the current form, section 11 of the draft law would insert in the Criminal Code the offence of “facilitating illegal immigration”, as new section 353/A. This provision, if approved, would make it a criminal offence to carry out organized activities to facilitate the initiation of an asylum procedure for persons “who are not persecuted” in their country of origin or in a third country that they passed through, or “do not have a well-founded reason to fear direct persecution.”
This provision would also make it a criminal offence to carry out these activities to assist a person entering illegaly or residing illegally in Hungary to obtain a residence permit.
The draft law would also make it a criminal offence to provide financial means to carry out these activities.
Full Document in English (PDF): Hungary-Statement-National-Assembly-Criminalizing-Assistance-to-Migrants-Law-2018-ENG
Jun 18, 2018 | Events, News
This side event at the Human Rights Council takes place on Wednesday, 20 June, 16:00-17:00, room XXIII of the Palais des Nations. It is organized by the ICJ.
Speakers:
