Oct 4, 2017 | Agendas, Events, News
Today starts a five-day Strategic Litigation Retreat for lawyers in Ferney-Voltaire, France organized by the ICJ-EI as part of the EU and OSI funded FAIR project.
Twenty lawyers from Bulgaria, Germany, Greece, Italy, Ireland, Malta and Spain will be meeting with experts and among themselves in order to strategize about their cases of access to justice for migrant children and on accessing international human rights mechanisms.
The retreat is taking place from 4 to 8 October in a close proximity to Geneva, which allows for access to UN treaty bodies experts.
The group will meet with Members of the UN Committee on the rights of the child and the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and experts from the treaty bodies’ secretariat on individual complaints and on inquiries.
The participants will also have a chance to discuss litigation strategies with experts from the European Court for Human Rights, experts from civil society organizations with long-standing experience in strategic litigation, such as the AIRE Center, ICJ, DCI Belgium or Child Rights Connect.
All the participating lawyers took part in the national trainings organized, through 2016 and 2017, by the ICJ and its national partners.
The trainings were focused on the right to be heard and procedural rights of migrant children, the right to family life, economic, social and cultural rights, detention and on how to access international human rights mechanisms in order to allow for effective access to justice for migrant children.
Out of all the participants, this Strategic Litigation Retreat, brings together three selected lawyers from each of the national trainings.
In the same time, the project management group of the FAIR project, composed of national partners and Child Rights Connect will meet and will contribute to some parts of the Retreat.
The Retreat will use as a basis the draft training materials prepared by the ICJ (to be published an the end of 2017) and the ICJ Practitioners Guide no. 6: Migration and International Human Rights Law.
The FAIR project co-funded by the Rights, Equality and Citizenship Programme of the European Union and OSIFE.
See more information about the national trainings on the rights of migrant children within the FAIR project here: Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, Malta, Greece, Ireland, Germany (photo)
Download the agenda here: Universal-StrategicLitigationRetreat-News-Events-Agendas-2017-ENG
Oct 3, 2017 | Адвокаси, Юридические заявления
2 октября МКЮ и Международная Амнистия представили вмешательство в Европейский Суд по правам человека по делу Экозащита и другие против Российской Федерации, заявка №. 9988/13 и 48 других заявок.
Дело касается обозначения НПО как иностранных агентов. В этом документе заявители предоставили Суду анализ, основанный на источниках международного права:
а) сферы применения прав на свободу выражения мнений и ассоциации, гарантированных статьями 10 и 11 Европейской конвенции о защите прав человека (ЕКПЧ или Конвенции), ограничениями на деятельность неправительственных организаций (НПО);
б) применение принципа законности к таким ограничениям;
в) легитимность цели, необходимости и соразмерности мер, регулирующих НПО, включая ограничения на финансирование, обременительные требования к отчетности, санкции и стигматизирующий эффект обозначения НПО как «иностранных агентов»; а также
г) объем допустимых ограничений согласно статье 18 ЕКПЧ, в частности вопрос о вмешательствах, используемых для целей других чем те, которые подпадают под статьи 10 и 11 Конвенции.
В представлении рассматриваются обязательства государств-участников ЕКПЧ с учетом других международных правовых обязательств, таких как обязательства в соответствии с Международным пактом о гражданских и политических правах (МПГПП), а также другие соответствующие стандарты международного права.
Russia-ECtHR-AmicusBrief-Ecodefence-legalsubmissions-2017-ENG (Скачайте вмешательство третьих лиц на английском)
Oct 2, 2017 | News
The ICJ today expressed concern at the apparently unlawful violence surrounding yesterday’s referendum in Catalonia, as Catalan authorities sought to hold a vote on the independence of the region. The Spanish Constitutional Court had ruled that the referendum was illegal.
The ICJ calls on all parties concerned to resolve the current crisis in accordance with international human rights law and in the framework of the rule of law.
The ICJ is particularly concerned at allegations of excessive use of force during police operations aimed at enforcing court orders to prevent the referendum being held.
International human rights obligations binding on Spain require that any use of force by agents of the State must be no more than is strictly necessary in the circumstances to meet a grave threat .
All aspects of police operations, including their planning and co-ordination, and the training, guidance and orders given to police officers on the ground, must be designed to minimize the use of physical force.
The ICJ calls for a thorough, prompt and independent investigation into the violence surrounding the referendum, and for those responsible for acts of violence in violation of human rights to be brought to justice.
Background
Spain has obligations to respect the right to life and the right to physical integrity of any person under its jurisdiction under articles 6 and 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and articles 2, 3 and 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
Standards in this regard are re-enforced by the UN Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the UN Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.
Positive obligations under these provisions require that allegations of lethal or potentially lethal force, or force that could amount to cruel inhuman or degrading treatment or torture, be the subject of investigation that is independent and impartial, thorough and prompt.
The violence surrounding the referendum on Catalonia’s independence reportedly resulted in injuries to at least 844 civilians and 33 police offices.
Contacts:
Róisín Pillay, ICJ Europe Programme Director, t: +32 2 734 84 46 ; e: roisin.pillay(a)icj.org
Massimo Frigo, ICJ Senior Legal Adviser, t: +41 22 979 3805 ; e: massimo.frigo(a)icj.org
Oct 2, 2017 | News
The ICJ, APT, OMCT, FIACAT, Redress, Amnesty, IRCT, and Alkarama have constructed a checklist for membership to guide the States parties to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in selecting five new members later this month.
See Checklist here:
Universal-CriteriaMembership-News-2017-ENG
Sep 27, 2017 | News
The ICJ has welcomed the recent decision of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) on a recent decision found the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) responsible for the massacre of 70 people in Kilwa in 2004.
In its decision, the Commission not only urges the DRC State to pay 2.5 million US dollars compensation to eight victims and their families but also urges the DRC to prosecute Anvil Mining’s personnel involved in the massacre.
The African Commission also acknowledged the involvement of mining company Anvil Mining, an Australian-Canadian company (later bought by the Chinese company MinMetals) operating a copper and silver mine in Dikulushi, located 50 kilometers from Kilwa, that would
have provided logistical support to soldiers who bombarded civilians.
This decision sheds light on the corporate legal responsibility for human rights abuses, particularly in the extractive
industry sector, and suggests legal avenues for action against Anvil for alleged abuses.
Universal-KilwaMassacre-News-2017-ENG (full pdf ENG)
