International Commission of Jurists
Torture in South Africa : recent documents

Torture in South Africa : recent documents

Dec 1, 1982

At 1.30 am on 5 February 1982, the body of Dr Neil Aggett, a trades union organizer, was found hanging against the grille of his cell at John Vorster Square police headquarters.

Development and the rule of law: prevention versus cure as a human rights strategy

Development and the rule of law: prevention versus cure as a human rights strategy

Jun 1, 1981

Basic working paper by Philip Alston following the conference on ‘Development and the rule of law’, held in The Hague, 27 April-1 May 1981.

This paper is designed to provide an overview of some of the main development issues with which the international human rights community has been attempting  to grapple in recent years.

This paper includes:

  • Introduction
  • Redressing the curative imbalance in the United Nations’ approach to human rights : the role of lawyers
  • The relationship between the two sets of rights : civil and political rights and economic, social and cultural rights
  • Participation in the development process
  • Agrarian reform, labour legislation and legal resources for the rural and urban poor
  • Human rights and the formulation and application of development policies : (a) the national level, (b) the international level
  • Human rights and the New International Economic Order
  • The right to development as an emerging human right

Universal-rule of law development-working paper-1981-eng (full text in English, PDF)

Experiences in the international protection of the independence of judges and lawyers

Experiences in the international protection of the independence of judges and lawyers

Apr 1, 1981

Report by Hans Thoolen, former executive secretary of the ICJ, of the Symposium on the independence of judges and lawyers, November 28, 1980, Helsinki.

Best practice on how to ensure an independent judiciary. Hans Thoolen explains the creation of the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, and defines the conditions of such independence.

international protection independence lawyers judges-seminar report-1981-eng (full text in English, PDF)

The rule of law in the areas administered by Israel

The rule of law in the areas administered by Israel

Jan 1, 1981

While this study is neither government-sponsored nor government-backed, it is mostly the work of lawyers who do their reserve duty in the Israel Defence Forces as legal advisers to the military commanders in the administered areas.

Normally, they engage in private practice as advocates before the ordinary courts of Israel; but for a few weeks each year they perform their military duties by devoting their legal abilities and acumen to fostering the Rule of Law in the administered areas.

Many of them are members or supporters of the Israel National Section of the International Commission of Jurists — whose objects they promote by keeping a constant and jealous watch for any infringement or diminution of the Rule of Law at the hands of military men and administrators not trained in the law.

If they have not always succeeded, it is because security considerations, which are not within their competence or expertise, have been regarded as overriding — as indeed they are under the provisions of international law.

While all of those legal contributors will have to remain anonymous, it is my pleasant duty to mention at least the most active and outstanding among them, Joel Singer, the head of the International Law Branch of the Military Advocate-General’s Unit, without whose devotion and scholarship this study could never have crystallized.

Israel-the rule of law in the administered areas-thematic report-1981-eng (full text in English, PDF)

Translate »