Jul 21, 2023 | News
Today, the High Court in Pretoria was due to hear the matter of Democratic Alliance v The President of South Africa and Others. The Court agreed to hear the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) as joint amicus curiae (friends of the court). The matter was however settled between the parties prior to the hearing in which the state has agreed to apply for an arrest warrant for President Putin.
Jul 12, 2023 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) welcomes the judgment of the Harare High Court which has acquitted human rights activists Joana Mamombe and Cecelia Revai Chimbiri following their arrest on 10 June 2020. The case reviewed magistrate Faith Mashure’s decision to charge the women for “publishing or communicating false statements prejudicial to the State”, or alternatively, “defeating or obstructing the course of justice”. The high court held that the magistrate’s finding of a prima facie case against the human rights activists was grossly unreasonable and attributed to bias and mala fides.
Jul 11, 2023 | News
The ICJ condemns the violent attacks on human rights lawyer, Obey Shava, who was severely beaten by four unidentified assailants The Zimbabwean authorities must conduct a prompt, thorough, and impartial investigation into his assault and bring to justice those responsible for the attack. They must also take measures to protect Obey Shava’s well-being and physical safety
Obey Shava is a human rights lawyer, co-founder of Shava Law Chambers, and a member of Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights (ZLHR). He has been providing legal representation to activists from the Zimbabwean opposition party, Citizens Coalition for Change (CCC). CCC spokesperson, Fadzayi Mahere, described the incident as a cowardly act done at a time Shava has been litigating on behalf of her party in the double candidates fraud cases as well as electoral appeals that have emerged in the build-up to the country’s harmonized elections on August 23.
Jun 23, 2023
In advance of the upcoming examination of Lesotho’s human rights record under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) in July, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), The People’s Matrix Association (PM), Seinoli Legal Centre (SLC) and the Lesotho National Federation of Organizations of the Disabled (LNFOD) made a joint submission to the UN Human Rights Committee. The document draws the Committee’s attention to the human rights impact of certain failures by Lesotho to comply with its obligations under the ICCPR and makes a number of recommendations to address those failures.
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ICJ, PM, SLC & LNFOD Joint Submission on Lesotho to the UN Human Rights Committee
Jun 16, 2023 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) has welcomed the Supreme Court of Namibia’s recent landmark ruling ordering the government to interpret the country’s immigration laws so as to recognize same-sex marriages concluded abroad. Nonetheless, the organization is gravely concerned at the country-wide protests against the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and intersex (LGBTQI+) people and against the ruling, including through a petition calling for the removal of the judges responsible for it and for the Minister of Justice to be fired. Such public attacks on judges threaten judicial independence and, in turn, undermine the rule of law.
