Dec 4, 2017 | News
Today, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) began a two-day mission on the reform of the legal profession in Kazakhstan.
The ICJ mission will discuss comparative experiences and international standards on the role and independence of lawyers.
The ICJ mission will include representatives of the Bar Associations of Germany, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom.
The experts will have an opportunity to share their views on the reform and discuss their own country practices on the role of lawyers and institutional guarantees of the independence of the legal profession.
In Astana, the ICJ mission will meet, among others, with the Minister of Justice, the Supreme Court of Kazakhstan, members of the Parliament, the Kazakhstan Collegium of Lawyers and National Public Association of Commercial Lawyers “Kazakhstan Bar Association” (“KazBar”).
Contact:
Temur Shakirov, Senior Legal Adviser, ICJ Europe Programme, temur.shakirov(a)icj.org
Dec 1, 2017
In a new briefing paper, the ICJ expressed today concerns at the adverse impact of new legislation on the right to access to a lawyer and to a fair trial in Azerbaijan.
On 31 October 2017, the Azerbaijan Parliament adopted amendments to the Civil and Administrative Codes of Azerbaijan and the law “On lawyers and lawyers’ activity” that restrict representation in court to lawyers who are members of the Bar Association.
The amendments were signed into law on 7 November by President Ilham Aliyev and are due to enter into force on 1 January 2018.
The new legislation bans representation in courts by non-members of the Bar Association in Azerbaijan.
If implemented without a necessary and sufficient transition period, it will terminate the legal practice of many practicing lawyers without a realistic possibility to join the Bar Association and thereby continue their work.
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is concerned that this will leave many people in Azerbaijan without access to legal assistance and representation in violation of their human rights, including the right to a fair hearing.
Azerbaijan-legalsubmission-accesstoalawyer-2017-eng (download the briefing paper)
Nov 23, 2017 | Agendas, Events, News
The ICJ delivers today and tomorrow a training for judges on asylum, migration and international human rights law, including non-discrimination, organised by OSCE and the Judicial Academy.
The training, that takes place in the capital Belgrade, will be delivered to judges of all level of jurisdiction of Serbian courts.
It will focus on human rights law related to the entry of migrants, including refugees, to the territory of a State, to the State’s obligations on international protection, the rules applicable to detention of foreign national and their rights, and the prohibition of non-discrimination.
Serbia-Training-MIgrationAsylum-OSCEJA-2017-eng (download the agenda in English)
Nov 17, 2017 | News
Today, the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the ICJ held a side event in the framework of the OSCE’s Supplementary Human Dimension Meeting (SHDM) on Access to Justice in Vienna.
The event aimed to give an overview of current challenges and key organizational and procedural barriers faced by lawyers in Kazakhstan, in the light of international standards on the independence and role of lawyers.
At the event, lawyers from Kazakhstan as well as international experts discussed what guarantees should be ensured in the planned reform of the legal profession to guarantee professional autonomy and to strengthen the independence of lawyers.
Any undue interference with the independence of the current Bar Association in Kazakhstan would be contrary to international law and standards and would have a significant negative effect not only for Kazakhstan’s justice system but also for the wider Central Asia region.
Nov 11, 2017 | Agendas, Events
Today begins in Istanbul (Turkey) a two-day training for lawyers and CSO practitioners representing and working with migrants, refugees and asylum-seekers.
This event is organized by ICJ, in cooperation with its partners Refugee Rights Turkey, the European Council on Refugees and Exiles (ECRE), Mülteci-Der (MD) and ICJ-EI, as part of the EU co-financed project Fostering Access to Rights for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Turkey.
30 lawyers and civil society practitioners – representing nine different bar associations and relevant organisations from the Istanbul area and other nearby key migration and asylum locations – are taking part in the training on 11 and 12 November.
The training aims to update lawyers and CSOs on the international and national law on the rights of refugees, migrants and asylum-seekers in order to be effective in their work at both the national and international levels. It aims at an effective implementation of the Turkish legal framework on asylum and migration.
The main thematic areas to be discussed will be the principle of non-refoulement, international protection, detention and access to economic, social and cultural rights.
The training will use as a basis the draft training materials prepared by the ICJ and its partners (to be published an the end of 2019) and, among other sources, the ICJ Practitioners Guide no. 6: Migration and International Human Rights Law.
The project “Fostering Access to Rights for Migrants, Refugees and Asylum-Seekers in Turkey” is funded by the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights (EIDHR) of the European Union.
Turkey-Training-Agenda-MigrationAsylumIHRL-Istanbul-2017-eng (download the agenda)
