Feb 18, 2016
Today the ICJ published a final report on the reform of the legal profession in the Kyrgyz Republic and creation of a unified bar association.
The report sets out the ICJ’s observations and provides recommendations on the issues that should be addressed as a matter of priority in the course of the reform.
“Resolving these issues will lay the foundations for a strong Kyrgyz legal profession based on international law and standards on the independence of lawyers,” said Róisín Pillay, ICJ Europe Programme Director.
The report welcomes the establishment of a unified Advokatura as an important step both for lawyers and the whole justice system as lawyers play an essential role in any legal system in upholding the rule of law and protecting human rights.
However, the report notes that the establishment of a legal and institutional framework is only the first step in creating an independent, self-regulated profession capable of ensuring integrity and high professional standards.
The ICJ stresses the importance of the momentum as well as the privileged position of lawyers who became the leadership of the new Advokatura.
“It is the vision and actions of these people that will shape the future of the legal profession in the country,” Róisín Pillay added.
The report is based on the ICJ’s mission to the Kyrgyz Republic in September 2015, organized to assess, examine and analyze the reform in terms of the functioning of the legal profession.
An ICJ team met with various representatives of the Advokatura, including members of the Council of the Advokatura and the Advokatura’s constituent bodies, such as the Ethics Commission, the Committee to Protect the Rights of Advocates and the Legislation Committee of Advokatura.
The ICJ, in cooperation with the Training Centre of Advokatura, held a round table discussion with lawyers and held meetings with members of the Prosecutor’s Office and the Judiciary.
Kyrgyzstan-New Advokatura-News-Web Story-2016-RUS (Story in Russian, PDF)
Kyrgyzstan-New Advokatura-Publications-Reports-Fact Finding Mission Report-2016-ENG (Report in English, PDF)
Kyrgyzstan-New Advokatura-Publications-Reports-Fact Finding Mission Report-2016-RUS (Report in Russian, PDF)
Feb 9, 2016
Today, the ICJ intervened before the European Court of Human Rights in two cases against the United Kingdom challenging the compliance of mass surveillance programmes with the European Convention on Human Rights.
The ICJ submitted third party interventions in the cases Big Brother Watch and others v. the United Kingdom and Bureau of Investigative Journalism and Alice Ross v. the United Kingdom.
In its interventions, the ICJ addressed:
- the scope of the rights to privacy and freedom of expression within the meaning of articles 8 and 10 ECHR and of their limitations in relation to metadata;
- the attribution of State responsibility under international law for Convention violations caused via mass or ‘bulk’ surveillance programmes, in particular those involving the gathering of metadata and the related positive obligations of states, and
- the application of the Convention to the extra-territorial dimensions of mass surveillance programmes on the enjoyment of these rights.
UK-ICJ-AmicusBrief-BBW&others-ECtHR-legalsubmission-2016 (download the intervention in BBW and others v UK)
UK-ICJ-AmicusBrief-BIJ&Ross-ECtHR-legalsubmission-2016 (download the intervention in BIJ and Ross v UK)
Feb 2, 2016
The report, published today, assesses the current state of the independence and accountability of the Serbian judiciary and prosecution service, and, in particular, the self-governance of the two professions under the High Judicial Council and the State Prosecutors’ Council.
Following ICJ’s visit to Serbia on 26-30 October 2015, the report Serbia’s judges and prosecutors: the long road to independent self-governance concludes that a culture of dependency from the Executive still exists in the Serbian judiciary and that the system is affected by a stress of reform, due to the continued introduction of new judicial reforms without proper implementation.
The ICJ considers that the self-governance of the judiciary and of the prosecution service, entrusted respectively to the High Judicial Council and to the State Prosecutorial Council, is relatively weak.
The ICJ mission has identified considerable shortcomings in these bodies, including:
- excessive dependence in practice on the political branches of government;
- lack of effective procedures and of sufficient will in the Councils to defend the independence, autonomy and professional integrity of their professions and of individual judges and prosecutors;
- appointment, selection and dismissal procedures open to direct and indirect political influence;
- lack of effective procedures of evaluation of the work of judges and prosecutors;
- misuse of such procedures to impose conformity in decisions;
- a strong hierarchical system in the prosecution service and, in practice, in the judiciary, that undermines internal independence and risks undermining independence of investigations and prosecutions.
The mission, aimed to assess the situation of self-governance of the judiciary and of the prosecutorial service at a critical juncture in their development, took place in the context of the ICJ’s global objective to advance the effective administration of justice and the independence of judges and lawyers.
Serbia-Long Road to Indep Self-Gov-Publications-Reports- Fact-Finding Mission Report-2016-ENG (full report in PDF, English)
Serbia-Long Road to Indep Self-Gov-Publications-Reports- Fact-Finding Mission Report-2016-SER (full report in PDF, Serbian)
Feb 1, 2016
Today is the first of a four-day hearing at the UK Supreme Court in joined appeals from the High Court (Al-Waheed v Ministry of Defence) and the Court of Appeal (Ministry of Defence v Mohammed and Others), in which the ICJ intervened.
The case concerns the detention of persons in Iraq and Afghanistan during the non-international armed conflict phases of British military operations in those countries. Together with Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and Open Society Justice Initiative, the ICJ submitted an intervention in the joined appeal, addressing:
- The complementary application of international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) in situations of armed conflict.
- The lack of authority under IHL, whether treaty or customary law, for internment in situations of non-international armed conflict (NIAC), including consideration of the inapplicability in NIAC of internment rules that govern situations of international armed conflict.
- The requirement that detention in NIACs is compliant with IHRL, the implications of this and the key means by which internment can be lawful while also responsive to the exigencies of the situation.
UK-GlobalSecurity-DetentionArmedConflict-Advocacy-Legal submissons-2016-ENG (download the joint intervention)
Jan 15, 2016
Today, the ICJ submitted a third-party intervention in the case of M.B. v. Spain before the European Court of Human Rights.
The case arose from the attempted removal of a lesbian asylum applicant to Cameroon. The ICJ’s written submissions focus on the relevance of the Refugee Convention, as interpreted by a number of domestic courts, and the EU asylum acquis and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights, to the determination of the scope and content of non-refoulement obligations under Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) of those Contracting Parties that are also EU Member States.
The ICJ’s intervention, in particular, addresses the following:
- the requirement of coerced (including self-enforced) concealment of one’s same-sex sexual orientation, which constitutes persecution under refugee law and is incompatible with the ECHR, in particular Article 3; and,
- the criminalization of consensual same-sex sexual conduct, which gives rise to a real risk of Article 3 prohibited treatment, thus triggering non-refoulement obligations under that provision of the ECHR.
Spain- ECtHR MB v Spain – advocacy – legal-submissions-2016-ENG
