Jun 11, 2014 | Events
The ICJ’s Senior Legal Adviser on women’s human rights participated in a panel discussion on ‘Gains, gaps and challenges in addressing violence against women’, convened on 10 June 2014 in the margins of the Human Rights Council’s 26th regular session in Geneva.
The event was co-sponsored by the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Permanent Missions of Canada and Chile and was moderated by Jane Connors, Chief of the OHCHR Special Procedures Branch. Panelists included Rashida Manjoo, Special Rapporteur on violence against women; Her Excellency Elisa Goldberg, Ambassador of Canada; Her Excellency Marta Maurás Peréz, Ambassador of Chile; and Leah Hoctor, ICJ Senior Legal Adviser.
The ICJ’s intervention focussed on remaining challenges, including the lack of prompt and effective investigations into allegations of violence against women (VAW); systemic failures in some States’ implementation of their due diligence obligations; and a series of disconnects at the international level pertaining to the link between VAW and other forms of discrimination and rights violations that women face, the lack of a holistic conceptualisation and treatment of VAW, and the insufficient integration of legal and normative progress in the discussions and approach of international fora.
Jun 10, 2014 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
The ICJ joined other non-governmental organisations in issuing a joint statement ahead of the 2014 annual treaty body chairpersons meeting, to be held on 24-27 June 2014.
The statement, made by NGOs that regularly contribute to the work of the treaty bodies, broadly welcomed the outcome of the UN General Assembly process to strengthen the treaty bodies. It, in particular, highlights a number of priority areas for consideration by treaty body chairpersons as critical to implementation of the General Assembly resolution and the ongoing process of strengthening the UN treaty bodies.
UNTBs-AnnualChairpersonsMeeting-JointStatement-Non-LegalSubmission-2014 (download full statement in PDF)
Jun 2, 2014 | Events
The ICJ, with the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), will be convening a high-level lunch meeting on ‘Business and Human Rights: Enhancing Standards and Ensuring Redress’ on 4 June 2014.
The meeting will discuss the needs and options for enhancing international law and standards pertaining to the transnational operation of business enterprises, with a particular emphasis on ensuring redress for victims of human rights abuses.
The meeting will be moderated by Geneviève Paul, Head of Globalisation and Human Rights for FIDH. Speakers will be Bertrand Swiderski, Sustainability Director for the Carrefour Group; Regine Barth, Head of Environmental Law & Governance Division at the Oko-Institut; Debbie Stothard, FIDH Secretary-General and Coordinator of the Alternative ASEAN Network on Burma; and Carlos Lopez, Senior Legal Adviser at the International Commission of Jurists.
FIDH-ICJ-BHRStandardsAndRedress-Event-2014 (download flyer in PDF)
Jun 1, 2014
The ICJ has provided a further submission to the Human Rights Committee in response to the Committee’s second draft General Comment on the right to liberty and security of the person and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention.
The ICJ’s submission focusses on issues concerning the extraterritorial application of the ICCPR; arbitrary detention and unlawful detention; judicial supervision of all forms of deprivation of liberty; and non-refoulement.
The work of the Human Rights Committee will continue throughout 2014 towards the eventual adoption of General Comment No 35 on Article 9 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – the right to liberty and security of the person and freedom from arbitrary arrest and detention. This General Comment will replace the Committee’s earlier General Comment No 8 of 1982.
ICJ-HRCtteeGeneralCommentArticle9-LegalSubmission-2014 (download, in PDF, the ICJ’s latest submission to the Committee)
See also:
May 21, 2014
The ICJ has released a briefing paper entitled ‘International Human Rights Law and Gender Equality and Non-Discrimination Legislation. Requirements and Good Practices.’
Ensuring women’s enjoyment of their human rights on a basis of equality and without discrimination is a fundamental tenet of international law and is enshrined in a range of international human rights treaty provisions. In order to give effect to this obligation, States must enact legislative guarantees of gender equality and prohibitions of discrimination that are effective and fit for purpose.
This short briefing paper provides an overview of the basic components that international treaty monitoring bodies have repeatedly held must be encompassed within national legal provisions in order to meet the requirements of international law and standards.
GenderEquality&NonDiscriminationLegislation-BriefingPaper-Legal-2014 (download briefing paper in PDF)
