Oct 23, 2009 | Advocacy, Analysis briefs
In this brief, ICJ Commissioner Justice Ian Binnie (photo) describes the progress that has been made – and remains to be made – in developing an acceptable legal liability framework for corporate human rights violations.
In particular, Justice Binnie cites the ICJ’s Expert Panel Report on Corporate Complicity and the SRSG John Ruggie’s framework of “Protect, Respect, and Remedy,” as important advances in defining this framework.
He urges the greater development and use of both criminal and civil theories of liability for holding corporations accountable for violations.
He also calls for victims who have exhausted all local remedies to have access to an international body such as the International Criminal Court.
legalremedies-businessHR-analysis brief-2009 (full text, PDF)
Oct 20, 2009 | Agendas
Seminar: Business, Human Rights and Access to Justice
Warsaw, 20th October 2009
Seminar business rights-agenda-2009 (full text in English, PDF)
Oct 9, 2009
In this submission, the ICJ explores key aspects of the “Protect, Respect, Remedy” framework established by the Special Representative to the Secretary General John Ruggie (photo).
In its resolution 8/7 of June 2008, the Human Rights Council requested the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights to organize, within the framework of the Council, a two-day consultation “in order to discuss ways and means to operationalize the framework, and to submit a report on the meeting to the Council”.
The consultation was conceived of as a means to respond to calls from civil society for the Council to ensure wide and non-selective participation by grass-root organizations and victims groups in the debates around the issue of corporate human rights responsibilities.
Guided by United Nations instruments, the ICJ attaches great importance to the development of an approach that is centred on the individual, including victims or potential victims of abuse, their rights and needs.
The ICJ submission discusses the need for a normative approach to holding corporations accountable for their human rights violations, and it applies the findings of the ICJ Expert Panel Report on Corporate Complicity to elaborate on corporations’ legal responsibility to conduct due diligence into their suppliers, buyers, partners and subsidiaries.
The submission also highlights the obstacles victims face to achieving redress through national judiciaries, including corruption, a lack of judicial independence, capacity, and enforcement, as well as significant procedural hurdles. Finally, the submission discusses the weaknesses of current international mechanisms and the need for exploration into alternatives.
ICJ Submission for the Consultation on Business and Human Rights-Position Papers-2009 (full text PDF)
Sep 29, 2009 | News
The ICJ believes that the Human Rights Council should retain an independent, expert and collegial body, with a mandate focused on studying unexplored, new challenges and areas of human rights.
Expert body HRC-Web stories-2006 (full text, PDF)
Sep 23, 2009
The ICJ provided its views to the Human Rights Committee, in advance of the consideration of the Periodic Report of the Russian Federation.
This submission focuses on violations of human rights in the context of counter-terrorism and counter-extremism laws and practices, and on the erosion of the independence of judges and lawyers.
In particular, the ICJ wishes to highlight the lack of independent and effective investigations, and impunity, for gross violations of human rights in counter-terrorism operations in Chechnya and the North Caucasus; increasing harassment and persecution of lawyers; harassment and restrictions on the rights of human rights defenders; provisions of counter-terrorism legislation that risk violations of Covenant rights; and extradition and other transfers of suspects to countries within the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation, in violation of the obligation of non-refoulement to face a danger of torture or other serious violation of human rights.
Russia-ICJ submission Human Rights Committee-non-legal submission-2009 (full text, PDF)
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