On 16 April 2022, the ICJ, together with Advocacy Forum-Nepal and the Judges Society-Nepal, organized the National Judicial Dialogue on the Role of Justice Sector Actors in Effective Implementation of Criminal Code Provisions and Supreme Court Jurisprudence on Serious Crimes.
The ICJ expressed concern today at the use of abductions in national security cases in Turkey and the enduring impunity for enforced disappearances in certain Latin American countries, during the interactive dialogue with the UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disapparances at the UN Human Rights Council.
Today, on the occasion of the International Day of the Victims of Enforced Disappearances, we the 33 undersigned local, regional, and international organizations, associations, and networks come together to highlight the dramatic and persistent nature of enforced disappearances in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region and the accompanying impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of these crimes throughout the region.
In a joint communication to five United Nations Special Procedures, the ICJ and its partners urged the mandate holders to call on the Tunisian authorities to immediately stop hampering the transitional justice process.
The organizations expressed their concern at the ongoing attempts to undermine the transitional justice process and accountability efforts for past gross human rights violations.
“The Tunisian transitional justice process has been under serious attack since its inception in 2013. Today, the ICJ and its partners are urging the United Nations Special Procedures to take urgent action to deter such attacks, demand justice for the victims and secure accountability for the perpetrators,” said the Director of ICJ’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, Said Benarbia.
The joint communication highlights the following areas of concern:
The communication is addressed to the following United Nations Special Procedures:
The communication was submitted jointly by the ICJ along with:
Contact
Valentina Cadelo, Legal Adviser, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, e: valentina.cadelo(a)icj.org
Asser Khattab, Research and Communications’ Officer, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme, e: asser.khattab(a)icj.org
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Tunisia-Special-Procedures-Joint-Submission-2021 (PDF, in French)
Between December 2020 and February 2021, the ICJ co-hosted a series of workshops for government authorities, medical professionals and lawyers in the southern border provinces of Thailand on how to conduct investigations into alleged unlawful killings and enforced disappearances.
Thailand’s southern border provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and four districts of Songkhla have been affected by a longstanding ethno-nationalist insurgency, which has involved conflict between certain Malay groups and Thai military and security forces. Special security laws have been enacted and applied to the deep south. Over recent years, there are reports of widespread human rights violations, including violations of due process and fair trial rights, torture, ill-treatment while in custody, arbitrary detention and extrajudicial killings continue to emerge. Investigations into these allegations, prosecutions of perpetrators and provision of remedies and reparations to victims remain slow.
The first workshop was organized between 21 and 22 December 2020 in Songkhla province for authorities from Thailand’s southern border provinces. The event focused on how investigations into unlawful deaths should be conducted in accordance with international human rights law and standards, with a particular focus on the revised Minnesota Protocol (2016), which the ICJ assisted in producing.
The workshop was co-hosted with Thailand’s Ministry of Justice, the Embassy of New Zealand in Bangkok, and the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). The participants included 48 judges, public prosecutors, police investigators, representatives of the Ministry of Justice’s Department of Special Investigation (DSI), the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC), the Narcotics Control Board (ONCB) and observers from the Internal Security Operations Command (ISOC) Region 4 Forward.
The second workshop was organized on 23 and 24 December 2020 in Pattani province for medical professionals in the same region. The event introduced participants to the international human rights law and standards governing the effective investigation and documentation of torture and other ill- treatment, including the revised Minnesota Protocol (2016) and the Istanbul Protocol (1999), and emphasized the important role of medical professionals in the documentation of torture.
The workshop was co-hosted with Thailand’s Ministry of Justice and the OHCHR. The participants included 28 medical professionals from district and military hospitals and detention centres.
Between January and February 2021, the ICJ also developed training videos for defence lawyers and civil society representatives in the southern border provinces. The videos focused on the use of forensic evidence in cases of alleged unlawful killings and how international human rights law and standards, particularly the revised Minnesota Protocol (2016) and ICJ’s Practitioners’ Guide No. 14, can assist defence lawyers when preparing for criminal proceedings and challenging the forensic evidence of prosecution witnesses.
The project was jointly implemented with the OHCHR, Cross-Cultural Foundation, Muslim Attorney Centre Foundation and the Embassy of New Zealand in Bangkok. Participants included 21 defence lawyers and civil society representatives from Thailand’s southern border provinces.
Speakers at the three workshops included:
The workshops are part of the ICJ’s ongoing efforts under the Global Accountability Initiative to ensure the domestic implementation of international law and standards on the investigation of potentially unlawful deaths and enforced disappearances.
In Thailand, since 2017, the ICJ has held several national and regional-level workshops on the same topics with justice sector actors, defence lawyers and civil society representatives.
Contact
Sanhawan Srisod, ICJ Associate Legal Adviser, Asia & the Pacific Programme, e: sanhawan.srisod(a)icj.org
Kingsley Abbott, ICJ Director, Global Redress and Accountability; e: kingsley.abbott(a)icj.org
See also