Under the second cycle of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) mechanism, the UN Human Rights Council Working Group on the UPR will be undertaking a review of Israel during its 15th session in January 2013.
La CIJ y el Observatorio expresaron su preocupación común por la continuada privación arbitraria de libertad de la Jueza María Lourdes Afiuni y por los actos de intimidación y amenazas contra los abogados que la defienden.
The ICJ has concluded a fact finding mission concerning the prosecution and trial against human rights defender Azimjan Askarov. The mission was undertaken to respond to allegations of human rights violations surrounding the case, including breaches international fair trial standards during the investigation and trial. Particular concerns were raised about torture and ill-treatment of Mr Askarov, intimidation of lawyers and political pressure on judges.
Kyrgyzstan-mission case Askarov-web-2011 (full text in English, PDF)
Kyrgyzstan-mission case Askarov-web-2011 (full text in Russian, PDF)
28 September 2011 marks the ten year anniversary of the adoption by the UN Security Council of its resolution 1373 concerning measures to combat terrorism, which resulted in a proliferation of counter-terrorism legislation.
In a statement delivered that day to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe during its annual Human Dimension Implementation Meeting, the ICJ’s Dr Alex Conte identified ten key lessons learnt over the last decade of focused attention on the countering of terrorism and the relationship this has had with national, regional and international human rights law.
The ICJ is urging the Members of the House of Representatives to dismiss the draft legislation on evidence in criminal trials which could exacerbate further the already dramatic delays in Italian judicial proceedings.
The legislation would eliminate the possibility for a judge to reject the admission of “superfluous” and even “manifestly superfluous” evidence, allowing the parties to a case to call an almost infinite number of witnesses, and potentially delaying the case indefinitely. It also would make it unduly difficult to incorporate previous final rulings on the same case as prima facie evidence of the facts in the proceedings.”
Italy-length-criminal-trial-web story-2011-eng (full text in English, PDF)
Italy-length-criminal-trial-web story-2011-ita (full text in Italian, PDF)
![Smoke rises after an Israeli air strike on the village of Taybeh in southern Lebanon [Source: Al Jazeera]](https://www.icj.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/03/Screenshot-2026-03-20-at-15.56.24-300x200.png)
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