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)
Sep 15, 2009 | News
The ICJ welcomed today the release of the report by the Fact Finding Mission on the Gaza conflict presented to the Human Rights Council.
Aug 26, 2009 | News
The ICJ applauds the decision to “conduct a preliminary review into whether US laws were violated in connection with the interrogation of specific detainees at overseas locations.”
USA-Broader mandate for prosecutor essential-Press release-2009 (full text, PDF)
Aug 20, 2009 | News
The ICJ has released a letter urging the Government of Nepal to strengthen the proposed Bill on Crime and Punishment of Disappearances to bring it into line with International Human Rights standards.
Nepal-ICJ call for amendments to bill on disappearences-Press Release-2009 (full text, PDF)
Nepal-Recommendation Letter to Peace Minister-Open letters-2009 (full text, PDF)
Jul 22, 2009 | News
The ICJ releases the electronic version of Practitioners’ Guide No. 4: Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity and International Human Rights Law.
Around the world, people of diverse sexual orientations and gender identities are singled out for abuse. In states with laws that criminalize same-sex sexual conduct, LGBT people are arrested, detained, tortured, and, in some cases, executed.
Even in states with no official penal sanctions, LGBT people are the target of violent hate crimes, harassment, and ostracism. They live in fear of losing their jobs, their housing, and their families, all because of how they live and whom they love.
For the past five years, ICJ has worked on promoting the applicability of human rights law to violations based on sexual orientation and gender identity. Together with the International Service for Human Rights, ICJ facilitated the development of the Yogyakarta Principles.
This document, drafted by a distinguished group of human rights experts, articulates the human rights principles that apply to sexual orientation and gender identity, and identifies the legal sources of States’ obligations to protect, promote and fulfil rights.
Drawing on the Yogyakarta Principles, the ICJ wrote the Practitioners’ Guide to provide judges, lawyers, and activists a detailed understanding of the legal foundations for the protection of people victimized on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity.
The Practitioners’ Guide offers a comprehensive review of the principles of non-discrimination, equality, and privacy. It then analyzes the scope and nature of the legal prohibition against some of the most severe violations – torture, deprivation of liberty, extrajudicial and arbitrary executions, and denial of the rights to freedom of expression, association, and assembly.
Through the Practitioners’ Guide, the ICJ hopes to increase awareness of human rights principles that protect people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, as well as to encourage legal advocacy.
For the text of this Practitioners guide, see Sexual orientation, gender identity and international human rights law – Practitioners’ guide, no. 4
