Sep 23, 2022 | News
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Equal Education Law Centre (EELC) welcome the judgment handed down by the South African Constitutional Court in the matter of BlindSA v Minister of Trade, Industry and Competition on 21 September 2022. In a unanimous decision, the Court confirmed a Gauteng High Court order declaring the Copyright Act unconstitutional to the extent that it fails to make provisions that uphold the rights of persons with disabilities.
May 12, 2022 | News
Today, the ICJ, represented by the Equal Education Law Centre (EELC), will present oral arguments in a case in which the disability rights NGO BlindSA seeks confirmation of a High Court order that declared the Copyright Act unconstitutional due to its failure to provide exceptions to provide for the rights persons with print disabilities.
Sep 30, 2021 | Events, News
Today, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) Regional Office for Central Asia (ROCA) and the Nationwide Movement “Yuksalish” are holding an Expert Discussion on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) in Uzbekistan.
Aug 6, 2021 | Advocacy, Open letters
The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and Equal Education Law Centre (EELC), in a
joint submission urged the South African Parliament to act to ensure that reading materials are made more widely accessible to persons with disabilities and that the country’s copyright laws are amended to advance rather than impede that objective.
Aug 28, 2020 | News
The ICJ contributed to and has endorsed a groundbreaking new UN standard aimed at ensuring effective access to justice for persons with disabilities, published today in Geneva.
Published today by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, the International Principles and Guidelines on Access to Justice for Persons with Disabilities were adopted jointly by the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, and the Special Envoy of the UN Secretary-General on Disability and Accessibility. They have been endorsed by the ICJ and the International Disability Alliance.
The ICJ contributed to the development of the Principles and Guidelines, including through participation in expert consultations alongside disability rights experts, organizations of people with disabilities, State representatives, academics, and other judicial and legal practitioners. The ICJ also plans to assist with promotion and implementation of the Principles and Guidelines at the global and national levels.
Building on the provisions and interpretations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and other international standards and best practices, the document affirms ten key principles of access to justice for people with disabilities and sets out detailed guidelines on how to implement each one.
The Principles and Guidelines are intended to be a practical tool to help inform the design and implementation of justice systems that provide equal access to justice for persons with disabilities, in line with international human rights standards.
The Principles and Guidelines can be downloaded by clicking here.
Further information about the process of their development is available here, and the UN press release announcing their publication is here.
