Apr 29, 2011 | News
The United Nations Human Rights Council today convened a special session on the situation of human rights in the Syrian Arab Republic.
By affirmative vote of 26 of the 47 members, the Council adopted a resolution on the human rights crisis in Syria.
While welcoming the content of the resolution, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) expressed regret that the Human Rights Council was unable to adopt a resolution on such a critical situation without consensus. The ICJ had called on the Council to take strong and unanimous action in response to the ongoing gross human rights violations committed by the Syrian security forces, including members of the Presidential guard and pro-regime militia.
Syria-finding mission-UN-web story-2011 (full text, PDF)
Apr 28, 2011 | News
The ICJ today called upon Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and the transitional government to take immediate, concrete, measures to protect human rights.
These measures should aim to end the practice of torture and arbitrary detention; pursue accountability for serious human violations; ensure that civilians are not prosecuted before military courts; and adopt, in accordance with international standards, legal and policy reforms necessary to establish the Rule of Law and effective democratic institutions in Egypt.
Egypt-establishment of effective democratic institutions-press release-2011 (full text, PDF)
Apr 23, 2011 | News
The ICJ today called upon the UN Security Council to take concrete measures to ensure the immediate protection of all people whose lives are under threat by the ongoing violent crackdown by Syrian security forces.
Syria-protect Syrian population against killings-press release-2011 (full text, PDF)
Mar 17, 2011 | Advocacy, Non-legal submissions
Since 1963, under the framework of a State of Emergency, serious and widespread human rights violations have been committed in Syria, including torture and other ill-treatment, enforced disappearances, and arbitrary arrests and detentions.
Suspected political opponents, human rights lawyers and other defenders have been regularly and arbitrarily detained, ill-treated and, in many cases, held without charge or trial for several years. Others have been convicted and sentenced, under the emergency law and other restrictive dispositions of the Syrian Penal Code (in particular Articles 267,273, 285, 286, 287, 288, and 307),to lengthy prison terms after grossly unfair trials before military courts, the Supreme State Security Court (SSSC), or civilian courts.
In spite of the persistent and consistent reports of these human rights violations, Syrian authorities have failed to investigate them promptly and independently, and to bring to justice State officials and laws enforcement officers allegedly responsible for these violations. They have enjoyed effective impunity.
Syria-UPR submission ICJ-non-legal submission-2011 (full text, PDF)
Feb 25, 2011 | News
The ICJ welcomes the adoption today by the UN Human Rights Council of one of the strongest resolutions in the short history of the five-year old Council.
During a special session on the situation of human rights in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, the ICJ had called on the Human Rights Council to take the strongest possible action in response to the gross and systematic human rights violations being committed in Libya.
Libya-HRC-humanrightsviolations-news-2011 (full text, PDF)
