Mar 4, 2015 | Events
A panel discussion on Guantánamo and accountability for torture, featuring UN Special Rapporteur on Torture Juan E. Méndez and other experts, will take place in Geneva on 9 March 2015 in connection with the UN Human Rights Council session.The panel features:
- Juan E. Méndez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture
- Jamil Dakwar, Director, Human Rights Program, American Civil Liberties Union
- Peter Jan Honigsbert, U of San Francisco Law School, Founder & Director of Witness to Guantánamo
- Julia Hall, Expert on Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights, Amnesty International
moderator: Connie de la Vega, University of San Francisco Law School & Human Rights Advocates.
The ICJ joins the ACLU, Amnesty International, Human Rights Advocates, Conectas, Human Rights Watch, CELS, and OMCT in supporting this event.
The event takes place 9 march 2015, at 15:00-17:00, Room XXIII, Palais des Nations, in Geneva.
The event flyer may be downloaded in PDF format here: SideEventTorture
Mar 2, 2015 | Events
A major side event at the Human Rights Council, featuring current and former UN Special Rapporteurs together with human rights defenders from Swaziland and Zimbabwe, will discuss national security and human rights defenders, on 10 March.
The ICJ joins Article 19, FIDH, ISHR, and OMCT, in supporting the side event.
The panel discussion will feature:
- Michel Forst, UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
- Tanele Maseko, campaigner for the release of her detained husband, Swaziland lawyer Thulani Maseko (pictured – see recent submission on his case here)
- Jimena Reyes, Director of Americas Desk, FIDH
- Hina Jilani, Pakistani human rights lawyer and former UN Special Representative on Human Rights Defenders (and member of the ICJ Executive Committee)
- Roselyn Hanzi, Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights
- Gerald Staberock, Director, World Organisation against Torture
The side event will take place Tuesday, 10 March, from 15h00 to 16h30, at Palais des Nations, Geneva, Room XI.
Mar 2, 2015 | Advocacy, Open letters
The ICJ today joins with dozens of other NGOs from around the world in an open letter calling for the UN Human Rights Council to establish a Special Rapporteur on Privacy at its current session.
The UN General Assembly, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, existing special procedure mandate holders, and many states and civil society organisations have recognized the pressing need to provide continuous, systematic and authoritative guidance on the scope and content of the right to privacy as enshrined in article 12 of UDHR and article 17 of ICCPR. Significantly, all of them have identified the need to assess and monitor the ongoing implementation of this right. The creation of a Special Rapporteur would fill this long-standing gap.
Although the initiative, led by Germany and Brazil, has its origins in concerns about online and telecommunications surveillance, the call is for the creation of a Special Rapporteur with a mandate to look at all aspects of the right to privacy, in all contexts, including issues relating to private sector practices.
HRC28-SRPrivacy-Advocacy-JointLetter-2015
Feb 17, 2015 | News
Alleging a range of human rights violations by Swaziland in the cases of Thulani Maseko and Bheki Makhubu, leading legal advocates today filed a petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) in Geneva.
The American Bar Association’s Center for Human Rights, the global law firm Hogan Lovells and the ICJ jointly produced a petition calling for the UNWGAD to issue an opinion regarding the lawfulness of the continued incarceration of Thulani Maseko, an internationally recognized human rights lawyer and feature writer for The Nation magazine.
“The consequences of this arbitrary action against Thulani Maseko have not only violated his rights and exacted a heavy personal toll, but have also highlighted the rule of law deficit in Swaziland,” said Wilder Tayler, ICJ’s Secretary General. “Thulani Maseko has been denied his right to express an opinion on public affairs and the administration of justice, guaranteed under international law and affirmed in the UN Basic principles on the Role of lawyers.”
Thulani Maseko and journalist Bheki Makhubu were charged with two counts of contempt of court emanating from articles published in February and March 2014, in which they questioned circumstances surrounding the arrest of a government vehicle inspector.
They were sentenced to two years of imprisonment, without the alternative option of a fine at the end of a trial largely condemned by leading international rights groups as unfair and not complying with international standards on the right to a fair trial.
Some of the fair trial guarantees that have been breached, according to the legal petition filed with the UNGWAD, include the right to be tried by an independent and impartial tribunal; right to a public hearing; right to a legal counsel; right to the presumption of innocence; right to bail; and right to protection of the law.
“The use of contempt of court proceedings to suppress the right to freedom of expression is a violation of international human rights law,” said Marc Gottridge, partner at Hogan Lovells. “The right to freedom of expression is guaranteed in the Swazi constitution and international law, including treaties to which Swaziland is a party.”
“The general failings of the Swazi judiciary with respect to independence and impartiality makes it reasonable to conclude that there cannot be an effective domestic remedy for Thulani Maseko,” he added.
Contact:
Arnold Tsunga, Director, ICJ Africa Regional Programme, t +27 716 405 926 or +41 762 399 032, e arnold.tsunga(a)icj.org,
Matt Pollard, Senior Legal Adviser, ICJ, Centre for Independence of Judges and lawyers, t +41 22 979 38 12, e matt.pollard(a)icj.org
Marc Gottridge, Partner Hogan Lovells, t +1 212 918 3000, e marc.gottridge(a)hoganlovells.com
Ginna Anderson, Senior Counsel, Center for Human Rights, American Bar Association, t +1 202 442 3438, e ginna.anderson(a)americanbar.org
Background:
Thulani Maseko was arrested on 17th March 2014 following a warrant of arrest that was issued by the Chief Justice Michael Ramodibedi on his own motion.
This was after he had written an article titled “Where the Law Has No Place” criticising the courts for the way that a fellow Swazi citizen Mr Gwebu Bhantshana had been arrested and detained and the wider implications of that case on the rule of law in Swaziland.
Save for 3 days in April 2014 when he was released following Judge Mumcy Dlamini’s judgment declaring his arrest and detention wrongful and illegal, Thulani has been in custody since his initial arrest. Mr. Maseko was initially held at Sidwashini Correctional facility before he was taken to Big Bend Correctional facility, where he is currently lodged.
Further background material can be found here:
http://www.americanbar.org/news/abanews/aba-news-archives/2014/04/statement_of_jamesr.html
https://www.icj.org/swaziland-icj-condemns-the-harsh-prison-term-imposed-on-thulani-maseko-and-bheki-makhubu/
https://www.icj.org/swaziland-icj-condemns-the-conviction-of-celebrated-human-rights-lawyer-and-prominent-journalist-on-charges-of-contempt-of-court/
https://www.icj.org/swaziland-icj-concerned-at-detention-of-human-rights-lawyer-and-journalist/
Download the petition:
Swaziland-Maseko WGAD Petition-Advocacy-2015-Eng (full text in PDF)
The lawyers at Hogan Lovells US LLP who worked on this petition are Marc Gottridge, Dianne Milner, Allison Holt and Hans H. Hertell.
Sep 26, 2014 | News
As the UN Human Rights Council approached the conclusion of its 27th regular session tonight, it adopted resolutions including on the topics of violence and discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity and the protection of civil society space.
The resolutions on civil society space, and on non-violence and non-discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or gender identity, were adopted after a series of hostile amendments were defeated.
The resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity, led by Brazil, Chile, Colombia and Uruguay, recognizes the worldwide problem of violence and discrimination, and builds on a resolution on the same subject from 2011. It calls for the High Commissioner for Human Rights to update the report produced under the 2011 resolution.
The States that supported the resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity overcame a series of amendments brought by Congo, Djibouti, Egypt, Malaysia, Nigeria, South Sudan, Uganda, and United Arab Emirates. The amendments would have among other things deleted all references to sexual orientation and gender identity from the resolution text, fundamentally changing its purpose, and perpetuating a complete denial of the very real violence and discrimination inflicted on lesbian, gay, bisexual, transexual and intersex people in all regions of the world.
The civil society space resolution, which was led by Chile, Ireland, Japan, Sierra Leone, Tunisia, draws on discussions at a Panel convened by the Council earlier in the year. It affirms the valuable contribution made by civil society in countries around the world, expresses concern about the threats and challenges faced by civil society, and requests the High Commissioner for Human Rights to produce practical recommendations for addressing these threats and concerns.
The texts of the resolutions (in the final draft form on which they were adopted – the official final versions are not yet available) are available here: Civil Society Resolution Sexual Orientation Gender Identity Resolution
A joint NGO press release on the resolution on sexual orientation and gender identity is available here.
The ICJ maintains databases of jurisprudence, legislation and UN action on the topic of sexual orientation and gender identity.
