In a case concerning the right of Traveller families to adequate housing and caravan sites, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR) held that Ireland violated their right to social, legal, and economic protection under Article 16 of the Revised European Social Charter because of the de facto insufficiency of accommodations for Travellers, inadequate conditions in the existing Traveller accommodations,
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On April 14, 2016, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) submitted an application to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR), referring several cases that involve the extrajudicial killings by Colombian security agents. [IACHR Press Release] The victims were killed between 1992 and 1997 and were six of several thousand “falsos positivos,” a term used to refer to ordinary
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Human rights experts and civil society groups have issued repeated calls for Turkey to address the ongoing deterioration of the rights environment in the country amidst a failed Kurdish peace process, a sharp escalation of violent anti-terrorism operations, border guards’ attacks against Syrian refugees, and a severe crackdown on journalists and political dissidents. [Washington Post; CPJ] In a statement delivered
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The East African Court of Justice (EACJ) recently held that the East African Community (EAC) breached its duties to effectively investigate and redress possible violations of the principles in the EAC Treaty that arose from the allegedly illegal expulsion of Rwandan and Burundian immigrants from Tanzania in 2013. See East African Court of Justice, East African Law Society v. Secretary
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On April 26, 2016, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) found that a life sentence was de facto irreducible because the applicant was denied medical treatment that could have positively affected his pardon requests and, consequently, held that the Netherlands violated the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment under Article 3 of
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During the month of May 2016, supranational human rights bodies’ activities will include review of dozens of States’ compliance with their treaty obligations, public hearings on individual complaints, and 11 country visits. The Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) will hear a Finnish case concerning the tension between privacy and freedom of expression and a Belgian case
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We are pleased to share with you an overview of the latest human rights developments and a summary of IJRC’s recent activities, in this April 2016 edition of the IJRC newsletter. Click here to open the newsletter in PDF.
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The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has condemned Columbia’s failure to provide a gay man with equal access to public benefits following the death of his partner, as prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. See I/A Court H.R., Duque v. Colombia. Preliminary Objections, Merits, Reparations and Costs. Judgment of 26 February 2016. Series C No. 310 (Spanish only).
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The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) has adopted a draft protocol on the rights of persons with disabilities, intended to complement the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights and address continued exclusion, harmful practices, and discrimination affecting those with disabilities, especially women, children, and the elderly. The protocol, adopted during the ACHPR’s 19th Extraordinary Session, is
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On March 30, 2016 the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) held that the United Kingdom had fulfilled its procedural obligations under Article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to conduct an effective investigation into the killing of Jean Charles de Menezes by government agents, who wrongly suspected him of terrorist activity. See
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