In a controversial decision, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has concluded that WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange’s detention, house arrest, and subsequent seclusion in Ecuador’s London embassy constitute arbitrary detention which the governments of Sweden and the United Kingdom should redress. [OHCHR Press Release: Assange] The independent experts’ opinion, released on February 5, 2016, finds violations of Mr. Assange’s
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Read on for the latest human rights developments, and an overview of IJRC’s recent activities. Click here to open the newsletter in PDF.
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During the month of January 2016, a number of bodies will be in session whose mandates are relevant to the protection of human rights. These include one regional human rights monitoring body, the European Committee of Social Rights (ECSR), in addition to four United Nations mechanisms: the Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Working Group on the Universal Periodic
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After more than 20 years of prosecuting those most responsible for the Rwandan genocide of 1994, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has issued its final judgment and closed its doors. [The Citizen] In its forty-fifth and final judgment, delivered on December 14, 2015, the Appeals Chamber decided appeals from six defendants previously convicted by the Trial Chamber. [BBC]
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The 21st session of the Conference of the Parties to the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP21) concluded on December 12, 2015 with the adoption of the Paris Agreement, described as the first universal, legally binding instrument to impose specific obligations on both developed and developing nations to address climate change. [Earth Justice Press Release; BBC] The agreement will
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A new database aims to increase access to the proceedings, evidence, decisions, and orders of the international tribunal created to prosecute those most responsible for the commission of international crimes during the Rwandan genocide of 1994. On December 3, 2015, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) launched the Judicial Records and Archives Database (JRAD) to facilitate public access to
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All of us at the International Justice Resource Center wish our readers, clients, partners, and supporters a very happy Human Rights Day. Human Rights Day commemorates and celebrates the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the world’s first universal human rights instrument. In 1950, the United Nations established Human Rights Day to increase awareness and appreciation of these
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The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) recently released its decision in a case concerning discriminatory treatment of two Mexican soldiers with HIV, after concluding that Mexico had complied with all its recommendations for remedying the violations. See IACHR, Report No. 80/15, Case 12.689, J.S.C.H and M.G.S. (Mexico), 28 October 2015. The complaint, brought on behalf of two former members of
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A new international agreement on modern slavery will enter into force in 2016, following ratifications by Niger and Norway. [UN News Centre] The Protocol of 2014 to the Forced Labour Convention, 1930 updates a 1930 treaty, including by addressing the increase of forced labor in the private sector and the vulnerabilities of workers in specific industries and at-risk groups, such
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The ongoing civil war in Syria has uprooted more than in 4.2 million Syrian refugees and 7.6 million internally displaced persons, and these numbers are predicted to increase. [UNHCR Press Release] A survey of individuals at a UNHCR refugee camp in Turkey revealed that more than half of them left Syria because it is too dangerous to stay, often noting
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