UN Statement: indicators of independence of justice systems

Judges for Judges today joined a statement delivered by the International Bar Association on indicators of independence of justice systems. The statement came during the interactive dialogue with the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers.

It read as follows:

As international organisations of legal professionals, we endorse the recommendation made by the Special Rapporteur to develop a set of international indicators to assess the independence of justice systems.

The Special Rapporteur has previously stated: ‘No ideal justice system exists; rather, there are universal principles that must be respected in the structure and functioning of any judicial system, so that it can duly fulfil its purpose’. (Report of the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, (2014) UN Doc A/69/294, para 92.)

Achieving Sustainable Development Goal 16 – that is, providing access to justice for all and building effective, accountable and inclusive institutions – will require respect for the universal principles of independence and impartiality of justice systems and the independence of the legal profession.

In 2015, the International Bar Association (IBA) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) proposed two indicators under SDG16, regarding the independence of the judiciary and an independent and self-governing legal profession. The IBA is currently developing ‘indicia of independence’ that can be used to assess the state of independence of the legal profession in a given jurisdiction. The Commonwealth Lawyers Association (CLA) and the Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association (CMJA) continue to monitor judicial and legal independence through the Commonwealth Latimer House Working Group.

We therefore, Madam Special Rapporteur, fully support your endeavour to develop universal indicators that complete the UN Rule of Law Indicators, and build on the UN Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary, the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers, and the Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors.

We further call upon States to ensure that national targets and indicators duly align with international indicators and international principles.

Thank you, Mr President

Lees verder…;

Joint UPR statement IBAHRI

Human Rights Council, 31^st session

Agenda Item 6: General Debate – Universal Periodic Review (18 March 2016)

Mr President,

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) released this week its report on the ‘Role of the UPR in advancing human rights in the administration of justice’. The report assesses more than 38,000 recommendations made between 2008 and 2014 for references to the legal profession.

The report’s key findings include:

UPR recommendations still insufficiently address the role of judges, lawyers and prosecutors, or the threats they face, as extensively documented by the Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. Significantly, these recommendations often make no reference to relevant UN standards.

Recommendations relating to the independence of judges are often too vague to be an effective response to the shortcomings of any given jur
isdiction. Serious issues in the appointment and removal of judges are mostly ignored.

The independence of lawyers was considered in fewer than 100 of the 38,000 UPR recommendations.

Prosecutorial independence is addressed in less than 10 per cent of the recommendations calling upon States to effectively investigate or prosecute rights violations.

Guarantees for legal professionals’ rights to freedom of expression, assembly and association are barely addressed. This fails to reflect the key role that self-governing organisations of legal professionals should play in upholding human rights and the rule of law, the independence of the legal profession and law reform processes.

As international organisations of legal professionals, we foster the engagement of the legal profession in UN human rights mechanisms and in monitoring the implementation of UPR recommendations.

We call upon the Human Rights Council, as well as States, to ensure that in the third cycle of the UPR, the role of judges, lawyers, and prosecutors receives the heightened attention that it is due, as recognised by the UN Basic Principles on the independence of the judiciary, the UN Basic Principles on the role of lawyers and the UN Guidelines on the role of prosecutors.

Thank you, Mr President

The following organisations have endorsed this statement:

Commonwealth Magistrates’ and Judges’ Association

Commonwealth Lawyers Association

International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute

International Commission of Jurists

Judges for Judges

Lawyers for Lawyers

Southern Africa Litigation Centre

J4J, IBAHRI, L4L, SALC Joint Report to the 2nd Cycle Universal Periodic Review of Swaziland

Between April and May 2016, the Kingdom of Swaziland will have its human rights record reviewed by a peer of states in a process known as the Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This is the second time Swaziland will be reviewed under the UPR. Prior to this, civil society organisations are provided an opportunity to present their own report regarding the country’s human rights record. As part of this process, Judges for Judges (J4J), the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L) and the Southern Africa Litigation Centre (SALC) prepared a joint report.

The report covers the organisations’ concerns regarding the continued suppression of freedom of expression, association and assembly in the country; violations of the rights of arrested and detained persons; the absence of the rule of law, lack of external and internal independence of the judiciary; as well as the failure of Swaziland to guarantee effective access to legal services provided by an independent legal profession as set out in the UN Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers.

Full Joint Shadow Report readable via issuu or download the pdf.

Informele bijeenkomst Special Rapporteur Monica Pinto en NGO-supportgroup

Evert van der Molen overhandigt exemplaar Matters of Principle aan Monica Pinto

Op uitnodiging van Monica Pinto, de speciale rapporteur voor de onafhankelijkheid van rechters en advocaten bij de Verenigde Naties, vond op 16 september 2015, eveneens in Genève, een informele bijeenkomst plaats waarvoor NGO’s als International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L), the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), Human Right Watch (HRW)) en ook Rechters voor Rechters (RR) waren uitgenodigd. In totaal waren vertegenwoordigers van zo’n 15 NGO’s aanwezig. RR werd vertegenwoordigd door bestuurslid Evert van der Molen.

Monica Pinto vertelde in haar openingswoord dat zij erg is ingenomen met de hoge opkomst en dat zij graag ideeën zou vernemen over de thema’s die de komende tijd prioriteit moeten krijgen. Dat leverde een staalkaart van suggesties op. Om er enkele te noemen Lees verder…;

25/30 jaar Basic Principles on the Independence van rechters en advocaten

Rechters voor rechters bij bijeenkomst Genève op 15 september 2015 ter gelegenheid van 25/30 jaar Basic Principles on the Independence van rechters en advocaten

Op uitnodiging van de International Bar Association’s Human Right Institute (IBAHRI) en de International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) werd op dinsdag 15 september 2015 met een bijeenkomst in het Palais de Nations in Geneve de 25/30 ste verjaardag gemarkeerd van de Basic Pinciples. Namens Rechters voor Rechters was bestuurslid Evert van der Molen hierbij aanwezig. De bijeenkomst was een “side-event” van de Mensenrechtenraad.

Inleidingen werden verzorgd door onder meer Monica Pinto, de kersverse Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges en lawyers, Anne Ramberg, secretaris generaal van de Zweedse balie, Irene Patras, uitvoerend directeur van de Zimbabwe Lawyers for Human Rights en Nazir Afzal, een gepensioneerd procureur generaal uit Groot Brittannië. Lees verder…;

UN Side Event: 30 Years Protecting Legal Professionals

Judges, lawyers, prosecutors and human rights: 30 years of UN action

Tuesday 15 September 2015, 1600 – 1800

Room XXII, Palais des Nations, Geneva

Followed by a drinks reception hosted by the IBA’s Human Rights Institute
in Bar Serpent, Palais des Nations

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) invite you to attend a side event at the Palais des Nations marking the 30th Anniversary of the Basic Principles on the Independence of the Judiciary and the 25th Anniversary of the Basic Principles on the Role of Lawyers and Guidelines on the Role of Prosecutors. This side-event, taking place during the 30th session of the Human Rights Council, will look back on the progress that has been made in the protection of judges, lawyers and prosecutors over the past 30 years and the continuing challenges for implementation of the UN standards. Lees verder…;

Mensenrechtenraad (15 juni – 3 juli 2015)

Op dit moment (15 juni – 3 juli 2015) vindt in Geneve de 29^ste sessie plaats van de Human Rights Council (HRC) van de Verenigde Naties. Nederland is van 2015- 2017 lid van deze Mensenrechtenraad.

Deze week presenteert ook Gabriela Knaul, de Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers haar nieuwste rapport ‘Protecting Children’s Rights in the Justice System’.Rechters voor Rechters is voor een aantal bijeenkomsten uitgenodigd die in de marge van deze grote internationale vergadering plaatsvinden. Immers niet alleen de landendelegaties zijn op dit moment in Geneve, ook vele vertegenwoordigers van NGO’s op mensenrechtengebied verblijven deze weken korter of langer in deze mooie stad.

Een hele nuttige manier dus om veel verschillende mensen te zien en te spreken en nuttige contacten te leggen of te verdiepen voor Rechters voor Rechters. Lees verder…;

ICJ and IBAHRI urge Commonwealth States to make Sri Lanka accountable to Commonwealth values

The Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (CIJL)

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) and the ICJ urge the Commonwealth Heads of States meeting in Colombo this week to make Sri Lanka accountable to Commonwealth values.

The IBAHRI and the ICJ recall that the Commonwealth Charter, passed in March 2012, sets out 16 core values, which include safeguarding the independence of the judiciary, protecting the rule of law, respecting the separation of powers and promoting democratic rule.

But the two organizations point out numerous examples where these values have not been respected by the Government of Sri Lanka.

The IBAHRI and the ICJ were holding a press conference in Bangkok Thailand today after a high-level IBAHRI delegation was blocked from entering Sri Lanka late last week to attend a conference on the rule of law and independence of the legal profession hosted by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka.

Giving a statement remotely, Gabriela Knaul, UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, expressed “serious concerns about acts of reprisals against judges, prosecutors, lawyers and other actors of the judicial system who cooperate, or seek to cooperate, with UN and regional human rights mechanisms.”

“Reprisals against judicial actors and legal professionals are Lees verder…;

Sri Lanka fact-finding, 2013 | IBAHRI

In March 2013, an IBAHRI delegation undertook a remote rapid-response fact-finding mission to investigate the impeachment proceedings of Chief Justice Bandaranayake, the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law in Sri Lanka.

The report, entitled A Crisis of Legitimacy: The Impeachment of Chief Justice Bandaranayake and the Erosion of the Rule of Law in Sri Lanka,concluded that the removal from office in Sri Lanka of Chief Justice Bandaranayake was unlawful, is undermining public confidence in the rule of law, and threatening to eviscerate the country’s judiciary as an independent guarantor of constitutional rights.The delegation found there to be a systematic effort to intimidate and discredit lawyers and others who advocate and promote respect for fundamental rights in Sri Lanka.The report made ten recommendations, addressed to the Sri Lankan authorities and to the UN, the Commonwealth Secretariat, the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group and Member Countries of the Commonwealth the delegation.

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Continue reading & report: http://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=c90b7a2f-5ee2-4e5b-be6c-f7fcb9864e81

Hungarian Constitutional Court restrictions of great concern | IBAHRI

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is deeply concerned by the Hungarian Parliament’s adoption of a Fourth Amendment to the Hungarian Fundamental Law (the ‘Constitution’) that further limits the authority of the Constitutional Court.

The Fourth Amendment, adopted 11 March 2013, prohibits the Constitutional Court from examining the substantive constitutionality of future proposed amendments to the Constitution and strips the Court of the right to refer in its rulings to legal decisions made prior to January 2012, when the new constitution came into effect.

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Continue reading: http://www.ibanet.org/Article/Detail.aspx?ArticleUid=BD579F00-0B69-4314-B9BF-F1A0A728A04F