Human Rights Council

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The subtle erosion of democracy in Latin America: the case of Lula in the Human Rights Committee

June 3, 2022

On 12 March 2022, the Human Rights Committee delivered its views on the complaint filed by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, former President of the Federal Republic of Brazil who was imprisoned in 2018 in the context of the anti-corruption operation known as ‘Operation Car Wash (in Portuguese, ‘Operação Lava Jato’). The representatives of Lula asked the Committee to find that Brazil had violated his rights against arbitrary deprivation of liberty, the right to a fair trial, the right to presumption of innocence, the right to privacy, and his political rights (Articles 9(1), 14(1) and (2), 17, and 25 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights). The Committee’s majority (15 against 2) found that the acts of the Brazilian State in the course of Operation Car Wash indeed violated the aforementioned articles of the Covenant (hereinafter ICCPR). It concluded that former President Lula had not been tried by an impartial tribunal, that his 580 days of arrest amounted to a wrongful imprisonment, and that Brazil had violated the Covenant by…

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Russia and the UN Human Rights Council: A Step in the Right Direction

April 8, 2022

The United Nations General Assembly has voted to suspend Russia’s membership of the UN Human Rights Council. This is only the second time in the Council’s 16 year history that a member has been suspended under GA resolution 60/251 paragraph 8 for committing ‘gross and systematic violations of human…

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Right to Development in Today’s Draft Convention: Retransformation into a State’s Right?

March 21, 2022

From 22 to 26 November 2021, the 22nd session of the Intergovernmental Working Group on the Right to Development (IGWG) was held at the Human Rights Council (HRC). At this forum, States, international organizations and NGOs discussed and elaborated upon the Draft Convention on the Right to Development (DCRTD). As two IGWG sessions have been held…

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The UN HRC recognizes the right to a healthy environment and appoints a new Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change. What does it all mean?

October 12, 2021

On Friday 8 October, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Resolution 48/13, recognising for first time that having a clean, healthy and sustainable environment is a human right and calling on UN Member States to cooperate to implement this right. On the same day, the Council adopted Resolution 48/14, establishing a Special Rapporteur on…

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Challenging abortion laws in Bangladesh: In need of a multi-pronged judicial strategy

September 17, 2021

In May 2020, a writ petition was filed with the High Court Division of the Supreme Court of Bangladesh challenging the constitutionality of Sections 312-316 of the Penal Code 1860, a legacy of the British colonial rule in the Indian subcontinent. Under Section 312, anyone who voluntarily causes a woman to miscarry, including the woman herself, is punishable…

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