Human Rights Council

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An Independent Mechanism for Myanmar: A Turning Point in the Pursuit of Accountability for International Crimes

October 1, 2018

Last week, the Human Rights Council voted to establish an “independent mechanism” to collect, consolidate, preserve and analyse evidence of violations of international humanitarian law and human rights in Myanmar. To those following international efforts to bring perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide to justice, this watershed moment could herald a paradigm shift in how atrocities in situations such a Syria, Myanmar and Yemen are addressed. The need for such a mechanism, at its core, stems from the need to bolster investigations and trials into the most serious crimes – both at the national and international levels. Much has been written about the need to leverage the impact of the International Criminal Court in situations where it has jurisdiction, including a recent Human Rights Watch report, Pressure Point: The ICC’s Impact on National Justice - Lessons from Colombia, Georgia, Guinea, and the United Kingdom, which takes a stab at addressing this question. The report proposes a range of measures by international partners of the International…

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Should Commitments to Implementation Factor into Elections to the Human Rights Council?

November 8, 2016

Following the recent celebration of the UN Human Rights Council’s tenth anniversary, one of the key questions for its next decade is how it can play a more effective role in promoting the implementation of human rights standards and norms and its own and other UN bodies’ recommendations. This shift is critical given the serious deficiencies in implementation,…

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First Report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy to the Human Rights Council

March 18, 2016

In March 2015, the United Nations Human Rights Council created a new special procedure on the right to privacy, appointing its first Special Rapporteur on the topic, Professor Joseph Cannataci, in July 2015. Last week, the Special Rapporteur presented the Human Rights Council with his first report and engaged in an interactive dialogue with the Council.

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Julian Assange and the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

February 5, 2016

We should have known. Once Julian Assange publically stated that he would surrender to the UK authorities if the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention found against him, it was obvious that the Working Group had done no such thing. And its opinion was released today, to widespread derision among the legal community (at…

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The Use of Force Against People Smugglers: Conflicts with Refugee Law and Human Rights Law

June 22, 2015

On 18 May, EU ministers agreed on a military operation (EU NAVFOR Med) that could comprise, in its final phase, the boarding, seizure and destruction of suspected migrant smuggling vessels, subject to approval by the UN Security Council. Negotiations before the Security Council appear to have halted until both the Libyan government in Tobruk and the ruling…

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