In association with the International Commission of Jurists

Recent Posts

04 Oct

Events CONFERENCE: Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence and Systemic Inequalities 25-26 October 2021: The British Institute of International and Comparative Law and the University of Copenhagen are pleased to announce that registration is now open for an international online conference on 'Corporate Human Rights Due Diligence and Systemic Inequalities' 25-26 October 2021. Co-organisers Lise Smit (BIICL) and Sorcha MacLeod (UCPH) are bringing...

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03 Oct

[Ahmed Abofoul is an Independent Legal Researcher at Al-Haq’s Legal Research and Advocacy Department.] Introduction Since its creation, the International Criminal Court (ICC or the Court) has often been understandably described as a “giant without arms or legs”. As the Court does not have enforcement powers of its own, it has been entirely dependent on the cooperation of States to fulfil its...

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01 Oct

[Jennifer Trahan is Clinical Professor at NYU's Center for Global Affairs and Director of their Concentration in International Law & Human Rights.] On September 27, 2021, the new International Criminal Court (“ICC”) Prosecutor, Karim Khan, announced that the Office of the Prosecutor was seeking authorization to resume investigation in the ICC’s Afghanistan situation.  He also announced that his office would focus the Afghanistan...

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01 Oct

[Dr. Srinivas Burra is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Legal Studies, South Asian University, New Delhi.] This is in response to Benoit Mayer's writeup titled 'Why I Can't Sign the World Lawyers' Pledge on Climate Action', which was a reaction to 'World Lawyers' Pledge on Climate Action: An Urgent Call for Climate Mainstreaming'. I am not an expert on climate...

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01 Oct

[Laetitia van den Assum is a diplomatic expert who has served as Netherlands ambassador on four continents. She was also a member of the Rakhine Advisory Commission, chaired by the late Kofi Annan.] Dedicated to the memory of Rohingya leader and activist Mohib Ullah who was brutally assassinated in Bangladesh on 29 September 2021. Background Four years ago, 750,000 Rohingya from Myanmar fled to...

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30 Sep

[Tun Khin is President of the Burmese Rohingya Organisation UK and Tomás Ojea Quintana is a former UN Special rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Myanmar.] On 18 August, in a court in downtown Buenos Aires, Argentina, six women made history in the Rohingyas’ long struggle for justice. For the first time anywhere in the world, Rohingya victims of...

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29 Sep

[Jennifer Keene-McCann is Fellow, Research and Policy at the Asia Justice Coalition and is based in Melbourne/Naarm, Australia.] As international lawyers we have many tools at our disposal to assist survivors of international crimes in a way that is meaningful and reflective of their experience.  Consider the atrocities against the Rohingya. Four years on from the latest iteration of violence, there has...

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29 Sep

[Antonia Mulvey is the Executive Director of Legal Action Worldwide (LAW).] On 13 September 2021, Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) – with international law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton – filed a ground-breaking communication with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) on behalf of 500 Rohingya clients victims of the 2017 so-called “clearance operations, in which thousands of Rohingya were killed, tortured...

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28 Sep

[Grant Shubin is the Legal Director at The Global Justice Center (GJC).] Of the many perspectives offered by outside observers in the wake of the Myanmar military’s (Tatmadaw’s) attempted coup, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights cogently cut to the core of it: “This crisis was born of impunity.”  As if to tacitly acknowledge this fact, in his first speech since...

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28 Sep

[Valerie Gabard is a Co-Founder of UpRights. Kingsley Abbott is the Director of Global Accountability & International Justice at the International Commission of Jurists. The authors would like to thank Luigi Prosperi, for his assistance and suggestions for this post.] Introduction  On 1 February 2021, the Myanmar’s Army executed a coup d’état, overthrowing the elected civilian government that won the election in...

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27 Sep

[Shayna Bauchner is a researcher in the Asia Division at Human Rights Watch.] On August 1, Myanmar’s commander-in-chief, Sr. Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, dressed in civilian clothes, made a televised speech six months to the day after leading a coup that thrust the country back under brutal military rule. Amid claims of establishing a multiparty democracy, the junta leader announced that his manufactured state of emergency,...

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27 Sep

It has now been over six months since the coup by the Myanmar military on 1 February 2021. There are multiple crises at the moment in Myanmar – mass atrocities being committed by the security forces on a daily basis, a devastating Covid-19 pandemic, ongoing armed conflicts in various parts of Myanmar, the continued marginalization of many minorities, and proceedings at international courts related to...

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