Event: COVID-19 and Human Rights, 25 June 2020

22/06/202027/06/2020 Editors Events

On 25 June 2020, the International Law Association (Australian Branch) will be hosting the fourth of its series of Zoom seminars on COVID-19, following the first seminar in April on COVID-19 and public international law, the second seminar in May on COVID-19 and private international law and the third seminar earlier this month on COVID-19 and refugee law. Previous seminars have recordings posted on the ILA (Australian Branch)’s Facebook and Twitter pages.

The seminar will be cohosted by the Australian Human Rights Institute at UNSW Sydney.

This seminar will feature presentations by Louise Chappell, Director of the Australian Human Rights Institute and Elaine Pearson, Australian Director at Human Rights Watch and Advisory Committee Member at the Australian Human Rights Institute. Louise Chappell will address the human rights implications of Australia’s response to COVID-19 and consider how our international obligations are being upheld or undermined during the pandemic. Elaine Pearson will be speaking on the human rights impacts of the COVID-19 response, especially in Asia, and how some authoritarian-leaning governments are exploiting the pandemic to tighten their grip on power.

Human rights and climate change in the courts: An Australian first – Tess Van Geelen

20/06/202020/06/2020 Editors Analysis, Articles 3 Comments

For the very first time in Australia, a coal mine is being challenged in court on human rights grounds. The action is part of a growing global trend that we’ll look at in this two-part series. This first part will give an overview of the legal action, and the developments in domestic law that opened the door for this milestone case. The second part will look at the international context, providing an overview of key foreign cases, and recent developments in linking human rights and climate change at the international level.

Last month the Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) launched a legal challenge against the Galilee Coal Project proposed by Waratah Coal, which is owned by Clive Palmer. According to Waratah Coal, the project is expected to produce 40 million tons of thermal coal per annum — fully four times the production of the nearby Adani Carmichael Mine, which has attracted considerable opposition in Australia. The Galilee Coal Project would be one of Australia’s largest coal mines.

Fair Trials at the International Criminal Court in the Age of COVID-19 – Adaena Sinclair-Blakemore

18/06/202018/06/2020 Editors Analysis, Articles

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected every corner of the world and the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’ or ‘the Court’) is no exception. Since March 2020, the Court’s premises in The Hague have been closed, staff have been working from home and visitors, including defence counsel, are not permitted into the UN Detention Facility to visit the accused. Nevertheless, trials remain ongoing and, like countless other courts around the world, the ICC has shifted to operating virtually for the foreseeable future. The ICC has so far postponed hearings in Prosecutor v Al Hassan, Prosecutor v Ntaganda and Prosecutor v Gbagbo and Blé Goudé in response to the pandemic. However, it is possible that the Court may hold virtual hearings if the pandemic prevents in-person court sittings in the long-term. This post considers the impacts of both holding virtual hearings and postponing hearings on an accused’s fair trial rights under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (‘Rome Statute’).

The Prospects of The Gambia v. Myanmar (Provisional Measures) in Protecting the Rohingyas – Quazi Omar Foysal

04/03/202004/03/2020 Editors Analysis, Articles

Introduction

The International Court of Justice’s Order indicating Provisional Measures in The Gambia v. Myanmar on 23 January 2020 (Order) has been hailed by many as politically and legally significant in ensuring justice for the Rohingya group. Given the fact that all the interim measures indicated in the Order will remain in force at least until the date of the final decision, unless the ICJ or The Gambia opts for another Order in the interim, this Order will be very crucial in ensuring the interim protection of the Rohingyas for the time being. Against this backdrop, this article aims at elucidating the strengths and weakness of the Order in protecting the Rohingyas from genocide for the interim period. It will also explore its relevance to the final decision.

ICC Appeals Chamber resurrects controversial customary international law argument to find Al-Bashir has no immunity before international courts – Keilin Anderson

15/05/201915/05/2019 Editors Analysis, Articles 1 Comment

Last Monday the Appeals Chamber (AC) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) delivered its judgment on the question of Omar Al-Bashir’s immunity from prosecution for international crimes. In addition to the majority judgment, four Judges penned a Joint Concurring Opinion. A joint dissenting opinion from two Judges is yet to be published.

The decision has already been described in early commentary as ‘stunning’ ‘deeply misguided’ and ‘extremely controversial’.

Extending a Collective Human Right to Address a Global Challenge: Self-Determination for Refugees, Asylum Seekers and Internally Displaced Persons – Amy Maguire and Amy Elton

17/01/201917/01/2019 Editors Articles

Refugees and people seeking asylum make up approximately 28.5 million of the world’s displaced population. At international law, a refugee is someone who is ‘unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion.’ Asylum seekers have left their country of origin but have not had their claims for refugee status resolved. Once these individuals cross the border, they are no longer part of a national community and effectively relinquish self-determination. As self-determination forms a foundation for the exercise of other human rights, refugees and asylum seekers are especially vulnerable to continuing human rights violations.

There’s a workable alternative to Australia’s asylum policy – Professor James Hathaway and Dr Daniel Ghezelbash

25/09/2018 Editors Analysis, Articles, Opinion

The bad example set by Australia is damaging a global system already in crisis. But it’s not too late to change tack

Privacy as a Universal Human Right: Beyond the OECD Guidelines to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Privacy – The Hon Michael Kirby AC CMG

08/06/201810/06/2018 Editors Analysis, Articles, Opinion

It is curious that people who were so insistent on privacy in their ordinary lives, the British, should have been so neglectful in developing effective judicial and other legal rules for its protection. Nowhere was this irony more noticeable than in the Australian outposts of the British Empire.

The High Court, Internal Relocation and Complementary Protection: Examining the Case of CRI 026 v Republic of Nauru – Esther Pearson

04/06/201809/10/2018 Editors Analysis, Articles, ILA Updates

The ability of an applicant for refugee status to relocate within their country of origin to escape persecution forms the basis of an important concept in international refugee law, known variously as the “internal relocation alternative”, or the “internal flight alternative”. The concept provides that if internal relocation is relevant and reasonable, the applicant is not a refugee. The concept is not codified in the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, however, it is relevant to the question of whether the applicant meets the definition of “refugee” as set out in Art 1A(2) of the Convention, as being any person who:

Australia’s disengagement from international refugee law: The principle of non-refoulement and the doctrine of jurisdiction – Sophie Capicchiano Young

30/04/2018 Editors Analysis, Articles, Opinion

In an interview with Guardian Australia, Home Affairs Minister Peter Dutton has voiced his opinion that ‘like-minded nations’ should consider a revision of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (“the Convention”). The objective of such a revision would be (though he has not explicitly said so) to degrade the non-refoulement obligation, which provides that States cannot expel or return (“refouler”) a refugee in any manner whatsoever to the frontiers of territories where his life or freedom would be threatened on account of his race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion. It is the cornerstone to refugee protection and the subject of the vast majority of refugee-related litigation globally.