Activities Roundup: November 2009–February 2010

AFRICA

Opposing Expanded Scope for African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights
In December, the Justice Initiative led a broad coalition of Africa-based partners in preparing a legal and policy submission to the Commission of the African Union raising serious concerns about a proposal to expand the jurisdiction of the nascent African Court of Human and Peoples' Rights to try individual perpetrators for international crimes. The joint submission argues that given present circumstances in Africa, such an effort would be counterproductive. The AU's decision on this question, expected later this year, may depend on the manner in which its related concerns about the ICC's work in Africa are addressed at the Kampala ICC review conference in late May and early June.

OSJI Partner Permitted to File Complaint Against Equatorial Guinea
In December 2009, the African Commission on Human and People's Rights decided that the Asociaciün Pro Derechos Humanos de España (APDHE), represented by the Justice Initiative, does have the right to file a complaint against the Republic of Equatorial Guinea. Equatorial Guinea had maintained that, as a non-African organization not formally "recognized" by the Commission, APDHE did not have a right to file. The Commission disagreed; its 11-page opinion adopted and expanded upon our arguments. The Commission will address the admissibility of our communication at its next meeting, scheduled for May 12 to 26 in Tunis.

Lagos State, Nigeria Adopts Pretrial Detention Management Plan
In October, the Attorney General of Lagos State announced that, with minor amendments, he will be implementing the Justice Initiative's pretrial detention management proposal. The plan calls for the adoption and publication of state-wide pre-trial custody guidelines within the Lagos State Safety and Security Policy Framework, establishment of plea bargaining and non-custodial measures, and creation of a process to ensure that all cases entering the criminal process in Lagos are brought within the knowledge of the Attorney General's chambers not later than seven working days after remand orders are issued. To support these changes, the Justice Initiative is working with the Attorney General's office to prepare a set of pretrial detention guidelines for the state. It is also advising the Lagos State Government on its new website and electronic monitoring facility on pretrial detention.

Nigerian Groups Press for Information on Dredging Project
The Justice Initiative and several Nigerian NGOs launched a campaign in fall 2009 demanding information on the Nigerian government's dredging of the Lower Niger River. As a result, we gained access to the Environment Ministry's Environmental Impact Assessment Report on the project. This report confirmed concerns that the dredging had gone forward without adequate, and legally-mandated, consultations with affected community members about its social, economic, and environmental impact. Our coalition has now written to the Ministry of Finance requesting interdiction of project funds. Should no response be forthcoming, we will explore judicial recourse. Section 51 of Nigeria's Fiscal Responsibility Act of 2007 grants public interest standing in litigation to ensure fiscal responsibility.

Charles Taylor Trial Monitoring Attracts Widespread Attention
The Justice Initiative continues to monitor the trial of former Liberian President Charles Ghankay Taylor by the Special Court for Sierra Leone, with the website www.charlestaylor.org devoted specifically to following the case. Designed to overcome difficulties in access for West African media because of the trial's location in The Hague, the website and monitoring blog have proven extraordinarily popular over the past six months, attracting about 4000 visits each week. The Justice Initiative has moderated 7000 comments--most from Liberians and Sierra Leoneans--since Taylor took the witness stand in July. The site has earned significant media coverage, with daily posts picked up by AllAfrica.com and regularly reprinted in Liberian and Sierra Leonean newspapers.

Criminal Justice Paralegal Projects Launch in Sierra Leone and Malawi
The Justice Initiative advanced its joint effort with the government, World Bank, and other partners to develop a national system for access to justice in Sierra Leone. Drawing on the successful Timap for Justice model of community-based paralegals now covering about 20 percent of the country's population, the Justice Initiative and Timap are developing and presenting concepts for a paralegal training program and a public-interest law student service, and advocating for pending legal aid legislation that will recognize the status and role of paralegals. Simultaneously, we have launched a pilot effort to assist people detained at police stations in three districts of Sierra Leone. Intervention at this early stage of the criminal justice process, when abuse is most likely, helps safeguard individual rights and ensure that detainees do not languish in jail indefinitely before being charged and tried. In December, the project launched a similar pilot program in Malawi, partnering with the Paralegal Advisory Service Institute (PASI). PASI's paralegals screen and assist arrestees by providing legal information and preparation for bail hearings, locating witnesses, and arranging communication with family members.

ASIA

First Trial of Khmer Rouge Tribunal Concludes
Although the court has grappled with serious challenges, Open Society Justice Initiative monitors based in Phnom Penh have determined that the trial of commander Kaing Guek Eav ("Duch"), which ended in December 2009, met minimum international standards of fairness. The courtroom was packed with 350 to 500 spectators each day, and proceedings were broadcast throughout Cambodia, with almost daily media coverage. This represents a watershed moment for Cambodia. As the history of the Khmer Rouge is not taught in schools, many young people were unaware of the regime's abuses prior to the trial; for the older generation, the court represents their last chance for justice and is deeply significant. The Justice Initiative is urging the United Nations to appoint a high-level adviser to engage donors, the Cambodian government, and the Court in addressing issues of corruption, threats to judicial independence, management inefficiency, and donor fatigue going forward, as put forward in a recent Wall Street Journal op-ed by Jim Goldston.

EU Raises Concerns Regarding Torture in Kazakhstan
During the EU-Kazakhstan Human Rights Dialogue in October, the European Union highlighted all three major anti-torture recommendations set forth in the brief submitted by Justice Initiative and Kazakhstan's Coalition against Torture (KCAT). Thus, the EU recommended that the Kazakh government (i) recognize in law and in practice the right of everyone to be informed of their rights and the reason for arrest in a language they can understand; (ii) create an independent mechanism to investigate torture complaints; and (iii) ensure punishment for perpetrators that corresponds to the gravity of the crime. This is part of a broader effort to challenge torture in Central Asia.

Advocacy and Litigation on Behalf of Evgeniy Zhovtis
The Justice Initiative is actively involved in OSI-wide advocacy efforts calling for the release of the prominent Kazakh human rights defender Evgeniy Zhovtis, convicted of vehicular manslaughter after a questionable investigation and trial following a tragic road accident. Actions include developing briefing papers and letters reaching out to relevant policymakers and international organizations. In early February, international media reported on the submission of a Justice Initiative letter outlining legal claims it will present to the UN Human Rights Committee if domestic redress is not forthcoming.

EUROPE

Advocating for Protection of Journalists' Sources
In late November, the Justice Initiative and several media freedom groups filed a third party intervention with the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights in Sanoma Uitgevers B.V. v. the Netherlands. This may be the most important case concerning protection of sources to be decided in Strasbourg since 1996, when, in Goodwin, the Court upheld protection for journalists' sources in all cases except prosecutions of serious crimes. Sanoma reached the Grand Chamber upon referral from a 4-3 split at the section level. The coalition's intervention urged the court to uphold Goodwin's reasoning and spirit and to elaborate on the procedural protections required to effectively guarantee the ability of journalists to rely on confidential sources.

Promoting Effective Criminal Defence in the EU
In November, the EU Justice and Home Affairs Council adopted a resolution on the Roadmap for Strengthening Procedural Rights of Suspected or Accused Persons in Criminal Proceedings. Reflecting substantial input and advocacy by the Justice Initiative and its partners over the past year, the resolution underscores that the right to legal advice should be provided from "the earliest possible stage of [criminal] proceedings." In December, the EU Summit adopted the Stockholm Programme, which incorporates the Roadmap. This is a major step forward in protecting defendants' rights and preventing abuse of detainees in Europe.

Victory for Equal Rights in Bosnia and Herzegovina
In December 2009, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights-Europe's highest human rights chamber-ruled that the continued exclusion of people not belonging to one of Bosnia and Herzegovina's three recognized ethnic groups (Bosniaks, Croats, and Serbs) from national parliament and the presidency is discriminatory, in violation of Protocol No. 12 to the European Convention on Human Rights. The Justice Initiative submitted an amicus in this landmark case, arguing that arrangements to ensure the political participation of certain groups were permissible when they advanced substantive equality, not when they excluded other groups. In addition, the Justice Initiative argued successfully that such arrangements should be judged in light of the changed circumstances 15 years after the Dayton Agreement, rather than on the basis of justifications available at the time of the peace accord. The judgment reasoned that while the urgent need to restore peace could explain, without necessarily justifying, the absence of representatives of other communities at the Dayton negotiations, maintenance of an exclusionary political system fifteen years later is unacceptable. Implementation of the decision will require a review of the country's constitution, prior to the next presidential and parliamentary elections in October 2010.

Legal Advice Available to Detainees in Bulgaria
In the fall of 2009, the Bulgarian Interior Ministry approved new regulations for handling suspects in detention, adopting recommendations set forth in Justice Initiative guidelines for police station duty solicitors. Police officials must now inform suspects of the availability of a duty lawyer and facilitate contact with such lawyers through the local Bar Council.

First Case Won by a Freedom of Information Clinic
The Justice Initiative's freedom of information clinic partner in Hungary won an appeal in a case vindicating the public's right of access to information regarding a garbage collection contract held by a state-owned company. The Justice Initiative is pioneering freedom of information clinics with local universities in Hungary, Chile and Argentina. With help from the NGO Environmental Management and Law Association, law students in the clinic at Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest requested access to a contract between the local government and the Public Maintenance Company (PMC). When the information was not provided, the clinic turned to court, winning the case at both the first and second instance. The appellate court declared that the contract between the PMC and the local government constitutes public information because the company provides public services. This case drew attention to widespread corruption related to state-owned companies and serves as an important precedent regarding the public's access to contracts involving public funds.

Fresh Evidence Shows Polish Government, CIA Cooperation on Renditions
At least six CIA rendition flights landed in Poland in 2003, according to flight logs provided by the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency (PANSA) in response to a freedom of information request filed by the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights in collaboration with the Open Society Justice Initiative. The disclosure marks the first time a Polish government agency has confirmed, on the record, that aircraft associated with the CIA landed repeatedly at Szymany Airport, close to a suspected CIA secret detention and interrogation site for "high-value detainees" in northern Poland. The logs also reveal attempts by the CIA and its Polish partners to cover up the true destination of rendition flights: several flights that landed in Szymany had declared Warsaw as their official destination, including in filings with pan-European aviation authorities. In the past, the Polish government denied its involvement in rendition and failed to provide any of these flight records to previous investigations conducted by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. This new evidence gained widespread international media attention.

LATIN AMERICA

Supporting Disclosure of Executive Compensation
The Justice Initiative has submitted written comments, based on comparative law and practice, to Chile's Transparency Council on its Draft Regulations Regarding Disclosure of Remuneration Packages by Public and State Owned/Controlled Companies. The Justice Initiative's research, compiled with expert assistance from the law firm Ropes & Gray, documented the clear international trend to require disclosure of remuneration paid to executives and officers of private companies that are publicly traded on national stock exchanges as well as state-owned or -controlled companies. While transparency is not a sufficient response to excessive executive compensation, the literature suggests that, properly handled, transparency requirements can be useful complements to other measures, and may prove less controversial than (while not incompatible with) compensation caps.

Pressing for Right to Information in Paraguay
At the request of local counsel and a coalition of Latin American free speech groups, the Justice Initiative submitted in December 2009 a friend of the court brief in Vargas Telles, the first freedom of information case to reach Paraguay's Supreme Court. The applicant, who was denied access to information about the names and remuneration of municipal officials, has called on the court to address, among other issues, the status of the right of access in the domestic system, in light of the national constitution and the landmark Claude Reyes judgment of the Inter-American Court. Paraguay is currently among a minority of countries in Latin America that do not yet recognize a right of access to government information, either by constitution or statute. It is the fourth country in the region in which the Justice Initiative has intervened in a lawsuit to urge application of Reyes' historic holding.