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Achieving durable solutions for internally displaced persons in urban settings 2014, para. 42
- Paragraph text
- Such complexities do not serve as excuses for not undertaking profiling, given that the failure to do so complicates planning and programming regarding durable solutions and may actually render such solutions unsustainable. Rather, the complexities point to the need for and importance of specialized and knowledge-based services in the field of profiling, such as those provided by the Joint IDP Profiling Service. Georgia, Serbia and Sri Lanka offer examples of recent profiling exercises in the context of durable solutions. The Special Rapporteur insists on the absolute necessity of profiling exercises to ensure that policies and programmes effectively respond to the evidence-based durable solution needs of internally displaced persons. In many contexts, the lack of cross-thematic profiles of the experience and intentions of displaced persons makes programming and policies less adapted and accurate. As often emphasized by the Special Rapporteur, the profiling exercise should, to achieve its goal, remain participatory and respectful of the anonymity required for the protection of those concerned.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Achieving durable solutions for internally displaced persons in urban settings 2014, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- In accordance with the Framework on Durable Solutions, all relevant actors need to respect the right of internally displaced persons to make an informed and voluntary decision on what durable solution is best for them. Internally displaced persons participate in urban economies, rent or buy urban housing and land and, in one way or another, seek to make use of urban opportunities and services.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights (Banjul Charter) 1981, para. 2a
- Paragraph text
- [For the purpose of strengthening peace, solidarity and friendly relations, State Parties to the present Charter shall ensure that:] any individual enjoying the right of asylum under Article 12 of the present Charter shall not engage in subversive activities against his country of origin or any other State Party to the present Charter;
- Body
- Organization of African Unity
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 1981
Paragraph
American Convention on Human Rights 1969, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- 8. In no case may an alien be deported or returned to a country, regardless of whether or not it is his country of origin, if in that country his right to life or personal freedom is in danger of being violated because of his race, nationality, religion, social status, or political opinions.
- Body
- Organization of American States
- Document type
- Regional treaty
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 1969
Paragraph
Article 9: Liberty and security of person 2014, para. 3
- Paragraph text
- Liberty of person concerns freedom from confinement of the body, not a general freedom of action. Security of person concerns freedom from injury to the body and the mind, or bodily and mental integrity, as further discussed in paragraph 9 below. Article 9 guarantees those rights to everyone. "Everyone" includes, among others, girls and boys, soldiers, persons with disabilities, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender persons, aliens, refugees and asylum seekers, stateless persons, migrant workers, persons convicted of crime, and persons who have engaged in terrorist activity.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Boys
- Girls
- LGBTQI+
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Article 9: Liberty and security of person 2014, para. 14
- Paragraph text
- The Covenant does not provide an enumeration of the permissible reasons for depriving a person of liberty. Article 9 expressly recognizes that individuals may be detained on criminal charges, and article 11 expressly prohibits imprisonment on ground of inability to fulfil a contractual obligation. Other regimes involving deprivation of liberty must also be established by law and must be accompanied by procedures that prevent arbitrary detention. The grounds and procedures prescribed by law must not be destructive of the right to liberty of person. The regime must not amount to an evasion of the limits on the criminal justice system by providing the equivalent of criminal punishment without the applicable protections. Although conditions of detention are addressed primarily by articles 7 and 10, detention may be arbitrary if the manner in which the detainees are treated does not relate to the purpose for which they are ostensibly being detained. The imposition of a draconian penalty of imprisonment for contempt of court without adequate explanation and without independent procedural safeguards is arbitrary.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Article 9: Liberty and security of person 2014, para. 36
- Paragraph text
- Once the individual has been brought before the judge, the judge must decide whether the individual should be released or remanded in custody for additional investigation or to await trial. If there is no lawful basis for continuing the detention, the judge must order release. If additional investigation or trial is justified, the judge must decide whether the individual should be released (with or without conditions) pending further proceedings because detention is not necessary, an issue addressed more fully by the second sentence of paragraph 3. In the view of the Committee, detention on remand should not involve a return to police custody, but rather to a separate facility under different authority, where risks to the rights of the detainee can be more easily mitigated.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Article 9: Liberty and security of person 2014, para. 46
- Paragraph text
- Paragraph 4 leaves the option of taking proceedings to the persons being detained or those acting on their behalf; unlike paragraph 3, it does not require automatic initiation of review by the authorities detaining an individual. Laws that exclude a particular category of detainees from the review required by paragraph 4 violate the Covenant. Practices that render such review effectively unavailable to an individual, including incommunicado detention, also amount to a violation. To facilitate effective review, detainees should be afforded prompt and regular access to counsel. Detainees should be informed, in a language they understand, of their right to take proceedings for a decision on the lawfulness of their detention.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Article 9: Liberty and security of person 2014, para. 57
- Paragraph text
- Returning an individual to a country where there are substantial grounds for believing that the individual faces a real risk of a severe violation of liberty or security of person such as prolonged arbitrary detention may amount to inhuman treatment prohibited by article 7 of the Covenant.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Article 9: Liberty and security of person 2014, para. 58
- Paragraph text
- Several safeguards that are essential for the prevention of torture are also necessary for the protection of persons in any form of detention against arbitrary detention and infringement of personal security. The following examples are non-exhaustive. Detainees should be held only in facilities officially acknowledged as places of detention. A centralized official register should be kept of the names and places of detention, and times of arrival and departure, as well as of the names of persons responsible for their detention, and made readily available and accessible to those concerned, including relatives. Prompt and regular access should be given to independent medical personnel and lawyers and, under appropriate supervision when the legitimate purpose of the detention so requires, to family members. Detainees should be promptly informed of their rights, in a language they understand; providing information leaflets in the appropriate language, including in Braille, may often assist the detainee in retaining the information. Detained foreign nationals should be informed of their right to communicate with their consular authorities, or, in the case of asylum seekers, with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Independent and impartial mechanisms should be established for visiting and inspecting all places of detention, including mental-health institutions.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Health
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Article 12: Freedom of movement 1999, para. 4
- Paragraph text
- Everyone lawfully within the territory of a State enjoys, within that territory, the right to move freely and to choose his or her place of residence. In principle, citizens of a State are always lawfully within the territory of that State. The question whether an alien is "lawfully" within the territory of a State is a matter governed by domestic law, which may subject the entry of an alien to the territory of a State to restrictions, provided they are in compliance with the State's international obligations. In that connection, the Committee has held that an alien who entered the State illegally, but whose status has been regularized, must be considered to be lawfully within the territory for the purposes of art 122. Once a person is lawfully within a State, any restrictions on his or her rights guaranteed by article 12, paragraphs 1 and 2, as well as any treatment different from that accorded to nationals, have to be justified under the rules provided for by article 12, paragraph 33. It is, therefore, important that States parties indicate in their reports the circumstances in which they treat aliens differently from their nationals in this regard, and how they justify this difference in treatment.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Article 12: Freedom of movement 1999, para. 8
- Paragraph text
- Freedom to leave the territory of a State may not be made dependent on any specific purpose or on the period of time the individual chooses to stay outside the country. Thus travelling abroad is covered as well as departure for permanent emigration. Likewise, the right of the individual to determine the State of destination is part of the legal guarantee. As the scope of article 12, paragraph 2, is not restricted to persons lawfully within the territory of a State, an alien being legally expelled from the country is likewise entitled to elect the State of destination, subject to the agreement of that State.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Article 12: Freedom of movement 1999, para. 21
- Paragraph text
- In no case may a person be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his or her own country. The reference to the concept of arbitrariness in this context is intended to emphasize that it applies to all State action, legislative, administrative, and judicial; it guarantees that even interference provided for by law should be in accordance with the provisions, aims and objectives of the Covenant and should be, in any event, reasonable in the particular circumstances. The Committee considers that there are few, if any, circumstances in which deprivation of the right to enter one's own country could be reasonable. A State party must not, by stripping a person of nationality or by expelling an individual to a third country, arbitrarily prevent this person from returning to his or her own country.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- All
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 1999
Paragraph
Article 14: Administration of justice 1984, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Subparagraph 3 (f) provides that if the accused cannot understand or speak the language used in court he is entitled to the assistance of an interpreter free of any charge. This right is independent of the outcome of the proceedings and applies to aliens as well as to nationals. It is of basic importance in cases in which ignorance of the language used by a court or difficulty in understanding may constitute a major obstacle to the right of defence.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 1984
Paragraph
Article 14: Right to Equality before Courts and Tribunals and to Fair Trial - replaces GC No. 13 2007, para. 9
- Paragraph text
- Article 14 encompasses the right of access to the courts in cases of determination of criminal charges and rights and obligations in a suit at law. Access to administration of justice must effectively be guaranteed in all such cases to ensure that no individual is deprived, in procedural terms, of his/her right to claim justice. The right of access to courts and tribunals and equality before them is not limited to citizens of States parties, but must also be available to all individuals, regardless of nationality or statelessness, or whatever their status, whether asylum seekers, refugees, migrant workers, unaccompanied children or other persons, who may find themselves in the territory or subject to the jurisdiction of the State party. A situation in which an individual's attempts to access the competent courts or tribunals are systematically frustrated de jure or de facto runs counter to the guarantee of article 14, paragraph 1, first sentence. This guarantee also prohibits any distinctions regarding access to courts and tribunals that are not based on law and cannot be justified on objective and reasonable grounds. The guarantee is violated if certain persons are barred from bringing suit against any other persons such as by reason of their race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2007
Paragraph
Article 14: Right to Equality before Courts and Tribunals and to Fair Trial - replaces GC No. 13 2007, para. 40
- Paragraph text
- The right to have the free assistance of an interpreter if the accused cannot understand or speak the language used in court as provided for by article 14, paragraph 3 (f) enshrines another aspect of the principles of fairness and equality of arms in criminal proceedings. This right arises at all stages of the oral proceedings. It applies to aliens as well as to nationals. However, accused persons whose mother tongue differs from the official court language are, in principle, not entitled to the free assistance of an interpreter if they know the official language sufficiently to defend themselves effectively.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2007
Paragraph
Article 27: The rights of minorities 1994, para. 5.2.
- Paragraph text
- Article 27 confers rights on persons belonging to minorities which "exist" in a State party. Given the nature and scope of the rights envisaged under that article, it is not relevant to determine the degree of permanence that the term "exist" connotes. Those rights simply are that individuals belonging to those minorities should not be denied the right, in community with members of their group, to enjoy their own culture, to practice their religion and speak their language. Just as they need not be nationals or citizens, they need not be permanent residents. Thus, migrant workers or even visitors in a State party constituting such minorities are entitled not to be denied the exercise of those rights. As any other individual in the territory of the State party, they would, also for this purpose, have the general rights, for example, to freedom of association, of assembly, and of expression. The existence of an ethnic, religious or linguistic minority in a given State party does not depend upon a decision by that State party but requires to be established by objective criteria.
- Body
- Human Rights Committee
- Document type
- General Comment / Recommendation
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Social & Cultural Rights
- Person(s) affected
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 1994
Paragraph
Banking on mobility over a generation: follow-up to the regional study on the management of the external borders of the European Union and its impact on the human rights of migrants 2015, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- However, systematic barriers to the right to access justice are in place in many European Union member States. Significant resource constraints are making member States unwilling to invest in services that facilitate access to justice for migrants, such as legal aid and translation and interpretation services. Migrants' fear of detection and/or deportation if they assert their right to access justice is also a key barrier. Additionally, inconsistencies in access to justice persist, depending upon the rights at stake, the type and nationality of the migrants and the jurisdiction. Finally, a lack of specific rules on courts' duties to apply sanctions and/or compensation for violations of migrants' human rights is another important barrier.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Banking on mobility over a generation: follow-up to the regional study on the management of the external borders of the European Union and its impact on the human rights of migrants 2015, para. 114
- Paragraph text
- [To the European Union and its member States] Develop "firewalls" between immigration enforcement and public services, so that all migrants in the European Union can seek access to justice and to social services without fear of being denounced to immigration enforcement authorities and deported.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph
Best practices that promote and protect the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association 2012, para. 13
- Paragraph text
- Resolution 15/21 reaffirms that "everyone has the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association" (emphasis added). This provision must be read jointly with article 2 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which stipulates that "each State Party undertakes to respect and to ensure to all individuals within its territory and subject to its jurisdiction the rights recognized in the Covenant, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status"(emphasis added)., and article 26 thereof, which guarantees to all individuals equal and effective protection against discrimination on grounds identified in article 2. This applies inter alia to minors, indigenous peoples, persons with disabilities, persons belonging to minority groups or other groups at risk, including those victims of discrimination because of their sexual orientation and gender identity (see Council resolution 17/19), non-nationals including stateless persons, refugees or migrants, as well as associations, including unregistered groups. The rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association are key human rights in international human rights law, which are enshrined in article 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Ethnic minorities
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2012
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- [International human rights instruments that protect the rights of particular groups specifically recognize directly or indirectly the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association for those groups:] Refugees lawfully staying in a country are entitled, in relation to the right to freedom of association, to the most favourable treatment accorded to nationals of a foreign country, in the same circumstances.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 20
- Paragraph text
- [International human rights instruments that protect the rights of particular groups specifically recognize directly or indirectly the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association for those groups:] Internally displaced persons have the same rights and freedoms under international and domestic law as other persons in the country and, in particular, have the right to associate freely and participate equally in community affairs.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 22
- Paragraph text
- Article 21 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights recognizes that the right to freedom of peaceful assembly should be enjoyed by everyone, as provided for by article 2 of the Covenant and resolutions 15/21, 21/16 and 24/5 of the Human Rights Council. Importantly, in its resolution 24/5, the Council reminded States of their obligation to respect and fully protect the rights of all individuals to assemble peacefully and associate freely, online as well as offline, including in the context of elections, and including persons espousing minority or dissenting views or beliefs, human rights defenders, trade unionists and others, including migrants, seeking to exercise or to promote those rights. Despite this, some Member States have laws that contain explicitly discriminatory provisions prohibiting assemblies by certain groups.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 23
- Paragraph text
- In Malaysia, for example, the Peaceful Assembly Act 2012 prohibits people under the age of 21 from organizing a public demonstration. Children under the age of 15 cannot even participate. Migrants and non-citizens may also face undue restrictions on their assembly rights. The same Act explicitly divests non-citizens of their right to organize or participate in a peaceful assembly. Article 33 of the Constitution of Mexico states that foreigners "may not in any way participate in the political affairs of the country", a provision that can be interpreted as prohibiting the rights of non-citizens to engage in peaceful assemblies. Similarly, article 354 of the Constitution of Myanmar extends the right of assembly only to citizens.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 25
- Paragraph text
- In the case of non-citizens and migrants, the Special Rapporteur notes that international law does allow for some citizenship-related limitations on certain political rights, such as voting rights and the ability to hold political office. It is however precisely for that reason that States should ensure that migrants are not stripped of other fundamental rights, particularly assembly rights. An individual's lack of citizenship or legal status does not mean that she or he should have no voice whatsoever in the political, economic or social affairs of her or his country of residence. In a sense, groups that are disenfranchised from mainstream political activities, such as voting and holding office, have an even greater need for alternative means to participate in the public sphere. Peaceful assemblies are an important tool for allowing the voices of otherwise excluded groups to be heard.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 37
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur has found that citizenship and residency status frequently affect assembly rights, often by design. As noted above, a number of States, including Singapore, Malaysia and Myanmar, formally deny the right to freedom of peaceful assembly to non-citizens. The Special Rapporteur finds no basis in international law for completely divesting non-citizens of their assembly rights. The right to freedom of peaceful assembly is particularly important for non-citizens and migrants, who may lack other mechanisms with which to advance their political, social and economic interests.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 39
- Paragraph text
- Problems can arise even in States where the assembly rights of non-citizens are protected by law. The Special Rapporteur has received reports that in Cyprus, for example, some private employment contracts prohibit migrants from engaging in political activity, effectively depriving that group of their right to peacefully assemble (and freely associate). Although provisions contained in private employment contracts do not represent direct restrictions from the State, the State does have an important and pivotal role in prohibiting such restrictions, that is, by rejecting such restrictions as valid contractual terms under domestic law. The Special Rapporteur recalls that Member States have a responsibility to facilitate and protect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly. States should closely examine their role in supporting, even if inadvertently, private restrictions on that right. State mechanisms and institutions must not be used to enable private actors to abrogate fundamental rights.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 47
- Paragraph text
- Other practices not directly related to the right to freedom of peaceful assembly may also be used as leverage to keep certain groups from freely exercising such right. Those practices include the expulsion of students from universities for participating in peaceful protests (for example, in Chile), the arrest and detention of, and excessive use of force against, peaceful Tibetan students calling for freedom to study the Tibetan language (China), the threat of revocation of residency, refugee or asylum status for participating in peaceful demonstrations, the existence of institutional obstacles that prevent demonstrators from receiving competent legal assistance if charged with an assembly-related crime (including the harassment and intimidation of lawyers who provide such assistance), and the threat of termination of employment (and legal residency status linked to employment in some circumstances) for participating in peaceful protests, for foreigners and migrants.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Challenges faced by groups most at risk when exercising or seeking to exercise the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and/or of association 2014, para. 62
- Paragraph text
- The Special Rapporteur further decries the discriminative and disproportionate use of immigration laws by States to deny residence or work permits to staff of associations that are critical of the Government or that express views that are unpopular with the Government.
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Equality & Inclusion
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2014
Paragraph
Children deprived of their liberty from the perspective of the prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment 2015, para. 80
- Paragraph text
- Within the context of administrative immigration enforcement, it is now clear that the deprivation of liberty of children based on their or their parents' migration status is never in the best interests of the child, exceeds the requirement of necessity, becomes grossly disproportionate and may constitute cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of migrant children. Following the advisory opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights on the rights and guarantees of children in the context of migration and/or in need of international protection in 2014, the Special Rapporteur recalls the different procedural purposes between immigration and criminal proceedings, and that, in the words of the Court, "the offenses concerning the entry or stay in one country may not, under any circumstances, have the same or similar consequences to those derived from the commission of a crime." The Special Rapporteur therefore concludes that the principle of ultima ratio that applies to juvenile criminal justice is not applicable to immigration proceedings. The deprivation of liberty of children based exclusively on immigration-related reasons exceeds the requirement of necessity because the measure is not absolutely essential to ensure the appearance of children at immigration proceedings or to implement a deportation order. Deprivation of liberty in this context can never be construed as a measure that complies with the child`s best interests. Immigration detention practices across the globe, whether de jure or de facto, put children at risk of cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Furthermore, the detention of children who migrate to escape exploitation and abuse contravenes the duty of the State to promote the physical and psychological recovery of child victims in an appropriate environment. Therefore, States should, expeditiously and completely, cease the detention of children, with or without their parents, on the basis of their immigration status. States should make clear in their legislation, policies and practices that the principle of the best interests of the child takes priority over migration policy and other administrative considerations. Also, States should appoint a guardian or adviser as soon as the unaccompanied or separated child is identified, and maintain such guardianship arrangements until the child has either reached the age of majority or has permanently left the territory and/or jurisdiction of the State (A/HRC/20/24, para. 41). While the Special Rapporteur acknowledges that, in certain circumstances it is possible for States to place children in a shelter or other accommodation when it is based on the purpose of child care, protection and support, this should not become a proxy for expanded unnecessary restrictions to the liberty of child migrants and families. States are required to favour measures that promote the care and well-being of the child rather than the deprivation of liberty. Facilities that grant accommodation for migrant children should have all the material conditions necessary and provide an adequate regime to ensure comprehensive protection from ill-treatment and torture, and allow for their holistic development. Migrant children should be separated from children who have been accused or convicted of criminal offences and from adults. The Special Rapporteur notes, however, that separating child migrants from unrelated adults can sometimes itself result in harm by depriving children of important interactions; ample opportunities for broader human interaction and physical activity must therefore be given to unaccompanied migrant children. When children are accompanied, the need to keep the family together is a not sufficient reason to legitimize or justify the deprivation of liberty of a child, given the prejudicial effects that such measures have on the emotional development and physical well-being of children. The Special Rapporteur shares the view of the Inter-American Court of Human
- Body
- Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment
- Document type
- Special Procedures' report
- Topic(s)
- Civil & Political Rights
- Governance & Rule of Law
- Movement
- Person(s) affected
- Children
- Families
- Persons on the move
- Year
- 2015
Paragraph