Bar Human Rights Committee

The activities in the region have been many and varied. Over the years BHRC has carried out fact finding missions to Colombia, has carried out training and capacity building programmes in Jamaica where it has also continued its involvement in death penalty defence work and submitted an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in the case of Hamdan v Rumsfeld et al.

Antigua and Baruda

In 2005 BHRC donated 107 boxes of legal texts to Antigua and Barbuda . The books were delivered by banana boat to the new Antigua and Barbuda Law Library and the librarian has reported that it was an extremely timely donation as the Library recently relocated to new spacious quarters in the High Court. Copies of Blackstone’s were distributed to a number of judges.

Colombia

BHRC have been involved in Colombia since 2003, working with Colombian lawyers, human rights activists and NGOs to sustain strong links with the human rights community and the legal profession. BHRC have developed close links with CCAJAR, the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective in Bogotá which brings high profile cases against agents of the Colombian State to address impunity for human rights abuses, and with CALCP, the Luis Carlos Perez Lawyers Collective based in north-eastern Colombia, who work with the internally displaced population in that part of the country.

In March 2009, BHRC visited Colombia on a human rights delegation (organised by Peace Brigades International). During this visit, BHRC met with members of legal profession, human rights activists and academics to discuss their immediate need for assistance, which included the need for capacity building on international human rights standards.

Capacity-Building

In September 2009, following the request for assistance in capacity-building, BHRC took a delegation of human rights lawyers to Colombia to take part in a training seminar on international human rights law. The training was held over three days at the Universidad Autonomia, Bogotá, Colombia, and was held in conjunction with the José Alvear Restrepo Lawyers’ Collective (CCAJAR) and the Association of Colombian Human Rights Defenders (ACADEUM), both based in Bogotá, Colombia.

Participants included local lawyers, academics, judges, trade unionists, journalists and NGO leaders. The training focused on subjects such as the rule of law; access to justice; extrajudicial executions and enforced disappearances; impunity; indigenous people and minority rights; freedom of assembly and expression; and international and regional enforcement mechanisms.

Production of a handbook for Colombia lawyers

One of the main outputs of the project was the production of a handbook for Colombian lawyers. The 50 page handbook, printed in both English and Spanish, sets out the key human rights standards as established in international systems and frameworks. The handbook sets out in detail the United Nations Special Procedure system through which complaints against human rights violations committed with Colombia may be made.

To access the manual please go to Human Rights Training Manual for Colombian Lawyers [English]

Public Forum

In addition to the training seminar, BHRC also took part in a public forum on “Human Rights and Judicial Independence as Democratic Values” at the Universidad Autonomia, Bogotá in September 2009. Over 350 participants attended the public forum, and presentations were made by Kirsty Brimelow (BHRC Vice-Chair), as well as academics, local lawyers and a Magistrate from the Supreme Court of Justice.

2004-2006

In May 2006, BHRC participated in a delegation organised by the British-based human rights NGO ‘Justice for Colombia’. BHRC set themselves the task of investigating the rule of law in Colombia and how it complies with international human rights standards, especially as they affect the trade unions. BHRC took evidence from trade union leaders and their members in the agricultural, health, education and petroleum sectors, and from lawyers and other human rights defenders. We met with Government agencies and representatives of the armed forces.

Read more in the Report.

In 2005, the President of CCAJAR participated in BHRC’s workshop at the 2005 Bar Conference which focused on war crimes tribunals and truth and reconciliation commissions. CCAJAR’s caseload is varied, involving massacres, extra-judicial killings, torture, forced disappearances, and displacements. The CCAJAR lawyers and their families face constant death threats.

Litigation

In 2005, BHRC submitted an amicus brief to the Colombian Supreme Court on the Justice and Peace Law, 975/2005. The brief supported the petitions of the Comision Colombiana de Juristas and the Movimiento de Crimenes de Estado and focused on the right to truth, the right to justice, duty to investigate and the right to reparation.

Read the amicus brief here.

In March 2004 BHRC visited Colombia at the invitation of the International Commission for Labour Rights (ICLA) to investigate into the very high numbers of trade unionists killed, tortured and threatened in Colombia. The situation in which trade unionists find themselves is extremely concerning. While the Colombian Government accepts that they are being targeted, the virtual total impunity in which the cases of murder remain means that there is no real deterrent for the perpetrators of the killings. BHRC made a number of recommendations addressed to the International Labour Organisation, the Colombian Government, Trade Unions, Guerillas and Paramilitaries, Corporations and Lawyers in order to address these issues.

Read more in the BHRC's 2004 Report Violations of the right to life of trade unionists in Colombia.

The threat to human rights defenders and trade unionist in particular continues to be the object of international scrutiny and concern as reported by the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the UN Special Representative of the Secretary General on Human rights defenders.

Costa Rica

One of our members conducted a case in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Costa Rica on appeal from Trinidad. The case concerned the status of corporal punishment (flogging) in international and municipal law.

Jamaica

BHRC continued to send junior barrister volunteers to Kingston to support Jamaican lawyers undertaking death row cases at first instance and on appeal. The project is administered through the Bar Caribbean Pro Bono Committee, a sub-committee of BHRC established in 1999 by a small group of barristers aware of the difficulties faced by local attorneys in representing defendants charged with capital murder and alert to concerns over the establishment of the Caribbean Court of Justice.

BHRC works with the Independent Jamaican Council for Human Rights, a grassroots NGO in whose offices the volunteers are based. The project received significant core funding in 2003 which enabled 4 UK barristers to assist in Jamaica over the year and permitted organization of an advocacy and human rights conference. A number of Chambers have generously contributed funds to allow the scheme to continue. The project has received positive feedback from the Jamaican Bar, judiciary, press and human rights community. The success of the project is reflected in the ever-increasing workload of volunteers. A record number of cases have been prepared for trial and the first acquittal was granted this year. In preparing these cases the volunteers were able to identify and pursue legal and evidential points that would not have been taken were it not for their presence. There have been occasions where points raised by volunteers but not pursued at trial, for whatever reason, have enabled successful appeals to be mounted. Volunteers have also reported that their presence has had indirect beneficial effects. A number of attorneys have asked volunteers to accompany them to court when making applications, believing that judges would be less ready to dismiss those applications if aware of the attorneys’ affiliation to a human rights association of the UKBar. The scheme has developed a strong reputation for the quality of assistance provided amongst attorneys, defendants and others in the community, evident from the fact that both attorneys and defendants are approaching volunteers for assistance.

The scheme has attracted considerable interest elsewhere in the Caribbean, particularly in Trinidad and Tobago, and we have had communications from a number of lawyers in Trinidad requesting that we extend and replicate the scheme there. It is anticipated that the project will assume even greater importance as Caribbean countries withdraw from the Privy Council and establish a Caribbean Court of Appeal.

2006 - 2007

The BHRC set-up a project in Jamaica – the pro-bono Caribbean group - which focuses on assisting in cases and working with attorneys in certain Caribbean countries. The work has received funding from the generosity of various chambers.

Selected barristers work at the Independent Jamaican Council of Human Rights in downtown Kingston, Jamaica. They work independently of the Council and their remit is to identify and prepare the defence of those who have been sentenced to death. Some appeal work is undertaken. However, much of the work involves frequent trips to St. Catherine’s prison in Spanish Town – where “death row” is located. In addition, the barristers work alongside the attorneys who are instructed in these cases and provide them much needed support and assistance. The Supreme Court in downtown Kingston becomes a very familiar venue.

Kirsty Brimelow of the BHRC went to Jamaica in 2005/2006 in order to oversee the project and recommend changes. Kirsty Brimelow also worked on numerous cases and met a group of dedicated and conscientious attorneys who work tirelessly to combat many of the problems within the justice system. Kirsty Brimelow was in Jamaica at a time of huge legislative change as the mandatory death sentence had been held to be unconstitutional by the Privy Council. She was involved in many of the resentencing hearings for those who, originally, had been sentenced to death. The work is very rewarding. The need of those forgotten and disempowered through poverty, on occasions, felt, overwhelming. The work continues and all help is gratefully received.

Read the article "A shadow of death hangs over Jamaicaand its criminals" by Kirsty Brimelow, BHRC.

Mexico

In 2001 BHRC together with Lawyers' Rights Watch Association ( LRWC) followed the investigation into Digna Ochoa’s death. In July 2002, LRWC and BHRC issued a report based in part on interviews conducted by a team of representatives from LRWC and BHRC in Mexico during March, April and May 2002.

The BHRC/LRWC 2002 report concluded that the government of Mexico had failed to comply with its legal obligation to conduct an effective investigation into the murder of and the threats and attacks against Digna Ochoa and in doing so had violated Mexico’s legal obligation to provide adequate safeguards for the security and independence of lawyers and other advocates defending human rights and representing clients and causes unpopular to government officials. LRWC and BHRC rejected the suicide theory and concluded that in the absence of any meaningful investigation of the threats and assaults that preceded Ms Ochoa’s death, and of the alleged involvement of government agents in her death, the suicide theory could have no credibility.

Read the Report.

In October 2002 BHRC and LRWC issued a statement applauding the creation the Digna Ochoa y Plácido Human Rights Centre and support the continuation of Digna Ochoa's human rights advocacy by the Centre. Read More Here

Peru

In 2004 BHRC met with representatives of the Peruvian NGO Paz y Esperanza (Peace and Hope) in London to discuss providing training on international humanitarian law for judges and prosecutors in Lima. A Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) began work in 2001 to piece together the history of human rights violations and recommend policies for reform and reparation following the internal conflict between the security forces and two guerilla organisations - Sendero Luminoso (Shining Path) and Movimiento Revolucionario Túpac (Túpac Amaru Revolutionary Movement). The TRC identified serious defects in the Peruvian justice system and recommended the formation of a specialist court specifically constructed to try members of the security forces for crimes committed during 1980-2000 including crimes against humanity and potential acts of genocide against the Quechua people.

Trinidad and Tobago

BHRC was asked by the lawyers for the alleged victims whose cases have been referred to the Inter American Court on Human Rights (the “Honourable Court”) to prepare a Report on the law and procedure in the criminal justice system in Trinidad and Tobago. The purpose of the Report was to assist the Honourable Court by describing the criminal justice process in Trinidad as it applied to those accused of murder.

Read more in the report on the Criminal Justice Sytem in Trinidad and Tobago.

United States of America

An amicus curiae brief was submitted in April 2006 by the BHRC to the US Supreme Court concerning the expanding Executive’s foreign affairs powers. Read More Here.

Representatives of BHRC submitted an amicus brief to the US Supreme Court in the case of Hamdan v Rumsfeld et al. The brief emphasised the centrality of the writ of habeas corpus to United Kingdom law, and noted that any legislative attempt to oust such review of detention would likely be declared unconstitutional. It advised that were it the UK, not the US which controlled the Guantanamo Bay Naval Base, the writ of habeas corpus would be available before the courts to challenge the jurisdictional propriety and fundamental fairness of detention.

In a separate brief in the cases of Sanches-Llamas v State of Oregon and Bustillo v Johnson, members of BHRC urged the Supreme Court to affirm and give effect to US obligations under the Vienna Convention in order to uphold the rule of law domestically and ensure reciprocal protection for US citizens abroad. We joined with others to insist that foreign nationals who are detained must be informed of their right to seek consular assistance. Two members of our committee were involved in drafting amicus briefs for the Supreme Court in Rasul v. Bush. Amicus Brief to the US Supreme Court on the Writ of Habeas Corpus.

Concerning the case of a suspected terrorist, Mr. Abassi detained in Guantanamo Bay, BHRC lodged an opinion oulining what the possible legal remedies would be available to him to enforce his rights. Read more....

Death Penalty

BHRC members have filed briefs calling for the suspension of the death sentence imposed on prisoners for offences they committed when they were juveniles.

In 1994 BHRC produced a report on the Death Penalty in Texas