Security and the Rule of Law

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About Our Work_ - Security and the Rule of Law

Latest INTERIGHTS News_

Internship for Security and the Rule of Law Lawyer

INTERIGHTS is seeking applications from lawyers working on security and the rule of law issues, for an internship as part of the development and implementation of its work in Africa.

Finogenov & Ors v Russia

The European Court of Human Rights today found that Russia failed to adequately plan and conduct the rescue of the victims of the ‘Nord Ost’ hostage crisis in October 2002. Russia was also found at fault for subsequently failing to conduct an effective investigation into the rescue operation, and the Court awarded compensations ranging between 8,000 and 66,000 Euros to 64 claimants. INTERIGHTS, together with the International Commission of Jurists, submitted written comments to the Court in the case.

Abu Zubaydah, victim of CIA’s extraordinary rendition, seeks accountability at the European Court of Human Rights

INTERIGHTS,together with a team of U.S. lawyers, filed an application before the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Abu Zubaydah v Lithuania. The case concerns the responsibility of Lithuania for his enforced disappearance, torture and ill-treatment at a secret detention facility in Lithuania, and a number of other violations of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Litigation_

Finogenov & Ors v Russia

International lawyers launch legal action in Poland on behalf of Abu Zubaydah, the first victim of the CIA’s experimental torture programme

Polish lawyer Bartlomiej Jankowski - working with INTERIGHTS and Reprieve as well as U.S. lawyers Joseph Margulies and Brent Mickum - has begun a legal battle to hold officials accountable for their key contribution to the CIA’s extraordinary rendition and enhanced interrogation programme.

Mohamed et al v Jeppesen Dataplan, Inc

INTERIGHTS, alongside the International Commission of Jurists, the World Organization Against Torture, Redress Trust, and international legal scholars Robert K. Goldman, Senator Dick Marty, Manfred Nowak and Judge Stefan Trechsel, filed an amicus curiae brief before the US Supreme Court challenging the blanket approach of US Courts to national security, whereby rendition victims cases have been thrown out on states secrets grounds at the government's behest.

Babar Ahmad and others v the United Kingdom

INTERIGHTS, Reprieve, the American Civil Liberties Union and Yale Law School National Litigation Project jointly submitted a third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights in this case which concerns the pending extradition of four persons from the United Kingdom to the United States where they are alleged to have committed terrorism-related offences.

Jones v UK, Mitchell & Ors v UK

INTERIGHTS, jointly with three other organisations, submitted a third party intervention before the European Court of Human Rights that focuses on why officials named in the case should not be protected by immunity from being sued by victims of torture.

Capacity Building and Standard Setting_

Combating Torture and Arbitrariness

The Security and Rule of Law Programme hosted a meeting on 16 and 17 March 2007 which focused on particular practices which have come into sharp focus in the context of counter-terrorism and human rights, such as extra-legal rendition, disappearances and secret detention.

Human rights litigation and the ‘war on terror’

Helen Duffy, Litigation Director at INTERIGHTS, has written an article for the International Review of the Red Cross, on the litigation that has unfolded in recent years in relation to issues such as arbitrary detention, torture and ill-treatment, extraordinary rendition, extraterritorial application of human rights norms and the creeping reach of the ‘terrorism ’ label.

Podcast: Litigating Human Rights in the Context of International Terrorism

INTERIGHTS' Legal Director gave a lecture at the London School of Economics exploring some of the key human rights challenges posed by the ‘War on Terror’ and the experience of resorting to the courts to address them.