Publications

Now in its tenth edition, the Universal Jurisdiction Annual Review has continued to showcase the increasingly important role of universal jurisdiction in the fight against impunity. With 36 new investigations opened in 2023 and 16 convictions, the past year confirms this positive trend. However, the use of universal jurisdiction is not expanding evenly across countries.  As long as cases continue to be concentrated in a few specific jurisdictions, the truly universal nature and potential impact of universal jurisdiction will remain unexploited. Read more in the report, released by TRIAL International in collaboration with Civitas Maxima, the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), FIDH and REDRESS.

Over the last decade, the International Law Commission and the UN General Assembly have made progress in attempts to establish a Convention on Crimes Against Humanity (CAH). In this policy brief on a prospective CAH Convention, REDRESS, the International Federation for Human rights (FIDH), Global Survivors Fund (GSF) and TRIAL International voice support for a prospective CAH convention. This Convention can cement Customary International Law and fill an important existing gap in treaty law regarding crimes against humanity. The policy brief makes recommendations to States on reflecting progressive provisions on victims’ and survivors’ rights in a prospective CAH Convention

In March 2022, Roman Abramovich promised to sell Chelsea Football Club and donate the £2.5 billion to support victims of the war in Ukraine, nearly 7 times the value of humanitarian assistance provided by the UK to Ukraine so far. However, two years on, the sale has hit a stalemate and no money has been delivered to victims of the conflict. This briefing paper outlines how the UK Government can break the deadlock over the funds and direct them towards victims in Ukraine, as promised.

This briefing provides an overview of recent developments in the UK’s use of targeted sanctions as of 23 January 2024.

Despite the considerable potential of consular assistance to protect the rights and wellbeing of British nationals detained abroad, its provision by the UK Government remains discretionary. This report sets out a series of principles to help shape a legal right to consular assistance. Moving consular assistance onto a legislative footing would ensure more robust safeguards for British nationals at risk of human rights abuses abroad and solidify the State’s responsibility to secure the rights and wellbeing of its most vulnerable citizens.

Victims of human rights violations have the right to effective reparations. However, those reparations are not always accessible in practice, leaving victims without redress, while those responsible for the harm inflicted continue to profit from their abuses. This report argues that it is high time for legal and policy reforms to challenge the financial impunity enjoyed by perpetrators, and fund reparations for victims. It identifies important legal and policy reforms that the UK Government should implement to ensure the repurposing of profits derived from violations of human rights and humanitarian law to provide reparations to victims. Innovative avenues are available to produce significant funds that would have a transformative impact on the lives of victims.

Briefing outlining the consistent reports of torture being used in Rwanda by both the military and the police. The United Nations has concluded that Rwanda does not have in place the necessary safeguards against torture or the structures to respond to it.

This Annual Review provides an overview of the activities and achievements carried out by REDRESS from April 2022 to March 2023. As REDRESS celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2023, we continued to challenge torture and push for accountability across the world. Our successes this year include developing new strategic initiatives on sanctions and asset recovery to deliver reparation to survivors, enhancing the strategic litigation skills of our partners, centring the views of survivors in our work through a newly created Survivors Advisory Group, and confronting torture used to supress dissent and persecute marginalised and discriminated groups.