Publications

Widespread violations of international law have been reported in the context of the Russian Federation (Russia)’s occupation of Crimea in 2014, the conflict in Eastern Ukraine since 2014, and Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine which began on 24 February 2022. Beyond accountability through criminal justice processes, reparations will be needed to address the harm caused to victims, and to restore their dignity and rebuild their lives. This briefing, written in partnership with the Global Survivors Fund, provides an overview of the right to reparation in international law, the domestic level judicial and administrative initiatives and transitional justice efforts in Ukraine, and the key international mechanisms currently under consideration, with conclusions and recommendations for relevant stakeholders.

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.

To mark the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), the United Against Torture Consortium, of which REDRESS is a member, has committed to the following pledges to strengthen and expand the anti-torture movement and its impact on the eradication of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. We support a holistic approach to counter torture and other ill-treatment at global, regional, national and local levels, combining prevention, protection, justice, and reparations, including rehabilitation.    

Targeted thematic and country-based financial sanctions (“targeted sanctions”) have become an increasingly popular tool among jurisdictions seeking accountability for, and to deter, serious human rights violations and corrupt practices. Since the introduction of the United States’ 2016 Global Magnitsky Act, the United Kingdom, European Union, Canada and Australia have all enacted similar legislation. This report sets out a framework which identifies five types of impact of targeted sanctions. This framework may assist civil society and government stakeholders in developing their own assessments of the impact of targeted sanctions and improving the use of these tools for accountability and behavioural change. Alongside this general framework, seven detailed case assessments have been conducted on various designations by the US, UK, Canada and the EU to demonstrate how this framework may be used in practice.

Responding to an inquiry by the House of Lords’ European Affairs Committee on 'implications of Russia's invasion of Ukraine for UK-EU relations', REDRESS' submission highlights that the UK and the EU’s efforts to impose a large number of targeted sanction have not been enough to deter Moscow from committing further violations of international law in Ukraine. The submission makes a series of recommendations to the UK Government, including the need to align sanctions delegations more closely with allies and ensure designations explicitly refer to human rights violations where appropriate. 

On 7th November 2023 the UK Government announced that it would introduce a Criminal Justice Bill, which provides an opportunity to strengthen the UK’s approach to tackling complex offences and pursue routes for repurposing illicit wealth. In this briefing, REDRESS identifies some legal and policy reforms that the UK Government should implement to ensure the confiscation and repurposing of profits derived from human rights abuses and violations of international humanitarian law to repair victims.

UK law allows for the prosecution of international crimes under a principle known as ‘universal jurisdiction’. Universal jurisdiction allows the courts of any country to hold trials for crimes that ‘shock the conscience’ – including genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes – no matter where they occur. But legal constraints, practical challenges, and a lack of political will have meant that only three people have been convicted of such crimes in the UK – ever. This report sets out reforms that would close loopholes and allow for more successful cases to be brought in English courts against suspects of the most serious international crimes.