Publications

This manual is intended to familiarize those without any litigation experience before the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights with its communication process. The African Commission is the main forum for upholding the rights of victims of human rights violations in Africa.

In its response to the Explanatory Working Paper produced by the Justice Directorate of the European Commission in relation to the implementation of the Directive 2012/29/EU, which establishes minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime, REDRESS sets out some key concerns and recommendations in the context of its expertise in working with victims of crimes under international law.

In this letter, REDRESS draws attention to the incompatibility of a proposed amendment of Sudan's Armed Forces law of 2007 with international human rights obligations binding on Sudan, and urges the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers to urgently raise this matter with the Government of Sudan, with a view to ensuring that any reform undertaken does not include any provisions subjecting civilians to the jurisdiction of military courts.

In this brief, REDRESS, CLRS and the Sudanese Human Rights Monitor draw attention to the incompatibility of a proposed amendment of Sudan's Armed Forces law of 2007 with international human rights obligations binding on Sudan, in particular, the provisions that would subject civilians to the jurisdiction of military courts.

On 24 to 27 April 2013, a panel of nine experts with extensive experience in processes involving a large number of victims met in The Hague to consider challenges that the International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently facing in giving effect to the rights of victims to participate in the Court's proceedings. The meeting was organised by Amnesty International and REDRESS, in consultation with the panel members and the ICC. This report, which is based on the panel's review of the current participation system and detailed consultations with the ICC and NGOs, sets out its findings, including principles and recommendations aimed at strengthening the participation system and ensuring that participation is effective and meaningful for victims.

This study presents the key findings of a regional expert meeting on torture held in collaboration with the Asian Human Rights Commission (ACHR) in Hong Kong in 2011. The meeting brought together practitioners from a number of countries in Asia, including Bangladesh, Cambodia, East Timor, India, Indonesia, Kazakhstan, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The discussions focused on structural factors, such as legislative deficiencies, weak institutions and impunity, which perpetuate torture as well as on strategic responses, including documentation, litigation and advocacy. This study presents the findings in relation to patterns of torture and common challenges experienced in the region, together with a number of detailed country studies based on contributions by participants and supplementary research.

This shadow report to the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), for consideration of the combined 6th and 7th Report of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), focuses on the issue of access to justice for women victims of sexual violence committed in the context of the conflict in the DRC. It highlights a series of priority concerns related to access to justice and includes recommendations for each of those concerns, in order to assist the Committee in its examination of the DRC’s report and its dialogue with the DRC delegation.

This report provides a review of laws, practices and patterns of torture, examining the availability and effectiveness of safeguards, accountability mechanisms and avenues to obtain reparation for torture in several countries of the Americas region, including Argentina, Belize, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, United States of America and Venezuela. It reflects both systemic challenges and best practices identified by participants of a regional expert meeting that was held in Lima, Peru, in 2012, as part of the REDRESS initiative “Reparation for Torture: Global Sharing of Expertise”, supported by the European Union.