The present report highlights universal jurisdiction cases where judges or prosecutors have initiated investigations into the most serious international crimes in 2021. It also raises the question of how universal jurisdiction can contribute to the fight against impunity for conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence. The report has been researched and written by Valerie Paulet, Legal Consultant at TRIAL International, in collaboration with Civitas Maxima, the Center for Justice and Accountability, the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights, the International Federation for Human Rights, and REDRESS. The publication benefited from the generous support of the Oak Foundation, the Taiwan Foundation for Democracy, the UKAID from the UK Government and the City of Geneva.
The effective incorporation of anti-torture standards within States’ domestic legal frameworks and their effective implementation in practice is crucial to prevent torture and other ill-treatment, ensure that perpetrators are held accountable, and to provide redress for victims. States in the African region widely reject the practice of torture and other ill-treatment, notably reflected through near regional universality of the UN Convention against Torture (UNCAT) and the widespread ratification of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter) and other human rights treaties. REDRESS and the Convention against Torture Initiative’s report examines the anti-torture legislative and regulatory framework of eight States in common law Africa, namely, The Gambia, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. It identifies existing good practices and legislative provisions and opportunities for anti-torture legislative and regulatory reforms to inspire action towards strengthening the domestic implementation of UNCAT across the region. It outlines measures and proposals that can be considered by States and their institutions to secure legal protection against torture and other ill-treatment and positively impact torture prevention and response in practice.
REDRESS would like to thank our partners CTI; the law firm Clifford Chance for their support during the drafting and editing process, and the expert members of the Advisory Board of this report: Ms. Aua Baldé, H.E. Mr. Ramses Joseph Cleland, Dr. Alice Edwards, Mr. Gaye Sowe, Ms. Ruth Ssekindi and Prof. Frans Viljoen.
In this briefing, REDRESS, the People’s Legal Aid Centre (PLACE), the Darfur Bar Association, and the Emergency Lawyers Group outline patterns of arrests and detentions conducted under Sudan’s emergency laws since the 25 October 2021 military coup.
In this bulletin, we feature some positive updates on our areas of work. This includes our initiatives in our Reparation programme, such as Magnitsky Sanctions project, through which we seek to impose a financial cost on the perpetrators of torture with travel bans and asset freezes. Another is the Asset Recovery project, where we are developing pilot cases to explore legal routes to seize assets from human rights abusers and redistribute them as reparations to their victims. Also highlighted is the story of Tariku Asefa, which reminds us that much more remains to be done to repair the harm experienced by those who have survived the horrors of torture and enable them to rebuild their lives and regain their place in society. The Bulletin also provides the latest updates on REDRESS’s growing team, advocacy campaigns, publications and policy work in recent months.
This report provides information on REDRESS's activities from 1 April 2020 to 31 March 2021, including a review of our impact and activities, governance and management, and a financial review; an Independent Auditors Report, with their opinion on the accounts of the charity for the financial year, and a Statement of Financial Activities, with a detailed review of our finances for the year.
This Annual Review provides an overview of the activities and achievements carried out by REDRESS from April 2020 to March 2021, with coverage of developments up until the date of printing in select areas. Among our successes this year we continued our efforts to end state hostage-taking, particularly in relation to the case of British-Iranian Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe. We also joined the successful campaign to amend the Overseas Operations Act, preventing an effective amnesty for UK service personnel who commit international crimes such as torture. Additionally, we started a new project to ensure the effective use of Magnitsky Sanctions in the UK, a new tool for those challenging torture around the world. Meanwhile Sudan took historic steps to eradicate torture within the country by ratifying two major international human rights treaties, something REDRESS has long advocated for. We have challenged the use of enforced disappearance as a form of torture, as well as challenged discriminatory torture through projects on reparation for sexual violence in conflict and research on LGBT+ torture in Africa.
Early on the morning of October 25 2021, Sudanese security forces arrested at least five civilian members of Sudan’s transitional government, including the prime minister and other officials and key political leaders. The military announced the dissolution of the joint civilian-military transitional government. In response, in a briefing distributed to members of the UK Parliament on 25 October, REDRESS called on the UK Government to take several urgent steps.
Anoosheh Ashoori and Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe are both British nationals who have been arbitrarily detained in Iran for four years and five years, respectively. In this briefing, Amnesty International UK and REDRESS share the deeply held concerns of Anoosheh's and Nazanin’s families that there remain crucial areas not being pursued by the UK government to secure their release and bring them home. The briefing calls on the UK government to review their current, failed strategy, to ensure that by the end of 2021, all necessary and available steps have been taken to secure the release of Anoosheh, Nazanin, Mehran Raoof and Morad Tahbaz.
