The Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) is pleased to join The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) , alongside other organisations, in marking the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the UN Basic Principles on the role of the lawyer. CCBE Statement on the occasion of the 30thanniversary of the UN Basic...

An open letter to: UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, UN Member States We, the undersigned organizations, join together to call for an international mechanism to address the Chinese government’s human rights violations, and urge you to take decisive action to achieve this goal. On 26 June 2020, an...

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (BHRC) condemns the designation and imposition of economic sanctions by the United States on the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda and Head of the Court’s Jurisdiction, Complementarity and Cooperation Division, Phakiso Mochochoko. BHRC further condemns the announcement of measures to restrict the issuance of...

The Bar Human Rights Committee has written a joint letter to UN Special Rapporteurs and Inter-American Rapporteurs in response to recent threats received by lawyer Reinaldo Villalba Vargas and his legal team. The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales, along with The Law Society of England and Wales, Lawyers for Lawyers, Lawyers’ Rights...

(Beirut, August 28, 2020) – On 25 August 2020, the Fifth “Terrorism Circuit” of the Cairo Criminal Court sentenced Bahey eldin Hassan, a veteran human rights defender, to 15 years in prison on the basis of his critical tweets, 18 human rights organizations said today. The conviction of Bahey eldin Hassan, director and co-founder of...

The Bar Council of England and Wales (“The Bar Council”) and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (“BHRC”) condemn the Zimbabwean Magistrate’s ruling on 18 August 2020 against Beatrice Mtetwa, a renowned human rights lawyer. We urgently call upon Magistrate Nduna –the ruling Magistrate in the case– to immediately revoke the judgment...

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (“BHRC”) has raised concerns regarding the prosecution and judicial harassment of a number of lawyers and human rights defenders in Bahrain in a letter to the King sent today. The letter follows the recent conviction and sentencing of human rights lawyer Abdullah Al-Shamlawi on 30 June...

The Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales (“BHRC”) and Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada (“LRWC”) condemn the mass arrests, violence and excessive use of force against peaceful protesters in Belarus following the contested preliminary results of the presidential election on Sunday 9 August 2020. The USA, UK and the EU have refused to accept...