Protests in Indianapolis, IN, USA.Photo by Hybrid on Unsplash BHRC expresses condemnation at the excessive use of force deployed by State law enforcement officers in the United States in response to mass protests taking place across the country following the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis police officers on 25 May 2020....
The Bar Human Rights Committee has joined a coalition of ten legal organisations in a joint letter to the President of Turkey expressing concern about criminal investigations launched in Turkey against the Ankara Bar Association and the Diyarbakir Bar Association for “openly disrespect the religious belief of a group” (article 126(3) of the Penal...
The Bar Human Rights Committee (BHRC) expresses grave concern about the draft national security legislation that is set to be imposed on Hong Kong following the anticipated passage of the draft decision on establishing and improving the legal system and enforcement mechanisms for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) to safeguard national security (“the...
The international legal community is seriously concerned by the arrest of 15 veteran pro-democracy figures in Hong Kong on Saturday 18 April 2020. In what appears to be a further clampdown on civil liberties and democracy following the 2019 protests, which began over the introduction of a controversial extradition bill, those arrested today include senior...
On 1 April 2020, BHRC and the Bar Council wrote to the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, expressing grave concern regarding the introduction of legislation on Monday 30 March granting sweeping emergency powers to the Hungarian executive as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The State Secretary for Cooperation in European and...
BHRC has issued a public statement expressing serious concern that draft legislation in Turkey, which aims to prevent the spread of COVID-19 across prisons and detention centres, contains a blanket exclusion of political prisoners. These include thousands of civil servants, lawyers, politicians, activists, and journalists whom Turkey has detained, prosecuted and convicted in the period since...
The Bar Council and the Bar Human Rights Committee have written to the Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, expressing grave concern regarding the introduction of legislation on Monday 30 March granting sweeping emergency powers to the Hungarian executive as part of the response to the COVID-19 pandemic. The letter notes the absence of a time limit...
BHRC has joined the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP), MENA Rights Group, and 37 organisations from around the world, to issue a statement calling on governments in the Middle East and North Africa to take a number of urgent measures to protect their prison populations, and in doing so, their populations as...
The Bar Council and the Bar Human Rights Committee have written to the Polish President and Prime Minister, and Marshals of the Senate and Sejm, on the worsening rule of law crisis in the country. In particular they address their serious concerns as to the motion filed by the National Prosecution Office to the Disciplinary Chamber of the...
The undersigned bar associations and organizations, concerned with the rule of law and the independence of the legal profession, register their concern over the continued suspension of Ms Fatma Karume, a former president of the Tanganyika Law Society and a current senior partner at the law firm, IMMMA Advocates in Tanzania. On September 20, 2019,...
The Bar Human Rights Committee is the independent,
international human rights arm of the Bar of England
and Wales, dedicated to promoting justice and respect
for human rights through the rule of law.