News releases

Geneva, 21 June 2016 - In a judgment delivered today, the European Court of Human Rights narrowly ruled that Switzerland did not breach the European Convention on Human Rights by denying a Tunisian torture victim the right to seek reparations from his torturer. The victim, who was granted refugee status in Switzerland years ago in light of the torture he had endured,...

(The Hague, 19 May 2016) – The European Union (EU) and its member states should make a commitment to further enhance national prosecutions of crimes under international law and human rights violations, six international human rights groups said today. Member states should adopt necessary laws, create specialized war crimes units, and ensure that these units have finan...

Kathmandu/London/Geneva, 26 February 2016 – Illegal arrests, torture, enforced disappearances: for years, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) has repeatedly found Nepal responsible for gross human rights violations against its own citizens. Despite these many decisions, the government has shown no sign of properly compensating victims and letting justice p...

Sarajevo, 2 December 2015 – More than 20 experts from the judiciary, international community and civil society organizations met today in Sarajevo to discuss, for the very first time, the burning question of compensation for wartime victims. How should compensation claims be dealt with in criminal proceedings? How could the existing practice be improved? Those were so...

Geneva, 4 November 2015 – Nepal underwent today its Universal Periodic Review (UPR) at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva. On the occasion of this second cycle of Nepal’s scrutiny by the UN, no less than 73 Member States took the floor and provided Nepal with recommendations. While most congratulated Nepal on the promulgation of the world’s youngest Con...

Berlin/London/Geneva, 15 September 2015 – Electric shocks, beatings on the soles of the feet, stress positions during incommunicado detention: those who allow this type of torture can and must be held criminally liable – even abroad. Bahrain-born British citizen Jaafar Al-Hasabi has submitted a criminal complaint to the prosecuting authorities in Berne (Switzerland) a...