What We Do

TRIAL and 19 local associations are presenting their recommendations in the framework of the Universal Periodic Review of the UN Human Rights Council.

Twenty-two years ago, 13 men were victims of enforced disappearances during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Between 2008 and 2011, their relatives, with the help of TRIAL, submitted their cases to the European Court of Human Rights. Their fate and whereabouts remain unknown, although a few bones of four of them have been located and identified. Most of the perpetra...

Civil society seeks justice for the first time before the African Commission for cases of extrajudicial killings that remained unpunished before the national judicial authorities. NGOs have submitted four complaints to the African Commission on Human and Peoples' Rights. These include several cases of extrajudicial killings committed between 2010 and 2012. Several...

Nearly seven years ago, after a long-term effort, several NGOs denounced Erwin Sperisen to the Swiss authorities by stressing his responsibility in numerous and serious human rights violations. The Geneva Court rendered a significant judgment today, condemning the former Chief of Police of Guatemala to a life-sentence for 7 extrajudicial executions in 2006 in Guatemal...

Last May, the President of Nepal passed a deeply flawed Truth and Reconciliation Commission Act. Violating human rights law standards, this Act raises great concerns, as it will contribute to further entrench impunity in Nepal. TRIAL calls for amendments to be made and reminds that current Nepalese transitional justice mechanisms are totally inadequate as they:...

TRIAL, along with eight associations from Mexico and Central America, has submitted a report (available in Spanish too)  to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances(CED). It aims at reminding Mexico of its legal obligation under the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Even though the State is party to this treat...

The United Nations has just adopted a landmark decision condemning Libya for the enforced disappearance of Jaballa Hamed Matar and Izzat Yousef Al-Maqrif, two high-ranking political opponents of Colonel Gaddafi's regime whose fate and whereabouts remain unknown since 1990. If this decision doesn't disclose the truth on the final fate of the two political leaders, i...

In June 2014, TRIAL, together with Advocacy Forum - Nepal and REDRESS, submitted a report providing an analysis of the conformity with international standards of the provisions of the recently enacted Act on the Commission on Investigation of Disappeared Persons, Truth and Reconciliation 2071 (11 May 2014) to several UN Special Procedures. TRIAL requested the Speci...

On 3 January 2007 Nepal ratified the  Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the involvement of Children in Armed Conflict (OPAC). On 15 October 2012 Nepal presented to the Committee on the Rights of the Child its Initial Report (CRC/C/OPAC/NPL/1) pursuant to Article 8, para. 1, of the OPAC. On 26 June 2014 TRIAL submitted an alternative...

Geneva, London, May 19 2014 - The United Nations has adopted a landmark decision condemning Libya for the enforced disappearance of two high-ranking political opponents of Colonel Gaddafi’s regime. The complaints regarding the cases of Jaballa Hamed Matar and Izzat Yousef Al-Maqrif were filed by NGO TRIAL on behalf of the sons of the disappeared. Hisham Matar and Youc...

In May 2014 TRIAL and 8 associations from Mexico and Central America submitted an alternative report to the UN Committee on Enforced Disappearances (CED). It concerns the implementation by Mexico of its obligations under the International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Mexico is a party to this treaty since 18 March 2008 and i...

In April 2014, TRIAL has submitted a complaint to the United Nations Human Rights Committee (HRC) on behalf of a victim of arbitrary arrest, torture and enforced disappearance in Nepal.   Arbitrarily arrested, disappeared and tortured Amrit Kandel, a Nepalese citizen, was arbitrarily arrested in Kathmandu on 10th October 2003 during the armed conflict th...