Category: Human rights defenders
-
Policy Brief – Analysing Civic Space in East Africa through a judicial lens
For the past years, civic space has been described as “shrinking” in many countries around the world. The adoption of restrictive laws, the harassment of journalists, the arrest and detention of human rights defenders, the suspension of activities or freezing of accounts of civil society organisations, are common tactics used by states to restrict civic…
-
No to the introduction of “malicious undermining of State authority” in the Belgian Penal Code
ASF joins more than 500 signatories from associations, universities, the judiciary and civil society in warning of the danger of the introduction in the new Belgian criminal code of the offence of malicious attack on the authority of the State.
-
Defending the defence: The lawyer faced with the peril of repression
Legal proceedings, harassment, intimidation, deprivation of liberty, and sometimes direct physical harm. Throughtout the world, lawyers working on behalf of human rights, civil society or vulnerable groups are threatened and attacked simply for doing their job. This is the reality that we and our partners have to face wherever we operate. Our teams report repeated…
-
East Africa – Protecting civic space: A public interest litigation approach
In 2022, ASF’s East Africa office launched a project covering three countries in the region: Burundi, Tanzania and Uganda. The objective of the project is to contribute to the advancement of the rule of law through the understanding and usage of regional human rights treaty bodies, mechanisms and instruments by local civil societies organisations.
-
ExPEERience Talk #11 – Decriminalising poverty, status and activism: a global emergency, an international campaign
This 11th ExPEERience Talk will be devoted to the Campaign for the Decriminalisation of Poverty, Status and Activism. Several of its members will present its history and how it operates. They will discuss the challenges encountered and the opportunities presented by the networking of a multiplicity of actors to tackle a global and systemic issue…
-
The campaign to decriminalise poverty, activism and status
The Campaign for the Decriminalisation of Poverty, Status and Activism, launched in Africa, South Asia, North America and the Caribbean, is led by a coalition of civil society organisations calling for the revision and repeal of laws that target people because of their status (social, political or economic) or their activism. In many countries, criminal…
-
ASF’s annual report is available!
Avocats Sans Frontières is delighted to present its latest annual report. Our teams offer a seriers of articles about our field work on detention, transistional justice, business & human rights, communities of practice, our advocacy work, etc.
-
Justice ExPEERience: a network and a platform for the promotion of human rights
Justice ExPEERience is an international network of actors active in the promotion of human rights on all five continents. It is above all a collaborative network, in which members are invited to share their experiences and expertise, but also to work together, in coalitions or communities of practice, on concrete projects for monitoring human rights…
-
600 days after Article 80 : From the state of exception to the establishment of autocracy
The Alliance for Security and Liberties (ASL), of which ASF is a member, has published its fifth report on the rule of law and the state of freedoms in Tunisia. Begun in the aftermath of President Saïed’s coup de force on 25 July 2021, ASL’s quantitative and qualitative monitoring and analysis of the events, decisions…
-
Prisons in Tunisia: inertia of a repressive system
In Tunisia, the actors of the penal chain tend to perpetuate the repressive reflexes of the former Ben Ali regime. Prison overcrowding remains very high: around 131% rate of occupation with 23,607 prisoners at the end of 2020 (accused and convicted together) for around 18,000 places available, resulting in detention conditions below international standards.