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63 ICJ Newsl. 1 (1995)

handle is hein.icj/icjnews0063 and id is 1 raw text is: Th Itraioa Comsso ofjnist UN Sub-Commission jurists Welcome Important Breakthroughs On 31 August 1995, the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) issued a state- ment on the work of the UN Sub- Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities which held its 47th session between I - 25 August 1995 at the UN Office at Geneva. During the session the ICJ made sev- eral oral interventions to express its pro- found concern over the situations in Colombia, Nigeria, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and called upon all nations to work constructively towards the estab- lishment of a permanent International Criminal Court to end the impunity of those responsible for the violation of human rights around the world. The ICJ recalled that in April 1995, an Ad Hoc Committee of the General Assembly start- ed to review a draft Statute, prepared by the International Law Commission, for such a court. The ICJ stated that it hoped that the Committee will recommend that the General Assembly convene a meeting of plenipotentiaries to establish the Court. Colombia For the first time the Sub- Commission adopted a resolution con- cerning the grave human rights situation in Colombia. This event is a breakthrough for neither the Sub-Commission nor its superior body, the UN Commission on Human Rights, have ever adopted a reso- lution on that country. Colombia's human rights record was repeatedly brought under scrutiny by a number of NGOs, including the ICJ, most of whom request- ed the appointment of a Special Rapporteur to that country In its resolu- tion, the Sub-Commission requested the Commission on Human Rights to examine the human rights situation in Colombia at its next meeting. Colombia, stated the ICJ in its oral intervention, is a country with one of the Around 30,000 persons are killed every year in Colombia. Most of the violence is political- ly motivated. Photo: Keystone Press highest murder rates in proportion to the population (almost 30,000 per year) in addition to having an impunity level offi- cially estimated at 97%. Many of the vio- lent deaths qualified as extrajudicial exe- cutions, include forced disappearances. As a result, the State institutions respon- sible for preventing crimes and adminis- tering justice lack credibility. The ICJ recalled that the parties allegedly respon- sible for the political assassinations - which comprise 13% of violent deaths are attributed to, according to official esti- mates: the security forces; paramilitary groups; guerrilla groups; and drug traffick- ers. Additionally, the ICJ denounced social cleansing killings whose victims are beggars, street children and habitual delinquents. The ICJ stated that within this context, the professions of lawyers, judges and even human rights activists have become very risky. In March 1995, the ICJ's Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers (CIJL), reported that within one year 32 jurists were assassinat- ed and 13 others received death threats. Continued on Page 2 IC ' ewsletter X 63/1995

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