A Police Ombudsman is an independent and impartial office that handles complaints about the conduct of police. The Police Ombudsman’s role is to investigate serious complaints made and conduct of staff working for the government’s law enforcement agencies. Although not all countries have a specific ombudsman that deals uniquely with police complaints, many countries have […]
Content type: Legal Areas
Legal Topic: Arrest,
If you believe you or someone in your community has been subject to an unlawful or arbitrary arrest, there may be options for you to challenge this using legal action. This section of the guide outlines different ways you can enforce your rights and hold the relevant authority responsible for your arrest accountable if they […]
Content type: Legal Areas
Legal Topic: Arrest,
In any type of legal case, you need to prove to a court that your “version of events” (i.e. what you are saying happened) actually happened. To prove your case, you will need evidence. Evidence is information in material, oral, written or “real” form that is presented to the court to prove a fact in […]
Content type: Legal Areas
Legal Topic: Arrest,
For the purpose of this Guide, an unlawful arrest is an arrest that is carried out in breach of the national law where the arrest took place. An arrest is lawful if: It can be justified in law; and It is carried out in the proper manner. The concept of arbitrary arrest is broader. It […]
Content type: Legal Areas
Legal Topic: Arrest,
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has condemned the Argentine state for violating the right of indigenous communities to their cultural identity, a healthy environment and adequate food and water, that tribunal reported on Thursday. The court, based in the Costa Rican capital of San José, ordered specific action for the restitution of those rights, […]
Content type: News
Legal Topic: Environment,
The government of South Sudan and two mining companies have been barred from operating and exporting oil due to spills that have polluted the environment. South Sudan’s Minister for Justice, the Greater Pioneer Operating Company (GPOC) and Dar Petroleum Operating Company Ltd have been served with a temporary injunction order by the East African Court […]
Content type: News
Legal Topic: Environment,
Bushfires and Covid-19 highlight connection between human health and natural world, states letter by almost 200 doctors and scientists Leading health professionals, including a Nobel laureate and a former Australian of the Year, say the government must put human health “front and centre” in a new generation of environment laws in the aftermath of the […]
Content type: News
Legal Topic: Climate change,
Indigenous healers in Central India are struggling in the face of legal and environmental challenges. When the Forest Rights Act was passed in India in 2006, it was identified as an ‘act to recognise and vest the forest rights and occupation in forest land in forest-dwelling Scheduled Tribes and other traditional forest dwellers, who have been […]
Content type: News
Legal Topic: Environment,
Unless greenhouse gas emissions fall, large numbers of people will experience average temperatures hotter than 29C. This is considered outside the climate “niche” in which humans have thrived for the past 6,000 years. Co-author of the study Tim Lenton told the BBC: “The study hopefully puts climate change in more human terms”. Researchers used data […]
Content type: News
Legal Topic: Climate change,
The administration of President Joko Widodo in Indonesia is currently pushing a slate of environmental deregulation policies through proposing over 1,200 amendments to 80 existing laws in parliament. While the government claims that these policies will boost the country’s economic growth, experts are warning that they will threaten to dismantle the already small number of existing […]
Content type: News
Legal Topic: Environment,
