Joint Statement Uganda: Civil society organizations decry deteriorating human rights situation ahead of Universal Periodic Review The Robert and Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center (KHRC), the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice, Amnesty International, and the Stanford Law School International Human Rights and Conflict Resolution Clinic jointly made a submission to the fourth United Nations Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Uganda. The submission highlights critical concerns regarding civic space, the accountability of security agencies, electoral freedoms, freedom of expression, and non-discrimination. It examines Uganda’s failure to uphold its international human rights obligations, and offers... read more
Post tagged in "human rights"
El Vance Center se une a comunicado conjunto que urge la revisión de las medidas de José Rubén Zamora bajo estándares internacionales
Posted on February 12, 202612 de febrero de 2026 – Las organizaciones abajo firmantes expresamos nuestra preocupación por la detención prolongada e injustificada del periodista José Rubén Zamora y reiteramos nuestro llamamiento para que los procedimientos judiciales en su caso se ajusten a los estándares y garantías internacionales. Hoy, llamamos al Juzgado Segundo Pluripersonal de Primera Instancia Penal, a cargo del juez Máximo Morales González, a que, en la audiencia del 12 de febrero de 2026 de revisión de medidas en el proceso penal por uso de documentos falsificados, adopte una decisión conforme a las garantías del debido proceso, estándares internacionales obligatorios para Guatemala... read more
International Court of Justice Climate Decision Cites Vance Center Research
Posted on August 26, 2025The Peace Palace (Vredespalais), which houses the International Court of Justice, in The Hague, Netherlands. Source: Wikimedia Commons, licensed under a Creative Commons CC0 1.0 License. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) last month released its landmark Advisory Opinion on States Obligations in Respect of Climate Change. The Opinion is the latest in a series of recent decisions from international human rights tribunals on climate change, and marks an extraordinary step forward in international climate law. The Vance Center is pleased to have played a small role in contributing to the Court’s decision. The Court cited our Environment Program’s extensive... read more
Vance Center Supports Law Society of Kenya Initiative to Document Human Rights Violations
Posted on May 12, 2025Participants at one of the LSK’s Justice Centers. After completing the training sessions, including the one led by the Vance Center, the trained advocates, rapporteurs, and paralegals were stationed at various court stations and justice centers to apply their knowledge to documenting cases of human rights violations, May 7-9, 2025. Photo credit: Law Society of Kenya The Vance Center and partner organizations in Kenya provided an in-depth two-day training session that instructed 60 advocates, rapporteurs, and paralegals deployed by the Law Society of Kenya (LSK) on methods to document human rights violations that arose from national protests last year. ... read more
Vance Center Hosts Discussion on Military Trials, Rule of Law and Human Rights in Uganda
Posted on May 20, 2025On May 7, the Vance Center, along with international partners, hosted a virtual panel discussion on “Principles of justice and military trials in Uganda.” The panel, the first in a planned series delving into rule of law concerns in Africa, drew more than 100 attendees over the course of the wide-ranging conversation, which covered human rights violations and the use of military trials against civilians in Uganda as well as concerning legal trends in East Africa. read more
Vance Center, New York City Bar Association File Amicus Brief to UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on Behalf of Guatemalan Indigenous Authorities
Posted on August 3, 2026New York, August 3, 2026 – The New York City Bar Association and its nonprofit program the Cyrus R. Vance Center for International Justice today filed an amicus brief to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in representation of Luis Haroldo Pacheco Gutiérrez and Héctor Samuel Chaclán Batz, Indigenous authorities and former officials who have spent more than 15 months arbitrarily detained in Guatemala. The brief argues that their detention is arbitrary under four of the Working Group’s five categories. It asks the Working Group to declare Pacheco and Chaclán’s detention as arbitrary and call upon the Guatemalan state... read more