The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) is an international human rights non-governmental organization. The Commission itself is a standing group of 60 eminent jurists (judges and lawyers), including members of the senior judiciary in Australia, Canada, and South Africa and the former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and President of Ireland, Mary Robinson, was the president of the Commission from 2008 to 2010 and in January 2011, Pedro Nikken has taken place of her.
The Commission is supported by an International Secretariat based in Geneva, Switzerland, and staffed by lawyers drawn from a wide range of jurisdictions and legal traditions. The Secretariat and the Commission undertake advocacy and policy work aimed at strengthening the role of lawyers and judges in protecting and promoting human rights and the rule of law. In addition, the ICJ has national sections and affiliates in over 70 countries. Given the legal focus of the ICJ's work, membership of these sections is predominantly drawn from the legal profession: lawyers, judges, legal academics and law students.
The initials of the International Commission of Jurists are the same as those of the International Court of Justice. Given their common legal context, the two are sometimes confused with one another, although they are unrelated.
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Famous quotes containing the word commission:
“Children cannot eat rhetoric and they cannot be sheltered by commissions. I don’t want to see another commission that studies the needs of kids. We need to help them.”
—Marian Wright Edelman (20th century)