Publications

State hostage-taking, where individuals are arbitrarily detained by foreign governments for diplomatic leverage, involves serious violations of human rights, including the right not to be subjected to torture and ill-treatment, the right to liberty and a fair trial, and in some cases the right to life. According to the UK Foreign Affairs Committee, the use of State hostage-taking is increasing internationally. However, the UK lacks a comprehensive strategy to ensure the safe return of hostages, resulting in ad hoc efforts which fail to acknowledge the systemic nature of the issue while delivering inconsistent outcomes. This briefing highlights the urgency of addressing this issue and makes recommendations that aim to prevent British nationals being exploited as pawns and instrumentalised by States as part of a practice where they are at risk of torture and ill-treatment.

This briefing identifies different approaches towards the provision of consular assistance to a State’s nationals in domestic legal frameworks, addressing the responsibilities a State owes towards its nationals when they are located outside its territorial borders. It offers an overview to policy-makers of four different models for the provision of consular assistance at a domestic level which already exist in a range of different States.

Written evidence submitted by REDRESS to the Treasury Committee's inquiry into the effectiveness of the UK's financial sanctions on Russia.

Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence on the challenges faced by survivors of conflict-related sexual violence (CRSV), in obtaining reparation. It is based on REDRESS’ direct experience representing survivors of CRSV, and our work with partners in different regions to advance international standards, obtain reparation for survivors, hold perpetrators accountable, and address the root causes of CRSV in specific jurisdictions through strategic litigation and legal and policy advocacy.

Briefing on the current state of reparation initiatives for survivors of human rights violations in Ukraine in advance of the EU’s upcoming human rights dialogue with Ukraine. The briefing focuses on how the EU and its allies can support survivors of human rights violations in Ukraine in realizing their right to reparations.

Now in its tenth edition, the Universal Jurisdiction Annual Review has continued to showcase the increasingly important role of universal jurisdiction in the fight against impunity. With 36 new investigations opened in 2023 and 16 convictions, the past year confirms this positive trend. However, the use of universal jurisdiction is not expanding evenly across countries.  As long as cases continue to be concentrated in a few specific jurisdictions, the truly universal nature and potential impact of universal jurisdiction will remain unexploited. Read more in the report, released by TRIAL International in collaboration with Civitas Maxima, the Center for Justice and Accountability (CJA), the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR), FIDH and REDRESS.

Consular assistance is a vital tool that enables the UK Government to offer protections to its nationals detained overseas. However, the discretionary nature of consular assistance stands at odds with the UK’s international obligations and falls short of the protection its nationals deserve. Establishing a legal right to consular assistance for those suffering (or at risk of) human rights violations would provide benefits not only to British nationals facing dire circumstances abroad, but also to the British State, showing that British values do not stop at our borders. Transforming consular assistance from a mere discretion into a legal obligation would ensure more robust safeguards for British nationals at risk of human rights abuses abroad and solidify the State’s responsibility to secure the rights and wellbeing of its most vulnerable citizens

Freedom from Torture and REDRESS wrote to PM Rishi Sunak urgently requesting to ensure that any intelligence provided by the Israeli authorities used by the UK to inform its response to this crisis has not been obtained by torture or other ill-treatment.