ICCL works in partnership with INCLO, The Civil Liberties Union for Europe and Justicia.
The International Network of International Civil Liberties Organisations (INCLO)
INCLO is a network of 13 independent, national human rights organisations from different countries in the North and South, ranging from the ACLU in the US to the Indian Human Rights Law Network. We work together to promote fundamental rights and freedoms by supporting, collaborating on and mutually reinforcing the work of member organisations in our respective countries. ICCL is a very proud member of INCLO.
INCLO’s members came together under the realization that while there was no network of national human rights organizations, there were many reasons for these groups to get together and share information and even collaborate when useful. It started in 2008 as a series of meetings of Executive Directors from human rights organizations but soon it became clear that there was much they could learn from each other and that the group had a lot of potential to move issues forward. By 2012, there was agreement that the network needed a structure and staff to fulfil its mission and so the decision was made to formalize it. In 2015, INCLO became as a Swiss association headquartered in Geneva.
INCLO’s inception comes as the international human rights system is being questioned and the capacity of the human rights movement to protect people’s fundamental rights across the globe is under threat. INCLO thus emerges as a new voice that can bring new perspectives and strategies to an international human rights movement that needs new thinking and strategies at this critical juncture. Built on the understanding that such a network has a value exceeding the sum of its parts, INCLO’s role to assert the importance of national civil society organisations in the international scenario is vital.
The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties)
ICCL is a member of The Civil Liberties Union for Europe (Liberties), a non-governmental organisation promoting the civil liberties of everyone in the European Union (EU).
Liberties want the peoples of the EU and its member countries to live in societies where their civil liberties are protected, where they can participate freely in the democratic process and where their governments respect the rule of law. To help achieve this, Liberties works towards three goals.
First, we want the EU to respect civil liberties when it creates and implements law and policy. Second, we want the EU to step in to protect the peoples of Europe when national governments violate their international obligations to uphold civil liberties. Third, we want to increase public understanding about civil liberties so that people will recognise their importance and stand up for their rights.
The JUSTICIA European Rights Network
Since 2012 the ICCL has received funding from the European Commission to led a distinct trans-European entity called the JUSTICIA European Rights Network, whose thematic focus is on EU Criminal Justice, in particular procedural rights and the rights of victims of crime.
Visit the JUSTICIA Network online portal at www.eujusticia.net.
The JUSTICIA Network endeavours to strengthen the domestic impact of the work of its network member organisations in the area of EU justice. This multi-faceted approach will equip partner organisations more effectively, enabling them to promote the observance of EU standards on procedural rights and the rights of victims of crime, and to contribute to an all rights-based progressive reform, whilst strengthening their existing working relationships with their European counterparts.
Founded on the shared principle that EU standards cannot be effectively promoted through a single-country focus, and that such promotion requires advocate cooperation, the JUSTICIA network consists of 11 network member organisations at present: the Irish Council for Civil Liberties (ICCL), Open Society Justice Initiative (Hungary), Statewatch (UK), the Latvian Centre for Human Rights, the Human Rights Monitoring Institute (Lithuania), the Bulgarian Helsinki Committee, the League of Human Rights (Czech Republic), the Hungarian Civil Liberties Union, the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights (Poland), the European Center for Human and Constitutional Rights (Germany), and the Greek Helsinki Monitor . However, there is scope for the expansion of membership to areas geographically under-represented (Southern Europe, in particular).