Launch of New Book on UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

This meticulously researched volume is the first book to review the extensive jurisprudence and reporting of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention since its creation in 1991. Authored by Jared Genser, one of the leading human rights lawyers in the world and someone who I had the pleasure of working with on many of his most challenging cases during my time as High Commissioner, the book is written to be highly accessible even for those without legal background. Importantly, Genser weaves into the narrative his experiences having successfully taken dozens of cases to the Working Group over his career, explaining how he has combined its opinions with focused political and public relations advocacy to secure the release of his clients from prison. This rare combination of serious scholarship with real world application is as powerful as it is inspiring, making this book a must read for anyone wanting to secure the release of political prisoners today.

Prince Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein
UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (2014-2018)

Jared Genser is the leading attorney in the world on arbitrary detention in international law and established this reputation during the years I was a Member and Chair-Rapporteur of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. His book makes an important contribution to understanding international law on arbitrary detention and offers a wealth of materials and clear and convincing analysis of the law and the major challenges that arbitrary detention poses to the international community today . . . .

Mads Andenas Q.C.
Professor, University of Oslo and Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London
Member and Chair-Rapporteur, UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (2009-2015)
Director, British Institute of International and Comparative Law, London (1999-2006)

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention is a groundbreaking work of legal scholarship. The book is the first to describe and analyze the activities of this little-known but very important tribunal at the United Nations, which has the power to issue legal decisions that a person or group is being held in violation of international law. It is also a long overdue how to guide for lawyers, human rights defenders, and civil society activists about how to secure these important legal judgments . . . The book is more than an academic treatise because its author, Jared Genser, whose important work I have followed over the years, rests his analysis in his rich and proven experience as one of the most effective international human rights lawyers in the world at freeing political prisoners.

Jody Williams
Nobel Peace Prize Laureate (1997)

I have a rather unusual perspective on arbitrary detention because having been subjected to it by various authoritarian rulers of The Maldives has been a central and defining set of experiences in my life. Indeed, I’ve been arrested more than 20 times, repeatedly tortured, and have served more than three years in prison over various periods of arbitrary detention . . . [A]t that point in 2015, [when I had been convicted on manufactured terrorism charges], I hired this book’s author, Jared Genser, to serve as my pro bono counsel, alongside Amal Clooney and Ben Emmerson. The story of their extraordinary efforts are described in a compelling case study chapter in this book. The team submitted my case to the Working Group in April 2015 and in October 2015, it issued Opinion No. 33/2015, a scathing 20-page judgment that rejected the Government’s arguments on every point and demanded my immediate release. Hundreds marched in the streets of Malésupporting the Working Group’s decision. With my team’s relentless advocacy, the Government could not withstand the political pressure and it was forced to release me. I was greeted by Amal and Jared when I arrived in London on January 21, 2016. But that was not the end of the story. . . in September 2018, our country succeeded in defeating Yameen in a democratic election. My close friend and co-founder of our political party Ibrahim Mohamed Solih was elected President. I returned to The Maldives in November 2018 and was especially pleased that Jared was with me in our Supreme Court on the day it reversed my conviction and acquitted me on all charges, citing to the opinion of the Working Group as a key reason for its decision. In April 2019, I was elected to our Parliament, the People’s Majlis, and in May 2019, I was elected and sworn in to be its new Speaker . . . The greatest fear of any political prisoner is that they will be forgotten. This exceptional and meticulous work of scholarship will be an invaluable tool for advocates to make sure that doesn’t happen.

The Honorable Mohamed Nasheed
Speaker of the People’s Majlis, The Maldives (2019-Present)
President of The Maldives (2008-2012)

We have seen substantial progress reducing the phenomenon of arbitrary detention in the Americas but there still remains too many countries in our region with serious challenges to the rule of law and where especially repressive governments stubbornly persist in imprisoning their opponents against the tide of history. While the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights have taken up many of these cases, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has also highlighted some of the worst. This impressive book, authored by Jared Genser, who over the years has represented prominent political prisoners in countries like Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Nicaragua, and Venezuela, shines an important spotlight on a major gap between the commitments of states in the American Convention on Human Rights to end the practice of arbitrary arrest and imprisonment and their implementation in practice.

The Honorable Luis Almagro
Secretary General, Organization of American States

Kudos to Jared Genser for bringing to life the inner workings and substantial accomplishments of one of the key UN human rights bodies – the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention . . . Genser not only presents an analysis of the legal significance of its jurisprudence over the past 27 years, but then reveals to his reader what it really means to submit a case for a decision, to fight for the unjustly imprisoned, and to succeed in securing their freedom . . . It’s easy to criticize “the UN” and its member states for its inconsistent defense of human right in its politicized forums; but the real achievements of the UN human rights system lie in the norms it has adopted and the independent mechanisms like the Working Group that fight independently to uphold these standards in real world situations, for real people. Genser opens our eyes to what’s needed to make a good case – and how to fight for individual freedom, successfully.

Felice D. Gaer
Director, Jacob Blaustein Institute for Human Rights
Vice-Chairperson, UN Committee Against Torture

Having spent over a decade in solitary confinement as a political prisoner, I have come to appreciate with great intensity the subtle aspects of freedom – to read, to walk about and sleep – are actions that can easily be taken for granted. The persistent denial of access to family, to information and to human interaction induces a profound loneliness in the prisoner, coupled with the dreadful feeling as though your life’s contributions are slowly being excised from public consciousness. This is why, when a sympathetic prison guard tapped on my cell gate one morning and whispered to me with hushed excitement that “the UN just called for your release!”, I felt a renewed sense of hope that the wheels of justice were still churning. I learned a short time later that my international lawyer Jared Genser, the book’s author, had just made public Opinion No. 22/2015. In a detailed decision, the Working Group unanimously agreed I was being held in violation of international law and it urged my immediate release . . . for the United Nations to have spoken out in this unequivocal way had struck an irrecoverable blow to the former prime minister’s efforts to try to justify my detention . . . Jared Genser is a pioneer in the area of human rights law and a courageous and indefatigable representative of political prisoners around the world. This book represents his singular expertise in this area and should be required reading for all who seek a deeper understanding of the Working Group’s activities and inner mechanisms.

Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim
President of the People’s Justice Party and Member of Parliament (2018-Present)
Deputy Prime Minister of Malaysia (1993-1998)

There are those for whom words have meaning and those who issue hollow promises. This is as true of people as it is of states . . . It is precisely to ensure that these words were not empty that France, with Robert Badinter and Louis Joinet, has played a leading role in the establishment of an original mechanism to ensure concretely the proper application of the intentions proclaimed by these nations . . . It is in this spirit that Jared Genser has produced this exceptional work, so rigorous in both legal and methodological terms. This book will surely become an indispensable tool for all those who believe that human rights are nothing if they are not concretely applied to individual situations . . . Thanks to the author for allowing us to better defend those persecuted around the world by so usefully assisting their advocates, without whom the universality of fundamental rights would be a vain hope.

The Honorable François Zimeray
Ambassador of France for Human Rights (2008-2013)
Lawyer

As someone engaged in the defense of political prisoners over the years, I regard The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention as a tour de force and seminal scholarly work, which makes an enormous contribution to understanding the phenomenon of arbitrary detention in our world today. In particular, it is also a comprehensive and practical guide for freeing the arbitrarily detained, infused with the author’s experiences as an international lawyer in this complex, interdisciplinary, and specialist field, where his exceptional work is widely known and respected for its unique and effective contributions.

The Honorable Irwin Cotler, P.C., O.C.
Chairman, Raoul Wallenberg Centre for Human Rights
Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada (2003-2006)