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OxHRH

South African court rejects petition to award constitutional damages and extend emotional shock and grief claims in pit-latrine drowning case

Jade Weiner - 10th January 2020

Access to Justice

In 2014, 5-year old Michael Komape tragically drowned in a sludge of human excrement when the pit-latrine at his rural school in the Limpopo province collapsed. While the Supreme Court of Appeal(SCA) awarded damages for emotional shock and grief to the family, the judgement falls short in declining to develop the common law of damages […]

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OxHRH

Immigration Detention and the Dublin III Regulation (Part II/II)

Daniel Grütters - 2nd January 2020

Access to Justice| Migration Asylum and Trafficking

In November, two important judgments were handed down concerning the legal regime governing immigration detention under the Dublin III Regulation; one by the Supreme Court and one by the High Court. This two part blog summarises the key findings and considers the impact of these cases. Part II looks at the High Court judgment in […]

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OxHRH

Tanzania’s Withdrawal of Access to the African Court: Further Retrogression in Human Rights Protection in East Africa

Tonny Kirabira - 23rd December 2019

Access to Justice

The Tanzanian government has withdrawn its special declaration to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Court), and as a result, individuals and NGOs cannot directly file cases against it. In East Africa, it is the second country to withdraw from the African Court, after Rwanda’s withdrawal in 2016. This is a worrying […]

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OxHRH

Using Human Rights Law to Address the Sanitation Crisis in Makhanda

Abby Buttle - 20th November 2019

Access to Justice

As the current Oxford Human Rights Hub/Rhodes University Travelling Fellow, I’ll be blogging about my experiences at the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the Rhodes University Law Faculty for the next five months. Hundreds of Makhanda residents are currently living with raw sewage periodically flooding homes, roads and grazing land. In some areas, children are having […]

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OxHRH

An ever-present past: The Troubles and Their Human Rights Dimension

Eva Rom - 14th November 2019

Access to Justice

For the past few months, continental Europe has become increasingly aware of the intricacies surrounding Northern Ireland’s past. Yet, the perspective of the outsider, shaped by the Brexit negotiations, seems to only concentrate on the by now significantly softened Backstop. This post wants to draw attention to the wider debate taking place in the United […]

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OxHRH

Protecting the Right to a Basic Education for Undocumented Learners: An Update from the Legal Resources Centre

Abby Buttle - 18th October 2019

Access to Justice

(As the current Oxford Human Rights Hub/Rhodes University Travelling Fellow, I’ll be blogging about my experiences at the Legal Resources Centre (LRC) and the Rhodes University Law Faculty for the next five months.) Day one of the Fellowship got off to an exciting start as I observed a constitutional law case on the right to […]

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OxHRH

Failure of the Indian Supreme Court to Protect the Rights of Dalits

Aishwarya Singh and Meenakshi Ramkumar - 30th September 2019

Access to Justice| Equality and Non-Discrimination

The Indian society is characterised by a caste system, which is a hierarchical social stratification based on descent and occupation. Members of the scheduled castes, also referred to as Dalits face discrimination and violence in Indian society due to their position in the caste system. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act […]

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OxHRH

NDAs in Discrimination Cases: UK Women and Equalities Select Committee Report & Collective/Individual Justice Dilemmas

Lizzie Barmes - 13th August 2019

Access to Justice

In June 2019 the UK Parliament’s Women and Equalities Select Committee (‘WESC’) published a report on the use of non-disclosure agreements (‘NDAs’) in discrimination cases, focussing on settlement. This built on inquiries into sexual harassment, pregnancy and maternity discrimination, and enforcement. Parliamentary investigations into the shadowy world of NDAs are especially valuable for policy-makers and academics […]

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OxHRH

Innovative remedies under a flexible Constitution: A view from South Africa

Jasper Gold - 26th July 2019

Access to Justice| Socio-Economic Rights

As an undergraduate, the focal point of interest in a case was what happened in court. The judgment, and specifically the ratio; the facts, maybe the arguments from time to time. Rarely was much thought given to what happened after judgment was handed down, except the occasional tidbit, such as a lecturer telling us that […]

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