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OxHRH

Brazilian Superior Court of Justice Decides that Victims of Domestic Violence are Entitled to Paid Work Leave – While New Legislation Could Hinder Their Right to an Adequate Standard of Living

Natalia Brigagao - 19th September 2019

Gender Based Violence| Gender Equality

The Brazilian Superior Court of Justice (STJ) established a new precedent asserting that women who suffer domestic violence are entitled to a court-determined paid work leave of six months or less. Employers must pay the first 15 days of salary, while the National Institute of Social Security (INSS) is responsible for providing for the remaining […]

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OxHRH

The ILO adopts Convention concerning violence and harassment at work

Kevät Nousiainen - 22nd July 2019

Gender Based Violence

Sexual harassment, an expression of violence against women (VAW), received remarkable media attention with the #MeToo Movement. It was a reminder of the law’s poor track record in curbing workplace harassment and other forms of gendered violence. In the international legal context, the ILO approach to VAW in the workplace has followed two tracks. Harassment […]

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OxHRH

The declaration of rape as an emergency in Sierra Leone needs to address legal ambiguities in order to combat the scourge of rape and gender-based violence

Lyndon Baines-Johnson and Mwai Daka - 22nd July 2019

Gender Based Violence| Gender Equality

In February 2019, President Bio of Sierra Leone declared a state of emergency to combat rape and sexual violence. However, if the declaration is to have full effect, ambiguities and gaps within the country’s legal framework need to be cleared up, and replaced by clear law preventing child marriage, and  sexual and gender-based violence. Most […]

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OxHRH

López Soto v Venezuela: The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ answer to violence against women

Angela Hefti - 19th June 2019

Gender Based Violence

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights’ (IACtHR) feminist answer to torture and sexual enslavement in its September 2018 López Soto v Venezuela judgment is unprecedented. López Soto is the first femicide case before the Court, in which the victim could testify to the circumstances of her captivity and abuse. In 2001, Linda López Soto was abducted […]

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OxHRH

Still the second sex: Some feminist reflections on the new General Comment of the UN Human Rights Committee on the right to life

Fleur van Leeuwen - 13th May 2019

Equality and Non-Discrimination| Gender Based Violence

In October 2018 the United Nations (UN) Human Rights Committee (HRC) adopted general comment (GC) 36 on the right to life, replacing GC 6 and GC 14. Latter documents date back to the 1980s and attest to the androcentric nature of the international human rights system. Neither document pays attention to issues that characteristically affect the […]

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OxHRH

Universal jurisdiction to the rescue: a way forward for victims of Franco-era crimes of gender-based violence?

Lucy Geddes - 25th January 2019

Criminal Justice| Gender Based Violence

Between the years of 1960 and 1974, Spanish lawyer and feminist activist Lidia Falcón O’Neill was detained seven times by security police on behalf of the Franco government, because of her protests against the regime. On five of these occasions, she alleges that she was brutally tortured, including being hung from a hook in the […]

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OxHRH

Indian Supreme Court Decriminalises Adultery: A Step Closer to Criminalising Marital Rape

Kali Srikari Kancherla and Shreyasi Tripathi - 25th October 2018

Gender Based Violence

In the landmark decision in Joseph Shine v Union of India on 27 September 2018, the Indian Supreme Court unanimously struck down a 150-year old penal provision criminalising adultery as unconstitutional. Section 497 of Indian Penal Code 1860 criminalises a man having consensual sexual intercourse with a married woman without the consent of her husband. The Court […]

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OxHRH

Ms X v Mahmood Farooqi: A Dangerous Precedent for Interpreting Consent in Rape Cases in India

- 23rd April 2018

Criminal Justice| Gender Based Violence| Gender Equality

In a recent case before the Indian Supreme Court, Ms X v Mahmood Farooqi, the court refused to overturn a Delhi High Court decision which set a dangerous precedent that a ‘feeble no’ did not signify a lack of consent in rape cases. In the present case, Ms X accused Mahmood Farooqi of committing rape […]

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OxHRH

What the Right To Privacy Judgment Means for India’s Marital Rape Exception

Madhulika T - 6th April 2018

Gender Based Violence

Following Puttaswamy v Union of India – in which the judges unanimously and  unequivocally ruled that a right to privacy exists – the marital rape exception found in the Indian Penal Code which states that non-consensual sex between a man and his wife is not rape, is of questionable legal standing.  In India “a right to privacy” […]

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OxHRH

Tackling FGM In India: Is It Time For A New Law?

Tarika Jain - 20th March 2018

Gender Based Violence

According to a study conducted on members of the Bohra community in India, a startling 75% of the daughters of the 94 participants were subjected to Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting (FGM/C) around the age of seven to nine years, in accordance with their religious customs. A majority of the reported cases were of Type 1 FGM/C […]

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