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Deirdre McCann - 1st April 2021
In recent weeks, two long-awaited UK Supreme Court judgments have offered strikingly divergent reflections on the meaning and parameters of working time. In Uber, the Court held a group of private hire drivers to be entitled to labour law’s protection from when they logged on to the Uber app. In Mencap, two care workers were […]
Alan Bogg - 7th March 2021
Are Uber drivers ‘limb (b) workers’ and so entitled to fundamental statutory rights such as the minimum wage and working time protections? In a decision of fundamental significance, six Justices of the United Kingdom Supreme Court (UKSC) upheld the original Employment Tribunal (ET) decision that the drivers were ‘limb (b) workers. In reaching this conclusion, […]
Mila Harding - 10th February 2021
Unlike many other socio-economic rights in the South African Constitution, such as the right to ‘further education’, the right to basic education is immediately realisable – not subject to progressive realisation within available resources. However, the right to basic education is not defined in the Constitution and there has been some debate over how expansive […]
Nalinaksha Singh and Nayoleeka Purty - 4th February 2021
The African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights on 4 December 2020, delivered a historic Advisory Opinion against vagrancy laws (laws which criminalize the status of individuals as being poor, homeless etc. as opposed to specific wrongful acts) and decriminalized these offences. At present, the penal codes of at least 18 African countries define a “vagrant” […]
Victoria Miyandazi - 1st February 2021
On 11 January 2021, the Kenyan Supreme Court delivered the judgment in Mitu-Bell Welfare Society. The case concerned the unlawful eviction and demolition of the homes of over 3,000 families residing in an informal settlement on public land for over 19 years. The forced eviction took place without due notice and despite a High Court […]
Alvin Attalo - 30th January 2021
The Kenyan Supreme Court has overturned a Court of Appeal decision which found that the forceful eviction of the inhabitants of Mitumba village was not in violation of their fundamental rights and freedoms. The appellate decision, which I criticized here, not only shut the door on the use of structural interdicts in Kenya, but also […]
Rachelle Lam - 18th January 2021
In Kwok Cheuk Kin v Director of Lands [2019] HKCFI 867, the Hong Kong Court of First Instance ruled that Private Treaty Grants and Land Exchanges under the Small House Policy were unconstitutional. Hence, male indigenous villagers no longer have the right to apply for permission to build houses on government land at concessionary premium. […]
Jade Weiner - 10th December 2020
On 09 November 2020, Mr Justice Turner of the High Court, handed down a judgment that denied the jurisdiction of the English Court to adjudicate the liability of BHP Plc and BHP Ltd on the merits, for the catastrophic consequences caused by the 2015 Fundão dam collapse. The judgment struck out the claims of over […]
Sahara Nankan - 22nd November 2020
A seminal joint report published by the Water Integrity Network and Corruption Watch earlier this year critically examines corruption in the South African Department of Water and Sanitation. The report finds that corruption is now ‘endemic and systemic’ within the sector. It identifies a number of cases under investigation in the portfolio of the former […]
Natalia Brigagao - 13th November 2020
In July 2019, I wrote a blog post introducing the main arguments presented to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) through an amicus curiae brief. The case concerned Brazil’s neglect to prevent and remedy human rights violations that arose from an explosion at an irregular, high-risk fireworks factory in the city of Santo Antônio […]
Unkha Banda and Misha Nayak-Oliver - 3rd November 2020
On 22 October 2020, the UK Government’s Home Office Department published a Statement of Changes (‘SoC’) to update the UK’s Immigration Rules. The 507 page document confirmed that from 1 December 2020, being a rough sleeper will be a ground for refusing permission to stay and/or cancelling existing permission to remain in the UK (para. […]
Alvin Attalo - 3rd November 2020
In BPA v Directors, Brookhouse Schools, a group of parents ofminors at Brookhouse Schools, a private school, challenged the introduction of the virtual learning programme, following the shutdown of schools by the Ministry of Education due to the Covid-19 pandemic. In support of their case, the petitioners argued that the school administration’s decision to conduct […]