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Domingo Lovera-Parmo - 15th December 2019
Chile is in the middle of constitutional upheaval as president Piñera announced — although in a vague and obscure fashion — the need to reach a social agreement in order to have a new Constitution. After almost a month of massive protests and riots, which president Piñera sought to confront by declaring a state of […]
Valerie Kwok - 13th December 2019
Not only has the Hong Kong anti-government movement not died down after 6 months, but it has escalated. The government seems to think that it is worth suspending human rights guarantees in the expense of peace. Injunction is granted against violence-inciting online comments, limiting the freedom of speech. The most recent spotlight is the judgement […]
Amanda Dale - 11th December 2019
There is an initiative for a new treaty focused on violence against women that calls itself the “Every Woman Treaty”. It is proposed as a stand-alone United Nations (UN) treaty focused on violence against women. The initiative originates from outside the United Nations. Its proponents have been present at various international women’s rights gatherings for […]
Jonathan Heath - 10th December 2019
The UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, in its most recent Report on the Human Rights Situation in Ukraine has confirmed that some 18,000 Ukrainian citizens living in Crimea have been conscripted into service with the Russian Armed Forces and that the number of conscripts from that region has increased significantly since […]
Lucinda O'Hanlon - 10th December 2019
On 10 December 2019, we commemorate Human Rights Day, 71 years after the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. This year also marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the International Conference on Population and Development (ICPD), a watershed moment recognizing the intersection of human rights, sexual and reproductive health, and gender equality. The statement […]
Rishika Sahgal - 8th December 2019
The Equal Remuneration Act 1976 (‘ERA’), a legislation in India dealing with equal pay for equal work for men and women, was repealed in August 2019, and replaced by the Code on Wages 2019 (‘Code’). This could have been used as an opportunity to fill crucial gaps in the legal regime dealing with pay equality […]
Caitlin Salvino - 6th December 2019
On November 22, 2019, the provincial government of New Brunswick (Canada) announced it would be employing the notwithstanding clause for the first time. This follows the most recent and public threatened and actual uses of the notwithstanding clause by Ontario and Quebec in 2018. The notwithstanding clause is a ‘uniquely Canadian invention’ under section 33 […]
Marie Tidball - 5th December 2019
Tuesday 3 December marked the International Day of Persons with Disabilities (IDPWD), but with only one week to go until the UK General Election, the prospects of sufficient Members of Parliament with disabilities being elected looks dismal. The theme of the 2019 IDPWD is ‘The Future is Accessible’, examining what barriers need to be removed to enable […]
Ndjodi Ndeunyema - 27th November 2019
On November 27, Namibians will, for the 7th time since independence and multi-party democracy, go to the polls in Presidential and National Assembly elections. This time, Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) will be used to cast votes. While EVMs were first used without a paper trail in the 2014 general election, there has been constant political […]
Stergios Aidinis and Ivo Gruev - 26th November 2019
In March 2018, amid the rise of the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter, international media brought attention to a series of uninvited advances by an experienced defence counsel at the ICC towards a younger, female case manager during a professional trip. This incident arose in relation to the so-called ‘Article 70 case’ of Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba-Gombo […]
Sumaiyah Kholwadia - 25th November 2019
The UK’s Draft Domestic Abuse Bill, 2019 has been described as a ‘landmark’ piece of legislation. This recognition is due in part to the Bill’s extension of the definition of ‘domestic abuse’ to include ‘economic abuse’. However, due to recent political events pertaining to Brexit, the Bill has been side-lined and we have now entered […]
Shauna Olney - 25th November 2019
“For me, as for most women workers I know, this Convention and this Recommendation are personal… This Convention, and its recognition of violence and harassment as a range of behaviours and practices, tells me that what I have experienced counts.” – Worker delegate, at the adoption of Convention No. 190 and Recommendation No. 206. On […]