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Michael Rebell - 9th May 2020
In a landmark decision issued last week in the Gary B. v. Whitmer case, the U.S Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit held there is a “fundamental right to a basic minimum education” under the U.S. Constitution. The two-to-one decision of the three-judge panel defined the right in terms of “access to literacy.” Students in very […]
Rachel Wechsler - 8th May 2020
Increases in the incidence of domestic violence have been reported across the globe during the coronavirus outbreak, tied to the widespread institution of stay-at-home orders and spike in unemployment, among other financial stressors. In a number of U.S. cities, such as Boston, Seattle, Pittsburgh, and Kansas City, police reports of domestic violence have increased by […]
Julia Lowis - 3rd May 2020
On 29 April 2020, the UK Supreme Court handed down its judgment in the case of AM(Zimbabwe) v SSHD [2020] UKSC. This completes the domestic line of authority grappling with the ECtHR’s Grand Chamber’s judgment in Paposhvili v Belgium, which reformulated the applicable test where appellants allege that their proposed removal to a third country […]
Hannah Taylor - 1st May 2020
As 1/3 of the global population faces some form of lockdown to curb the spread of coronavirus, Michelle Bachelet, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, has issued a statement reiterating the ‘imperative of respect for civil and political rights…an emergency situation is not a blank check to disregard human rights obligations’. This came as a […]
Satyajit Bose - 1st May 2020
On 30th March 2020, the High Court of Singapore upheld the constitutionality of Section 377A of the Singapore Penal Code, which criminalises consensual sexual intercourse between men. Broadly, the challenge to Section 377A was made on several grounds, including the right to equality, freedom of expression and the right to life. The High Court of […]
Deirdre McCann - 27th April 2020
A few weeks before the lockdown, one of the most important UK labour law cases of the last decade was heard by the Supreme Court. Royal Mencap Society v Tomlinson Blake has not attracted the attention paid to the Uber litigation, also to reach the Supreme Court later this year. Yet Mencap will have significant […]
Aashna Jain - 27th April 2020
The Apex court in India, right from the latter half of the 20th Century till as late as March 2020, has upheld the status of prisoners as people who have fundamental rights and are deserving of humane treatment. It has time and again been emphasised that the prisoners’ lives must not be reduced to animal […]
Shivani Vij - 27th April 2020
In an important development, the Lower House of the Indian Parliament on 17 March 2020 passed the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2020, providing for purportedly beneficial provisions furthering a woman’s right to abort. After seeking majority votes in the Upper House and the President’s assent, the Bill will become law. Though intended to […]
Jade Weiner - 26th April 2020
South Africa has been on state lockdown since midnight of 26 March 2020, in the government’s attempt to curb the spread of the Coronavirus and legally mandate South Africans to “stay home”. Yet, for some women and children, home is a dangerous place as domestic violence increases across the globe, South Africa being no exception. […]
Edward Lui and Thomas Yeon - 24th April 2020
The storm over Hong Kong’s rule of law rages on, as the Court of Appeal (the “Court”) delivered the judgment of Leung Kwok Hung v Secretary for Justice, which partially upheld the controversial Prohibition on Face Covering Regulation (“PFCR”). The facts were simple: the Government enacted the PFCR last year to curb anti-government protests. Section […]
Adyasha Samal - 22nd April 2020
India’s Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has introduced the Medical Termination of Pregnancy (Amendment) Bill 2020 (the Bill) in the Parliament. The Bill seeks to make abortions more accessible by increasing gestational limits, introducing a privacy clause, and allowing single women to abort due to contraceptive failure. This comes in the backdrop of multiple […]
Meghan Finn - 18th April 2020
Three weeks into an extensive national lockdown, the South African government has yet to announce any concrete economic relief for the country’s poorest households. This is notwithstanding compelling economic analysis that demonstrates that the best way to distribute relief quickly to those most in need is to top up child support grants. South Africa’s public […]