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Frances Raday - 6th March 2020
Women’s rights seemed simple 72 years ago, when the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, under the visionary leadership of Eleanor Roosevelt, launched an international regime which outlawed sex discrimination and required states to ensure the equal rights of men and women. A Kuhnian shift of perception for humanity and a paradigm change for political philosophers […]
Vatsal Raj - 5th March 2020
The Uyghurs are a Turkic-minority ethnic group residing in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of the People’s Republic of China. The Uyghur population of around 10 million residing in China, traces its identity through a violent history of persecution and strife, known as the Xinjiang Conflict. Today, 1 in every 10 Uyghur is detained […]
Luciana Morón - 3rd March 2020
In three cases on pre-trial detention decided in late 2019, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights found that Argentina violated articles 7 and 8 of the American Convention on Human Rights (the rights to personal liberty and fair trial). In Romero Feris v Argentina it held that pre-trial detention in the case was illegal and arbitrary […]
Nomfundo Ramalekana - 28th February 2020
A recent Indian Supreme Court judgement, Mukesh Kumar & Another v State of Uttarakhand & Others, held that there is no right to affirmative action under Article 16(4) of the Indian Constitution. Reiterating previous findings, the court held that the power to take affirmative action measures under Article 16(4) is merely permissive. This judgment, and […]
Carolin Ott - 27th February 2020
In R (TP, AR & SXC) v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions [2020] EWCA Civ 37, the Court of Appeal dismissed appeals by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions (“SSWP”) against two judgments of the Administrative Court concerning implementation arrangements for the Government’s flagship benefits system, Universal Credit (“UC”). The Court […]
Martin Kwan - 26th February 2020
In the recent Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal decision, ZN v Secretary for Justice & Others, the Court held that Art.4 of the Hong Kong Bill of Rights (‘BOR4’) does not prohibit human trafficking generally for exploitation, servitude and forced or compulsory labour. The Court held that BOR4 might at best prohibit human trafficking […]
Sapan Maini-Thompson - 24th February 2020
In September 2019, the English High Court ruled the use of automated facial recognition technology (AFR) by South Wales Police Force was consistent with ECHR Article 8 and data protection legislation. Facial recognition technology harnesses a new form of biometric data, which engages a novel aspect of information privacy. By failing to interrogate how and […]
Timothy Jacob-Owens - 18th February 2020
Following the collapse of the power-sharing coalition led by the Democratic Unionist Party and Sinn Féin, Northern Ireland has been without a devolved government for a little over three years. One of the key points of contention in the subsequent negotiations has reportedly been the issue of legal protection for the Irish language. On 10th […]
Dominic O'Sullivan - 18th February 2020
In 2019, the Minister of Immigration tried to deport two Aboriginal men from Australia. One was born in Papua New Guinea, and the other in New Zealand. Although long resident in Australia, neither had applied for citizenship. This, the Minister argued, made them eligible for deportation on character grounds after conviction for minor offences. The […]
Adaena Sinclair-Blakemore - 17th February 2020
On 11 February 2020, the High Court of Australia (HCA) delivered a landmark judgment in which it ruled that indigenous Australians cannot be considered “aliens” under the Australian Constitution and therefore cannot be deported. The judgment is significant because it marks the first time that the HCA has considered whether non-citizens of Australia, who nevertheless […]
Ndjodi Ndeunyema - 17th February 2020
On 5 February 2020, the judgement of Panduleni Itula, concerning the constitutionality of using electronic voting machines without a voter-verified audit trail (paperless EVMs), and thus the validity of the 2019 Presidential Elections, was delivered by the Namibian Supreme Court. Itula was much anticipated, particularly in a heavily contested political climate where the incumbent President […]
Nirmalya Chaudhuri - 15th February 2020
In two cases decided in 2019, the Bombay and Calcutta High Courts adopted diverging positions regarding the applicability of the reverse onus clause contained in Section 29 of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO). In the case of Imran Shamim Khan, the Bombay High Court convicted the accused by relying on the […]