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Alvin Attalo - 23rd June 2020
The Rafiki case concerns the alleged violation of the right to freedom of expression due to the censorship of a film with scenes depicting women in a same-sex relationship. Upholding the censorship, the Kenyan High Court failed to apply a proportionality analysis – – sanctioning an unjustified limitation of the right to freedom of expression […]
Adhira Menon - 14th June 2020
On 5th March 2020, the Appeals Chamber at International Criminal Court, (ICC) overturned the earlier decision of the Pre- Trial Chamber and unanimously authorized investigation of war crimes and crimes against humanity in Afghanistan. This article discusses the jurisdiction of ICC in this specific matter, the flawed decision of the Pre- Trial Chamber and the […]
- 12th June 2020
These are complex and painful times in the United States. There has never been a greater need for a human rights approach to address systemic racial inequality and racism. Police brutality and barriers to adequately access health services are two pressing byproducts of past and persisting racial discrimination in the United States. While sidelined in […]
- 1st June 2020
Measures to curb the COVID-19 pandemic in Kosovo have been subject to political contest and legal challenge. In a press conference on March 17, 2020, the President of Kosovo Hashim Thaçi, announced his intention to issue a decree declaring a state of emergency to deal with the COVID 19 pandemic. The Prime Minister of Kosovo, […]
Juan Alonso Tello Mendoza - 13th May 2020
Since 2006, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) has developed the “Conventionality Control”doctrine. Similar to “Constitutional Review”, which seeks to establish the prevalence of the Constitution of each state over other domestic rules, the conventionality control doctrine aims to strengthen the supremacy of human rights treaties over domestic law – constitutions included – of […]
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 […]
Thiago Feital - 9th April 2020
The coronavirus outbreak hit Brazil at a particularly difficult moment. Since 2016, Constitutional Amendment (EC) nº. 95 is in force. The provision, dubbed the “mother of all austerity plans“, limits spending on public services and investments by the inflationary variation, over 20 years. The key effect of EC/95, which has been strongly condemned by civil […]
Javiera Arce-Riffo - 4th April 2020
Recently, on March 4, 2020, the two chambers of the Chilean Congress approved gender parity for the election of the Constitutional Convention that will shape the new Chilean Constitution. What is the importance of this? Why did Chilean women fight to obtain gender parity? Since October 18, 2019, Chile has been traversing the most important […]
Katharine Young - 13th February 2020
It is a common and very productive exercise, within contemporary philosophical or anthropological inquires, to examine the foundations and content of human rights. What’s more unusual is for a nation-state to singlehandedly pursue that effort. This may be happening now with the Trump Administration’s new Commission on Unalienable Rights. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, in […]
Mary Jiyani - 5th February 2020
In a landmark judgment, Saulos Klaus Chilima & Lazarus McCarthy Chakwera v Arthur Peter Mutharika & Electoral Commission, a unanimous bench of the High Court of Malawi nullified the country’s May 2019 elections and ordered that fresh elections be held in 150 days. Malawi becomes the third African country to nullify a presidential election, after […]
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 […]
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 […]