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Non-abyssal and Ableist Indian Supreme Court: The Abyssal Exclusion of Persons with Disabilities

Sanjay S. Jain and Saranya Mishra - 3rd July 2019

The famous critical thinker, Santos, has forcefully argued that critical theorists and social scientists have never acknowledged the existence of an abyssal line. The conception of an abyssal line draws a distinction between “forms of metropolitan sociability and forms of colonial sociability” (Santos, 6). The former can be addressed by non-abyssal instruments of regulations and […]

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Fundamental rights at risk in Kazakhstan: a call for action

Adilya Zhilgildina - 1st July 2019

The past months’ anti-government protests in Kazakhstan following the controversial renaming of the capital and announcement of early snap elections by the interim president are an alarming indication of its weak legal system. Although Kazakhstan has ratified international human rights treaties, its peaceful assembly legislation falls far short of international standards. In April, two democracy […]

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The High Court of Botswana decriminalises same-sex relations

Mwai Daka - 30th June 2019

The judgement of the Botswana High Court in LM V The Attorney General, which legalised same-sex sex relations, is important for gay couples across Africa. The judgement demonstrates that laws, such as Section 164(a), (c), 165 and 167 of the Penal Code, which proscribe and criminalize the conduct of consenting adults in expressing and professing […]

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Religious minorities in Austria lose Good Friday as a public holiday

Diana Niksova - 27th June 2019

For the first time since 1952, this year, Good Friday on the 19thApril was not a public holiday for employees who are members of the Evangelical Churches of the Augsburg or Helvetic Confessions, the Old Catholic Church or the United Methodist Church in Austria. In response to the CJEU’s judgement (C-193/17), the Austrian legislator has […]

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#Repeal162: Same-Sex Marriage Bogeyman an Incomprehensible Justification for Criminalizing Same-Sex Conduct

Kennedy Mwikya - 13th June 2019

Over the past six years, Kenyan human rights activists, lawyers and organisations have secured key legal victories that have underscored the Constitution’s prohibition of discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation. These victories include the affirmation of freedom of association for LGBTIQ persons, directing the government to commission research on the country’s intersex community with […]

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Stocker v Stocker: dictionaries, domestic violence, and defamation

Andrew Wheelhouse - 2nd June 2019

The UK Supreme Court has ruled that a woman was not liable in defamation to her ex-husband for writing public messages on Facebook stating that “he tried to strangle me”. In doing so the decision (which seems to bolster the right to freedom of expression as protected by Article 10, ECHR) offers some comfort to social […]

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Capping Economic Inequalities

Meghan Campbell - 22nd May 2019

Last week, the UK Supreme Court in DA, DS and others v Secretary of State for Work and Pensions upheld a series of legal reforms that capped the level of benefits for lone parents, who are likely to be mothers, with young children under the age of 5. Lone parents with young children are forced […]

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Ukraine’s ostensible desire to adopt European liberal values

Adilya Zhilgildina - 21st May 2019

Violation of LGBT rights and hate crimes have become commonplace in Ukraine. Beyond facing discrimination in employment, healthcare and education, LGBT people in Ukraine are targeted for violent attacks, sexual abuse and even murder. Despite the efforts of LGBT-friendly President Poroshenkoto improve the situation, social change is unlikely to be achieved without addressing the underlying […]

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Challenges to women’s rights and the legalization of abortion in Brazil: can we move forward?

Catarina Helena Cortada Barbieri - 14th May 2019

2018 was a challenging year for women’s rights in Brazil, and perhaps a taste of trials in the years to come. In October 2018, Brazilians elected a far-right president and a highly conservative Congress. President Jair Bolsonaro has been an MP for 30 years and has always been controversial, although he was a marginal figure […]

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