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Isis Conceicao - 18th December 2019
On 17 October 2019, for the first time in the history of Brazil’s Supreme Court, Silvia Souza, a black woman, presented oral argument before the Justices. She represented a Human Rights NGO, acting as amicus curie in declaratory constitutionality actions (ADCs 43, 44 and 54), where some parties were asking the Supreme Court to issue […]
Dhruva Gandhi and Unnati Ghia - 21st November 2019
In October 2019, the United States Supreme Court heard arguments on a question of law that might shape the trajectory of LGBTQ rights for the years to come. The court grappled with the question of whether the prohibition against sex discrimination in Title VII of the Civil Rights Act 1964 applies to discrimination perpetuated against […]
Nick Queffurus - 20th November 2019
On 17th October, a gloomy, blustery evening in Bloomsbury was lit up by an illuminating event to celebrate 30 years since Kimberlé Crenshaw coined ‘intersectionality’. Early in the discussion, it was noted that intersectionality has become another of those buzzwords which reverberates around progressive circles, sometimes without a clear definition. The chair, therefore, cited Crenshaw’s […]
Monica Arango Olaya - 17th November 2019
The Colombian Constitutional Court has recently delivered two groundbreaking decisions. One struck down taxes on tampons and sanitary pads, while the other ordered the city of Bogota to create a public policy on menstrual hygiene for women living on the streets. The reasoning in both decisions was innovative: the first applied principles governing substantive equality […]
Aishwarya Singh and Meenakshi Ramkumar - 30th September 2019
The Indian society is characterised by a caste system, which is a hierarchical social stratification based on descent and occupation. Members of the scheduled castes, also referred to as Dalits face discrimination and violence in Indian society due to their position in the caste system. The Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act […]
Loureen Sayej - 26th September 2019
In a previous blog post I explained the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination’s (CERD) first three inter-State communications submitted under Article 11 CERD, specifically that of State of Palestine vs. Israel. Recently, the CERD Committee, in its 99th session, presented its decision on the jurisdiction and admissibility of two out […]
Jim Fitzgerald - 24th September 2019
This week, states are meeting at the UN General Assembly to review progress towards the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Among other things, they are considering the outcomes of the latest High Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development – which took place in July 2019 under the theme Empowering people and ensuring inclusiveness […]
Marie Spinoy - 19th September 2019
Should a finding of indirect discrimination be sanctioned in the same way as a finding of direct discrimination? A recent case confronted the Belgian Constitutional Court with precisely this question. It was asked to consider whether an anti-discrimination law according the same legal effects to a finding of direct and of indirect discrimination creates unconstitutional […]
Andrea McArdle - 12th September 2019
Galvanized by the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King in 1968, the U.S. Congress adopted the Fair Housing Act (FHA) to outlaw discriminatory practices in the sale, rental, and financing of housing. From the outset, lower courts and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), the executive-branch regulatory agency charged with implementing the statute, […]
Nancy Williams - 10th September 2019
The right to freedom of religion or belief (“freedom of religion”) is protected at the international and regional levels in Southeast Asia. Indonesia and Myanmar also protect the freedom of religion at the national level. However, the freedom of religion has failed in Southeast Asia. Looking at the extreme examples of human rights abuses against […]
Danielle Roberts - 25th August 2019
It’s the middle of a busy month for the LGBT+ sector in Northern Ireland, with four Pride festivals taking place across the province. Normally the summer is a bit of a lull when it comes to legislative politics. But July 2019 was different. Some very creative politicking saw amendments added to the Northern Ireland (Executive […]
Natalia Brigagao - 18th July 2019
In 1998, there was an explosion at an irregular, high-risk fireworks factory in the city of Santo Antônio de Jesus, Brazil, which led to 64 deaths and left six people severely injured. Survivors and family members were not offered due access to justice, which led them to report the violations to the Inter-American Commission of […]