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- 23rd February 2021
Across Pakistan, the two finger test (TFT), also known as the virginity and hymen test is conducted on female survivors and victims of rape and sexual abuse. It is a practice whereby two fingers are inserted inside the female genitalia by a medico-legal officer (MLO) to check its size and elasticity. The TFT is based […]
Jade Weiner - 16th October 2020
Structural and legislative innovations aim to respond to gender-based violence plaguing South Africa. Recently, the “Victim Support Services Bill” (“Bill”) was presented for public comment. The Bill aims to address the rights of victims of violent crimes through an empowerment lens and calls for an integrated, multi-disciplinary response from public and private stakeholders. The Bill […]
Jessica Anania - 23rd September 2020
On September 14, 2020, Project South and whistleblower Dawn Pooten filed a complaint with the US Department of Homeland Security alleging forced hysterectomies at an Irwin County Detention Center (ICDC), amid other forms of medical neglect. The center is run by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and houses people detained for immigration reasons. The complaint […]
Monica Arango Olaya - 7th September 2020
Guzmán Albarracín and Others vs Ecuador, adopted by the Inter American Court of Human Rights in June 2020, is historic. This is the first case in the Inter American Human Rights System that addresses sexual violence against a teenager in the public education system, and that in itself is a landmark. However, its contributions to […]
Adity Rahman Shah - 12th August 2020
Being a party to the CEDAW, Bangladesh promises to promote women`s equality in every sphere. But the discriminative approaches to Dowry crime prevention framework in Bangladesh brought by the existing patriarchal justice system is violating women`s right to equality before law under the national and international human rights standards. In Bangladesh, section 2 (j) of […]
Madhulika T - 23rd June 2020
In a judgment with wide-ranging consequences, the Rajasthan High Court (“High Court”) in India has accepted the defence of Pre-Menstrual Syndrome (“PMS”) induced insanity into the criminal jurisprudence of India. At face value, it could be argued that this is a progressive development in the law. However, a close inspection of the judgement and the evidence […]
Zarizana Aziz - 7th June 2020
Available data indicated that in Pakistan, only 2-3% of rape perpetrators were convicted. In light of this, the then Chief Justice of the Lahore (Punjab) High Court invited the Asian Development Bank to provide technical assistance on judicial training, capacity building initiatives and the first-ever gender-based violence court in Asia. In order to design the […]
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 […]
Jessica Anania - 6th March 2020
Since August 2017, at least 10,000 Rohingya – a Muslim minority group in Myanmar’s Rakhine state – have been killed and 700,000 have fled to neighboring Bangladesh amidst a brutal army crackdown and clearing operation. Widespread sexual violence with “genocidal intent” was also documented, including rape and gang rape perpetrated against women, girls, men, boys, […]
Jade Weiner - 1st January 2020
In criminal law, the doctrine of common purpose establishes that where two or more people agree to a commit a crime, each will be responsible for the acts of the others that fall within their common purpose or design. In the landmark judgement of Tshabalala v The State; Ntuli v The State, the South African […]
Amanda Dale - 11th December 2019
There is an initiative for a new treaty focused on violence against women that calls itself the “Every Woman Treaty”. It is proposed as a stand-alone United Nations (UN) treaty focused on violence against women. The initiative originates from outside the United Nations. Its proponents have been present at various international women’s rights gatherings for […]
Stergios Aidinis and Ivo Gruev - 26th November 2019
In March 2018, amid the rise of the #MeToo hashtag on Twitter, international media brought attention to a series of uninvited advances by an experienced defence counsel at the ICC towards a younger, female case manager during a professional trip. This incident arose in relation to the so-called ‘Article 70 case’ of Mr Jean-Pierre Bemba-Gombo […]