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Victoria Miyandazi - 1st February 2021
On 11 January 2021, the Kenyan Supreme Court delivered the judgment in Mitu-Bell Welfare Society. The case concerned the unlawful eviction and demolition of the homes of over 3,000 families residing in an informal settlement on public land for over 19 years. The forced eviction took place without due notice and despite a High Court […]
Ewelina U. Ochab - 27th January 2021
In the previous post, I highlighted the UK Government’s reluctance to endorse the Genocide Amendment. A central objection raised by the Government was that the determination of genocide should be made by ‘international judicial bodies’ and not the High Court. In one of its responses, the UK Government argued that it would accept as a […]
Jade Weiner - 10th December 2020
On 09 November 2020, Mr Justice Turner of the High Court, handed down a judgment that denied the jurisdiction of the English Court to adjudicate the liability of BHP Plc and BHP Ltd on the merits, for the catastrophic consequences caused by the 2015 Fundão dam collapse. The judgment struck out the claims of over […]
Natasha Holcroft-Emmess - 27th March 2020
Governments around the world are taking decisive action to contain the spread of a novel coronavirus, (COVID-19), with heavy implications for human rights. Commentators have assessed containment measures in blogs on preventive duties, State responsibility, and the UK’s draft emergency legislation. Several States have now derogated from the ECHR to address COVID-19. This blog post […]
Ligia De Jesús Castaldi - 2nd August 2019
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), one of two major human rights bodies of the Organization of American states (OAS), has been subject to some political controversy lately over its involvment in controversial human rights issues, such as the creation of abortion rights. Headquartered in Washington D.C. and deriving about half of its budget […]
Clara Wong - 17th April 2018
As a prelude to the High Level Conference to be held in Copenhagen in April 2018, the Danish chairmanship of the Council of Europe recently issued the Draft Copenhagen Declaration. Whilst the Draft welcomed the ECtHR’s more robust application of the subsidiarity principle and the margin of appreciation, it is open to question whether it […]
Praharsh Johorey - 8th September 2017
In March of this year, the Human Rights Council (HRC) unanimously adopted a resolution concerning the Myanmar Government’s treatment of its Rohingya minority, which declared an imminent need to dispatch an ‘independent fact-finding mission’ to ascertain and study the facts and circumstances relating to the escalating human rights violations the State is accused of perpetrating […]
Florencia Bohl - 3rd July 2017
In 2001, the Supreme Court of Argentina gave a judgment against Jorge Fontevecchia and Héctor D’Amico for publishing news relating to an unrecognised son of Carlos Menem (the former President of Argentina). The Court decided that the diffusion of news related to the unrecognised son had infringed the right to privacy. That same year, Jorge […]
Florencia Bohl - 30th November 2016
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) Advisory Opinion OC-22/16 examined the question of whether legal entities have standing before the Inter-American System of Human Rights. It addressed issues surrounding the interpretation of Article 1.2 of the American Convention of Human Rights (ACHR) in a literal, teleological, systemic, and evolutionary approach. The eventual conclusion–that legal […]
Louis Karaolis - 11th November 2016
Stripped to its core, the Cyprus Problem pertains to the illegal invasion of the Republic of Cyprus by Turkish forces in 1974 and the displacement of 180,000 Greek Cypriots from their homes. The invasion was followed by the establishment of a Turkish-Pseudo State and the stationing of 43,000 Turkish troops. To this day, 37 per […]
Reva Siegel - 19th July 2016
Decades ago, the medical profession helped build the public-health case for decriminalising abortion, and the Supreme Court of the United States appealed to medical science in deciding Roe v Wade. In its most recent decision, Whole Women’s Health v Hellerstedt, the Court has again turned to the medical profession to evaluate claims of fact said […]
Claire Overman and Andrew Wheelhouse - 22nd March 2016
Rare is the day when the lowly District Judge sitting in the Magistrates’ Court gets the distinction of having one of his judgments reported. Kudos then to District Judge McNally for his thought-provoking decision on hate speech in the Northern Irish case of DPP v McConnell. The case concerned a sermon by evangelical Protestant preacher […]