One year on, US journalist Evan Gershkovich remains a state hostage in Russia
For the past twelve months, US journalist Evan Gershkovich, a correspondent for the Wall Street Journal, has been held in a Moscow prison awaiting trial. Arrested by security services on...
How Texas’ Proposed Criminalisation of Immigration Jeopardises Human Rights Commitments
Senate Bill 4 (SB 4) —which is currently blocked from taking effect— is the latest in a long line of repressive strategies that the state of Texas is using to...
Shamima Begum – A Disappointing Precedent for the Protection of Victims of Trafficking
As the face of the UK’s counter-terrorism response, the Shamima Begum case continues to shine a spotlight on the critical intersection of counter-terrorism measures and the problem of human trafficking....
Undermining the Right to Seek Asylum: Analysing the Proposed US Border Measures’ Impact on the Fundamental Human Rights of Migrants
A 370-page bill that emerged earlier this year out of backroom negotiations between the US Senate and the White House would entrench into law some of the most restrictive asylum...
The Aberdeen housing crisis: Cementing housing rights in Scotland
In February 2024, hundreds of residents of privately and council-owned houses in Aberdeen began being moved out of their homes after around 500 homes were found to have been constructed...
Threats to Judicial Independence and Impartiality: The Attack on Mexico’s Supreme Court
When Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador announced his government plan, he formally promised to respect the judiciary’s decisions and institutions. Four years later, his promises are yet to be...
How can we guard against AI-generated discrimination?
One of the most commonly expressed concerns about AI systems is their capacity to produce unfairly discriminatory outputs and decisions. Well-known examples abound: for instance, in healthcare, AI-enabled decision support...
La Belgique criminalise l’écocide: une (imparfaite) première européenne
Le 22 février 2024, la Belgique a marqué l’histoire en adoptant un nouveau code pénal criminalisant l’écocide dans son droit interne. Il s’agit de la première fois qu’une telle interdiction...
Belgium Recognises the Crime of Ecocide: A (Lukewarm) European First
On 22 February 2024, Belgium made history by adopting a new penal code that criminalises ‘ecocide’ at the national level. This marks the first time that such a domestic prohibition...
Beyond State Responsibility: The Trafigura Case and Corporate Accountability in Africa
Over the last few decades, there has been global recognition that corporations yield considerable social, economic and political power. This recognition has been accompanied by the question of how to...
Empathy and Justice: Abortion Rights for Minor Rape Victims in India
Otherwise viewed as a laudable step in addressing rights to abort, India’s Medical Termination of Pregnancy Act 1971 (MTP) inadvertently leaves minor rape victims vulnerable. A recent decision of the...
How flexible are South African courts’ remedial powers? A closer look at the Constitutional Court’s shifting approach to constitutional damages
In two 2021 judgments, Residents of Industry House and Thubakgale, the Constitutional Court of South Africa refused to award damages for human rights violations (‘constitutional damages’). The implications for the...
