Girls with Books, Better Laws, Pave the Way Ahead
“The extremists are afraid of books and pens. The power of education frightens them,” Pakistan’s teenage activist Malala Yousafzai said in her speech at the United Nations. “They are afraid...
Children's Rights
Are Women’s Rights Really Human Rights?
At the second World Conference on Human Rights in June 1993, the statement, ‘women’s rights are human rights’ was first coined and accepted due to vociferous lobbying on the part...
Victory in first Certified Class Action Sees Teachers Appointed and Paid
A landmark settlement agreed on 20th March 2014 in Linkside v Department of Education has consolidated the law regarding class action in South Africa, andis a significant victory in the...
Children Gain Access to International Justice
This week marks a major breakthrough in international justice for children. It is a turning point in a deeply personal battle of justice for children that I have fought for...
Investigating crimes against humanity – South Africa’s embrace of universal jurisdiction
“What business is it of the South African authorities when torture on a widespread scale is alleged to have been committed by Zimbabweans against Zimbabweans in Zimbabwe? It is that...
Geneva II, politicking and possibility for Syria’s invisible 43%
The possibility of peace in Syria may seem more like an international force (pun intended) than a beacon of hope. History though tells us to ‘believe…’.* The form of the...
Children’s Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
On 4 December 2013, Dr Nicolás Espejo-Yaksic, Visiting Fellow at Kellogg College, UNICEF consultant in Latin America and Director of Research and Postgraduate Studies at Universidad Central de Chile, addressed...
A Form of Child Trafficking in Haiti: The Orphanage Business
In the next few weeks, the Haitian senate will vote, for the first time, on anti-trafficking legislation. The legislation would make the movement of children and adults for the purpose...
X v Latvia: Creative Harmony, Fortunate Result
In X v Latvia the ECtHR held that a domestic Latvian order requiring the applicant to return her daughter to Australia (‘the order’) violated her right to family life under...
Corporal Punishment in Namibia Revisited
In the landmark 1991 judgement of the Namibian Supreme Court in Ex Parte: Attorney-General, In Re Corporal punishment by Organs of State, Berker CJ remarked in a separate judgement, that...
Constitutionalising the Violation of the Right of the Girl Child in Nigeria: Exploring Constitutional Safeguards and Pitfalls
The Senate of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the highest legislative arm in Nigeria, is on the verge of enshrining the legality of child marriage. This is a direct implication...
Mendoza v Argentina: Against the life imprisonment of children
In Mendoza et al. v. Argentina, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (ICHR) has determined that life sentences against children constitute a breach of the American Convention on Human Rights...
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