State Policy or Individual Right: The Recent Development of Environmental Protection in China
In late June 2018, the Chinese State Council released the three-year action plan to ‘win the battle for blue skies‘, which, among other recent legislative and judicial development in environmental...
Coup, Constitution and the Count: Zimbabwe’s Disputed Elections
In November 2017, Robert Mugabe’s 38-year rule ended. At the time, I called this what it was – a coup – though popular among many Zimbabweans who thronged the streets...
Is the restitution of land in the ‘public interest’?
In the wake of public hearings taking place around South Africa concerning the Parliamentary motion to review and amend the compensation provisions for the lawful expropriation of land contained in...
The Fate of the Charter of Fundamental Rights in UK Law After Brexit is Sealed
On Monday in the House of Lords, Lord Pannick withdrew his amendment to the EU Withdrawal Bill retaining the EU Charter as part of the UK’s post-Brexit settlement. With this,...
The EU Withdrawal Bill in the Commons: Parliament surrendering control?
Last week, the EU Withdrawal Bill returned to the Commons, so MPs could scrutinise and vote on amendments made to it by the House of Lords. The Bill survived its...
The Human Rights Implications of Xi Jingping’s Limitless Presidential Term
China’s National People’s Congress recently passed a constitutional change to remove the two-term presidential term limit with a 99.8% passing rate. Whilst the official reason for the removal is to...
Developments from the 48th Ordinary Session of the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights
In the last week of February 2018, Africa’s principal human and peoples’ rights judicial organ, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, commenced its 48th session at its seat...
Fascination with Kenya’s Presidency has Overlooked the Real Changes Happening Locally
Kenya’s 2010 constitution replaced the country’s centralised governance structure with one of the world’s most radical experiments in devolution. Yet to look at current commentary of Kenya’s political crisis is...
Taking the backseat? Strategic utilisation of human rights in the implementation of SDGs
Human rights and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) are closely entwined. The text of the Agenda declares that human rights constitute the foundation and the aim of development. It states...
The bogey of judicial overreach in South Africa: A note on Economic Freedom Fighters v Speaker of the National Assembly
Discussions over the contours of the separation of powers principle in South Africa continue to smoulder. During President Jacob Zuma’s term, this dialogue was in overdrive mode. Recently, in Economic...
Irish High Court rules Constitution protects a ‘Right to an Environment’
The recent 2017, Irish High Court judgment on environmental rights has been described as ‘historic’ as it declared that the Irish Constitution protects an un-enumerated personal constitutional ‘right to an...
The Hidden Cost of the Death Penalty in India
The death penalty needs to have significant social benefits, not attainable with the next most severe form of punishment, life imprisonment, for it to be justified. Existing arguments already show...
