Canada to Hold National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls
On August 3, 2016, the government of Canada announced a National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (the “Inquiry”). The Commission’s mandate is “to examine and report...
Is the two-thirds gender rule discourse engendering double invisibility in public life for other vulnerable groups in Kenya?
It is asserted that an enduring democracy is one that secures the meaningful participation of youth, women, persons with disabilities, the elderly, minorities and other marginalised groups in public life...
Guilty of Rape, But Not Punished
On 3 February 2016, the Criminal Division of the Court of First Instance of Ghent in Belgium found a 33-year old man guilty of rape, but decided to suspend the...
Velásquez Paiz et al v Guatemala: Femicide in Guatemala – Part II
On 19 November 2015, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) handed down a decision on gender-based violence in Guatemala. This decision comes at a time when Guatemala has...
Velásquez Paiz et al v Guatemala: Gender Stereotypes and Lack of Justice – Part I
In November 2015, a decade after the sexual assault and murder of a young Guatemalan woman, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) released a ground-breaking judgment further clarifying...
LGB, T and LGBT
This post reflects on a recent clarification sought by the Indian government regarding whether or not the term ‘transgender’ — as used in NALSA v Union of India — covers...
Statelessness as a Rising Human Rights Issue in Tajikistan
The right to a nationality — or as Hannah Arendt put it: “a right to have rights” — has been recognised in various human rights instruments. Despite this, statelessness —...
Whole Women’s Health: A Call for Evidence-Based Regulation of Abortion
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....
The Intersection of Age, Gender and Disability in the Prosecution of Sexual Violence in India
This post examines a petition made to the Indian Supreme Court by a rape victim’s mother. The petitioner avers that her daughter’s case should be tried in a court set...
Ireland’s Abortion Ban: Subjecting Women to Suffering and Discrimination
Ireland has one of the world’s most restrictive abortion law regimes. Following a referendum in 1983, the 8th Amendment of the Irish Constitution was inserted in the form of Article...
Linguistic Cracks In The Femicide Campaigns: Why Femicide Must Be Repatriated
The recently published 2015 Global Burden of Armed Violence (GBAV) report by the Small Arms Survey has continued in the same vein as the two previous publications in 2008 and...
Surrogacy: A Global Form of Exploitation
Surrogacy appears to be an altruistic alternative for infertile couples that desire to become parents but are unable to for a number of reasons, not just medical. Due to its...
