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...
Using the Convention Against Torture to Advance Transgender and Intersex Rights
Violence and cruelty towards LGBTQI people worldwide is still far too common, making the Convention Against Torture (CAT) an obvious tool for LGBTQI activists. However, it is less obvious that...
Solidarity Not Separation: The Case for Continued Interaction Between UK and EU Law to Further Equal Rights
Employment Minister Priti Patel recently likened women campaigning to leave the EU to the Suffragettes. “Emmeline Pankhurst and the suffragette movement did not fight for the right to vote to...
New Zealand on the Verge of Implementing Pay Equity
Current New Zealand legislation prohibits gender discrimination in pay rates for men and women who perform identical roles. This narrow interpretation of equal pay may be effective in curbing directly...
Animus and Unequal Dignity: The Purpose and Effect of North Carolina’s New Anti-LGBT Law
On March 24, 2016, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (“LGBT”) North Carolina residents woke up to a new and hostile legal reality. Just one day prior, Republican lawmakers convened a...