Human Nature: Understanding the Constitutional and Indigenous Context of Granting Legal Personhood to Taranaki Mounga
Last week Taranaki Mounga (mountain) joined a growing family of natural entities given legal personhood in Aotearoa New Zealand. Te Urewera was the first natural entity in the world to...
Australia inches closer to a national Human Rights Act
Australia is the only western liberal democracy without some form of federal charter of human rights. That may soon change, with a recent parliamentary inquiry recommending a federal Human Rights...
Green Reparations at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights: The La Oroya Judgment
The La Oroya judgment, delivered by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) on 27 November 2023, but only published late March 2024, constitutes an important legal first in the...
Tide Turning on Australia’s Inadequate Climate Policy? A Challenge from First Nations Peoples in the Torres Strait
The low-lying islands of Zendath Kes (Torres Strait) are the frontlines of the climate crisis. Without action, climate change will soon make these islands uninhabitable, rendering First Nations Guda Maluyligal...
South African High Court Rules that Tribal Levies are Unconstitutional and Contrary to Customary Law
On 1 November 2023, the High Court of South Africa held that levies involuntarily imposed under section 25 of the Limpopo Traditional Leaders and Institutions Act 6 of 2005 (the...
Silencing the Indigenous Voice: How Australians Have Failed Their Own People Part II
The first part of this blog series addressed the background to the referendum and the Constitution of Australia, including how it derives from racially discriminatory beliefs which would later be...
Silencing the Indigenous Voice: How Australians Have Failed Their Own People Part I
Last week’s failed referendum affirms the deep-seated racial prejudice embedded in Australia’s public institutions, and demonstrates how this marginalisation continues to be perpetrated by the Australian populace more broadly. Following...
Queensland’s Suspension of Human Rights Act for Youth Detention
The state government of Queensland in Australia has suspended its Human Rights Act, paving the way for the indefinite confinement of children, some as young as 10 years, in police...
Giving Voice to the Vulnerable: How Advisory Opinions Have the Potential to Advance Climate Justice through International Courts
In the context of the current climate crisis, climate change litigation has taken a new form over the past year. There have been increasing requests for advisory opinions from international...
India’s Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill: Undermining Forest Dwellers’ Rights
On 30 March 2023, the Forest (Conservation) Amendment Bill, 2023 was introduced in the Lok Sabha, India’s lower house of Parliament, and later referred to a Joint Committee of Parliament...
Public Purpose or Private Interest? The Supreme Court of India’s Scrutiny of Land Acquisition for a University Project in Tribal Areas
The Supreme Court of India recently delivered a landmark judgment in Anil Agarwal Foundation Etc v State of Orissa & Ors, quashing the land acquisition proceedings initiated by the State...
Segundo Proyecto de Chile: una oportunidad para hacer efectivos los derechos humanos indígenas a través de la ley constitucional
Descripción de la imagen: Representantes indígenas se reúnen con la presidenta de Chile, Michelle Bachelet, en el Día Nacional de los Pueblos Indígenas, el 24 de junio de 2015. Dos...
