The Dignity and Rights of Manual Scavengers in India
Manual scavenging has been called the worst surviving symbol of untouchability. The International Labour Organisation defines it as the removal of human excreta from public streets and dry latrines, and...
Triple Talaq and Women’s Rights in the Indian Supreme Court
The Indian Supreme Court’s multi-religious Constitutional bench, in its much anticipated majority decision in the Shayara Bano case, has ruled the practice of triple talaq to be unconstitutional. The practice...
The Case For Recognition Of Muslim Marriages In South Africa
The South African Constitution guarantees all of its citizens the right to equality, dignity, freedom of religion and belief as well as the right to protection against arbitrary deprivation of...
Slavery & Casteism in India: No Road to Freedom?
Modern slavery continues to be a significant problem, even in 2017. There are 46 million people around the world today who live in slavery, and 18 million (39%) of them...
Niqabs in Strasbourg, Again: Part 2
In a blog post yesterday, I considered the impact which the recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Dakir v. Belgium and Belcacemi and Oussar v. Belgium...
Niqabs in Strasbourg, Again: Part 1
Burqa bans seem to be in fashion, not only in the 5-odd countries that have chosen this policy line, not only at the European People’s Party within the European Parliament,...
CEDAW Committee General Recommendation on Violence against Women Updated
In July 2017, the CEDAW Committee released a new General Recommendation (No. 35) on Violence Against Women (VAW), 25 years after the first on the topic, General Recommendation No.19. This...
Gender Equality in China
Confucianism has been regarded as a nationwide paradigm in China for over two millennia. Susan Greenhalgh (1985) argues that, “Traditional Confucian China evolved some of the most patriarchal family systems...
Islam and Human Rights: A Critical Intersection
Global politics is increasingly concerned with the relationship between religion and human rights. Human rights violations of certain religious minorities in some countries indicate this trend and represent a critical...
Battling for Equality: Recognizing Civil Service Benefits in Same-sex Marriages
The struggle for LGBTQ rights remains an embryonic fight in Asia, waiting to be further developed through advocacy and legal change, amidst vocal opponents demanding the preservation of conservative values...
State Intervention in Muslim Personal Law: A Case of Fundamental Misunderstanding
The All India Muslim Personal Law Board [the Board], has been at the centre of a raging controversy for the past year. This is because of an affidavit filed by...
Women in the Iranian Labour Market: Infringement of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
Regardless of the fact that women have a very significant contribution to make to national production, employment generation and civil and economic society, women in Iran continue to be discriminatorily...
