In 2017 the Court of Justice (ECJ) pronounced its much criticised answers to two preliminary questions concerning headscarves and discrimination, originating from France (Bougnaoui) and Belgium (Achbita). On 12 October...
Privacy at the Margins: France’s New Ban on the Hijab
On 30th March, less than a month after Switzerland held a plebiscite on banning the burqa and niqab in public spaces, the French Senate has moved to ban girls under...
The Federal Court of Malaysia held state Syariah law criminalising ‘unnatural sex’ void and unconstitutional
On 25 February 2021, the Federal Court of Malaysia delivered a landmark judgment, declaring that Section 28 of the Syariah* Criminal Offences (Selangor) Enactment 1995 (the 1995 Enactment), which criminalises...
Love Jihad Law: A Discriminatory Tool in the Hands of Divisive Indian Politicians
On 24th November 2020, the Indian State of Uttar Pradesh promulgated a new ordinance which shocked the nation. The Prohibition of Unlawful Conversion of Religion Ordinance, 2020 requires religious conversion...
Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Champion of Equality
When Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died in September, the U.S. Supreme Court lost one of its last remaining champions of the least powerful members of American society. Justice Ginsburg’s deep...
Does State laicity in Québec breach gender equality?
The ongoing debate on State laicity in Québec recently took a new twist before the courts. Shortly after the enactment of the new Act respecting the laicity of the State,...
The Turkish Constitutional Court – An Effective Remedy or a Way to Avoid ECtHR Cases?
Turkey’s Constitutional Court (Anayasa Mahkemesi – AYM) issued an important judgment in May 2019, addressing State interference in the election of a religious leader, namely the obstruction of the election...
Akhter v Khan: Recognising (or not recognising) religious marriages in the UK
Whether and how a religious marriage is recognised in law has profound consequences for couples and their children. This is the question at the heart of the Court of Appeal...
A novel approach to Get refusal: the use of the offence of coercive control to obtain a religious divorce
For Jewish women, obtaining a religious divorce (Get) can be life-changing. Women denied a Get are considered ‘chained’ to their husband, preventing them from re-marrying within the faith (whilst not...
Parliamentarians and Freedom of Religion or Belief
Parliamentary networks for human rights are not unheard of. Several networks exist which draw attention to the role of parliaments and parliamentarians in the promotion and protection of human rights,...
The Failure of the Right to Freedom of Religion and Belief?: The Case of Southeast Asia
The right to freedom of religion or belief (“freedom of religion”) is protected at the international and regional levels in Southeast Asia. Indonesia and Myanmar also protect the freedom of...
Lessons from Sir Henry Brooke: Making Rights Real (II)
In my last post, I argued that the judgment in Gareth Lee v Ashers Bakery is the consequence of the failure to follow a structured human rights assessment. This is...
