Vaccine Mandates in the United States: Multi-level Actors and Rights in Tension: Private Employers (Part I)
Image description: A person getting vaccinated. Several states, municipalities, and even private entities in the United States have imposed COVID-19 vaccine mandates. But it was not until September 2021 that...
Adbi Ibrahim v Norway: What It Takes to Make People Feel Integrated “Here in Europe” Without Necessarily “Becoming Like Them Norwegian Christians”
Image Description: A Norwegian flag flying in the sky. On December 10th, the ECtHR’s GC (Grand Chamber) issued its last 2021 judgment in Adbi Ibrahim, a truly sad case. The...
Christians in Malaysia have the right to use the word “Allah”
On 17 March 2021, the High Court in Malaya at Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia delivered a landmark judgment in Jill Ireland’s case, nullifying the 1986 Directive (the impugned Directive) by the...
EU Headscarf Bans: The CJEU’s missed opportunity for reflection on neutrality in IX v Wabe and MH Müller Handels v MJ
The Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) has been widely criticised for their decisions in the popular ‘headscarf cases’, Achbita and Bougnaoui. The Court in Achbita permitted private...
The Achbita case: an Update from Belgium
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...
Communalisation of Citizenship Law: Viewing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act 2019 Through the Prism of the Indian Constitution
The Citizenship Amendment Act breaches the right to equality and assaults the secular character of Indian citizenship law.
A Common Denominator: The Role of the Anti-Exclusion Principle in Freedom of Religion Cases
The anti-exclusion principle is helpful as a common denominator for considering cases of conflict between religious autonomy and equality claims.
An Equal Right to Freedom of Religion: A Reading of the Supreme Court’s Judgment in Sabarimala
Religious denominations cannot exercise their autonomy in a manner that degrades basic human dignity.
