Kurt v Austria: ECHR Positive Obligations Without a Coercive Sting?
A terrible family drama reopens the debate about the coercive sting of ECHR positive obligations Measures to prevent crime have always been considered part of the positive obligations under Article...
Preventive Detention for Bursting Myths: The Draconian National Security Act in India
A Supreme Court bench of India comprising Honourable Justices D.Y. Chandrachud and M.R. Shah directed the release of political activist Leichombam Erendro, who was detained for a Facebook post following...
Canada’s Failure: Climate Change and International Human Rights
“While I was breathing in wildfire smoke last month with Vancouver’s air quality rated worst in the world, Canadian government lawyers were preparing arguments to silence me.” This statement was...
Banning Conversion Therapy in India: The Do’s and Don’ts
Conversion therapy (‘CT’) is practiced to change the sexual orientation of an individual, in order to ensure that they fit into the heteronormative script of the society. Despite the abundance...
India’s Covid-19 vaccination policy must protect the constitutional rights of its citizens
The Supreme Court of India has found the Government’s vaccine policy, released on 21st April 2021, to be prima facie detrimental to the right to public health and equality. This...
Climate Change and Fundamental Freedoms: The German Constitutional Court Orders Legislature to Rectify Climate Change Law
On March 24, 2021, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany held certain provisions of the 2019 Federal Climate Change Act (‘KSG’) to be incompatible with their rights under the German...
Climate Claims Before the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies
Each of the major UN human rights treaties establishes a treaty body, a body of independent experts that oversees compliance of the treaty by the States that are party to...
A tale of legal violence and systematic oppression: Indian Supreme Court orders the deportation of Rohingyas
On 8 April 2021, a three-judge bench of the Supreme Court of India refused to grant relief in a petition challenging the detention of Rohingya refugees in the state of...
IEA v Brazil: Rights-Based Climate Litigation to Protect the Brazilian Amazon
“[C]limate stability is a new social need, essential to the preservation of human life and ecological balance.” (IEA v. Brazil, Complaint at 45) Deforestation of the Amazon is not a...
Youth Led Litigation Highlights the Intergenerational Impact of Climate Change
The impact of dangerous climate change on our children and future generations has been highlighted by campaigns around the world such as Fridays for Future, which grew out of Greta...
Student protests in South Africa: police brutality claims the life of a bystander
After the ruthless policing of student protests in Johannesburg claimed the life of an innocent bystander, South Africa’s troubled entanglement with police brutality is once again called into question. In...
Supreme Court of Pakistan prohibits execution of condemned prisoners with mental illnesses: A promising start towards reforming Pakistan’s death penalty problem?
On 10 February, 2021, a five-judge bench of the Supreme Court of Pakistan (SC) delivered its landmark judgement in Safia Bano v. Home Department (along with 2 consolidated cases). This...
