Germany’s New Law for Self-Determination: Progressive for Some, Regressive for ‘Others’
Germany is currently in the process of amending its gender self-identification law to make it more progressive. The Federal Ministry of Justice and the Federal Ministry for Family Affairs, Senior...
Europe’s Gender Recognition Tug-of-War Continues in Germany – Part 2: Implications of the Draft Law on Self-Determination
Germany may soon close a troubled chapter on its legal provision for gender recognition, ending the decades-long reign of the 1980 Law on Transsexuals (Transsexuellengesetz or TSG), in favour of...
Europe’s Gender Recognition Tug-of-War Continues in Germany – Part 1: The Law as it Stands
Germany may soon close a troubled chapter on its legal provision for gender recognition, ending the decades-long reign of the 1980 Law on Transsexuals (Transsexuellengesetz or TSG), in favour of...
The Missing Pieces: Living Organ Donation and Personal Autonomy in Germany
Non-directed living organ donation remains prohibited in Germany, with concerning implications for individual autonomy as well as potentially fatal consequences for those awaiting organ donation. About 8,500 people are currently...
Examining Racial-Profiling Complaints in the Age of Subsidiarity: Basu v Germany and Muhammad v Spain
Image Description: Two policemen in uniform standing with their backs to the camera. On 18 October 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (‘ECtHR’)’s Third Section passed judgment in Basu...
What do Rivers have to do with Human Rights? A Spotlight on Recent Problems
Image description: A map showing the extent of drought alerts in Europe in July 2022, with most of the region in shades of orange or red A few weeks ago...
Financialisation of Housing: Balancing Commercial Interests with Human Rights
Image description: Multicoloured houses seen from above The right to adequate housing is considered to be a basic human right. It is fundamental to an individual’s sense of security and...
Why Legislate Intersectional Gender Parity Acts for Parliaments? The Case of Germany
The German Constitution provides in Article 3 (2) that “[m]en and women shall have equal rights. The state shall promote the actual implementation of equal rights for women and men...
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...
Equal Marriage – Unequal Parenthood
In 2017, same-sex couples in Germany were granted the right to marry. While the legislator’s decision was celebrated at the time, much remains to be done. In particular, the law...
The Curious Notion of “merely perceived intersexuality“
In a recent decision, the German Federal Court of Justice (Bundesgerichtshof – BGH) ruled that the newly introduced section 45b and section 22(3) of the German Civil Status Act (Personenstandsgesetz...
Germany’s Ban on Conversion Therapy: One Step Forward and Two Steps Back
Conversion therapy (CT) is a constellation of medical, psychoanalytic, behavioural, religious techniques and interventions, that seek to alter an individual’s sexual orientation, gender identity and expression. It stigmatises same-sex attraction...
