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...
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...
Horizontality and the Constitutional Right to Equality– Recent Developments in the Jurisprudence of the German Federal Constitutional Court
Two recent decisions by the German Federal Constitutional Court (Bundesverfassungsgericht – BVerfG) shed new light on the horizontal effects of the constitutional right to equality in private law relationships. The...
Unveiling Judicial Neutrality: Do Headscarves belong in German Courtrooms?
In Germany headscarf bans in a variety of public institutions have sparked large disagreement in society and posed a challenge for courts and legislatures for some time. The most recent...
Women’s Suffrage in Germany
Given the political and constitutional history of the 18th and 19th centuries, universal suffrage and free and fair elections are a hard won freedom in Germany. Currently, Article 38 of...
“Anyone can make claims” – Is the KiK case proof of access to remedy against corporate human rights violations?
There are many hurdles preventing victims of corporate rights abuses overseas from bringing claims in European courts against European companies and accessing an effective remedy. The claim against German retailer...
A Step in the Right Direction for Minority Gender Recognition in Germany
In its decision from October 10 2017, published on November 8 – just on the Intersex Day of Solidarity – the German Constitutional Court (BVerfG) has ruled that certain provisions...
