Search Results for: Scotland

This week in Scotland, a hate crime law that ranks among the world’s strictest entered into force. The Hate Crime and Public Order Act 2021 (Hate Crime Act) aims to modernize and consolidate protections while broadening the scope of recognized hate crimes to encompass a wider range of individuals and circumstances. In other words, the [...]

Scotland’s controversial Hate Crime and Public Order (Scotland) Act 2021 came into force on Monday. The law intends to unite existing hate crime laws, along with creating several new offenses, most notably criminalizing “threatening or abusive behaviour which is intended to stir up hatred.” Stirring up racial hatred has been an offense since 1986. However, [...]

The Scottish government launched a public inquiry into Emma Caldwell’s murder in 2005, a case that brought significant attention to the failures of police investigations. Scottish Cabinet Secretary for Justice and Home Affairs Angela Constance announced in a statement to the parliament that an “independent, judge-led, statutory Public Inquiry” will take place into the investigation [...]

As the world marks International Women’s Day, we have to address the elephant in the room. When it comes to honoring and protecting the rights of women, far too much of the global community is backsliding. As a legal scholar from Afghanistan, I know firsthand about these struggles as they pertain to the women of [...]

The resumption of any kind of negotiations or diplomatic ties with the Taliban should come with principles and conditions. Such conditions should be no less than those enshrined in the fundamental principle of human rights and dignity and expected in a multi-ethnic and democratic country. Afghanistan cannot afford to settle for anything less than the [...]

The Scottish Court of Session, Scotland’s supreme civil court, ruled on Friday that UK ministers acted lawfully when they blocked reforms proposed by the Gender Recognition Reform (Scotland) Bill. The Bill sought to allow people of Scotland to self-identify their gender and was passed in Scottish Parliament in December 2022.  The UK government previously invoked [...]

Baroness Helena Kennedy of the Shaws, KC, is one of the UK’s most established lawyers, a bencher at Gray’s Inn and a member of the House of Lords. Kennedy is also a broadcaster,  journalist and lecturer. She has not only acted in many of the most prominent cases of the last decade but has promoted civil [...]

Israel and Hamas reached a deal on Tuesday that includes a four-day ceasefire as well as the release of 50 Hamas-held hostages and many Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons. The deal also includes measures to allow the flow of humanitarian aid and resources like water, food and fuel into Gaza. The deal did not immediately [...]

The South African National Assembly passed a motion on Tuesday calling on the country’s government to suspend diplomatic ties with Israel. The same day, Scotland’s Parliament urged a ceasefire in the Israel-Hamas war. South Africa’s ruling African National Congress sided with the far-left Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), which drafted the motion, in urging the closure [...]

The Israel-Palestine conflict, which has deep historical, political, and religious roots, has sparked protests worldwide. The conflict has a deep historical ties to the establishment of Israel in 1948 and the displacement of Palestinians. It revolves around competing claims over land, particularly in Jerusalem, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Both sides are driven [...]