Professional Commentary

Most people presumably would consider Afghanistan to be somewhat of a pariah—or even rogue—state when it comes to respect for human rights. But the truth is that Afghanistan is more entwined in international legal regimes than one would expect, meaning it’s also more subject to enforcement measures than one would expect. The so-called “International Bill [...]

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USAFRICOM/Wikimedia

President Qaies Saied of Tunisia claimed he was acting constitutionally when he arrogated broad powers for himself on July 25, after months of stalemate among Tunisia’s governing institutions and amid a deepening Covid-19 crisis. The constitutional provision he invoked states that after 30 days, the Constitutional Court, upon a request from the Parliament, is to [...]

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On July 13, 2021, the European Court of Human Rights (‘the Court’) unanimously held that the lack of legal protection to same-sex unions in Russia violated the applicants’ right to respect for private life guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (‘the Convention’). There are no explicit legal obstacles in the way of providing [...]

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On June 7, at a public hearing, Representative Ilhan Omar asked Secretary of State Tony Blinken where the victims of alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity could go to seek justice if domestic prosecutors won’t pursue cases in court. Omar had noted the Biden administration’s opposition to the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s Afghanistan and [...]

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ILO Prospects Program

After three days of Generation Equality Forum meetings in Paris (hosted by the French Government from 30 June to 2 July), the international community launched a Global Acceleration Plan (GAP) for gender equality, driven by six Action Coalitions, the Compact on Women, Peace and Security, and Humanitarian Action. The GAP aims to accelerate gender equality in the [...]

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Inspired by landmark judgments like Navtej Singh Johar v. Union of India (2018) and NALSA v. Union of India (2014), India’s Madras High Court in S. Sushama v. Commissioner of Police (2021) has prohibited ‘conversion therapy’. Conversion therapy, also called “reparative therapy”, is the process of medically “curing” or changing the sexual orientation of LGBTQIA+ [...]

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