This week, the world continues to watch as the Taliban takes control of Afghanistan. The Taliban’s conquest comes as Western forces leave the country after more than two decades of war in the region. This saga is heartbreaking and I encourage you to, first and foremost, read about it in the words of Afghans themselves [...]
Professional Commentary
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 [...]
In Honolulu, a new bill has been proposed and signed that will impose penalties on individuals and institutions that commit crimes against seniors in Hawaii. In earlier June, the bill was signed into law by Governor David Ige during the Hawaii State Capitol ceremony. The objective of House Bill 490 is to improve the protection [...]
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 [...]
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 [...]
Most people in our societies identify as male or female, a man or a woman; but there have been people around the globe in different eras that have claimed other identities regarding their gender identity and have put this binary under challenge. Alternative genders across the globe demonstrate examples of cross-cultural gender diversity. In a [...]
“I was told there would be no math…” Lawyers often joke that they went to law school because they thought it meant they would never see another math problem. However, as more companies move their legal departments in-house, these organizations need their head lawyer to be both legally and financially fluent. Initially, the move toward [...]
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+ [...]
After successfully flattening the curve in late 2020, India witnessed a horrific resurgence of cases. Many attributed this to the “policy casualness” of the government of India, and the lack of effective measures taken by it to ensure social distancing and the wearing of masks. As restrictions were lifted, sights of holiday-goers reaching jam-packed airports [...]
In India, prior to the enactment of the Mental Healthcare Act 2017 (MHCA), health insurance for the treatment of mental health conditions had been a distant dream. In the absence of legal regulations, it had been standard practice for insurance companies to exclude mental health conditions from insurance coverage through standardized exclusion clauses in health insurance [...]