In Canada, foreign nationals who want to stay in the country can make applications for permanent residence under the humanitarian and compassionate stream, if there are compelling circumstances in their case. These circumstances include, for example, mental and physical health challenges, concerns over family violence, hardship in their country of origin, and the best interests of any children involved. H&C applications fill an important gap in the immigration system, because

Does the director of Legal Aid Casework have the discretion to consider the accessibility of capital when establishing eligibility for legal aid? GR answers this key question, which has big implications for victims of domestic violence in need of legal aid Abusers will use any means to control their victims, often denying them access to any shared capital, particularly when the victim could use it to fund legal advice to bring a case against them

A recent report titled Lost Identity: Transgender Persons Inside Indian Prisons’ published by the Commonwealth Human Rights Initiative has identified that the present law on prison administration in India fails to accommodate the special rights and needs of transgender prisoners. The Prisons Act 1894, is strictly gender-binary and results in the degrading treatment faced by transgender prisoners, a violation of NALSA v. UOI, which identified transgender people as a separate l

Due to COVID 19 and an overburdened criminal court system, the current backlog in the Crown Courts has risen to 54,000 unheard cases. This backlog threatens the right to a trial in a reasonable time, a human right protected by the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)(Article 6). Some jury trials have been postponed to 2023, severely infringing defendants’ rights. The Government’s proposal to deal with the backlog is inadequate.

This blog highlights the urgent need for legal protection for women facing sexual violence in Indonesia. The post identifies factors inhibiting the ratification of The Sexual Violence Elimination Bill (RUU PKS) in Indonesia and concludes that the problems of sexual violence must be overcome by ratifying RUU PKS so that access to justice for Indonesian women can be achieved.

Summary: The article focuses on:  The normalisation of dehumanising language in death penalty trials  The adverse effects of using such narratives vis-à-vis the application of capital punishment  The need for empathetic judging in capital trials Introduction: Over the years, courts have been increasingly employing dehumanising language in death penalty cases; a practice that has led to the ‘othering’ of capital defendants. Studies show that the death penalty disproportiona

This blog introduces the legal position of women in Malawi and highlights the efforts made by Malawi towards improving access to justice for women. The post explains developments to key statutes that have been made towards achieving this goal, such as the Citizenship Act, 1966 and concludes by identifying problems which must be overcome to secure gender equality in legislation.

In a chilling exemplification of a repressive regime, Egyptian security forces under President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi have been accused of arbitrarily arresting and torturing children aged as young as 12. A report documented by Human Rights Watch (HRW) underscores that prosecutors and judges have exacerbated these abuses through due process violations and unfair trials. The unnerving account details the use of varied modus operandi for torture. To enlist a few: seven children w

The internet shutdown imposed in the erstwhile state of Jammu & Kashmir on 5th August, 2019, which entered its 200th day beginning this March, is now officially the longest shutdown imposed in any democracy all over the world. It was enforced after the Parliament read down Article 370 of the Constitution of India, which previously granted autonomy to the state. While the Government of India staunchly believes that the blockade is necessary to curb unrest, it has led to grave

On August 5, 2019 the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, imposed Section 144 of the Code of Criminal Procedure in Kashmir, suspending and imposing a blanket ban on mobile, broadband internet, cable TV services citing “maintenance of law and order” issues. This was followed by the abrogation of Article 370 that granted special status to the state of Jammu and Kashmir. The state suspended the internet in the valley for almost six months until the Supreme Court ruling in Anuradha B

Amidst the chaos of last month’s cabinet reshuffle, claims of the new Attorney General’s membership in a ‘Buddhist cult’ particularly caught the public eye. Yet this is far from the most problematic characteristic of Suella Braverman MP, a former barrister and Queens’ College graduate. Braverman has made some notable interventions in legal debates in recent months, particularly a conveniently timed Conservative Home article criticising a ‘chronic and steady encroachment by th

A 19 year old British girl has been convicted of public mischief in the Famagusta District Court in Cyprus for allegedly falsely accusing 12 Israeli tourists of raping her.[1] The judge made this decision on the basis of a retracted criminal complaint, which she says she signed at the police station without receiving legal advice and after police intimidation. The UK Foreign Office has raised fair trial concerns, while domestic and international human rights groups have widel

After the International Human Rights Day, it seems an appropriate time to pen a response to a piece titled “Human Rights Do Not Exist!” by the Conservative English journalist Peter Hitchens, published in The YLJ.

On the 7th December the Council of Europe accepted the UK government’s proposal to end the blanket ban on UK prisoners’ right to vote. This proposal is a response to the European Court of Human Rights’ ruling in Hirst v UK (No 2) [2005]. In this case the Court held that the UK’s blanket ban on prisoner votes is against Article 3 of Protocol No. 1 of the ECHR (the “Right to free elections”). This article outlines a couple of key questions that the “prisoner votes saga” raises.

Over 40 members of the Oxford Climate Justice Campaign and Cambridge Zero Carbon Society and Oxford Climate Justice planned to drop a 20m-long banner over Hammersmith Bridge, with the words “Oxbridge Come Clean”, as the men’s boats passed underneath the bridge. This was a repeat of similar action that had been staged at last year’s Boat Race, in which students dropped a smaller banner reading “Oxbridge Divest”. According to a statementreleased by Cambridge Zero Carbon Society