LawGlobal Hub’s Post

The Sydney Morning Herald has today published an opinion piece by Human Rights Commissioner Lorraine Finlay, welcoming the appointment of Australia's first Anti-Slavery Commissioner. The Commissioner called it an important "first step" to ending modern slavery, but warned "much more needs to be done" - with legal cracks exposing people to serious exploitative practices, such as human trafficking, forced or child labour, and forced marriage. According to the 2023 Global Slavery Index, there are an estimated 50 million people around the world currently living in modern slavery - with 41,000 in Australia. Read more: https://loom.ly/7a5-MFo #AusHumanRights #FreeandEqual

📣 Insights from Ms. Sumaria, Assistant Advocate General of Pakistan, shedding light on crucial challenges faced by older women in accessing justice and legal support during #InternationalWomensDay2024. #MissingWisdomBeyond49 + #OlderNotOver Ms. Sumaria emphasized the urgent need for easily available legal support mechanisms, including free advice, to effectively address this issue. Let's work together to ensure equitable access to justice for all, especially our older women who deserve equal protection under the law. #AccessToJustice #LegalSupport #EqualityForAll 📚⚖️ HelpAge International HelpAge Deutschland

📌 Over the past two weeks, the Armenian press has been flooded with news about a bill banning virginity testing. The ban would classify virginity testing, a controversial physical exam used to determine if a girl has had sexual relations, as an act of violence. It is part of a broader package of amendments that aims to strengthen Armenia’s current domestic violence law. The bill has gained widespread attention on various social platforms in Armenia, sparking debates over the preservation of national values. 🔸 Explore the commentary from one of the draft's authors, perspectives from the opposition faction, and insights from a lawyer specializing in women's rights in the link provided below. #domesticviolence #domesticabuseawareness #domesticviolenceawareness #law #armenia #violenceagainstwomen

📍🇪🇺 Is there a duty on States to investigate human trafficking allegations? This was the subject of a recent European court case. The plaintiff, a young woman from Nigeria, had reported what she considered to be her experiences of human trafficking to the police in Spain. While an investigation was opened, the European Court of Human Rights found the matter was not fully examined. The court found in particular that: * no measures had been taken at all in the first two years of the investigation * that the investigators had failed to pursue obvious lines of enquiry and * that the decisions to provisionally dismiss her case in 2017 had been superficial and insufficiently reasoned. The Court concluded that such shortcomings showed a blatant disregard for the duty to investigate serious allegations of human trafficking, an offence with devastating consequences for its victims. This constituted a breach of the "procedural aspect" of the prohibition on slavery, forced labour and servitude in the European Convention on Human Rights. It will be interesting to follow if / how this flows through to investigative practices and oversight going forward, in other jurisdictions with equivalent human rights protections. In Australia, we don't have a Human Rights Act (but I continue to hold out hope this will happen one day). There are Human Rights Acts in Victoria, Queensland and the ACT. Summary here: https://lnkd.in/g7pnQSBi Full text of the judgement is here: https://lnkd.in/gDZG_fH9 Luke Geary Lauren Zanetti Jenny Stanger Alison Rahill Tahlia McDonald Shannon Hobbs #humanrights #modernslavery #humantrafficking

📢 New Blog Post Alert ! In “Rethinking the Age of Consent in POCSO Act : A Global Perspective on Balancing Minor’s Rights & Interests”, Harsheen Kaur Luthra and Ritwik Sharma explores the 22nd Law Commission of India’s 283rd Report which advises against lowering the age of consent, citing potential negative impacts on combating child marriage and trafficking. They suggest judicial discretion and amendments to handle consensual teenage relations under the Juvenile Justice Act, 2015. Further, they argue that despite acknowledging child sexual exploitation concerns, the report overlooks the criminalization of consensual adolescent sexual activity and fails to uphold sexual autonomy. Lastly, they Compare international practices, like "Romeo and Juliet laws," to offer a balanced approach, suggesting that India adopt similar reforms to protect minors while recognizing their evolving autonomy. 🔗 Read the full article - https://lnkd.in/d7t4i9GR

Max Planck Foundation for International Peace and the Rule of Law along with the 🇲🇻 Department of Judicial Administration and the 🇲🇻 Judicial Academy delivered the second workshop on “A Human Rights-Based Approach to Judicial Decision-Making” between 8-9 May in Ukulhas, the Maldives. As part of the Training-of-Trainers programme under an Auswärtiges Amt (Federal Foreign Office) Germany-funded project in the #Maldives, the workshop was the second in the Roll-out programme, with another planned to take place later this year. #humanrights #internationallaw #genderequality #fairtrial #nondiscrimination #judiciary #ruleoflaw #womensrights #childrights #childrensrights #humanrightsbasedapproach Read More ⬇

The POCSO Act, 2012, as it presently stands, poses a challenge in dealing with cases involving consensual sexual intercourse between minors between 16 and 18 years of age. It practically vitiates the very objective of the legislation by inculpating minors, mostly males, instead of protecting them. The act does not limit its scope to punishing sexual offenders possessing the criminal intent of sexual exploitation of minors; moreover, it punishes the indulgence of two consenting minors in the natural phenomenon of attraction. It could be argued that the Act attempts to curb the sexual autonomy of minors without taking into consideration their mental age or level of maturity. It is not wise in such cases to solely rely on judicial discretion because of the inherent subjectivity involved in the process; however, deploying objective criteria in this domain is of no avail as well. There is a need to revisit the legislation, as opined by several High Courts in the last half-decade, and to confirm the provisions relating to penalization of minors in such cases with international laws and the current dynamics of Indian society.

On the last official day of our #KenYerRights celebrations for the #UNCRC incorporation in #scotland, #children want to find out how much you really KEN about their rights 🤪 Watch the video and take the quiz below! https://lnkd.in/eCxBYWu8 #childrensrights #humanrights

The suffering and uncertainty of underprivileged children is often seen on the streets . Education is the basic right . We need to ensure this human rights! Watch the full video here- https://lnkd.in/gMRvQtRM #ckh #coachkamrulhasan #selfdoubt #TopBusinessRelationshipManagementVoice #examineyourdoubt

Transracial adoption is defined as “the joining of racially different parents and children together in adoptive families”, but the overwhelming majority of transracial adoptions in the US are white people adopting children of color, hardly ever the other way around. That's significant, and needs to be addressed in courtrooms across the country. GENOCIDE is the term for this practice under international law, which is defined to include the forcible transfer of children of a racial or ethnic group from that group to another group. (United Nation Convention on the Prevention of Genocide, Convention on the Rights of the Child; Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court). Evidence of Genocidal Intent can include historical and political context, scale, systematic targeting of victims because of their group membership, repeated destructive and discriminatory acts, or the existence of a plan or policy. So, there's that. I'm curious - what are the narratives and arguments are being used by agency, parent, and children's lawyers, and judges in terminating children's rights to their families of color and giving them to white people? #BlackFamilySeparationBadgeAndIncidentOfSlavery #BlackFamiliesMatter #RepealCAPTA #RepealASFA