Latest blog articles
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It is a tough time for everyone during this current pandemic, but increasing reports worldwide indicate that marginalised groups, including people with disabilities, are suffering even more due to structural discrimination. When governments fail to secure the survival and dignity of people with...
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Today in times of pandemic hospitals face a crisis of scarce resources. In many places this has already led to measures of triage where critical medical care is rationed to those who are most likely to benefit from it. In other places, it is clear that such measures will soon need to be taken.
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Slowly but surely we are getting a picture of the many short-term effects COVID-19 is having on the Dutch criminal justice system. In a limited amount of time, many different and far-reaching measures have been taken to adapt to the new circumstances. Courts are closed and only urgent cases are...
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Asylum-seekers at the Greek island of Lesbos are in a vulnerable position. They claim basic human rights and hold the Europeans accountable. What can a human rights scholar do? His role is limited. When there is no political will, compassion and solidarity are gone.
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Human rights violations continue to be a major issue at the EU’s external borders and pushbacks have been reported in several EU Member States. Most recently, the spotlight has been on Spain’s long-standing practice of pushbacks at the border of Melilla, as the ECtHR handed down its long-awaited...
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Today, on Human Rights Day, the Peace Palace in The Hague will be the venue of the somewhat ironic spectacle of a Nobel Peace Prize laureate and global icon of human rights leading her country’s defence against allegations of genocide, the most serious violation of human rights possible.
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National laws or ‘legal traditions’ are not the main obstacle to realising the ideal of ‘effective legal assistance’ embedded in the EU procedural rights’ Directives. The resistance to realising this ideal originates mainly from the professional cultures of relevant actors, including criminal...
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The review hearing of Augustin Ngirabatware only lasted from 16th – 24th September 2019, yet those 7 days were enough to create shockwaves in this little town in the north-east of Tanzania.
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In European societies, Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting FGM/C is regarded as an alien cultural practice that should not be part of society. It is seen as a barbaric tradition that is associated with refugees and immigrants from African and Muslim States who have brought this custom to Europe.
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The development of human rights law is part of a fundamental shift in the nature and purpose of the international legal order. Where once international law was considered to regulate purely inter-state concerns, we now talk of the existence of international community interests and a shared...