Christine Bicknell has published a working paper with Exeter Centre for International Law entitled ‘International Law in Human Rights cases before the UK Supreme Court’. The paper’s abstract: This paper critiques the manner in which the UK courts have approached international law in several recent cases relating to human rights. Pinpointing their present attitudes to […]
Modern courts often invoke dignity when delineating the limits of government power.[1] A unique manifestation of this is the defence of the dignity of LGBTQIA individuals despite the existence of statutes and penal codes that explicitly prohibit both sodomy and same-sex relationships in a broader context. This has led certain national courts in Africa to […]
The crisis in Gaza post-October 7, 2023, has brought to the fore serious concerns about human dignity, human rights and the overall adherence to international law. The situation underscores that human rights and principles of human dignity which should apply to everyone according to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights,[1] are at stake in this […]
Set in a dystopian near-future, where environmental disaster causes escalating infertility in society, the few remaining fertile women are forcibly assigned to produce children for the ruling class of “Commanders”. With themes such as women’s powerlessness in a totalitarian patriarchy, loss of female agency and individuality, the suppression of women’s reproductive rights and their instrumentalisation […]
László Sólyom (1942-2023), the founding President of the Hungarian Constitutional Court, later also the President of the Republic of Hungary (2005-2010), died on 8 October at the age of 81. Sólyom was a crucial player at the Round Table negotiations, which designed the constitutional framework of the 1989 democratic transition from communist rule, from January […]
The UK Home Secretary’s recent narrative relating to asylum seekers is harmful, concerning, and could be another attempt (following the Illegal Migration Act 2023 (IMA 2023)) to foreground intentions to justify circumventing or undermining obligations under the Refugee Convention. The current UK Home Secretary, Suella Braverman, recently delivered a speech to US-based think-tank American Enterprise […]
Human rights actors are increasingly highlighting the negative impact that legal non-recognition has on non-binary communities. However, the possibilities for, and implications of, various reform options in England and Wales remain underexplored. It is imperative that scholars, lawyers and policymakers fully understand these options so that reform achieves its desired aims and legal uncertainty is […]
Everyone wants their dignity respected and protected. We understand this concept intuitively. But what does dignity mean for law and human rights? In The Guardian, Catherine Dupre reflects on the significance of the Human Rights Act 1998 for the development of human dignity.
In this LSE Brexit blog post, Catherine Dupre explains the significance of human dignity for the European Union where it is recognised as the first foundational value of the EU (article 2 TEU) as ‘inviolable’ under article 1 of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights. Since then, the UK has left the EU and the negative […]