Although resistance to the incorporation of ‘gender’ in human rights law and policies is not new, since 2013 anti-gender campaigns have articulated as movements and increased their visibility. More recently, the transnational dimension of the anti-gender offensive has become visible as a challenge to human rights standards, including the anti-violence against women project, and a process of democratic

In light of the expanding critical academic literature on the social and ecological limits to a growth-based paradigm, this article investigates the ties between economic, social and cultural rights (ESC rights) and economic growth in the case law of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). It shows that the CESCR assumes economic growth to generally improve the realisation of

Fair procedures have long been a topic of great interest for human rights lawyers. Yet, few authors have drawn on research from other disciplines to enrich the discussion. Social psychological procedural justice research has demonstrated in various applications that, besides the final outcome, the manner in which one’s case is handled matters to people as well. Such research has shown the impact of

Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (the ‘MMIWG Inquiry’) is the latest truth-seeking body to grapple with legacies of violence against indigenous peoples in settler colonial states. While the name, Missing and Murdered, ostensibly limits its scope of application to bodily integrity crimes, the MMIWG Inquiry instead embraced an expansive understanding of violence

This article presents a critical analysis of the case-law of the ECtHR with regards to the interpretation of the notion of ‘a person of unsound mind’ under Article 5 § 1(e) of the Convention. According to the Court, only a person who has been reliably diagnosed with a mental disorder and who poses a danger to himself or others can be legally detained as ‘a person of unsound mind’. However, the notion

Black Lives Matter is having a profound impact on how individuals and communities view their repressive histories and their present environments. The movement has greatly influenced the questioning of everyday landscapes and the role of official memory in the erection, maintenance, or removal of monuments and memorials. In this column, I shed light on these phenomena, and highlight the tensions that

Since the 15 July 2016 failed coup, Turkey has seen the mass arrests and detention of hundreds of thousands of individuals; among them are judges and prosecutors, military personnel, police officers, journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and opposition politicians who have been deprived of their liberty on an array of terrorism-related charges. While this has raised numerous human rights issues

Based on Article 34 European Convention on Human Rights, individual applications must be directed against one of the Convention States. Originally ‘horizontal’ cases therefore must be ‘verticalised’ in order to be admissible. This means that a private actor who had first brought a procedure against another private actor before the domestic courts, must complain about State (in)action in his application

National authorities are often reluctant to arrange for a forensic medical examination or to grant important weight to forensic medical reports in asylum cases. They do not (fully) accept that a forensic medical report may change their initial assessment of the credibility of the applicant’s asylum account. They may argue that a physician cannot establish the context (date, location, perpetrator) in

Given the increasing restrictions and rigorous approval procedures for the exercise of freedom of assembly in various parts of the globe, one-person pickets often remain the only available form of voicing one’s opinion. This is the case of Russia, where citizens use solo protests as an opportunity to join together: they can take turns or stand at a distance from one another, forming a ‘group one-person

Ignatius Yordan Nugraha, ‘Human rights referendum: Dissonance between “the will of the people” and fundamental rights?’ (2020) 38 NQHR 115. DOI: 10.1177/0924051920923614

This column reflects on the continuing relevance of human rights in the 75th anniversary year of the founding of the United Nations. Despite the background circumstances, which included the catastrophe of a recent world war, ongoing colonial violence, and the dawn of the nuclear age, the new international body adopted the language and ideology of human rights as the moral foundation for the new world

The best interests of the child has become an central facet of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) in expulsion cases. This article argues that the indirect application of the best interests of the child as an interpretive benchmark for Article 8 ECHR is not the end point of State’s responsibilities under Article 3 UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (UNCRC). This article

The Executive Board of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights (NQHR) is proud to inform its readership that three renowned scholars have joined our International Editorial Board, thereby increasing its range of expertise. The Executive Board warmly welcomes to professor Elina Pirjatanniemi, professor dr. Tarlach McGonagle and dr. Chiseche Salome Mibenge.

The case-law on Article 18 of the European Convention on Human Rights has been evolving recently in a dramatic fashion. This evolution, which shaped a new doctrine on the misuse of power, focuses on the criminalisation of dissent within a State where undemocratic tendencies arise. The purpose of this article is to highlight these undemocratic tendencies and demonstrate that Article 18 ECHR addresses

Referendums and popular initiatives have proliferated in many parts of the world as part of the effort to improve the quality of democracy and enhance citizen participation in policy making. However, even before the surge of populist nationalism in the 2010s, referendums have become a sort of weapon to restrict various rights. Furthermore, the juxtaposition between ‘the will of the people’ and human

Housing is increasingly seen as a vehicle for wealth accumulation rather than a social good. ‘Financialization’ of housing refers to the expanding and dominant role of financial markets and corporations in the field of housing, leading to unaffordable and insufficient housing and discrimination. Although clearly linked to the right to adequate housing, financialization and its effects are not often

The start of a new year for the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights provides the opportunity to both look back and forward. In this editorial, we would like to reflect on the performance of the Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights in 2019 and present you with our key statistics, as well as to spend a few words on the present issue. Over the course of 2019, 80 manuscripts have been submitted for

Local governments around the world have been engaging with international law and policy at an exponential intensity, with prominent engagement in climate change, migration and more recently human rights. This engagement cannot be adequately understood within the terms and framework of positive international law alone. This contribution aims to map and create a grounded typology of local government

UN Security Council Resolution 1325 and the successive thematic resolutions together with a variety of reports have shaped the Women, Peace and Security (WPS) agenda. The ensuing policies and institutional responses try to deal with a variety of issues including women’s participation in peace-making initiatives and protection from sexual violence during armed conflict and in its aftermath. As such

In recent years the Inter-American Human Rights System has moved in the direction of increasingly protecting the rights of persons with disabilities. Although the Inter-American singular instrument dealing with disability rights (CIADDIS) does not provide a strong tool for the analysis of individual claims in cases of violations of these rights, both the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and

Sexual orientation change efforts (SOCE) have been promoted aggressively under the belief that homosexuality is a curable disease. However, scientific research has shown that such practice can caus...

The Dutch Forced Marriage Prevention Act aims to prevent family reunification of so-called child brides with their husbands in the territory of the Netherlands by no longer recognizing child marriages concluded abroad as legal marriages. Although it can be argued that the Netherlands has an obligation not to recognise a child marriage concluded abroad, it is disputable whether the Forced Marriage Prevention

This contribution zooms in on a particularly disconcerting development in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights, that is visible in several recent cases brought by religious minorities with a migrant background, in which the Court accepts – in the name of (requirements for) integration – far-reaching restrictions on the rights of these religious minorities with a migrant background

The UN human rights treaty body system will again be under scrutiny for reform in 2020, after more than a decade of fruitless attempts to strengthen it. This column explores some proposals for how the treaty bodies and the process of State reporting can become more effective. The central idea is that treaty bodies need to be more selective and avoid duplication to stop the current negative vicious

The European Court of Human Rights has struggled to integrate the lived experience of migrants into the legal reasoning that underlies a determination of human rights violations. This article introduces the concept of migratory vulnerability in an effort to remedy that shortcoming by making an already existing legal principle fit for the daunting task posed by migration cases. The objective is to preserve

This article explores the boundaries encountered by women fleeing domestic violence in countries located outside the Council of Europe (‘CoE’) when claiming non-refoulement before the Strasbourg Court. The main argument is that these boundaries are embedded in the different standards the Court applies in its Article 3 ECHR case law. To develop this argument, the article conducts an exemplary critical

Borders follow migrants even inside the territory of their State of destination. These ‘sticky’ figurative borders may flow directly from immigration norms and practice or indirectly from other areas of law. This Special Issue focuses on the gendered nature of these borders, as they rely on/reinforce socially constructed norms of masculinity and femininity. As a result, these figurative borders undermine

The adoption of gender guidelines aiming to ensure consistency in gender-sensitive interpretation of the UN Refugee Convention definition demonstrates a general acceptance that gender is relevant to the question of who is a refugee. However, there is evidence that States have failed to adequately undertake the process of gender-sensitive interpretation and implement these guidelines comprehensively

Migrant women victims of domestic violence might face a stark choice between leaving an abusive relationship and tolerating the abuses so that they can preserve their residence rights in the host country. EU law suffers from some major limitations in addressing this situation. In view of the EU ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women (‘the

Surrogacy offers new opportunities for family formation, but presents legal and ethical challenges for the rights of different stakeholders concerned. This contribution looks at the practise from a...

In the last decades, international refugee law (‘IRL’) and international human rights law (‘IHRL’) have increasingly taken into account sexual minorities’ needs. Despite not being one of the grounds of persecution under the 1951 Geneva Convention on the Status of Refugees, sexual orientation has been identified as a relevant factor for the recognition of refugee status for more than twenty years. In

A big problem with human rights is that people often take them for granted. If you are wondering how I know this, it is because I was one of those persons. I was born in Sarajevo, in Bosnia and Herzegovina, and until 1992 I barely understood the importance of human rights. Then the war started. I learned what human rights really meant when my life changed, when I lost family members and friends, and

Domestic workers are mainly women, are disproportionately from ethnic minorities and/or international migrants, and are vulnerable to mistreatment, often receiving inadequate protection from labour legislation. This article addresses ways in which the conditions faced by migrant domestic workers can prevent their enjoyment of the right to private and family life. It argues that the focus on this right

Vaccination for children has been a controversial topic for decades and lately it has regained particular importance. We have seen an increase in vaccine hesitancy and decrease in vaccine confidence throughout Europe, particularly due to vaccine-safety concerns by parents. Consequently, vaccination rates for children have dropped and this in turn has led to an increased spread of vaccine-preventable

The article presents an argument in favour of a richer theory of subsidiarity in the European Court of Human Rights context. In particular, the proposal is to include what is called a ‘positive’ dimension in subsidiarity thinking. That is to say, the article argues that the scholarly and political debate on ECHR subsidiarity has focused mostly on ECHR restraint, associated with a wide margin of appreciation

Algorithms form an increasingly important part of our daily lives, even if we are often unaware of it. They are enormously useful in many different ways. They facilitate the sharing economy, help detect diseases, assist government agencies in crime control, and help us choose what series or film to watch. Yet, there is also a darker side to algorithms, and that is that they (and their applications)

The European Convention on Human Rights (‘Convention’) provides that the Committee of Ministers shall supervise the execution of the European Court of Human Rights’ (‘Court’) judgments. This article aims to address the question whether, despite what the Convention provides, the Court is involved in supervising the execution of its judgments. Additionally, this article addresses the question what the

This article examines the ‘Joint Declarations on freedom of expression’ from a critical perspective. Since 1999, these Joint Declarations have been adopted annually by the four intergovernmental mechanisms on freedom of expression with the assistance of two non-governmental organisations. This article identifies the factors which contribute to the Joint Declarations’ value, with a specific focus on

The European Court of Human Rights plays a subsidiary role in the protection of the rights and freedoms set forth in the Convention. To enable national authorities to perform their primary role, it is important that the Court offers sufficient guidance on the interpretation of the Convention. It has already been argued that the case law of the Court on the right to respect for family life in immigration

Now widely accepted as a component of the international human rights framework, the concept of access to medicines nonetheless continues to generate controversial questions as to its scope and application. Through critical analysis of relevant documentary materials, this article seeks to explore the conjunction between human rights and the list of essential medicines compiled biennially by the World

Climate change is a human rights issue, but what exactly can courts require States to do in this regard? This contribution discusses the Dutch Urgenda case, in which the Court of Appeals recently found a violation of Articles 2 (right to life) and 8 (right to respect for private and family life) of the European Convention on Human Rights and ordered the State to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 25%

The growing number of military operations conducted by States Party to the European Convention on Human Rights abroad has led to a concomitant surge in court cases, notably relating to the duty to investigate an attack resulting in the death of an individual. Using the example of the British armed forces abroad, this article contends that the principles enunciated by the European Court are difficult

According to Article 3 CRC, the best interests of the child should be a primary consideration in all actions concerning children. This article examines how the European Court of Human Rights applies this principle in expulsion cases that have an impact on the right to family life. A distinction is made between the cases where the expulsion measure is aimed at one of the parents and the cases where

This lecture explores the place of justice, accountability and remedies in the global agenda against terror, illustrated by a case study on Iraq and the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL.) The two international regimes traditionally applicable to the acts of armed groups, including “terrorist groups”, are international criminal law and international humanitarian law. The lecture argues that

The European Court of Human Rights is the human rights monitoring body that has dealt with the largest number of cases related to gender identity and trans* persons. In this regard, it has recognised under Article 8 ECHR both a right to gender self-determination and a positive obligation for the State to adopt a procedure for legal gender recognition. However, Contracting States were given a wide margin

During the last few years, States in the Pacific Rim as well as in the Mediterranean have engaged in the interception of migrant boats on the high seas assuming that since these interceptions take place outside their territorial boundaries, they are not governed by human rights law. In their attempts to intercept these boats, in some incidents, these States have employed non-physical, psychologically

The principle of subsidiarity is viewed as the cornerstone of the protection of human rights. Internationally, it is primarily the responsibility of states to ensure that human rights are respected and protected on a domestic level and any international protection mechanism is only supplementary. At the domestic level, apex courts in a country also provide only subsidiary protection of human rights

Before leaving his post in 2018, the outgoing UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, made a series of critical remarks, both publicly and internally, regarding what he considered weakening of the integrity and effectiveness of the UN in its human rights mandate. Zeid’s comments highlighted retrogressive tendencies making the task of a strong and independent High Commissioner

The speech addresses how human rights are being challenged and to what extent we are witnessing the end times of human rights. Neo-liberalism and populism coming from different corners converge and contribute to the erosion of human rights as well as rule of law institutions. Attempts to link human rights to one or the other economic theory contribute to lifting human rights away from their status

As the level of governance closest to the city dwellers, local authorities have been called to play a protagonist role as implementers of global standards on human rights and sustainable development. The New Urban Agenda, a political declaration signed by all UN Member States, sets a human rights-based approach to policy-making and service delivery as a path towards inclusive and sustainable urban

Muslim women’s religious dress is a matter that exercises many minds and the recent public debate on the so-called “burkini” (preferably phrased as “body covering swimwear”) is the umpteenth variation on the theme. Following the French commotion on the presence of “burkini” wearers at the coast in 2016, the “burkini” became the subject of public debate in Belgium. Whereas the “burkini” did not cause

The debate around reparations for the transatlantic slave trade has been discussed for centuries with no end in sight. This article does not intend to cover the historical or political aspects of this debate, but instead to shed more light on the legal options with regards to reparations. In particular this article examines the role of politically negotiated reparations in transitional societies and

This paper analyses the potential for international arbitration to provide effective remedy for business-related human rights abuses. Since the proliferation of international arbitration, the default arbitration mechanism as it stands has been contemplated by and large for the resolution of cross-border commercial disputes where the primary interests are efficiency and finality. However, there is evidence

The article examines reporting laws to determine if and how these laws shape corporate conduct and protect human rights. Since 2010 a wave of laws with extraterritorial effects has appeared as home states of multinationals began to mandate social disclosures. However, opinions as to their importance differ and some wonder whether these transparency laws are ‘a hollow victory’. What is the evidence

On the anniversary of the Genocide Convention, it is useful that we look back at the history of the crime of genocide, its relationship with crimes against humanity and that we reflect on its relevance today.1 Over the last nine years, I have spent a significant amount of time grappling with these questions, whilst writing East West Street.2 The book is about the lives of individuals seeking to understand

The recent judgment of the ECtHR in Burmych and others v. Ukraine has shed new light on the question of how it regards individual justice in the context of the pilot judgment procedure. Confronted with a State reluctant to execute a previous pilot judgment, the Court has chosen to absorb all similar pending cases in the execution process at the Committee of Ministers. This article examines the pilot

On 14 June 2018, Russia’s national football team will play against Saudi Arabia for the opening match of this year’s football World Cup held in Russia. In the subsequent month, more than 3 billion people are expected to follow this mega-sporting event (MSE) on television. What the people behind their screens will see are state-of-the-art stadiums with the newest technology, each costing hundreds of

Traditionally, the literature has recognised the role of public libraries in the promotion of human rights, through their efforts in making information accessible to anyone, irrespective of their personal circumstances. At the same time, scholars have largely overlooked their potential in the protection of human rights. This article shows that libraries can make an important contribution to the protection

This article launches a frame to investigate the inequalities underlying the human rights violations migrant women may experience. Drawing on intersectionality theory and on Ratna Kapur’s concept of ‘normative boundaries of belonging’, the article puts forward the notion of ‘intersecting borders of inequality’. The notion interrogates three types of borders that may construe migrant women as outsiders