April 20, 2018

A New Hope for South Africa? – The Fall of Zuma

April 20, 2018/ Tom Daly

Tshepang Edwin Makwati

On the 14th of February 2018 President Jacob Gedleyihlekisa Zuma resigned, having been recalled by his party, the African National Congress (ANC) and with an impeachment hanging over his head. He was caught in a political checkmate of his scandalous tenure. The episode demonstrated that the South African Constitution has proven to be a potent weapon in the hands of the courts against despotism, corruption, state capture and everything undesirable in a constitutional democracy.

April 18, 2018

Pakistan's Disqualification Doctrine and Nawaz Sharif

April 18, 2018/ Tom Daly

Sadaf Aziz

The July 2017 removal of the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Nawaz Sharif, continues to be at the center of debates concerning the strength of anti-democratic establishment forces (e.g. the military) and the future of democracy in Pakistan. With a recent review upholding Sharif’s lifetime disqualification just months before the end of this government’s tenure, concerns have arisen on what implications this has on a free and fair election scheduled for this summer.

March 29, 2018

Legislation as a Method of Constitutional Reform: An Alternative to Formal Amendment?

March 29, 2018/ Tom Daly

Lael K. Weis

A striking feature of current debates about constitutional reform in Australia is the evident interest in exploring legislative alternatives to formal amendment. Although this may be explained by the historically low success rate of referendums, the fact remains that ordinary legislation can’t change the text of the Constitution: only an amendment can do that. So in what sense is legislation an alternative to formal amendment?

March 28, 2018

Administrative Discretion: A Comparative Analysis

March 28, 2018/ Tom Daly

Marcelo Figuereido

Administrative discretion is critical in administrative process. Two foundational principles guiding a democratic government are transparency and accountability. The actions of public authorities therefore are viewed through the prism of rule of law in general and fundamental rights guaranteed in the Constitution in particular.

March 20, 2018

Symposium: New Belgian Gender Recognition Act: shouldn’t self-determination also include non-binary people?

March 20, 2018/ Tom Daly

Pieter Cannoot

The new Belgian Gender Recognition Act (GRA) entered into force on 1 January 2018. The Act was welcomed by many trans people, activists and other experts. It enabled trans people to apply for legal gender recognition on the basis of self-determination, not pathologizing conditions. The impact of the Act has been overwhelming: in many municipalities the number of applications in January 2018 was much higher than in the whole of 2017.

March 12, 2018

Free, Prior and Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples: A Fundamental Right?

March 12, 2018/ Tom Daly

Konstantin Gerber

The objective of this blog post is to encompass some experiences from Latin America and Africa on free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).

February 13, 2018

Symposium: The Politics of Recognition and Emancipation Through Law

February 13, 2018/ Tom Daly

Grietje Baars

There is much to celebrate about the BVerfG decision. Intersex erasure is a serious issue, and 2017 could go down in history as the year intersex reached a tipping point of visibility: supermodel Hanne Gaby Odiele came out as intersex in the US Teen Vogue, generally intersex activism is being noticed by the media around the world, and now Vanja has won the Bundesverfassungsgericht (BVerfG).

February 07, 2018

Symposium: Tertium NON Datur: Gender Binary as a ‘Principle of the Austrian Legal Order’?

February 07, 2018/ Tom Daly

Elisabeth Greif

In Austria, the decision of the German Federal Constitutional Court concerning the recognition of a “third gender” has been eagerly awaited. Before long, the Austrian Constitutional Court will have to decide a similar case: For the very first time, an intersex person – Alex Jürgen – filed an application that the legal gender status be changed to “inter” or “divers” or be cancelled at all.

February 03, 2018

Symposium: Structure and Participation: On the Significance of the ‘Third Option’ for the Equality Guarantee

February 03, 2018/ Tom Daly

Nora Markard

In its decision on the “Third Option,” the German Federal Constitutional Court has recognized gender diversity beyond the male/female binary for the first time. As part of the Symposium, this contribution will focus on the significance of this decision for the constitutional non-discrimination guarantee. For the Court has, for the first time, not only recognized gender identity as part of the general right to personality (Allgemeines Persönlichkeitsrecht), but also under the non-discrimination clause of Article 3(3) of the Basic Law (GG).

January 23, 2018

Symposium: The Same Freedom for Everyone!

January 23, 2018/ Tom Daly

Berit Völzmann

Gender diversity is also legally more than binary, according to the German Constitutional Court in its decision on the “third option”: the current law on civil status is unconstitutional, insofar as it requires the registration of a gender, but does not allow a positive entry other than female or male. Just as revolutionary as the result, is the reasoning: for the first time the senate not only derives the protection of gender identity from the general law of personality (Article 2 (1) in conjunction with Article 1 (1) basic law – Grundgesetz – GG), but also from the prohibition of discrimination (Article 3 (3) sentence 1 GG).

2018 Posts