Rule of Law Chronicles: In America, the Kids Are Not Alright
This article is the fourth in a series covering attacks on the rule of law. The rule of law is a political philosophy premised on the promise that all citizens, leaders, and institutions are accountable to the same laws, guaranteed through processes, practices, and norms that work together to support the equality of all citizens [...]
In jurisprudential matters, whether national or international, precedent remains vitally important. When former (and possibly future) US President Donald J. Trump issued illegal pardons to selected American officials for established crimes against international law, the consequences reverberated in other countries. Now, with still-mounting Russian crimes against Ukraine – crimes of war; crimes against peace; and crimes [...]
The Impact of Stagnant Legal Aid Rates on Access to Justice in Australia
Access to justice is a foundational principle of the rule of law and is often phrased as requiring “the right of equal access to justice for all” through governments providing “fair, transparent, effective, non-discriminatory and accountable services.” In Australia, this principle was described in Dietrich v. The Queen as “the equal justice for all principle.” [...]
The Organization of American States’ (OAS) was presented with a crucial opportunity to reaffirm its commitment to democracy last month, as its Permanent Council turned its attention towards Haiti. The nation’s current crisis is one that is directly connected to the actions taken by members of its ruling Tèt Kale party (PHTK), which for the [...]
US dispatch: Texas case could limit access to abortion medication
Marisa Wright is a US National Correspondent for JURIST, and a 2L at Harvard Law School. Anti-choicers are continuing their march toward near-total control over reproductive health in the United States. Since the overturn of Roe v. Wade last June, anti-abortion proponents have turned their attention to trying to ban medication abortion and even birth [...]
Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called children of God. (Matthew 5:9) South Sudan, Africa’s youngest nation, has been struggling with civil strife, armed conflict and a deplorable state of human rights and the rule of law before and after its independence in 2011. South Sudan came to international attention in the early [...]
Explainer: The Emerging 'Unconstitutional State of Affairs' Doctrine
The unconstitutional state of affairs doctrine, having its roots in a 1998 judgement of the Colombian Constitutional Court (CCC), has gained immense popularity due to the systemic, policy-based, manifestly illegal acts of executive branches of governments worldwide. Calls for recognizing the existence of an unconstitutional state of affairs have persistently been made in the Latin [...]
Indonesia army officer to be tried by human rights court for 2014 Papua massacre
An Indonesian human rights court Friday indicted a retired Indonesian Army officer for his role in a 2014 massacre in Papua, according to Human Rights Watch. Retired Major Isak Sattu is charged with crimes against humanity for the 2014 killing of five teenage protestors and the injuries of 17 more in Papua, Indonesia. Indonesia’s Human [...]
Explainer: Rule of Law and De Facto Differentiation in the EU
In October 2021, Poland’s Constitutional Tribunal ruled that in the event of a conflict between the Constitution of Poland and the treaties of the European Union, the Polish Constitution will reign supreme. The Tribunal concluded that Article 4(3) of the Treaty on European Union, in conjunction with Article 279 of the Treaty on the Functioning of [...]
The mass exodus of women and children from Ukraine has sparked the largest refugee crisis in Europe since World War II. More than three million refugees have poured out of Ukraine since Russia began its full-scale invasion of the country on February 24. Upwards of 1.8 million of those refugees have crossed into Poland. And [...]
