February Update

There's been lots of legal excitement recently. Anyone who follows ECHR blog would know that there's a new article on the ECHR and gays! All the more exciting because on the 25th of February the Court will hear Schalk and Kopf v. Austria, about a same sex couple who were refused marriage and who are claiming that Austrian authorities violated their rights under Article 12 and Article 14 taken in conjunction with Article 8.

Although the Court has recognised the right to non-discrimination of same sex couples in Karner v Austria, it has not gone as far as recognise same sex couples as a de facto family. The Court has recognised all sorts of families (including transsexuals who have a right to marry under the Convention - Christine Goodwin) and therefore, granting same sex couples the same rights is a logical step. The Court in 2008, overturned its decision of Frette v. France and the case of EB v France to hold that homosexuals cannot be discriminated against when single parent adoption is made available by legislation. The Court seems to be narrowing the margin of appreciation in relation to morals in certain matters where there is a growing or international consensus (see recent violation of Article 10 case in Akvas v Turkey, about literature and patrimoine europeenne).

Of course, the above topic is particularly on my mind today after participating in the TCD student law colloquium in Dublin. The inaugural lecture was given by Justice Catherine McGuinness who spoke about children's rights under the Irish Constitution. Her speech included a brief discussion of McD v L: the Supreme Court in this case found that lesbians were not a family under the Irish constitution and that a sperm donor had access to the child. The Supreme Court in Ireland is also due to hear the appeal from Zappone and Gilligan v Tax Revenue Commissioners about two lesbians wishing to have their Canadian marriage recognised in Ireland.

The decision of the ECHR will thus have great repercussions in Ireland and in the Member states in general who are still refusing to guarantee and respect fundamental equality rights.

Something else at the conference also struck me: the ratio of female to male speakers. Although some panels tended to be more female or male than others, in general, the organizers had ensured a gender balance of speakers and chairs of each panel. This of course, didn't guarantee that gender issues were always considered, although on my panel chaired by Prof Sandeep Gopolan, I was happy that one of the other panelists spoke about child soldiers and especially about the invisibility of the girl child in disarmament and reintegration programmes. The Lubanga trial featured in both the international law panel and the international post-conflict panel, and the critiques of the lack of charging for sexual slavery is welcome.

On the whole, the event was a success and an opportunity to see many familiar faces and some new ones too. Topics ranging from Crucifixes and Minarets (Ciara M. CoE), facebook consent agreements (Oisin T. tcd) etc. made for lively discussion during, but most of all, afterwards during the law school reception!

Laramie Project

The other day, I sat down to watch the Laramie Project for the first time. The film documents the story of Matthew Shepherd: a homosexual teenager who was tortured and murdered in a small American town, Laramie, Wyoming. There´s an all star tv cast (think Grey´s Anatomy, Christina Appleton, Joshua Jackson, some of the actors from the Coen brother movies, etc.)

The film proceeds through a series of interviews and it becomes increasingly clear that the murder of ´Matt´, as he was known to his friends, was a hate crime. He was killed because he was gay. The discrimination and fear felt by many members of the ´gay community´in Laramie was very tragic but it was not limited to Laramie, the feeling spread right across America. While the video footage showed the thousands of gay and lesbians protesting on the streets around the US, I realised what a powerful lobby the gay rights movement was becoming. Gays were finally standing up for their rights and demanding to be treated like equal citizens. The death and tragedy of one young man affected hundreds, thousands, in the US and across the globe. After all, hate crimes against homosexuals routinely occur in many countries and in an estimated 80 countries homosexuality remains illegal.

Laramie was a turning point for gay rights in America. Now gay activists concentrate on Prop 8 and obtaining equal marriage rights. Even Ted Olson, former solicitor general of Bush is fighting for gay marriage in California. Matthew Shepherd did not die in vain.

After watching the movie, I turned on the news. The first item I saw and which was briefly mentioned, was the savage murder of a young woman by two men in Spain. The news finished. Nothing more happened. The national press didn´t swoop down in the small town where it happened. People all over the country, all over the world didn´t mourn for her death, Ellen de Generes didn´t address a massive rally, and Bill Clinton or Zapatero didn´t call for an end to hate. Her death, demonstrates the extent to which we have normalised domestic violence and the murder of women by violent partners around the world. If we were to march in our thousands every time a woman is killed or tortured due to her gender by a violent partner or a stranger, we would be constantly on the street, we would be in constant mourning. Yet we choose, as society to ignore the fact that this violence is caused by systematic discrimination against women.

The second lesson we are yet to learn from Laramie is that gay rights and women´s rights go together. Both LGBTI and women are looking to change the dynamics of gender roles. When a person transgresses these barriers then they are punished by society. Its time to put a stop to this, join forces and ensure equality for all.

Nazi hunting and comfort women.

In its 8th Annual Status Report on the Worldwide Investigation and Prosecution of Nazi War Criminals, which covers the period from April 1, 2008 until March 31, 2009, the Simon Wiesenthal Centre and the ´nazi hunter´ Dr Efraim Zuroff affirmed that since January 2001, there have been 76 convictions against Nazi war criminals, and at least 48 new indictments. The trial of Demjanjuk, which started today in Munich, is proof that while Nazi convictions in Germany have tended to give ridiculously low sentences, there is still political will to put these wrongs right and to bring Nazis who committed crimes against humanity to justice. Of course, none of this is shocking since Nuremberg is often cited as constituting the birth of international justice, crimes against humanity (or crimes against jewish peoples) and genocide (although it was not charged at such during the Nuremberg Trials).

What the indictments and investigations also demonstrate is that the defects of the sister Tribunal - the international military tribunal for the far east - have yet to be seriously addressed. Perpetrators of sexual slavery and other horrific fundamental rights abuses suffered by comfort women have not been brought to justice. Coming up to ten years after the people´s tribunal in Tokyo in Prosecutor v Hirohito, there remains impunity and no reparation for what these women suffered. This direct comparison with the nazi investigations, demonstrates that legal mechanisms such as universal jurisdiction exist to hold these persons to account. Let´s hope that a decade after the people´s tribunal, accountability will finally be ensured for these women.

Election of two new ICC Judges

Fantastic News! After worrying over the nomination of Colombian judge Monroy Cabra, two female judges, Kuniko Ozaki of Japan and Silvia Alejandra Fernandez de Gurmendi of Argentina, were elected today to be judges of the ICC.

All of the profiles of the nominated judges can be found here: http://www.iccwomen.org/news/docs/Profile-of-Judicial-Candidates_Nov2009_FINAL_5-Nov..pdf

The nomination and election of female judges is particularly important in the field of internationalised justice, where female judges have made a real and substantial difference concerning gender based crimes. (Think Nava Pillay in the ICTR in Akayesu and Odio Benito in the ICTY, both of whom re-qualified crimes in order to include gender based crimes). More recently in the SCSL Renate Winter started sowing classes for women so that they would be able to earn a living as a part of a victim re-integration and transformative justice programme.

The ICC Statute specificially recognises the importance of gender equality and geographical equality providing that 'state parties shall also take into account the need to include judges with legal expertise on specific issues, including, but not limited to, violence against women or children'. This knowledge is particularly important considering that gender based crimes often go unpunished.

Now, it would be nice to see the UN in general following suit and implementing a gender equality policy that ensures true parity within the UN and more specifically with regards to the implementation of 1325 and 1820.

Congratulations Judges!!

Abortion Update

The right to access safe abortion services in certain circumstances has been recognised as a human right by various UN committees and courts around the world. Despite this, (seemingly obvious conclusion) the battle to ensure that women have the right to choose remains hotly contested around the globe.

In Europe, the ECHR Grand Chamber will have to a chance to decide on the 9th of December whether Irish law violates article 8 of the Convention in A,B,C v Ireland. This case, following on from the Court's decision in Tysiac could be the most important case concerning sexual and reproductive rights decided by the Strasbourg court to date. In February 2009 the Court confirmed its decision of Open Door Counselling in Women and Waves v Portugal holding unanimously that article 10 (the freedom of expression guarantee) means that information on abortion services cannot be outlawed. The decision is important from a freedom of speech point of you, but also for sexual and reproductive health since women will be informed about alternative means to procure abortions such as those found on websites such as Women on the Web. (see http://www.womenonweb.org/)

In terms of legislation, the Spanish government are facing tough opposition from the PP (conservative party led by Rajoy) in their attempts to expand the circumstances in which women have the right to choose. While in the US abortion has been decriminalised since 1973 following the historic decision of Roe v Wade, it looks like the Stupak amendment of the health care bill will make it virtually impossible for women to obtain government subsidised abortions. This is particularly worrying since today most policies cover abortion services while in the future companies will have no incentive to provide abortion coverage, leaving as usual, those women most in need of safe abortion services without the means to access them.
(see this article on Abortion and Health Care Debate http://www.newyorker.com/talk/comment/2009/11/23/091123taco_talk_toobin#ixzz0XDIyYCoK)

Then of course, there's Latin America, where the abortion debate is raging in Colombia, Peru, Argentina, Honduras, Nicaragua and around the continent generally. In Colombia, while the Constitutional Court found that abortion is legal and more recently that sex education in schools must teach students about the availability to therapeutic abortion in certain circumstances, the Procurador and the Consejo de Estado are doing their hardest to undermine this legal right. (see http://www.womenslinkworldwide.org/pdf_press/press_release_20091022_en.pdf) In Nicaragua, where the government criminalised abortion in all circumstances in 2008, the Constitutional Court has still failed to deliver its judgment on the constitutionality of the law pending since May 2009 (http://www.amnesty.org/en/for-media/press-releases/nicaragua-constitutional-court-must-decide-legality-new-abortion-law-200).

Although there have been some recent victories in granting women the right to choose an abortion (Portugal and Monaco for example) sexual and reproductive rights remain de-prioritised and constantly under threat. Conservatives, Catholics and others fighting for the 'right to life' of the fetus would do well to remember that unsafe abortions deny 70,000 women globally their right to life.

Lets hope by the next update we'll have some more good news to share.

Sam Taylor Wood

Yesterday I went to the second part of the Lagrimas de Eros exhibition. While the main exhibition takes place in the Thyssen, the second part is free and held near Sol. The exhibition brings together works of all types from different centuries which are linked by a singular theme: eroticism. While walking around the small second part, I had the joys of re-discovering Sam Taylor Wood's art. Although many people huddled around the Endymion-esque Beckham, my attention was attracted by one of her self portraits which reminded me of her single shot video featuring Robert Downey Jr. for Elton John's song 'I want love' (link below). Nominated for the Turner Prize, Taylor Wood is a female artist working through mediums of photography and cinema. Her work explores themes such as the public and private and self absorbtion often including her own image in her works.

Sam Taylor Wood is my female artist of the month!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_u6l7EsQMc

Lydia Cacho

Today I was reminded about the wonders of Mexican journalist and feminist superstar Lydia Cacho and have decided to make her my 'feminist of the month'.

Ms Cacho is a political activist who has refused to be silenced and continues to defend the human rights of women and fight against corruption and impunity. This is all despite the fact that the HRC recommended that she leave Mexico and seek political asylum after she was illegally detained by police following the publication of her book 'Demons of Eden'. Ms. Cacho has won various prizes for her journalism and bravery including the Francisco Ojeda Award for Journalistic Courage and has received international recognition for her human rights activism.

More recently she has investigated the murders of women (femicidios) in Ciudad Juarez in Mexico. Hundreds of women (largely young women between 15 to 25 years old) have been sexually abused, raped, murdered and sometimes mutilated. Despite these well known facts (see also 2666 by Roberto Bolano) , there is large scale impunity for the crimes.

She is a journalistic role model for us all!!

Here is the link to her blog: http://www.lydiacacho.net/