The Emberá-Chamí community, which is located on the Río San Juan Embera-Chamí native reservation, practices female genital mutilation. This consists of cutting and cauterizing the clitorises of newborn girls. The practice is customary for this community and appears to have two rationales: first, to prevent infidelity among adolescent girls and women, and second, to prevent, …Read more

In 1996, the plaintiff, Mrs. Hadijatou Mani Koraou, was sold at the age of 12 to 46-year-old Mr. El Hadj Souleymane Naroua, for the sum of two hundred and forty-thousand francs. This transaction occurred as a “Wahiya,” a common practice in the Republic of Niger, which consists in acquiring a young girl, generally of servile status, to serve as both …Read more

The appellants sued the defendant hospital for their son’s death; they alleged that their son died three months after his birth due to the hospital’s wrongful acts and omissions in the administration of his treatment. The Appellate Court found that medical malpractice had not been established; the child’s death was neither due to medical malpractice …Read more

An unknown person placed an advertisement of a sexual nature on a dating website in the name of the applicant, who was 12 years old at the time, without his knowledge, mentioning private information such as his age, year of birth, physical characteristics and his telephone number, which was accurate except for one digit. In …Read more

The petitioner claimed that the defendant hospital’s practice of only admitting mothers with sick children was discriminatory. In particular, the petitioners pointed to the defendant hospital’s notice board which read:  “children up to 3 years of age are admitted along with their mothers”, and “Mother – not relatives”. However, the defendant hospital argued that this …Read more

The Mental Disability Advocacy Center (‘MDAC’) alleged that Bulgaria was violating Article 17(2) (right to free education for children) alone and in conjunction with Article E (non-discrimination) of the Revised European Social Charter (the ‘Charter’) because Bulgaria was not educating children with moderate to profound intellectual disabilities living in homes for mentally disabled children (‘HMDCs’). MDAC claimed that until 2002, children with moderate to …Read more

Please note that only portions of the original judgment have been translated into English. This summary is primarily written from those portions. The Federal District legislature approved reforms to the Criminal Code of the Federal District in which it decriminalized and legalized abortion performed during the first 12 weeks of gestation. It also amended the …Read more

The Canadian Parliament enacted the Tobacco Act (the Act) and the Tobacco Products Information Regulations (the Regulations) in response to the decision of the Court in RJR-Macdonald Inc. v. Canada (Attorney General) [1994] 1 S.C.R. 311, which struck down a previous version of the Act. The new legislation permitted information and brand-preference advertising but prohibited …Read more

The Public Prosecutor’s Office of the State of Rio Grande do Sul filed an extraordinary appeal against the decision of the Rio Grande do Sul’s Court of Justice. The Court of Justice found that the Public Prosecutor was not entitled to bring an action on the behalf of an individual, because any individual may bring …Read more

Paulina del Carmen Ramírez Jacinto, a minor child, filed a complaint against the United Mexican States for violating her human rights of when she allegedly became pregnant as a result of a rape when she was fourteen years old and was prevented by the state authorities from exercising her right to terminate that pregnancy as …Read more

The Forum for Women, Law and Development, the Petitioner, was an organization working with vulnerable communities such as women, children and people living with HIV/AIDS (PLHIVA). Although the right to privacy was guaranteed under Article 28 of the Interim Constitution, 2007, there were no legal provisions safeguarding the privacy of women, children, or PLHIVA (the …Read more

A Nigerian woman, applied on behalf of herself and her two children for refugee status in Ireland. The woman had arrived in Italy with her husband in 1996 and her two children were born there. The applicant’s husband was a writer and she claimed that because of her husband’s piece on a Nigerian “drug baron” …Read more

Applicant is a Slovakian national who was granted custody of her two children following her divorce from her husband. The children were allegedly ill-treated, beaten and neglected by applicant and had run away from home. They manifested fear of their mother and refused to return home. A psychologist concluded that their fear resulted from punishment …Read more

The applicant, an Icelandic national was born physically and mentally handicapped at the National and University Hospital (NUH). Linking the cause to possible mistakes on the part of the hospital staff, the applicant’s parents brought judicial proceedings on her behalf against the State of Iceland. The District Court found that the State was liable and …Read more

A minor diagnosed with progressive muscular dystrophy was denied access to a special Municipal transportation service called the ATENDE program because he was not yet using a wheelchair. The ATENDE program was instituted to meet the needs of handicapped people who could not otherwise access common public transportation. The Health Department of Sao Paulo, on …Read more

Following visits from Pembrokeshire County Council’s Child Protection Team (“CPT”), in 2002, L’s children were placed on the Child Protection Register as being at risk of emotional harm from her and their father. The children remained on the Register for two months. L brought a claim against P under sections s 6 and 7(1)(a) of …Read more

The petitioner was challenging an order of detention for allegedly engaging in trafficking of women and girls. The grounds of the order were that petitioner was an “immoral traffic offender” which is “a person who habitually commits or abets the commission of any offence under the Suppression of Immoral Traffic in Women and Girls Act, …Read more

The Cincinnati Health Department (CHD) refused a request from a reporter from the Cincinnati Enquirer (the Enquirer) for “copies of the 343 lead citations and any others that were issued between 1994 and the present.” The lead citations were lead-contamination notices issued to owners of units reported to be the residences of children whose blood …Read more

The Sawhoyamaxa, an indigenous community in Paraguay brought the case against the Paraguayan government for failing to ensure their ancestral property right.  The Sawhoyamaxa’s claim for territorial rights had been pending since 1991.  The lands at issue constituted their traditional habitat suitable for their subsistence activities, consisting of hunting, fishing, and gathering. The lands claimed …Read more

The Applicant, Sue Axon, alleged that the Family Planning Association violated the rights of parents under article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) (right to respect for private and family life). The Association provided confidential advice and treatment regarding contraception, sexually transmitted infections and abortion to persons under the age of sixteen …Read more

In March 2002, the Botswana Government terminated certain basic services to the Central Kalahari Game Reserve (CKGR), including access to: Drinking water; Maintenance of borehole water; Rations to registered destitute; Rations to registered orphans; Transport for the applicants’ children to and from school; and Healthcare to the applicants through mobile clinics and ambulance services. The …Read more

Women petitioners brought a tutela action (appeal for legal protection) requesting that the Court declare unconstitutional particular provisions of the Penal Code (Articles 122 (criminalized abortion), 123 (criminalized abortion without consent), and 124 (mitigating circumstances)) that criminalized abortion, claiming that, first, the doctrine of res judicata did not apply to them with regards to previous decisions …Read more

Petitioners filed a Writ of Mandamus action against the Ministry of Health and DIGESA (the General Directorate of Environmental Health) before the Superior Court of Justice of Lima, requesting that the court order Respondents to design and implement a strategy for public health emergencies for the city of La Oroya, pursuant to articles 96, 97, …Read more

According to the Benefit Entitlement Act (“BEA”), health care providers who offer medically necessary care to illegal immigrants must be compensated for their expenses. To achieve this, the BEA increased the budget of the Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sports (“the Ministry”). Instead of managing the compensation fund itself, the Ministry appointed the Foundation Koppeling …Read more

The Applicant was a multi-handicapped child suffering from “Down Syndrome, a congenital heart defect and a delayed thyroid disorder”. He was being treated for his condition and, in the absence of treatment, it was expected that his physical and mental condition would deteriorate.  Applicant had applied for a grant of residence, which was denied by …Read more

Petitioners, the alleged victims of violent acts that took place in a region called La Granja, alleged before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights that members of law enforcement bodies and paramilitary groups involved in the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia participated in armed raids in which they killed unarmed civilians, robbed others, and caused …Read more

The applicant was an underage Aboriginal Australian who alleged violation of Articles 7 (freedom from torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment), 10 (guaranteed dignity of detained persons) and 24 (child’s right to freedom from discrimination) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) when he was placed under incarceration …Read more

Rosaria Mashita Katakwe, a 13-year-old girl, was raped by her teacher Edward Hakasenke. She developed a sexually transmitted infection as a result of the rape and tested for HIV/AIDS. The Headmaster of the school had been warned before with respect to a prior relationship of the teacher with another girl in the school. The defendant …Read more

Plaintiff filed a guarantee of protection of individual constitutional rights (amparo protection) against the Province of Buenos Aires and the Federal State  alleging that, due to omissions attributable to both states, her children suffered from malnutrition. She requested that the Court issue a provisional measure ordering the respondents to promptly satisfy the most basic nutritional and …Read more

The applicant is Mr. Vladimir Sarban, a Moldovan National. He was a secretary of Chişinău Municipal Council. He was held in detention on the charges of abuse of power regarding the purchase of 40 ambulances on behalf of the municipal council. However, the Court noted that the prosecutor “essentially stated” that the arrest was done …Read more