In 1984 the Quebec government created a new social assistance scheme. Section 29(a) of the Regulation Respecting Social Aid (the Regulation), made under the 1984 Social Aid Act, set the base amount of welfare payable to persons under the age of 30 at roughly one third of the base amount payable to those 30 and …Read more

On 20 August 1996 a police officer entered a brothel owned by the first appellant in Pretoria, paid R250 to the second appellant and a salaried employee, and received a pelvic massage by the third appellant, a prostitute. All three were charged with contravening s20(1)(aA) of the Sexual Offences Act 1957 (‘the Act’) which criminalised …Read more

Paul Lallion appealed to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights alleging that his death penalty sentencing and appeal process, as well as the prison conditions he was subjected to during this process, violated Articles 4 (right to life), 5 (right to humane treatment), 7 (right to personal liberty), 8 (right to a fair trial), and …Read more

This case was heard by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Their opinion is available here. Leaders of the Yakye Axa indigenous community of the Enxet-Lengua people filed suit against the Republic of Paraguay claiming that the Paraguayan State violated Articles 4 (right to life) and 25 (judicial protection), in conjunction with Article 1(1) (obligation …Read more

Oscar Álvarez, a 46 year old man who was disabled, unable to work and facing economic difficulties, filed an guarantee of protection of individual constitutional rights (amparo protection) against the Province of Buenos Aires and the National State. The plaintiff stated that he suffered from paralysis, both for congenital reasons and as a result of an accident. …Read more

The applicant was a Columbian national residing in the Netherlands. He complained that his expulsion to Columbia would violate Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (the “Convention”) which prohibits torture and inhuman or degrading punishment, as he would be unable to continue treatment for his HIV and Hepatitis B and would therefore …Read more

The appellant owed the respondent and her daughter a maintenance debt that had accumulated to about 1.25 million New Shekel, having previously failed to pay regular maintenance and child support payments to his wife and daughter.  Being unable to afford this amount as a lump sum, he sought to have the Head of the Execution …Read more

Dina Rosa Vieira brought the case against the municipality of Porto Alegre for failing to provide medication for the treatment of AIDS. Vieira was destitute and unable to afford the medication herself. The first instance court ruled in favor of Vieira and ruled that in light of the constitutional principles protecting the right to health …Read more

Mrs. Grootboom and other respondents were homeless and living in appalling conditions. Many had applied for subsidized low-cost housing through the municipality and had been on the waiting list for a period of up to seven years. While waiting for the assignment, they decided to move and illegally live on someone’s private land. Respondents were …Read more

In 1991, representatives of the indigenous Enxet-Lamenxay and Kayleyphapopyet-Riachito communities commenced administrative proceedings against the Government of Paraguay to recover what they claimed was ancestral land that Paraguay had largely sold to foreigners in the years between 1885 and 1950. The petitioners described the land as “their main sustenance came from hunting, fishing, and gathering.” The …Read more