Topic: Discrimination and Equality
Nazari v. Denmark
This complaint challenged the lack of transparency under Danish law in the handling of applications for citizenship.
Zhao v. Netherlands
This complaint before the UN Human Rights Committee focuses on statelessness in the Netherlands.
Kenya’s Nubian Minority Pushes Forward for Equal Treatment
Efforts to ensure that Kenya’s Nubian community can secure proof of citizenship are being pursued both on the ground, and through Africa’s human rights system.
Finding a Way Out of Legal Limbo in the Dominican Republic
Community-based paralegals are helping people of Haitian descent secure the legal identity documents that affirm their citizenship.
Case Digests: International Standards on Ethnic Profiling: Standards and Decisions from the European System
A review of European legal standards, including jurisprudence and commentaries, which address ethnic profiling.
Born in the Americas: The Promise and Practice of Nationality Laws in Brazil, Chile, and Colombia
This examination of citizenship regimes in Brazil, Chile and Colombia finds weaknesses that create the risk of statelessness.
Strategic Litigation Impacts: Equal Access to Quality Education
This comparative study, based on research in Brazil, India, and South Africa, assesses how the power of the litigation is being harnessed in the pursuit of adequate basic education for all.
EU Top Court Fails to Guarantee Muslim Women’s Right to Wear a Headscarf at Work
The Court of Justice of the European Union has ruled that it is not direct discrimination on grounds of religion for an employer to bar workers from wearing religious clothing.
Headscarves and Discrimination before the Court of Justice of the European Union
The EU's top court will rule on whether an employer can refuse to allow a Muslim woman to wear a headscarf at her place of work.
Baton Rape Case Fuels Anger over Racist Policing in France
The sexual assault with a police baton of Theo L., a 22-year-old black Frenchman, has provoked both protests and calls for fundamental reforms in French policing.
Kosa v. Hungary
A Hungarian domestic court rejected a complaint over discriminatory treatment of Roma students that was brought by a local NGO. One of the students, Amanda Kośa, is now seeking to bring the case to the Strasbourg Court.
Case Watch: How a Decision on Danish Naturalization Law Leaves Issues Unresolved
A ruling from the European Court of Human Rights glosses over the human story of a torture survivor's long struggle with stupefying bureaucracy.
A Victory in France in the Struggle against Racial Bias in Policing
A ruling from France’s top civil court affirmed that the police are subject to antidiscrimination laws, and set the stage for a change in policing practices.
Case Watch: Justice Sotomayor Highlights Impact of Biased Policing
A Supreme Court justice’s arguments make for powerful reading, given the troubled state of relations between the police and African American communities across the country.
Case Watch: Discrimination Dressed up as Neutrality in European Headscarf Bans
Two cases before the Court of Justice of the European Union address complaints from Muslim women dismissed by a private sector employer because of wearing a religious headscarves at work.
Employer’s Bar on Religious Clothing and European Union Discrimination Law
The Open Society Justice Initiative calls on the Court of Justice of the European Union to rule that equality law is violated when an employer on the grounds of “neutrality”—bans its staff from wearing any religious clothing.
Strategic Litigation Impacts: Roma School Desegregation
This study examines the role of strategic litigation in efforts to end discrimination against Roma school children in Greece, Hungary, and the Czech Republic.
Fair and Effective Police Stops
This report provides a roadmap for combating ethnic profiling in police work, drawing on reform efforts by five police departments in Spain.
Deportation and Citizenship in the Dominican Republic: Unanswered Questions
Despite assurances from the government over threatened deportations, the position of tens of thousands of Dominicans of Haitian Descent remains uncertain.
Case Watch: European Court Urges Italy to Legally Recognize Same-Sex Relationships
The European Court of Human Rights has urged Italy to introduce a form of civil union or registered partnership to enable the legal recognition of same-sex relationships.