Topic: Discrimination and Equality
Case Watch: European Ruling Affirms the Rights of Migrants at Sea
By requiring states to guarantee human rights beyond their state´s territorial boundaries, Europe´s human rights court has upheld the primacy of fundamental rights and the rule of law.
Submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination: Italy
The Open Society Justice Initiative and the Associazione Studi Giuridici sull'Immigrazione ("ASGI") tendered this submission to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination in preparation for its periodic review of Italy on March 5, 2012.
Timeline: Italian Migrant Policy
Some 40,000 migrants arrived in Italy last year as political turmoil swept North Africa. This timeline summarizes principle Italian policy initiatives on migration from 2008 to February, 2012
Italy’s Migrant Interception Faces European Court Scrutiny
The European Court of Human Rights will rule on Thursday on the case of Somali and Eritrean migrants who were sent back to Libya in 2009 after being intercepted in the Mediterranean by Italian Customs and Coastguard vessels.
Slow Progress for Gay Rights at the United Nations
LGBTI people continue to be murdered, raped, and harassed—sometimes by the government that is supposed to protect them—while the UN is unable to unanimously decide whether these crimes actually violate human rights at all.
Northern Europe’s Complicity in Greece’s Migrant Crisis
The member states of the European Union needs to respond to the inhumane conditions facing migrants in Greece by taking responsibility for people, rather than just shifting money around.
Case Watch: Greek Migrant Male Rape Counts as Torture
The European Court of Human Rights has concluded that the Greek courts failed to acknowlege the gravity of a brutal 2001 sexual assault on an undocumented migrant.
Israel’s Supreme Court Condones Discriminatory Citizenship Law
In a setback for equal rights, the Israeli Supreme Court rejected a series of petitions challenging a law that, among other things, makes it impossible for Palestinians to acquire Israeli citizenship through marriage.
Adalah v. Israel
This case is about discrimination in Israel, where citizens who marry individuals from the Occupied Palestinian Territories, Iran, Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon are blocked from bringing their spouses into the country.
Iseni v. Italian Ministry of the Interior
Roberto Iseni is in danger of criminal sanctions and expulsion because he failed to apply for a passport within a 12-month window following his 18th birthday, as dictated by Italian law.
Riots in England: Inquiry Falls Short on Police Ethnic Profiling
A UK inquiry has identified police “stop and search” tactics as a factor that contributed to this summer's rioting. But it failed to offer strong recommendations on how to fix the problem.
Julek's Story: Still Waiting for an End to Czech Roma Segregation
Julek was one of 18 children who took the Czech government to the European Court of Human Rights in 1999, challenging the practice of placing disproportionate numbers of Romani children into segregated schools. Twelve years and a landmark legal...
Testimony: Anti-Roma Discrimination and the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights
The Open Society Justice Initiative addressed the Civil Liberties, Justice and Home Affairs Committee of the European Parliament regarding Roma issues and the European Union's Charter of Fundamental Rights.
D.H. and others v. Czech Republic: Joint Submission to Committee of Ministers of Council of Europe
A joint report from the Open Society Justice Initiative and the European Roma Rights Centre details the Czech Republic’s failure to end illegal segregation of Romani children in “practical” schools.
Children of Nubian Descent in Kenya v. Kenya
The African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child found that children of Kenya's Nubian minority face discrimination leading to statelessness, violating African human rights standards.
Kuric v. Slovenia
This case concerns citizenship rights and statelessness in Slovenia.
Moldova’s Gay Rights Stance Undermines Its EU Aspirations
Moldova voted against the recent UN resolution supporting LGBT rights, an action that undercuts its aspirations to move towards closer relations and possible membership of the European Union.
Czech Republic Flunks Again on Roma Schooling
The Czech government came under pressure from one of Europe's top political bodies last week for its failure to make sure all Roma children get a decent education—and was urged to lift its game starting with the next school year in September.
Europe Must Increase Pressure for Czech Roma Desegregation
The new Czech school year starts in September, and unless something drastic changes, many more Roma children could face segregation into "special schools" on the basis of their ethnicity.
Ethnic Profiling
As the European Union weighs its counterterrorism policy, the Open Society Foundations have published a background paper on ethnic profiling for the EU Working Party on Terrorism.
