24 February 2023
Rights of Nature Reach Europe
On September 30, 2022, the Spanish Senate approved the "Mar Menor Act" (Law 19/2022) which granted legal personality to the Mar Menor lagoon and its basin. Being the first legal text in Europe to recognize a natural entity as a subject of rights, it is one more piece in the mosaic of a global movement towards ecological justice, which tries to find strong legal answers in times of global ecological crisis. In fact, the Spanish landmark decision follows the precedents of countries such as Colombia, Ecuador, New Zealand, India and the United States. In this context, it is worth asking whether the legal and socio-cultural bases of the concept of the rights of nature, as developed in the aforementioned cases, especially in those stemming from Latin America, are also sustainable in Europe and for the Mar Menor case. Continue reading >>
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07 July 2021
Strasbourg and San José Close Ranks
At the end of 2020, for the first time in its more than 40 years of jurisprudential history, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights declared the arbitrary dismissals of two public prosecutors to be unconventional. Not only judges but also prosecutors are increasingly subject to threats to their independence, both in Latin America and Europe, as well as in other regions. This article addresses the question of whether the same judicial guarantees apply to public prosecutors and attorneys as to judges and looks at how the Inter-American Court sought inspiration from the precedents of the European Court of Human Rights. Continue reading >>
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26 May 2021
Bitte noch mehr
Der Karlsruher Klimabeschluss ist als Paradebeispiel internationaler Aufgeschlossenheit des Ersten Senats gepriesen worden. Aber wie offen und aufgeschlossen zeigte sich der Erste Senat dafür, seine Überlegungen zum Klimaschutz im transnationalen Rechtsdialog zu entwickeln? Continue reading >>
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20 March 2021
Strasbourg and San José Close Ranks
Both in Latin America and in Europe, judicial independence is under increasing attack. What has been the position of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and of the European Court of Human Rights in combatting undue interference in the work of judges and prosecutors? And does their jurisprudence “cross-fertilize” each other? This article provides a glimpse of some of the judgments on illegitimate restrictions and destitutions of judges issued by the sister courts. This jurisprudence is evidence of an increasingly profound and structural exchange between the I/A Court and the ECHR. Continue reading >>
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