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06 August 2024
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The Right to Defend Rights

On April 21, Narciso Beleño, a rural (campesino) leader and human rights defender who worked for the restitution of land and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources in Colombia, was murdered. Sadly, this is not an isolated case. 79% of the murders of human rights defenders occur in the Americas, with 47% in Colombia alone. Two recent judgments by the Constitutional Court of Colombia and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have now addressed the phenomenon and gave legal life to the right to defend human rights. Continue reading >>
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14 July 2024
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“Displacement due to environmental factors is one of the great tragedies of our time”

In a recent judgment, the Colombian Constitutional Court has ruled that displacement due to environmental factors can be legally considered as forced displacement triggering specific obligations of the State. The judgment (T-123 of 2024) highlights the deficit of constitutional protection for victims of environmental displacement, urging the state to develop specific strategies to address this issue. In this interview, Natalia Ángel-Cabo, a Judge at the Colombian Constitutional Court, explains the implications of the ruling and the concept of displacement due to environmental factors. Continue reading >>
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21 April 2021
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Recognising Nuances

This week, the German Parliament is beginning its debate on the cabinet draft for a national Due Diligence Act (Sorgfaltspflichtengesetz). Critics of Germany’s initiative often claim that it would run counter to the development interests of the Global South. This, however, not only ignores strong development policy arguments in favour of human rights due diligence (HRDD) regulation but also the fact that several countries in the Global South are calling for similar obligations or have already created them. In particular, Germany may learn valuable lessons from the Colombian Constitutional Court’s recent case law which has created meaningful HRDD obligations for companies as well as from a draft for a Mexican Due Diligence Act. Continue reading >>
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Verfassungsblog is a journalistic and academic forum of debate on topical events and developments in constitutional law and politics in Germany, the emerging common European constitutional space and beyond.

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