Following a hearing in February, the European Court of Human Rights ruled in June that the European Convention on Human Rights does not obligate member states to extend the right to marry to same-sex couples. The ruling in Schalk and Kopf v.
International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family
Online advance access to the articles in the August 2010 issue is available from the International Journal of Law, Policy and the Family. The articles include pieces by Farah Deeba Chowshury on “Dowry, Women, and Law in Bangladesh;” Ahmed on “Personal Autonomy and the Option of Religious Law;” and by Ebenezer Durojaye and Victoria Balogun on “Human Rights Implications of Mandatory Premarital HIV Testing in Nigeria.”
International Widows Day
The Loomba Foundation, which has campaigned to have June 23 recognized as International Widows Day, works in a dozen countries to aid some of the estimated 245 million widows worldwide who frequently face extreme poverty and serious abuse. Through its President, Cherie Blair, the Foundation has launched a report titled “”Invisible Forgotten Sufferers: The Plight of Widows around the World.” Here’s an AP s
State Department Issues 2010 Trafficking in Persons Report
Last week, the State Department issued its tenth annual Trafficking in Persons Report under the Trafficking Victim Protection Act of 2000 (TVPA).
CIS and the Sham Marriage Question
Nina Bernstein has a series of articles this weekend in the New York Times, available online with this link to the agency fraud worksheet used by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services and a blog item titled: Could Your Marriage Pass the Test? She reports that of 20,507 petitions filed in the last fiscal year by U.S.
Iceland Approves Gay Marriage
Here’s the story from Reuters: Iceland Passes Gay Marriage Law in Unanimous Vote.
Here’s a post on conflictoflaws.net: Iceland authorizes same sex marriages.
Child Brides in Afghanistan
The Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission has released videotapes showing public beatings of two Afghan girls, ages 13 and 14, who had attempted to flee from illegal forced marriage. See this article by Rod Nordland and Alissa J.
Same-Sex Marriage in Africa
Although South Africa has recognized same-sex marriages since the Civil Union Act in 2006, gay and lesbian relationships are the subject of significant controversy elsewhere in Africa. News reports in the past few days have addressed arrests of gay couples in Malawi, see Barry Bearak, “Same-Sex Couple Stirs Fears of a ‘Gay Agenda’” (NYT Feb.
Immigration and Marriage
According to the New York Times, more than 3.2 million noncitizens are married to U.S.
Have a date for the Lunar New Year?
This NYT piece by Dan Levin, ” Wanted: Rental Boyfriend for Lunar New Year,” suggests that one result of the Chinese ”one child” policy has been to increase the pressure that young Chinese men and women feel to have a date to bring home with them when they visit family for the Lunar New Year or Spring Festival.