Caselaw Database - All Cases

ESCR-Net Caselaw Database: A database on domestic, regional and international decisions regarding Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Expediente D-10864 - Decision C-035/16

Members of the leftist opposition party, the Democratic Pole and La Cumbre Agraria, (a social movement in Colombia) filed a lawsuit challenging Article 173 of the National Development Plan (NDP) in Colombia. The NDP had already banned new mining licenses, but allowed the 347 licenses granted to mine for gold or oil to remain in effect. The páramo, or moorland, is one of the most important ecosystems in Colombia, providing drinking water for much of the country by storing water in the rainy season and releasing it in the dry season.

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Equality Now and Ethiopian Women Lawyers Association (EWLA) v. Federal Republic of Ethiopia, Communication 341/2007

In 2001 Aberew Jemma Negussie abducted and raped 13-year-old Woineshet Zebene Negash, with the aid of several accomplices. Her abduction was reported to the police, who rescued her and arrested Mr. Negussie in Ethiopia. Evidence of the rape was documented in a medical report. Mr. Negussie was freed on bail and abducted Ms. Negash again, this time hiding her in his brother’s house for a month and forcing her to sign a marriage contract. She managed to escape. In 2003 Mr.

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Stanev v. Bulgaria, App. No. 36760/06, European Court of Human Rights

Rusi Kosev Stanev was diagnosed with schizophrenia in 1975 and declared unfit to work in 1990. In 2000, following a request from his stepmother and half-sister, a court declared him partially legally incapacitated without notifying him. Since his relatives declined guardianship, a municipal council officer was appointed his guardian. Without informing Stanev, the guardian requested that he be placed in a social care home for 'people with mental disorders'.

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Daniel Ng’etich & 2 Others v. Attorney General & 3 Others, Petition No. 329 of 2014 [2016] eKLR

In 2010, Daniel Ng’etich and Patrick Kipng’etich Kirui were arrested by the Public Health Officer, Nandi Central District Tuberculosis Defaulter Tracing Coordinator, who applied to a Magistrate for their imprisonment, alleging that they had failed to take prescribed TB medication. Pursuant to Section 27 of the Public Health Act, the Magistrate ordered that the men be confined for eight months or a satisfactory period for treatment. They remained in prison for 46 days.

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K.L. v. Peru, CCPR/C/85/D/1153/2003, Communication No. 1153/2003

In 2002, the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) accepted this communication as admissible for consideration. This case concerns the plight of K.L., a 17-year-old who was pregnant with an anencephalic foetus. Anencephalia is a condition incompatible with life for the fetus, and that jeopardizes the pregnant woman's health. Her doctor informed K.L. that her pregnancy complications exposed her to a life-threatening risk.  Upon his advice, she decided to terminate her pregnancy.

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L.G. v. Republic of Korea, CERD/C/86/D/51/2012
Communication No. 51/2012

Following the exhaustion of available legal avenues of redress in the Republic of Korea (Korea), this communication was submitted before the UN Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (Committee) in 2012. The case concerns mandatory tests for HIV/AIDS and illegal drugs use required of foreign teachers of English in Korea. Korean citizen teachers and ethnic Korean noncitizen teachers are not required to undergo such scrutiny.

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Young Ming Shan CC v. Chagan NO and Others, 2015 (3) SA 227 (GJ)

In this case, a landlord applied for the High Court to set aside a decision by the Gauteng Rental Housing Tribunal (“Tribunal”). Eighty rental tenants had brought a complaint to the Tribunal based on their landlord’s charge of about R385 per month per tenant for electricity in addition to the costs they paid for their individual consumption. The tenants discovered that the utility service provider, City Power, charged the landlord about R337,50 per month for the whole building. This meant that their landlord was generating a significant profit from the service charge.

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Monim Elgak, Osman Hummeida and Amir Suliman v Sudan, Communication 379/09

In 2012, the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights (Commission) accepted this communication as admissible for consideration. The case was filed on behalf of three prominent human rights defenders working in Sudan, Monim Elgak, Amir Suliman and the late Osman Hummaida, who were targeted for their alleged cooperation with the ICC in its investigation of several Sudanese political leaders. The three men were arrested by Sudan’s National and Intelligence Services (NISS), tortured and maltreated for three days.

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Attorney General and Others v. Tapela and Others, Court of Appeal Civil Case No. CACGB-096-14; Attorney General and Others v. Mwale, Court of Appeal Civil Case No. CACGB-076-15

In 2004 Botswana’s Secretary of Health circulated an internal directive to public medical facilities informing them of a Presidential Directive authorizing “provision of free treatment to non-citizen prisoners suffering from ailments other than AIDS.” HIV-positive Zimbabwean prisoners filed lawsuits challenging this directive after being denied free Anti-Retroviral Therapy (ARV).

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King et al. v Burwell, Secretary of Health and Human Services, et al., 576 U.S. ___ (2015)

On June 25th, 2015, in King v. Burwell, the Supreme Court decided a matter impacting the health care coverage of millions of Americans. The Affordable Care Act (ACA) was enacted by Congress in 2010 to increase the number of Americans covered by health insurance. Under the ACA, people can purchase health insurance through an “exchange” in each state, basically, a marketplace that allows people to compare and purchase insurance plans. Every state can create its own exchange but if the state chooses not to, the federal government then establishes such an exchange.

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