The African Legal Studies blog is a platform where human rights, environmental law as well as regional integration law research meets interdisciplinary perspectives, always emphasizing mutual exchange. Here you can explore our past symposia.
Symposium with Verfassungsblog: Unmasking the Intractable: Exploring Anti-Racism and the Law
The joint symposium between Verfassungsblog and the africanlegalstudies.blog critically addressed the enduring challenges of racial inequality within international and national legal frameworks. It examined the effectiveness of anti-racism laws, questioning whether their shortcomings arise from unrealistic expectations or inherent design flaws.
Unmasking the Intractable: Exploring Anti-Racism and the Law
Racism trends across the world reveal persistent and evolving challenges despite legislative efforts and advancements in social cohesion. In the EU, an ominous rising wave of far-right populism has exacerbated racial tensions, with increased incidents of hate crimes and discriminatory…
German police controls and structural racism
Since 15 March 2024, Germany has an ombudsperson for its federal police forces. The German Bundestag passed a law creating the Polizeibeauftragte des Bundes (federal police commissioner). The former MP…
Anti-Racism Law and its Limits
Contemplating the “Conceptual Blurriness of Race” By drawing upon insights of sociolegal thought, feminism and the US social context, this contribution argues that anti-racism law’s apparent ineffectiveness stems from its…
How the Judgment by the German Federal Constitutional Court on the German Debt Brake Entrenches Climate Injustice
As a major emitter of greenhouse gasses, Germany has a fundamental responsibility to show solidarity with developing countries suffering from the effects of climate change. This obligation is clear from…
Anti-Black Racism: Queer Europe’s Inconvenience beyond the Law
Drawing on conversations with a queer interlocutor who moved to Austria to escape persecution in their country of origin, I reflect on the limits of legal protection in the host…
Exploring Intersectionality as a Concept to Effectively Combat Racism and Racial and Ethnic Discrimination
Introduction This contribution aims to highlight the shortcomings of European and International anti-racism law with respect to discriminations based on nationality. It promotes the concept of intersectionality as a means…
Addressing racial discrimination through international law
The neglected potential of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination Introduction Why do anti-racism laws fail to combat racism effectively? That is the leading…
Why offshore processing of asylum applications is actually racist
In a series of legislative and policy changes including the Illegal Migration Act 2023, Nationality and Borders Act 2022, the New Plan for Immigration, the UK-Rwanda Migration and Economic Development…
Do Sanctions Work? Memories of a Rhodesian Childhood
Scene Setting I remember it clearly. Recently arrived in Oxford to start my postgraduate studies, I was visited in my room by one of my housemates. I offered her grapes.…
Why Teaching International Law Should Be an Antiracist Endeavour
The field of international law, developed in the shadow of colonialism and global power imbalances, has long been influenced by racial biases and hegemonic interests. These historical and systemic inequalities…