United Nations Human Rights Committee – Views adopted by the Committee under article 5(4) of the Optional Protocol (CCPR/C/119/D/2216/2012)The UN Human Rights Committee has held that Australia violated the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by failing to provide access to divorce proceedings for same-sex couples married overseas. The Committee reasoned that the differential treatment of same-sex couples as compared with overseas polygamous and adolescent marriages (between persons aged from 16 to 18 years) constituted discrimination under article 26 of the Covenant.

Gibson v State of WA [2017] WASCA 141 (28 July 2017)The Western Australian Court of Appeal has set aside an Aboriginal man's guilty plea after finding that the absence of a qualified interpreter that spoke his language was a miscarriage of justice. 

R v Lord Chancellor [2017] UKSC 51 (26 July 2017)The United Kingdom Supreme Court has held that fees imposed by the Lord Chancellor foremployment tribunal proceedings were unlawful because of their effects on access to justice, particularly for people experiencing disadvantage.

Great Ormond Street Hospital v Yates [2017] EWHC 1909 (Fam) (24 July 2017)In a high-profile dispute between the parents of a terminally ill child and doctors at the Great Ormond Street Hospital over the child’s course of treatment, the UK High Court found that the best interests of the child require that he not be given experimental medical treatment and instead be taken off life support.

Belkacem v Belgium (2017) ECHR 253The European Court of Human Rights has found that a conviction for the incitement of hatred, violence and discrimination for under Belgian law did not breach a far right Muslim activist's right to freedom of expression, as protected by Article 10 of the European Convention of Human Rights. 

R (on the application of Campaign Against Arms Trade) v The Secretary of State for International Trade and Intervenors [2017] EWHC 1726 (QB)The English & Wales High Court has found that the UK's Secretary of State decision not to suspend a licence to export arms to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was valid. The Campaign Against Arms Trade and a number of intervenors unsuccessfully argued that the export licence should be suspended on the basis that there was a clear risk that the arms could be used in the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law.

Richards (a Pseudonym) v The Queen (No 2) [2017] VSCA 174The Victorian Court of Appeal has allowed an appeal against an indefinite custodial supervision order for an elderly man with mental and physical health issues and an intellectual impairment who was unfit to be tried for historical offences.

Trump v International Refugee Assistance Project, 137 S.Ct 2080 (26 June 2017)On 26 June 2017 the Supreme Court of the United States temporarily reinstated President Trump's travel ban, but a majority of the Court held that the temporary reinstatement will not apply to people who can show they have a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or organisation already in the United States.

R (on the application of Kiarie) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent); R (on the application of Byndloss) (Appellant) v Secretary of State for the Home Department (Respondent) [2017] UKSC 42The UK Supreme Court has unanimously held that deportation certificates issued by the United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for the Home Department were unlawful. The recipients of the deportation orders in this case were entitled to appeal against the Home Secretary’s immigration decisions by a judicial review procedure to the First-tier Tribunal (Immigration and Asylum Chamber). However, the effect of the deportation orders was that the appeals could only be brought after the appellants’ removal from the UK.  This is known as the ‘deport first, appeal later’ policy. The Court found that difficulties with evidence and legal representation meant these appeals were not sufficiently effective.

R (on the application of A and B) v Secretary of State for Health [2017] UKSC 41A slim majority of the UK Supreme Court has upheld the UK Secretary of State for Health’s decision not to provide free of charge abortion services to women travelling from Northern Ireland to England. The court found that the Secretary was entitled to consider the Northern Ireland Assembly’s decision not to provide abortions and the devolved government model for providing health services. Further, that treating UK citizens who usually reside in Northern Ireland differently was justified in the circumstances.

Sessions v Morales-Santana, 582 U.S Supreme Court (12 June 2017)The US Supreme Court has held that different citizenship rules for children of unmarried mothers and fathers unlawfully infringes the Fifth Amendment’s guarantee of equal gender protection. However, the Court determined that the less favourable test should be followed, resulting in the respondent's deportation from the United States.

Certain Children by their litigation guardian Sister Marie Brigid Arthur v Minister for Families and Children & Ors [2017] VSC 251 (11 May 2017)The Victorian Supreme Court has found for the third time that the Victorian government acted unlawfully with children's human rights and best interests in breach of the Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 by establishing the Grevillea unit at Barwon prison as a youth justice centre and remand centre, transferring children to the Grevillea unit and using OC spray and extendable batons on children.