Case of Hode and Abdi v United Kingdom [2012] EHCR, Application no. 22341/09 (6 November 2012)The European Court of Human Rights has held that the United Kingdom Government’s refusal to allow the family reunion of a refugee and his wife under relevant immigration rules was unlawfully discriminatory against the refugee on the basis of his immigration status.

Redfearn v the United Kingdom (Application no. 47335/06, ECHR, 6 November 2012) The European Court of Human Rights has held that the UK’s failure to protect a bus driver against unfair dismissal based on his racist political activities was an unacceptable infringement of his freedom of association.

Chun Rong v Australia [2012], CAT/C/49/D/416/2010The UN Committee against Torture found that Australia was in violation of its non-refoulement obligations under the Convention against Torture because it failed to satisfy procedural obligations under article 3.

Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs v Rahmatullah [2012] UKSC 48 (31 October 2012) The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom found that the continued detention of a civilian combatant was prima facie unlawful under the Geneva Conventions. The prisoner was initially captured by British forces before being handed over to the US, which transferred him from Iraq to Afghanistan. The habeas corpus application failed because the UK showed that it had no control over the prisoner’s detention.

Opitz v Wrzesnewskyj, 2012 SCC 55 (25 October 2012) A majority of Canada's Supreme Court has found that in a recent election where a number of administrative errors occurred which indicated some voters did not satisfy the identification requirements under the Canada Elections Act, SC 2000, c 9 the election result was nonetheless valid. In reaching its conclusion, the Supreme Court majority favoured a substantive approach that upholds an entitlement to vote based on the right to vote guaranteed under Canada's Charter of Rights and Freedoms, rather than the procedural requirements under the Act.

Irene Wilson v The United Kingdom [2012] ECHR, Application no. 10601/09 (23 October 2012) The European Court of Human Rights found that the Northern Ireland authorities had not failed in their duty to respond to domestic violence perpetrated against the applicant, Ms Irene Wilson, and her complaint was deemed inadmissible.

R v Cole 2012 SCC 53 (19 October 2012) Nude photographs of an underage female student were discovered on a teacher’s work laptop. He was charged with possession of child pornography and unauthorised use of a computer under the Criminal Code R.S.C. 1985, c. C-46. The actions of the police in obtaining possession of the accused’s computer (and files copied from it) raised questions about the accused’s rights to be free from unreasonable state search and seizure under section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

Aitken & Ors v The State of Victoria – Department of Education & Early Childhood Development (Anti-Discrimination) [2012] VCAT 1547 (18 October 2012)In the recent decision of Aitken & Ors v The State of Victoria – Department of Education & Early Childhood Development, the Victorian Civil & Administrative Tribunal rejected a claim of direct discrimination made by parents of children at Victorian State primary schools against the Department of Education & Early Childhood Development in relation to its Special Religious Instruction (SRI) program.

Lund v Boissoin, 2012 ABCA 300 (17 October 2012) The Court of Appeal of Alberta distinguished between prohibited "hate speech" and speech that may be hurtful and offensive but which is protected by the freedom of expression in its recent decision of Lund v Boissoin, 2012 ABCA 300.

Summary On 11 October the secular High Court in Seremban, Negeri Sembilan state, in Malaysia rejected a request to declare unconstitutional a Sharia law that prohibits “wearing women’s attire” or “posing as a woman” in that State. The four applicants are Muslim transgender women who have all been arrested under this law and contend that it violates their fundamental rights enshrined in the Malaysian Constitution, namely the prohibition of discrimination based on gender, freedom of expression, freedom of movement, and the rights to live with dignity, privacy, and to livelihood.

X v Turkey [2012] ECHR 24626 (9 October 2012)

Coselav v Turkey [2012] ECHR 1789 (9 October 2012)On 16 December 2005, 16 year old Bilal Çoşelav committed suicide whilst in the custody of Turkish authorities, by hanging himself using a bed sheet and the bars in his jail cell. In recent finding, handed down on 9 October 2012, the European Court of Human Rights unanimously decided that the Turkish government had breached article 2 of the European Convention on Human Rights, relevantly by failing to protect Bilal’s right to life and to carry out an effective investigation in relation to his death