The Weekly Round-Up: no-fault divorce, Russia’s suspension and support for trans rights

12 April 2022 by

In the news: 

Russia has been suspended from the Human Rights Council following a UN General Assembly resolution adopted on Thursday.  93 nations voted in favour of Russia’s suspension, 58 abstained and 24 voted against.  The resolution was adopted in a meeting of a special emergency session on the war in Ukraine.  Before the vote, Ukranian ambassador Sergiy Kyslytsya alleged that “thousands of peaceful residents [of Ukraine] have been killed, tortured, raped, abducted and robbed by the Russian Army”.  Following Russia’s suspension, Russian Deputy Permanent Representative Kuzmin announced that Russia had decided to leave the Council before the end of its term and that the Council was monopolised by states that “for many years have directly been involved in blatant and massive violations of human rights”.  Earlier last week, Twitter limited content from over 300 official Russian government accounts, including that of President Putin.  

On Wednesday the Divorce, Dissolution and Separation Act (2020) came into force, introducing no-fault divorce to domestic law.  Couples no longer need rely on adultery, unreasonable behaviour or years of separation as legal reasons for divorce and can instead separate by mutual agreement and avoid “unnecessary finger-pointing”.  The Act also removes the possibility of disputing a decision to divorce and introduces a minimum 20-week period from the start of proceedings to the granting of a conditional order of divorce. 

In other news: 

Following the government’s announcement that it will ban conversion therapy for sexual orientation, but not for gender identity, more than 100 organisations have pulled out of what was to be the first-ever international LGBT+ conference. The UK was set to host to this first-of-its-kind conference, called “Safe to Be Me”. Following the boycott by so many organisations however, the government has cancelled the event.  Several LGBT+ organisations signed an open letter, organised by Stonewall, saying they could not support the conference unless the government extended the ban on conversion therapy to cover attempts to convert transgender people.  On Tuesday the government’s first LGBT+ business champion resigned over the exclusion of trans conversion therapy from the ban. 

Data from this year’s gender pay gap reporting mechanism revealed that women in the UK are still paid on average 90p for every £1 earned by men.  Some well-known employers with particularly damaging reports include EasyJet, where women earned on average just 36p for every £1 earned by men, and HSBC Bank, whose male employees earned on average twice the amount of their female counterparts. 

In the courts: 

  • Privacy International, R (On the Application Of) v Investigatory Powers Tribunal) [2022] EWHC 770 (QB) – the High Court dismissed an application for judicial review by the claimant Privacy International. The claimant contended that the defendant Investigatory Powers Tribunal had erred in law in finding that the regulatory regime for sharing bulk personal datasets with foreign intelligence services was compatible with Article 8 of the ECHR. According to the claimant, the datasets were not obtained with end-to-end safeguards, sharing was not limited to data collected and stored in a compliant way, and the circumstances in which data might be shared was not clear in law. The court dismissed the application, holding that the tribunal did not err in law and correctly identified measures necessary to comply with Article 8.
  • Allen v Primark Stores Ltd [2022] EAT 57 – the claimant alleged that a provision, criterion or practice (PCP) by her employer amounted to indirect sex discrimination as she was required to be available for late shifts, which she could not guarantee due to childcare responsibilities. The Employment Appeals Tribunal held that the Employment Tribunal (ET) had erred in its test of indirect discrimination by including in the pool for comparison two men who did not experience the same PCP of requiring their late shift availability. The ET had thereby failed to address the specific PCP and its finding that the PCP did not discriminate against women was unfounded. The claimant’s appeal was allowed and the matter remitted for rehearing. 
  • Her Majesty’s Attorney General for England and Wales v British Broadcasting Corporation [2022] EWHC 826 (QB) – the High Court will issue an injunction to prevent the BBC from disclosing the name and image of an individual, “X”, in a television programme. The programme would broadcast allegations that X is an extremist and misogynist who abused two former partners and used his status as a Covert Human Intelligence Source (CHIS) for MI5 to terrorise and control them. The court agreed that X may pose significant danger to women in a relationship with him but found that the public interest in knowing X’s identity (to protect other women considering a relationship with X from his abuse) would be undermined by the extensive protective measures which would be implemented to protect X as a CHIS. The injunction will therefore prevent identification of X but allow the BBC to convey the main story elements, including allegations that MI5 should have known about X’s abusive behaviour and stopped using him as a CHIS. 

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Aarhus Abortion Abu Qatada Abuse Access to justice administrative court adoption ALBA Allison Bailey Al Qaeda animal rights anonymity Appeals Article 1 Protocol 1 Article 2 article 3 Article 4 article 5 Article 6 Article 7 Article 8 Article 9 article 10 Article 11 article 13 Article 14 Artificial Intelligence Asbestos assisted suicide asylum Australia autism benefits Bill of Rights biotechnology blogging Bloody Sunday brexit Bribery Catholicism Chagos Islanders charities Children children's rights China christianity citizenship civil liberties campaigners climate change clinical negligence Coercion common law confidentiality consent conservation constitution contempt of court Control orders Copyright coronavirus Coroners costs court of appeal Court of Protection covid crime Cybersecurity Damages Dartmoor data protection death penalty defamation deportation deprivation of liberty Detention diplomatic immunity disability disclosure Discrimination disease divorce DNA domestic violence duty of candour duty of care ECHR ECtHR Education election Employment Employment Law Employment Tribunal enforcement Environment Equality Act Ethiopia EU EU Charter of Fundamental Rights EU costs EU law European Court of Justice evidence extradition extraordinary rendition Family Fertility FGM Finance football foreign criminals foreign office France freedom of assembly Freedom of Expression freedom of information freedom of speech Gay marriage Gaza gender genetics Germany gmc Google government Grenfell Health healthcare high court HIV home office Housing HRLA human rights Human Rights Act human rights news Huntington's Disease immigration India Indonesia injunction Inquests international law internet Inuit Iran Iraq Ireland Islam Israel Italy IVF Jalla v Shell Japan Japanese Knotweed Judaism judicial review jury trial JUSTICE Justice and Security Bill Land Reform Law Pod UK legal aid legal ethics legality Leveson Inquiry LGBTQ Rights liability Libel Liberty Libya Lithuania local authorities marriage Maya Forstater mental capacity Mental Health military Ministry of Justice modern slavery monitoring murder music Muslim nationality national security NHS Northern Ireland nuclear challenges nuisance Obituary ouster clauses parental rights parliamentary expenses scandal Parole patents Pensions Personal Injury Piracy Plagiarism planning Poland Police Politics pollution press Prisoners Prisons privacy Private Property Professional Discipline Property proportionality Protection of Freedoms Bill Protest Public/Private public access public authorities public inquiries public law Regulatory Proceedings rehabilitation Reith Lectures Religion RightsInfo Right to assembly right to die right to family life Right to Privacy Right to Roam right to swim riots Roma Romania Round Up Royals Russia Saudi Arabia Scotland secrecy secret justice sexual offence sexual orientation Sikhism Smoking social media Social Work South Africa Spain special advocates Sports Standing statelessness Statutory Interpretation stop and search Strasbourg Supreme Court Supreme Court of Canada surrogacy surveillance Syria Tax technology Terrorism tort Torture travel treaty TTIP Turkey UK Ukraine UK Supreme Court unduly harsh united nations unlawful detention USA US Supreme Court vicarious liability Wales War Crimes Wars Welfare Western Sahara Whistleblowing Wikileaks Wild Camping wind farms WomenInLaw YearInReview Zimbabwe
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