It is no secret that some European countries have been passing xenophobic laws for the past few years; and, if anything, these laws have proven at least two things: a) Many European legislators (and the people who support them) have forgotten the key role European countries played in the devastation of the countries currently “pouring in [...]

Obvious though it may seem that equity and equality are not the same thing, they are often used interchangeably (or translated interchangeably) in many legal texts –including legislations aimed at implementing the principles set forth by the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

The justification of international public law in the “world community” is an issue that has led some of the brightest minds in jurisprudence to engage in many of the most fascinating ongoing legal debates. There are those who argue that international public law is pointless and proof of that is the systematic violations to international [...]

Yesterday Human Rights Watch published the article UAE: Spousal Abuse Never a Right on their site criticizing a decision by the UAE Federal Supreme Court that upholds the “right” of a husband to “chastise” his wife and children with beatings and other forms of disciplinary measures such as punishments and coercion as long as no [...]

I’m not the first person to attempt to answer this question. Like many of those who have tried before me, I am far from being an authority on language and culture. However, because this question seems to come into style every time the BBC or the New York Times publish reports on how the last [...]

Those of us who live in the Western world are no strangers to oppression; we have been slave drivers, inquisitors, and repressors. Our history is filled with examples of ethnic, religious and gender based denigration, dehumanization, and demonization that, when taken too far, took the lives of millions of people who’s skin was too red [...]

When thinking of the right to due process, we think of the right to a fair trial, with an impartial judge, in some countries we think of a jury of our peers, the right to legal representation, and other similar requirements. However, we rarely think of our lawyer actually having the right to speak on [...]

You may be wondering what Argentina’s 200th birthday has to do with laws and languages, honestly, when I set out to write this post I was wondering the same thing. Since I live in Argentina, I wanted to honor my country of residence with a little something on its big day and, as it turned [...]

Growing up in California I can only think of one time when a “state of emergency” was declared: the Los Angeles Riots of 1992, and let me tell you, it was scary! Of course at the time I was only 13 years old and hearing words like “state of emergency” and “curfew” while watching my [...]

Yesterday, the US Supreme Court rejected a ban on videos of animal cruelty. The question at hand was whether or not to strike down a federal law that made it a crime to create or sell dogfight videos and other depictions of animal cruelty. The case related to the prosecution of Robert J. Stevens, a [...]

Malaysia’s Constitution establishes that the religion of a child under the age of 18 should be decided by “the parent or guardian.” Some lawyers in Malaysia argue that this should be interpreted to mean both parents, but Malaysian courts disagree, at least when it comes to converting children to Islam. When parents convert their children [...]

Censorship is a topic that just keeps coming up in this blog because too many governments are willing to pass laws that limit people’s freedom of speech. Sometimes, their only goal is to block a certain message out, to keep people in the dark about “inconvenient” views on key issues. At other times, these restrictions [...]

Cultural awareness is a quality all good translators have. Anyone who has ever been submerged in two or more completely different languages understands that there is more to language than just words: There is culture, history, legacy, tradition, and other subtleties that make up both the textual and sub or paratextual meaning behind the words [...]

According to the ABC News, Pakistan is a 95% Muslim country, which might explain why there is currently a law there that was introduced by Pakistan’s former military ruler General Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq in the 1980s, which carries the death penalty for insulting Islam or its prophet. The current government is pushing to change the law, [...]