When was the last time you had sex? For many detainees in Italian prisons, the answer is probably years. But things are changing. In April, the first intimate visit took place in an Italian detention centre. The inmate met his partner for two hours in a room with a double bed, not monitored by the penitentiary police, with the door closed but not locked, and a prison officer on guard duty outside the room. This marked the first instance of ‘conjugal visit’ in Italy after a 2024 Constitutional Court ruling that recognised what some have defined as the right to affection of the detainee (diritto all’affettività).
International Law and Domestic Law
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Apartheid on Trial: The COSAS 4 Prosecution and the Direct Application of Customary International Law in South Africa
On 14 April 2025, the High Court in South Africa handed down judgment in a challenge by two accused to charges brought against them by South Africa’s National Prosecuting Authority (NPA). The charges concern an attack on 15 February 1982 by the South African Police on the COSAS 4—Eustice Madikela, Peter Matabane, Fanyana Nhlapo and…
The Obligation to Notify the State of the Official in the ILC Draft Articles on Immunity of State Officials from Foreign Criminal Jurisdiction: a Backdoor to Impunity?
Introduction In April and May 2025, the International Law Commission (ILC) is due to discuss, and possibly adopt on second reading, the Draft Articles on immunity of state officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction, adopted on first reading in 2022. During its session, the ILC will examine amendments to draft articles 7 to18 and an Annex…
Green Court – South Korean Constitutional Court Rules Landmark Climate Judgement
In February 2025, the South Korean government promised a long-term plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, whereas previous plans were limited to 2030. In this post, I examine how a court case considering the United Nations (UN) Framework Convention on Climate Change influenced this shift. The Constitutional Court’s ruling in D.H. Kim et al v Korea on…
“Detained or Not Detained”: The First General Comment of the UN Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture
The Optional Protocol to the UN Torture Convention (OPCAT) is unique amongst the UN human rights treaties and their Optional Protocols. Unique as it is not normative because it does not set out a new right which would be additional to those elaborated in the Torture Convention itself. Nor is it purely procedural as it…
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