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Caster Semenya wins appeal at European Court of Human Rights
Double Olympic 800m champion Caster Semenya was discriminated against by rules which forced her to lower her testosterone levels in order to continue competing, the European Court of Human Rights has found.
The 32-year-old South African was born with differences of sexual development (DSD) and is not allowed to compete in events between 400m and a mile without taking testosterone-reducing drugs.
On Thursday the ECHR ruled in favour of Semenya in a case involving testosterone levels in female athletes.
Semenya, a three-time 800m world champion and 800m and 1500m Commonwealth champion, has been in a long-running dispute with governing body World Athletics since regulations requiring her to have hormone treatment were introduced in 2018.
She has twice failed in legal battles to overturn the decision. The case at the ECHR was against the government of Switzerland for not protecting Semenya’s rights and dates back to a Swiss Supreme Court ruling three years ago. In the lengthy judgement published on Tuesday, the ECHR found the Swiss government did not protect Semenya from being discriminated against when its Supreme Court refused to overturn a decision by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (Cas) which upheld World Athletics rules governing the participation of athletes with DSD.
The decision, made by a panel of seven people at the ECHR, was split 4-3 in favour of Semenya. World Athletics described the ECHR chamber as “deeply divided”.
In a statement, it said: “We remain of the view that the DSD regulations are a necessary, reasonable and proportionate means of protecting fair competition in the female category as the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Swiss Federal Tribunal both found, after a detailed and expert assessment of the evidence. “The case was filed against the state of Switzerland, rather than World Athletics. We will liaise with the Swiss government on the next steps and, given the strong dissenting views in the decision, we will be encouraging them to seek referral of the case to the ECHR Grand Chamber for a final and definitive decision.
“In the meantime, the current DSD regulations, approved by World Athletics Council in March 2023, will remain in place.”
(BBC)
The lower house of the Indian parliament has passed a bill guaranteeing a third of seats for women in the parliament and state assemblies.
First proposed in 1996, the bill had been pending for decades amid opposition from some political parties.
On Wednesday, the Lok Sabha passed it with near unanimity after hours of fierce debate. The bill will now require the approval of lawmakers in Rajya Sabha, the upper house of the Indian parliament. If passed here, it will be sent to the Indian president for approval and become law.
But it is still some way from being implemented as that would depend on the completion of India’s census. The exercise, conducted every 10 years, was set to be held in 2021 but was delayed by the coronavirus pandemic and is now expected to take place in 2025. Reported plans to redraw boundaries of assembly seats to increase the overall number of constituencies, known as delimitation, could further complicate the bill’s implementation.
The passing of the bill is expected to boost the fortunes of the governing Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in the general elections next year.
On Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi thanked MPs who voted for the bill in Lok Sabha. He called it a “historic legislation” that will enable greater participation of women in the political process. The bill was passed after 454 MPs from across party lines voted in its favour with only two against it.
The Lok Sabha debated the legislation for nearly eight hours, with several members of the Opposition raising concerns about its implementation even as they voiced their support. Former Congress president Sonia Gandhi said the party supported the proposed legislation but demanded its immediate implementation. “How many years will they have to wait, two, four, eight?” Ms Gandhi asked. “Delaying this would be doing gross injustice to women.”
Several opposition MPs have also demanded a separate quota for women belonging to Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Hinduism’s caste system puts Brahmins or priests at the top, and Dalits (formerly untouchables) and Adivasis (tribespeople) at the bottom. In between are a multitude of lower and intermediate castes, which are roughly believed to constitute about 52% of the population, and are recognised as Other Backward Classes or OBCs. While India’s census has always recorded the population of Dalits and Adivasis, it has never counted the OBCs.
The proposed bill provides for one-third of the seats, which are already reserved for Dalits and tribespeople, to be reserved for women. But it excludes a similar sub-quota for women who belong to OBCs.
Speaking in parliament on Wednesday, Ms Gandhi said the government should conduct a caste census – or a count of OBCs – and extend the benefits of the proposed law to women from those groups as well. Some other opposition MPs called the move an eyewash by the ruling party.
MP Asaduddin Owaisi, one of the two votes against the bill, said the current bill would only benefit upper caste women.
(BBC)
A special search operation conducted by the Navy in the Mankuliya Lagoon of Negombo today (21st September 2023) led to the apprehension of a dinghy loaded with over 400kg of Kerala cannabis with an estimated street value of over Rs. 132 million
The seized consignment of Kerala cannabis and the dinghy were handed over to the Negombo Excise Station for onward legal action
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IMF MD and President Wickremesinghe focus on Financial Reforms and Debt Restructuring initiatives
In a crucial meeting held during the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York, Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Ms. Kristalina Georgieva, met with President, Ranil Wickremesinghe, to discuss vital economic matters.
During the meeting, Ms. Georgieva and President Wickremesinghe delved into the ongoing financial sector reforms and the substantial progress made in debt restructuring initiatives. The IMF Managing Director commended the Sri Lankan government for its effective measures in curbing inflation and nurturing a conducive environment for business growth, as well as the flourishing tourism industry. She expressed her satisfaction with the government’s commitment to enhancing the overall economic landscape.
(PMD)
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