Rape Cultures and the Law. Human rights and women's rights

Today, our new section, “...in the public discourse”, opens with voices from New Delhi speaking out about the sad recent events of the rape of a young woman in Delhi and the subsequent public reaction in India. Professor Dr. Pratiksha Baxi was a fellow at the Käte Hamburger Centre for Advanced Study “Law as Culture” from May until July 2011 and from August to September 2012, where she conducted research on the subject “Rape Cultures and the Law”. Her research work will soon be published by Oxford University Press under the title “Public Secrets of Law: Rape Trials in India”. In view of the recent events in the news, she published the piece “Rape Cultures in India” in late December 2012 and the commentary “Ban The Two-Finger Test In Rape Trials” in early January 2013.

Professor Dr. h.c. mult. Upendra Baxi is one of India's leading legal scholars and was a fellow at our centre until December 2012. Immediately upon his return to India, he published the urgent commentary “Because women’s rights are human rights”.