Objective: to evaluate the regulation of transfusion refusal for religious reasons, as recognized in recent decisions of the Federal Supreme Court and addressed in Resolution No. 2.232/2019 of the Federal Council of Medicine. Methodology: a critical expository analysis of the deontological norm, in light of current jurisprudence on the subject and its impact on the right to health. The study was conducted through normative, jurisprudential, and bibliographic research, based on the historical development within the ethical-professional field and its comparison with recent jurisprudential positions. It culminates in an exploratory assessment of how the decision affects access to health for individuals impacted by the aforementioned norms, which have prompted administrative action by the Public Defender’s Office in ensuring the effective protection of this group’s health. Results: Resolution No. 2.232/2019 was enacted with the aim of establishing “ethical standards for therapeutic refusal by patients and conscientious objection in the physician–patient relationship,” following the emergence of jurisprudential debate on the issue. Its content, by simultaneously addressing multiple ethical and legal aspects, raised several issues that are currently under discussion. It was found to be relevant, including for revising previous positions of the Council that had been subject to legal challenge. However, the manner in which the norm was structured gave rise to an apparent conflict between the autonomy of the physician and that of the patient. In light of the decisions rendered in Extraordinary Appeals No. 979.742 and No. 1.212,272 by the Federal Supreme Court, which upheld the right to refuse blood transfusions, proposals were advanced concerning the regulation and practice of the issue, including normative and interpretative approaches, as well as the need to ensure the availability of alternative therapeutic options. Conclusion: This study highlights the need for normative and practical harmonization regarding transfusion refusal and its implications for the exercise of autonomy, including in end-of-life decisions, within the national legal framework. Received: September 30, 2025 | Revised: February 24, 2026 | Accepted: February 26, 2026

Online harassment against women has emerged as a critical, social, psychological, and legal concern in an increasingly digitized world. Women face harassment in various forms cyberstalking, doxxing, non-consensual image sharing, hate campaigns, sexualized trolling, revenge pornography, deepfake exploitation, and other manifestations of technologyfacilitated gender-based violence. Although numerous national and international legal frameworks have attempted to address these evolving harms, significant gaps persist between legislative intent and enforcement realities. This study provides a comprehensive, detailed, and critical examination of the current legal protections against online harassment targeting women and the enforcement barriers that undermine those protections. Using a qualitative methodology grounded in legal analysis, comparative review, case examination, and thematic interpretation, the research uncovers systemic failures in policing, judicial interpretation, digital forensic capability, and public awareness. Findings show that patriarchal biases, weak technological infrastructure, cross-border complexities, opaque platform policies, and societal stigma contribute to weak accountability. The paper proposes well-founded reforms including legal modernization, improved cyberpolicing, coordinated international cooperation, gender-sensitive training, and stronger digital literacy initiatives to build safer online environments for women.

The Digital Services Act (DSA) represents a landmark regulatory context aiming to secure a safer, trusted and more transparent digital environment. While the DSA establishes a harmonised regulatory framework for intermediary services across the EU, its enforcement system relies significantly on national regulatory authorities, leaving member states a degree of institutional autonomy in designing the supervisory structures. This article examines the implementation of the DSA in Cyprus and discusses the national legal framework adopted through primary and secondary legislation. It analyses the powers, legally mandated tasks, rights, and obligations of the digital services coordinator in Cyprus including its supervisory, investigatory, and enforcement competences as well as the sanctioning mechanisms. This article provides a comprehensive legal analysis of the coordinator’s operation and contributes to the academic debate on the national implementation of the DSA as a horizontal legal tool of intermediary services and digital platforms accessed by European citizens.

Social security law has traditionally been designed to regulate a specific exchange: work performed in return for remuneration. Since the primary purpose of traineeships is not remuneration, applying social security law to trainees is often difficult or ineffective. This contribution explores the challenge of ensuring adequate social security protection for trainees in the absence of (sufficient) remuneration, with a particular focus on the Belgian context. We begin by examining a recent decision of the European Committee of Social Rights concerning the right to fair remuneration for trainees in Belgium. Based on this decision, we conclude that unpaid or poorly paid traineeships are not prohibited under the European Social Charter, provided they include a genuine educational component. Given that unpaid or underpaid traineeships are not outlawed, we then assess how the lack of (sufficient) remuneration affects trainees’ access to social security. In Belgium, the social security scheme for salaried workers applies only to those who work for pay, which excludes trainees. Furthermore, the two specific branches that have been extended to include trainees - covering occupational accidents and occupational diseases - were originally intended to protect paid employment. To adapt these branches to trainees, the minimum wage, which is denied to them under labour law, paradoxically re-emerges as a reference point for calculating the economic loss resulting from an accident or illness. A comparison of the Belgian case with the systems in France and Spain shows that the more social security coverage is detached from remuneration, the more the financial burden of that coverage shifts to the collectivity. Finally, we consider whether international and European law require Belgium to extend the social security coverage of trainees to include other branches (unemployment, pensions, etc.). In this regard, we conclude that, like national legislation, international and European legal frameworks remain primarily focused on paid employment.

Abstract Artificial intelligence ( ai ) is transforming many sectors globally. Despite its widespread adoption, the use of ai raises increasing public integrity concerns. Consequently, some developed countries have established policy and legal frameworks to govern ai ’s application. While effective in some developed nations, Africa faces significant challenges, particularly within the education sector. Using a systematic review approach, this article assesses higher education’s response to ai -related academic integrity concerns. The findings indicate that most African countries are yet to respond regarding the ethical use of ai technology due to lack national policy and legal frameworks to guide ai ’s implementation in higher education. Furthermore, higher education institutions themselves lack policies governing ai use. While ai continues to be widely adopted by students and, presumably, staff, many academic personnel lack sufficient experience with it. This frequently leads to serious unethical conduct in academia. Therefore, African countries are strongly advised to enact legislation and establish comprehensive policies on ai ’s use within higher education.

Background/Objectives: This study examines the legislation governing forest therapy in healthcare, centered on nature-based environments as workplaces for professional forest therapy specialists within international, EU, and national legal frameworks from a labor law perspective. Methods: Using systematic legal analysis, comparative document analysis, and analysis of the scientific literature, the study examines current relevant international, EU, and national (Lithuania, the Republic of Korea) regulations. Results: Based on a cross-sectoral legal norms analysis, the legal conception of forest therapy in healthcare systems and the general regulatory framework for the professional use of nature-based environments as workplaces were identified, along with their impact on the realization of the right to work, workplace requirements, and the provision of forest therapy services. Regulatory mechanisms and conditions governing the use of nature-based environments for forest therapy purposes, under schemes administered by public and private bodies, were identified and analyzed. The interaction between nature-based workplace factors and legal liability arising from professional, contractual, and service-based relationships was also defined and clarified. Conclusions: Fragmented legal regulation of nature-based environments as workplaces for forest therapy creates legal uncertainty, limits the realization of the right to work, and increases legal risks in employment, service provision, patient protection, and resource use. Strengthened interdisciplinary integration between health and forest policy is essential to ensure service quality, accessibility, and legal certainty. Therefore, future regulation should prioritize integrated and harmonized legal frameworks that recognize forest therapy within healthcare systems, ensure fair working conditions, and establish clear rules for the professional use of nature-based environments in therapeutic practices.

This article provides insights into how differences in the degree of fiscal autonomy of local governments in EU Member States shape the ways in which they design and implement fiscal instruments to support the achievement of climate objectives. By comparing three countries (Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands), it demonstrates that local governments’ capacity to leverage taxation for climate purposes is essentially shaped by their national legal and fiscal frameworks. At the same time, limited fiscal autonomy does not necessarily prevent local authorities from using fiscal instruments to support the achievement of climate objectives. This is illustrated, for instance, by the introduction of the ‘pay-as-you-throw’ (PAYT) waste fee in Turin, where such a measure can be implemented despite the relatively limited fiscal autonomy within the centralized Italian system. The article further shows that local climate plans across the EU acknowledge taxation as a policy tool for advancing sustainability goals, highlighting its potential to influence areas such as mobility, buildings and energy.

ABSTRACT Given that China’s utilization of transboundary waters within its territory has been criticized as hydro-hegemony and easily causes discomfort in downstream states, this article examines and compares China’s laws and treaties relevant to the utilization of transboundary waters to clarify the extent to which China’s practices comply with the principle of equitable and reasonable utilization under international water law. This article argues that China’s practices reflect a coexisting and converging domestic and international legal system that contributes to the equitable and reasonable use of shared waters.

Digital transformation and the COVID-19 pandemic have caused a paradigm shift in work; hybrid work arrangements that combine remote and in-office work are becoming the norm in many business organizations worldwide. Employees benefit from the flexible working arrangements that the hybrid work offers, but they often navigate in uncertainty in terms of legal protection and contractual arrangements, even in the EU (European Union). WB (Western Balkan) countries have embraced hybrid work with a constant effort to align their policy and legal framework to the EU standards, as pressing requisites of EU integration aspirations. This study aims to explore the readiness of WB countries’ national legal and policy frameworks to regulate hybrid work through mapping and analyzing the dimensions of hybrid work in national legal and policy frameworks through a comparative legal and policy analysis. Results reveal that in the majority of the legal frameworks of WB countries, there is no specific definition of hybrid work, and legal arrangements on homework or telework can be found in the legal frameworks of Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia. Employees’ working conditions, work-life balance, gender aspect, and well-being are not fully addressed. Policy instruments remain underdeveloped, with Serbia being the only country with significant labor reform progress. National legal frameworks need further harmonization, whereas national policies need to tailor proper policy instruments that address hybrid work. Received: 17 January 2026 / Revised: 24 February 2026 / Accepted: 7 March 2026 / Published: 25 March 2026

This article analyzes the legal policy evolution of corruption eradication in Indonesia subsequent to the reform of the Corruption Eradication Commission Law and the implementation of Law Number 1 of 2023 about the Criminal Code. Since the reform era, corruption has been regarded as a significant crime managed by a specialized and autonomous institution. Recent legal amendments have altered its institutional standing by incorporating it within the executive branch, creating a supervisory body, and reclassifying people as state civil servants. The new criminal law simultaneously establishes sentencing goals, individualizes punishment, and reclassifies punishments. This research utilizes normative legal analysis using statutory and conceptual methodologies. The results indicate a transition from an exceptional enforcement paradigm to a more cohesive approach within the national legal framework. Although these improvements improve legal systematization and procedural accountability, they also provoke concerns about institutional independence. The efficacy of corruption elimination depends on the state's capacity to harmonize the rule of law, institutional accountability, and enforcement efficacy within a transparent governance framework.

of religious minorities and contrasts these legal provisions with the legal provisions of minority groups in the modern Muslim-majority states. Muslim jurists in historical times had created an extensive legal code that classified non-Muslims into legal categories including ahl al-dhimma (protected people), and granted them certain rights and duties as members of an Islamic polity. Such classical models were contextually anchored in the pre-modern political structures and social norms which are not similar to the modern system of the nation-state. As the concept of colonialism, nationalism and constitutionalism entered the Muslim world, the legislative attitudes towards religious minorities were changing, and the law in such countries as Egypt, Pakistan, Indonesia and Morocco started to become characterized by hybridized norms, i.e.- being based on the principles of Islamic law and international human rights law, as well as being being shaped by the needs of local politics. This study by examining classical texts through the prism of doctrinal analysis of the major Sunni and Shia schools (Hanafi, Maliki, Shafi'i, Hanbali and Ja'fari) and comparing the contemporary legal systems with the historical jurisprudence will outline the areas of similarity and difference between the traditional jurisprudence and modern legal frameworks. The paper finds that despite the fact that foundational Islamic legal principles are still present in the statutory protection, there are specific voids between customary norms and the modern international equality and non-discrimination standards. The study has found that there are a lot of differences among states regarding legal recognition and representation of religious minorities, as well as, their socio-legal status. The policy proposals include reform of the law, inclusive constitutionalism, enhanced anti-discrimination statutes, and the alignment of traditional formations with contemporary human rights demands.

ABSTRACT Armed conflicts are accompanied by serious violations of children’s rights and legitimate interests, significantly increasing their vulnerability. Although international standards and national legal frameworks assign states the primary responsibility for protecting children from war-related violence, effective protection requires continuous coordination and adaptation to rapidly changing conditions. The aim of this study is to analyse international legal instruments and national legislation governing the protection of children during armed conflict, to assess their effectiveness in Ukraine, and to evaluate their compliance with international standards. The research employs methods of legal analysis, synthesis, deduction, and systematic evaluation of normative acts and enforcement mechanisms. The findings indicate that, despite the existence of comprehensive international norms and their partial incorporation into national law, significant gaps remain in implementation, coordination, and practical enforcement under wartime conditions. The study concludes that strengthening institutional cooperation, clarifying legal procedures, and improving national protective mechanisms are essential for ensuring effective child protection during armed conflict.

ABSTRACT In recent years, the Western Cape (WC) independence movement has garnered significant interest, both nationally and globally. This article focuses on the main proponents of independence and their motivations, arguments and tactics, highlighting the prominence of political and economic grievances as the driving forces of WC secessionism. It is also argued that the growth of far-right populism and conspiracy theories globally has provided the movement with a platform to advance its secessionist cause. Nonetheless, this article will emphasise that the route to an independent WC state is highly uncertain, lacking a firm basis in both national and international legal frameworks.

Fatwas issued by the ulama play a strategic role in shaping the trajectory of Muslim thought in the digital era, particularly as many Muslims lack direct access to, or the capacity to independently interpret, the primary sources of Islamic law such as the Qur’an and Hadith. This study examines the position of fatwas as a determinant of religious authority and explores their implications for the development of Islamic law in the digital age. Employing a qualitative research design, this study analyzes fatwas issued by the Indonesian Ulama Council (Majelis Ulama Indonesia/MUI) concerning socio-religious issues. Data were collected through library research and examined using a normative-analytical approach, emphasizing contextual interpretation and doctrinal analysis. The findings demonstrate that MUI fatwas occupy a position of significant religious authority within the construction of Islamic law and possess substantial sociological and moral binding force. Muslim communities adhere to these fatwas because they are perceived as authoritative interpretations grounded in Islamic legal principles. Furthermore, fatwas contribute to the dynamic development of Islamic law and influence national legal frameworks. In the digital era, religious authority has become increasingly strategic, particularly following the issuance of MUI Fatwa No. 24 of 2017, which provides ethical guidelines for social media engagement, promotes social harmony, and seeks to prevent societal fragmentation in Indonesia.

The objectives of this study were to provide an overview of the national legal framework forthe development of mutual health insurance and to assess the perceptions of stakeholders involved in social protection in Burkina Faso. We conducted a qualitative study from December 2024 to March 2025. The study had two components: a literature review to analyze the legal framework of social protection and a survey on national social protection stakeholders in 4 regions. A total of 210 participants were included in the study. We used individual interviews and focus groups (beneficiaries of mutual insurance companies). Our study included 210 people and was composed of decision-makers (n=16), planners (n=53), technical and financial partners (n=03), beneficiaries (n=58), civil society (n=80). At the legal and political level, several texts and laws govern mutuality in Burkina Faso. According to most participants, these documents have enabled the State to be involved in the organization of the mutual insurance sector. Mutuality is perceived by all participants as an alternative that improves access to healthcare for the population, cultivating humanism, as well as solidarity and social cohesion. These results should serve to boost the national and even regional dynamics underway on social health mutuals. They will enable the strengthening of the operation, efficiency, and sustainability of mutual insurance companies, benefiting populations that are currently not covered.

Over the last decade at the University Hospital of Nancy in Lorraine, France, we have observed an increasing number of people under 35 years old who receive consultation for gender incongruence, from an average of 7 new patients per year in 2002-2013 to an average of 27 per year in 2014-2017. We conducted a mixed-methods study, including a retrospective quantitative analysis of medical records of youths who sought care for gender incongruence from 2004 to 2020, and a qualitative analysis of in-depth interviews with 11 patients identified through the medical records. The study included 235 participants (135 assigned female at birth, 100 assigned male at birth). Transgender men were younger than transgender women: mean age 20 (1.6, standard deviation, [SD]) years vs. 22.7 (4.3 SD) years; p = 0.01 at first referral. We observed no difference in age at the initiation of gender-affirming hormonal treatments. More than half of our participants chronologically situated their first questioning about their gender identity in the prepubertal period. Their life experiences revealed a lack of transgender representation in society, discomfort with the treatments offered, difficulties in becoming aware of and disclosing their gender identity, and the importance of peer/community support. The present study provides insights into the growing population of transgender and gender nonconforming people receiving care in the University Hospital of Nancy which has coincided with the evolution of the national legal framework. Our results identify several priorities for transgender youth who are receiving gender-affirming care. Further research outside hospital networks appears warranted.

Digital radicalization represents a transformation of security threats within the context of asymmetric warfare, where non-state actors utilize social media as a tool for ideological propaganda and information warfare. This phenomenon positions extremist narratives as strategic instruments to undermine ideological resilience, social cohesion, and state legitimacy. This essay aims to analyze the role of counter-narratives and alternative narratives as communication strategies in preventing digital radicalization in Indonesia. The study employs a qualitative descriptive method through literature review and policy analysis, drawing on academic sources, official government documents, and national legal frameworks related to defense and counterterrorism. The analysis reveals that counter-narratives function as non-military defense instruments operating within the cognitive and affective domains of society, while alternative narratives contribute to long-term ideological resilience. The effectiveness of these strategies is highly influenced by dissemination mechanisms within the social media ecosystem, including algorithmic dynamics, message messengers, and content formats. This essay concludes that integrating counter-narratives into Indonesia’s non-military defense strategy is a strategic necessity in addressing digital radicalization and asymmetric warfare threats.

Despite recent legislative reforms, sexual violence against women in Nigeria remains widespread and is often underreported. This research examines the legal, institutional, and cultural barriers that hinder adequate protection for women against sexual violence from a human rights perspective. The study focuses on Nigeria's dualist legal system, which upholds the applicability of the national legal framework, including the Criminal Code and Penal Code, as well as the 2015 Violence Against Persons Prohibition (VAPP) Act. It compares with South Africa's monist system, where international treaties like the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women are directly enforceable. This legal research draws on a documentary review of statutory materials, court judgments, and reports from relevant stakeholders, It also highlight several institutional challenges, including the lack of legal aid, incomplete implementation of the VAPP Act (with only 18 out of 36 states having adopted it), and the stigma that discourages victims from reporting incidents of violence. The research recommends a multifaceted strategy that includes legal harmonization across jurisdictions, public education on women's rights, and strengthening enforcement institutions. These measures are essential to promote gender justice and fulfil Nigeria's human rights obligations.

Driven by the global push toward net zero emissions, fossil-reliant economies are under growing pressure to overhaul national legal and economic frameworks to meet international climate commitments. This paper critically examines Nigeria’s resources governance framework in relation to the country’s 2060 net-zero commitment under the Paris Agreement. Adopting the narrative-integrative literature review, the study consolidates relevant peer-reviewed literature, national regulations, climate policy instruments and institutional reports to measure the extent to which ExxonMobil’s law and policy regime promotes or undermines decarbonization. The results show that there are major legal and structural misalignments between Kenya and Nigeria, for example Nigeria has progressive climate policies, such as the Energy Transition Plan (ETP) and the Climate Change Act 2021, which are undermined by its foundational legislative landmines like the Petroleum Industry Act 2021 and the Mining Act 2007 that are dominated by carbon-intensity, investment-based and are alien to climate objectives. Additionally, weaknesses in judicial oversight, limited enforcement capabilities and poor intersectoral policy coordination were identified as key barriers by the study. Cross-country evidence from South Africa and Indonesia highlights the need to coordinate climate with economic planning as well as legal codification of climate pledges. The paper finishes by calling for legislated incorporation of net-zero goals, the imposition of carbon disclosure requirements on extractive sectors, fiscal neutrality measures to promote green investment, and strengthening organisational capacities. These status quo changes are urgently needed to put Nigeria’s resource governance on a climate-friendly and financially sustainable footing.

This study aims to analyze and formulate a model for reconstructing the sighat ta’liq (conditional divorce pronouncement) within the Compilation of Islamic Law (KHI). The goal is to transform it into a preventive instrument against gender-based violence in marriage while maintaining respect for Islamic legal values and the national legal system. The central issue addressed is the current weakness of the sighat ta’liq in its preventive function; its normative construction remains unilateral, reactive, and formalistic, leaving wives with inadequate protection. Using a normative legal method, this study employs a document analysis approach to examine the KHI, relevant marriage laws, and the latest national and international academic literature. The analysis focuses on gender equity, human rights, and maqāṣid al-syarī‘ah (the higher objectives of Sharia) to evaluate the normative relevance and conceptual reconstruction of sighat ta’liq. The findings indicate that while the sighat ta’liq possesses strong normative potential as a protective mechanism, its effectiveness depends on a reconstruction that emphasizes the wife’s participation, legal certainty, and preventive sanctions against gender-based violence. An ideal reconstruction model would reposition the sighat ta’liq as a gender-equitable marriage contract clause that harmonizes maqāṣid al-syarī‘ah with the national legal framework. In conclusion, reconstructing the sighat ta’liq can strengthen legal protections for wives, prevent gender-based violence, and contribute to the evolution of a gender-responsive Islamic family law theory. These findings have practical implications for policy reform within the KHI, strengthening religious court mechanisms, and future research on the implementation of justice-based Islamic law.