Judit Zeller argues that the new technology of genome editing opens up unlimited possibilities of changing the genome of organisms, including human genome. Nevertheless, human genome editing raises ethical and legal questions relating to human dignity, social equality and freedom of research. As a result of the scientific progress, the modification of the current regulation on the European and domestic level is hard to escape. New legal frameworks, however, still have to protect individual autonomy, self-determination, and privacy, prevent discrimination and segregation, and they must face the challenge of the slippery slope argument.
Zsófia Eszter Kémeri discusses the role of the Oviedo Convention on Human Rights and Biomedicince in the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights and the ability of the Convention to regulate new bioethical questions arising from technological developments, and traces the impact of the Convention on national regulation as well as on ECtHR judgments.
Anna Betlen's essay deals with the phenomenon of sexual violence, particularly with "communal sexual harassment". Her starting point is Adam Smith's metaphor of the "in-visible hand" describing the operation of the market, which without the knowledge of the participants sorts out the best possible quality, the best for everyone so that economic development can be as favorable as possible. Sexual violence seems to play a similar role in contemporary societies.
Csilla Lehoczkyné Kollonay gives an overview of the practice built on Article 26 of the revised European Social Charter. She observes a significant development in international law concerning sexual harassment due to the soft law enforcement solutions of the charter.
Sára Hungler discusses the difficulties of the regulation of sexual harassment in the workplace. She concludes that more effective protection could be guaranteed by the further harmonization and unification of the relevant EU law and also by the ratification of the Istanbul Convention.
The #MeToo campaign made Andrea Sebestyén recall sexual harassment cases at the Hungarian Equality Body. In this paper the author gathered her professional and personal experience together in order to show how the administrative body started to pave the way for dealing with harassment in the legal realm with its narrow but proactive practice.
Lídia Balogh's essay critically assesses the resolution of the European Parliament on the action plan against sexaul harrassment, urging stronger state and legal steps. The author concludes that due to its shortcomings and contradictions the initiative is doomed to fail.
Anikó Gregor presents the results of the research carried out at Eötvös Loránd University on various forms of gender-based harassment and violence. She points out that the activities of the University concerning equal opportunities are limited only to measures relating to people with disabilities. Nevertheless, the research is already part of a violence prevention concept developed by the University after several cases of gender related violence received press coverage.
Zsolt Szomora defines the technicalities of sexual self-determination as a criminal law matter, stating that in criminal law the negative side of sexual freedom, the non-com-
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pulsion is relevant. In the essay he concludes that the non-ratification of the Istanbul Convention has political significance, however in criminal law the ratification also leads to important but more symbolic than substantive consequences.
Attila Szabó's article analyzes the judgment in the C-643/15. and C-647/15 ECJ cases which are about the action for annulment of the relocation quota mechanism designed by the Council. The article presents and analyses the arguments, linking them to fundamental rights. It also assesses the consequences of the judgement since the relocation mechanism regulated the relocation of asylum-seekers and, per se, they have human rights that must be considered once one thinks about this abstract mechanism. The aim of the author is to help understand the story of the relocation mechanism and the reasons why the ECJ decided that this mechanism is lawful based on the law of the European Union. However, it was also important to point out that the applicants had valid arguments to challenge the Council decision which established this temporary measurement.
Noémi Fanni Molnár reviews the jurisprudence of Hungarian high courts on the lawfulness of the use of handcuffs by police officers. Molnár concludes that the practice of high courts is rather divergent in this area. Fundamental rights considerations play only a relatively minor role in these cases, and the constitutionality of the "preventive use of handcuff" remains questionable.
In this column summaries of some of the recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, and the Hungarian Constitutional Court are presented. ■
Visszaugrás
