Showing papers on "Fundamental rights published in 1994"

The Constitution of the Republic of South Africa

Abstract: “We the people of South Africa declare that … there is a need to create a new order in which all South Africans will be entitled to … enjoy and exercise their fundamental rights and freedoms.” (Preamble to the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa)

Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives

Abstract: In recent years the rights of women have received special attention in discourses dealing with human rights internationally. The notion of human rights as proclaimed by the UN Declaration of Human Rights (1948) implies that all human beings, irrespective of gender, class, race, religion, and culture, are equal. In practice, however, national laws in many countries as well as international human rights laws have androcentric world views. Human Rights of Women: National and International Perspectives presents a feminist critique of this world view and constitutes a definitive source book of diverse experiences women face cross-culturally in their quest to claim rights. The 22 essays in this book were originally presented at the Women's International Human Rights meetings held at the University of Toronto from August 31 to September 2, 1992, and reflect the various experiences of its contributors, who are mostly members of the legal profession from Africa, Asia, Australia, the Americas and Europe. The book is aimed at providing multiple perspectives of women's human rights, promoting legal strategies to protect women's rights and making international human rights laws more effective for women. In her introduction, editor Rebecca J. Cook identifies three feminist approaches -- liberal feminism, cultural feminism, and radical feminism -- which recharacterize women's human rights and take into account specific socio-cultural contexts. Most of the essays, however, are slanted towards a liberal feminist approach. Cook also raises a number of critical issues in rights discourse, including various implications for women in the North and the South and for the public/private dichotomy. Like many contributors in the volume, Cook contends that it is the state that should provide effective protection against violation of women's human rights, irrespective of public/private contexts. The book is divided into five parts. Part I provides a broad overview of the content, based on the general issues addressed and consensus reached at the meetings. The essays in Part II entitled "Challenges" raise a number of questions that challenge rights discourse in many societies. For example, Radhika Coomaraswamy, citing a number of well publicized case studies in South Asia, raises a fundamental feminist issue -- how "ethnic identity" and "cultural practices" violate women's fundamental human rights, such as the right to live in dignity. In Part III, entitled "International and Regional Approaches," Abdullahi An-Na'im points out that in some countries, the source of rights discourse is religion and women's organizations are working within the established religious framework. This leads to another key question: do feminists need to recognize epistemological, cultural, ethnic, and regional differences to deal with women's fundamental human rights? …

Human Rights in the Private Sphere

Abstract: Part 1 The different ways in which the European Convention on Human Rights is relevant, or may become relevant, in the United Kingdom courts: the relevance of the Convention in the United Kingdom courts the relevance of the Strasbourg Proceedings for the United Kingdom courts incorporation of the European Convention on Human Rights in the United Kingdom? Part 2 The application of human rights in the sphere of relations between non-state bodies: international human rights and private bodies - two approaches limits to the application of human rights in the private sphere fundamental rights in the private sphere - the United States and Canada the application of the European Convention of Human Rights to the acts of non-state actors - the case-law of the European Commission and Court of Human Rights the European Community legal order a "private police" for human rights in the private sphere the application of human rights in the private sphere in the United Kingdom.

The Global Health Burden Of Rape

Abstract: Women's rights to be free from male violence are now recognized by the United Nations as fundamental human rights. Two parallel transformations in the understanding of rape have been central to the international effort to achieve this declaration. The first is increased recognition of the extent to which rape typically involves intimates. The second is the shift from regarding rape as a criminal justice matter towards an appreciation of its implications for women's health. The focus of this paper is the health burden of rape, which is addressed from the global perspective and includes discussion of its prevalence and psychological, sociocultural, somatic, and reproductive health consequences. Quantitative efforts to capture the relative economic impact of rape compared to other threats to women's health are also discussed. The paper concludes with an agenda for future research on rape that could enrich activists' efforts on behalf of women's health and development.

Is There a Modern Legal Culture

Abstract: . This essay argues that there are certain traits which, taken together, characterize modern legal systems, and are reflexes of modern legal culture. Modern law is rapidly changing; it is dense and ubiquitous; the basis of its legitimacy is instrumental; it stresses fundamental human rights and is strongly individualistic; lastly, the globalization of law leads to a process of convergence among legal systems. These traits also produce structural changes in legal systems, for example, an increase in the power and activism of courts.

The best interests of the child : reconciling culture and human rights

Abstract: The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child has become the most significant international commitment to upholding the human rights of the child, and the framework it establishes will dominate debates at national and international level for years to come. Yet in spite of its obvious significance, major difficulties and tensions lie at the heart of the convention itself. For example, can a universal declaration be of practical use when applied to specific cultural contexts? In this collection of original essays, leading international scholars assess the impact of the convention at national and local level, and highlight the tensions which can arise between an international commitment and local custom and practice. Each essay explores the impact of the convention by concentrating on Article 3, which requires that in all actions concerning children the best interests of the child shall be a primary consideration; and suggest that such interests may conflict with the rights of other groups such as women, when applied to specific cultural contexts.

Human rights in another key

Abstract: Preface. 1. Human Rights and the Western Tradition. 2. Human Rights and the Legal Tradition. 3. Human Rights and Human Needs. 4. Human Rights and Social Structures. 5. Human Rights and Social Processes. Notes. Index.

Self-Determination: A Human Rights Approach

Abstract: A coherent legal framework needs to be developed in order to resolve the potentially competing claims and obligations concerning the right of self-determination. The rules expounded in this framework must be able to be applied to a variety of circumstances without creating an increased threat to international peace and security while respecting the rights and interests of all members of the international community. The present approaches to the right have not provided the necessary coherent framework.The only appropriate legal framework to consider the right of self-determination which meets these demanding requirements is one based on the legal rules developed in international human rights law.

Human rights in crisis : the international system for protecting rights during states of emergency

Abstract: Recent events in South America, central Europe, Africa, and Russia have again brought to the world's attention the complex interrelationship between states of emergency and the preservation of fundamental human rights. In Human Rights in Crisis, Joan Fitzpatrick offers the first systematic and comprehensive effort to examine the multifaceted system for monitoring human rights abuses under "states of exception." Unlike previous studies, this book does not focus on substantive norms governing crises, but rather on how those norms might best be implemented. Building upon her six-year study for the International Law Association, the author confronts the difficulties in defining a coherent concept of emergency, particularly the various forms of de facto emergencies that have been relatively neglected by international monitors. She also profiles and carefully critiques the numerous international bodies that have monitored human rights abuses during states of exception. These bodies include not only the treaty organs of the United Nations, the Council of Europe, and the Organization of American States but also the political organs of the United Nations (especially the Commission on Human Rights), the International Labor Organization, and the emerging structures of the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe.

Making Civil Rights Law: Thurgood Marshall and the Supreme Court, 1936-1961

Abstract: From the 1930s to the early 1960s civil rights law was made primarily through constitutional litigation. Before Rosa Parks could ignite a Montgomery Bus Boycott, the Supreme Court had to strike down the Alabama law which made segregated bus service required by law; before Martin Luther King could march on Selma to register voters, the Supreme Court had to find unconstitutional the Southern Democratic Party's exclusion of African-Americans; and before the March on Washington and the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Supreme Court had to strike down the laws allowing for the segregation of public graduate schools, colleges, high schools, and grade schools. Making Civil Rights Law provides a chronological narrative history of the legal struggle, led by Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP Legal Defense Fund, that preceded the political battles for civil rights. Drawing on interviews with Thurgood Marshall and other NAACP lawyers, as well as new information about the private deliberations of the Supreme Court, Tushnet tells the dramatic story of how the NAACP Legal Defense Fund led the Court to use the Constitution as an instrument of liberty and justice for all African-Americans. He also offers new insights into how the justices argued among themselves about the historic changes they were to make in American society. Making Civil Rights Law provides an overall picture of the forces involved in civil rights litigation, bringing clarity to the legal reasoning that animated this "Constitutional revolution", and showing how the slow development of doctrine and precedent reflected the overall legal strategy of Thurgood Marshall and the NAACP.

Legal Issues of the Maastricht Treaty

Abstract: Treaty framework and constitutional change subsidiarity citizenship and fundamental rights economic and monetary union environment institutional changes common foreign and security policy justice and home affairs social policy the British and Danish positions.

"Retained by The People": A History of American Indians and the Bill of Rights

Abstract: This vivid chronicle is the first in-depth, comprehensive history of the relationship between American Indians and the Bill of Rights, tracing developments and issues from earliest times to 1991. The book begins with a thorough examination of rights and legal status as perceived by Native Americans, addressing such topics as conduct and collective rights. Then "Retained by The People" recounts the various brutal forms of colonialism forced upon indigenous nations by Europeans and Americans through 1900. The book next gives a balanced and detailed analysis of twentieth-century events that have shaped Native American rights under the United States Constitution. The author, in devoting approximately three-fourths of the book to the history of twentieth-century legal developments, explores attacks on Indian culture in the 1920s, the empowerment of tribal governments during the thirties, and federal attempts at cultural and political liquidation through the forties, fifties, and sixties. Also included are the first detailed assessment of the 1968 Indian Bill of Rights and a complete narrative of Native American efforts toward achieving limited sovereignty and unlimited rights over the past three decades. "Retained by The People" will be vital to anyone interested in Native American history, U.S. legal history, or U.S. constitutional law.

Parents' Religion and Children's Welfare: Debunking the Doctrine of Parents' Rights

Abstract: The scope, weight, and assignment of parental rights have been the focus of much debate among legal commentators. These commentators generally have assumed that parents should have some rights in connection with the raising of their children. Rarely have commentators offered justifications for attributing rights to persons as parents, and when they have done so they have failed to subject those justifications to close scrutiny. This Article takes the novel approach of challenging parental rights in their entirety. The author explores the fundamental questions of what it means to say that individuals have rights as parents, and whether it is legitimate to do so. In defining existing parental rights, the Article focuses on parental rights in religious contexts, because it is in this arena that the notion of parental rights takes on its strongest form. The author contrasts parental rights with other individual rights that receive protection under our legal system. He concludes that the claim that parents should have child-rearing rights is inconsistent with certain principles underlying all other individual rights recognized in our society. After demonstrating this theoretical shortcoming of the notion of parenting rights, the Article challenges the soundness of the commonly advanced justifications of parental rights. The author concludes that all of the proffered justifications for parents' rights are unsound, and recommends a substantial revision of the law governing child-rearing. The author proposes that children's rights, rather than parents' rights, serve as a basis for protecting the legal interests of children. The law should confer on parents only a child-rearing privilege, limited to actions that do not harm the child's interests. Such a privilege, coupled with a broader set of children's rights, satisfies parents' legitimate interests in child-rearing while providing children with a more appropriate level of protection than they receive under the current legal approach.

A political theory of rights

Abstract: Rights are basic building blocks of the contemporary state and yet their rigorous justification is notoriously difficult. This book provides a thorough analysis of this central topic in modern political discourse. The book challenges the orthodox view that rights are a type of property claim in one's body. Drawing on the tradition of the social contract as well as the wealth of recent work in political theory the book argues for a different conception of rights. Rights are conceived as a certain type of political claim, justified by a Kantian ideal of autonomy. Moreover, that justification provides a moral basis for rights that, while independent of law and custom, is also tied to an image of citizenship particularly suited to the pluralistic nature of contemporary liberal society.

Self-Ownership, Autonomy, and Property Rights

Abstract: Writers of very different persuasions have relied on arguments about self-ownership; in recent years, it is libertarians who have rested their political theory on self-ownership, but Grotian authoritarianism rested on similar foundations, and, even though it matters a good deal that Hegel did not adopt a full-blown theory of self-ownership, so did Hegel's liberal-conservatism Whether the high tide of the idea has passed it is hard to say One testimony to its popularity was the fact that G A Cohen for a time thought that the doctrine of self-ownership was so powerful that an egalitarian like himself had to come to terms with it; but he has since changed his mind I have tackled the topic of self-ownership glancingly elsewhere, but have not hitherto tried to pull together the observations I have made in passing on those occasions The view I have taken for granted and here defend is that self-ownership is not an illuminating notion—except in contexts that are unattractive to anyone of libertarian tastes

Five Fables About Human Rights

Abstract: This essay discusses human rights from the standpoint of five outlooks dominant in our time by imaging five stylist ideal-typical countries. First, three countries in which the principle of defending human rights is unknown: Utilitaria, Communitaria and Proletaria. Each rejects human rights for a distinct set of reasons: the first because they conflict with utilitarian calculation, the second because they abstract from correct ways of living, the third because they soften hearts and are superfluous in a classless world. Accepting human rights means departing from each of these standpoints in a given respect. First, we restrain the pursuit of social advantage, however enlightened or benevolent that pursuit. Second, we accept and protect the abstraction or distance of persons from specific, concrete ways of life. Third, we hold that the conditions of human life will never surmount scarcity, conflict of interests, moral divergences and limited rationality to render human rights superfluous. Next, two further countries are imagined in which human rights might be said to be respected: Libertaria and Egalitaria. The first represents a context of market freedoms, property rights, equal opportunity and civil rights but generates basic inequalities of condition and the sanctification of self-interest. The second is committed to rendering civil rights of equal worth to all and maintaining decent minimum standards for all, while striving for growth and improvement. But is Egalitaria feasible and viable? The incentives needed for growth give rise to inequalities, and the ideal of equal individual treatment conflicts with the communitarian goal of treating cultural identities as equal. These difficulties lead some away from Egalitaria back to Libertaria or Communitaria, but the essay concludes by suggesting that there is an »egalitarian plateau« that should not be abandoned for any of the other four possibilities.

Reconciling international human rights and cultural relativism: the case of female circumcision.

Abstract: How can we reconcile, in a non-ethnocentric fashion, the enforcement of international, universal human rights standards with the protection of cultural diversity? Examining this question, taking the controversy over female circumcision as a case study, this article will try to bridge the gap between the traditional anthropological view that human rights are non-existent -- or completely relativised to particular cultures -- and the view of Western naturalistic philosophers (including Lockeian philosophers in the natural rights tradition, and Aquinas and neo-Thomists in the natural law tradition) that they are universal -- simply derived from a basic human nature we all share. After briefly defending a universalist conception of human rights, the article will provide a critique of female circumcision as a human rights violation by three principal means: by an internal critique of the practice using the condoning cultures' own functionalist criteria; by identifying supra-national norms the cultures subscribe to which conflict with the practice; and by the identification of traditional and novel values in the cultures, conducive to those norms. Through this analysis, it will be seen that cultural survival, diversity and flourishing need not be incompatible with upholding international, universal human rights standards.

Reporting Under International Human Rights Instruments by African Countries

Abstract: In an address to the U.N. Commission on Human Rights on 31 January, 1994, the UN Under-Secretary-General for Human Rights stressed that the ratification of human rights instruments and die effective implementation of their provisions is fundamental in a world that aspires to the rule of law and the safeguard of fundamental freedoms. This followed the adoption of a resolution by the General Assembly of the United Nations which reaffirmed that the effective implementation of the international human rights instruments is of major importance to the organization and urged all states that have not yet done so to become parties to the two International Covenants and to consider acceding to the Optional Protocols to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Human Rights: Amnesty International and the United Nations

Abstract: The units of analysis of this comparative article are Amnesty International (AI) and the United Nations (UN). The purpose of comparison is to analyse the complementarity of IGOs and NGOs in the issue-area of human rights on the three dimensions of norm-generation, monitoring, and enforcement. The UN is a general-purpose IGO; AI is a single-purpose NGO. The international moral code is embodied in the UN Charter. Human rights is an outgrowth of Western liberalism; the United Nations is a meeting ground for all the world's civilizations. Human rights puts the welfare of individuals first; the UN puts the interests of member-states first. AI is of, by, and for individuals; the United Nations is of, by, and for governments. Arising from these differences, I argue that the United Nations as the world's preeminent IGO and Amnesty International as the world's most prominent human rights NGO play complementary roles. Specifically, the UN is more authoritative in a standard-setting and norm-generating role, but wea...

Women's land rights in zimbabwe

Abstract: This paper focuses on the issue of human rights with respect to women’s land rights in Zimbabwe. The concept of human rights is particularly pertinent because of the debates on land reform and the activities of the land Commission exploring possibilities for the reform of land use in Zimbabwe.

Language Policy and Planning in the United States

Abstract: While the United States has never declared a national official language, the primacy of English in public affairs has been well-established since the time of the earliest colonies (Crawford 1992a, Ruiz 1988). This is so in spite of the reluctance on the part of the British colonial authorities and, later, leaders of the early republic, to legislate matters of language—considered traditionally one of the most fundamental freedoms of civilized societies (Heath 1992). English even at that time was considered a language of political, economic, and social power and prestige; its preeminence in the United States, as elsewhere, has been reinforced in recent times by its establishment as a language of technology.

Human rights and governance in Africa

Abstract: "The volume stands out both in its timeliness and in the originality of its 'new thinking' about human rights on the continent. . . . The editors offer excellent intellectual leadership to this project."--Crawford Young, University of Wisconsin, MadisonThe often oppressive existence endured by ordinary Africans means that human rights issues, along with political and economic ones, are central to Africa's progress. The 1981 African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, signed by African leaders, takes the stance that human rights in Africa must honor the traditional African concern for the collective over the sanctity and integrity of the individual. The editors and authors of this book argue against that consensus, defending the position that human rights are universal. The contributors ask whether the idea of universal human rights is tenable theoretically and practically, coming at the issue from bases of social and political theory, history, and law. They conclude that the views on human rights in Africa need to move in the direction of international thinking on the issue, a posture not merely Western but quintessentially human. The book has much to offer students of African and international studies, human rights specialists, and others concerned with human rights issues.ContentsPart I. Theoretical PerspectivesEndless Teardrops: Prolegomena to the Study of Human Rights in Africa, by Ronald CohenHuman Rights and Precolonial Africa, by Timothy FernyhoughHuman and Peoples' Rights: What Point Is Africa Trying to Make? by H. W. O. Okoth-OgendoThe African Human Rights Process: A Contextual Policy-Oriented Approach, by Winston P. NaganPart II. Substantive Issues Women's Rights and the Right to Development, by Rhoda E. HowardAfrican Refugees: Defining and Defending Their Human Rights, by Art Hansen"Life Is War" Human Rights, Political Violence, and Struggles for Power in Lesotho, by Robert ShanafeltThe National Language Question and Minority Language Rights in Africa: A Nigerian Case Study, by F. Niyi AkinnasoEducation and Rights in Nigeria, by Ajuji Ahmed and Ronald CohenAcademic Freedom in Africa: A Right Long Overlooked, by Goran HydenThe Challenges of Domesticating Rights in Africa, by Goran HydenRonald Cohen is professor of anthropology and African studies at the University of Florida; among his many books and articles on Africa is" Satisfying Africa's Food Needs "(1988). Goran Hyden is professor of political science at the University of Florida; his books on African politics and development include" No Shortcuts to Progress "(1983). Winston Nagan, professor of law and affiliate professor of anthropology at the University of Florida, chaired the board of Amnesty International (USA) from 1989 to 1991.

Are Consumer Rights Human Rights

Abstract: Consumer protection has gained great importance since World War II. Similarly, the concept of human rights has become increasingly prevalent. Substantive and procedural tests of human rights support the contention that the tendency toward broadening the definition of human rights allows us to include consumer rights within that definition. In a consumer-oriented society, protection of the individual consumer is perceived as part of maintaining human dignity-especially against big business organizations, monopolies, cartels, and multinational corporations. Well-accepted doctrines of human rights, therefore, such as the emphasis on an individual's prosperity, honour, and dignity, can serve as the basis for recognizing consumer rights as human rights. An examination of several basic international and national documents reveals that it is due time to acknowledge consumer rights as human rights. This article is available in Osgoode Hall Law Journal: http://digitalcommons.osgoode.yorku.ca/ohlj/vol32/iss3/4 ARE CONSUMER RIGHTS HUMAN