Showing papers on "International human rights law published in 1991"

The united nations convention on the rights of the child

Abstract: States parties to the Convention are obliged to develop and undertake all actions and policies in the light of the best interests of the child. The Convention sets out these rights in 54 articles and two Optional Protocols. It spells out the basic human rights that children everywhere have: • the right to survival; • to develop to the fullest; • to protection from harmful influences, abuse and exploitation; • and to participate fully in family, cultural and social life. The four core principles of the Convention are • non-discrimination; • devotion to the best interests of the child; • the right to life, survival and development; • and respect for the views of the child.

The Convention on the Rights of the Child

Abstract: The United Nations General Assembly adopted the Convention on the Rights of the Child in November, 1989, bringing to a close ten years of debate and discussion over the merits of the project as well as the content of its main provisions. Although some representatives expressed misgivings about the content of several articles of the convention, it was adopted by a broad consensus among the member states of the United Nations. In fact, in less than one year, by September, 1990, the convention had been ratified by more than twenty countries, the threshold figure established by Article 49 of the convention, and it entered into force. This set in motion the process for the election of the ten-member Committee on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the body that has been charged with implementing the convention, in February, 1991, and it is scheduled to begin functioning in the fall of 1991. As recently as March, 1991, the United Nations Secretary-General reported to the states parties that 71 states had either ratified or acceded to the convention and that almost 60 other states had signed it. By June, 1991, the ratification of the convention by Belgium brought the total of states parties to over 90.

Democracy and human rights in developing countries

Abstract: The 1980s saw a wave of democratisation sweeping the globe. Similar transformations were evident in the early 1950s, when modernisation theorists were optimistic about the future of democracy in newly emerging states; these new democracies, however, failed to maintain stability and vacillated between democratic and authoritarian regimes. Through a synthesis of the theories of modernization, dependency and bureaucratic authoritarianism, Arat explains this instability in terms of the imbalance between two groups of human rights: civil-political and socioeconomic. Arguing against those who believe that socioeconomic rights are group rights that can be maintained only at the expense of individual civil-political rights - and that a trade-off between liberty and equality is inevitable - Arat demonstrates that the stability of democracy requires a balance between the two groups of human rights. A historic review, an empirical analysis of more than 150 countries, and case studies of Costa Rica, India and Turkey support her thesis that developing countries that recognise civil-political rights and establish democratic systems fail to maintain them if they neglect socioeconomic rights.

International law and the rights of minorities

Abstract: The treatment of ethnic and religious minorities by states is a major issue in the closing decade of the twentieth century. Conflict between ethnic groups, and between groups and states colours international relations and politics. The developments in Eastern Europe and the USSR have led to a re-emergence of ethnic and nationalist issues, whilst the problems of national consolidation of new states inevitably raises questions of culture, religiation and language. Minorities rights are difficult to accommodate within the individualist and universalist framework of human rights. International law is required to deal with dilemmas such as individual versus collective rights, passivity on the part of the state towards minority cultures or positive action to promote them, and nation-building as against group self-determination and autonomy. International Law and the Rights of Minorities attempts to explore the response of international law to these major questions through detailed analysis of treaty and customary law, including regional treaties. Areas covered include the prohibition of genocide, Article 27 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the principle of non-discrimination and the related but separable issue of indigenous peoples and international law. Reference is also made to the pre-UN tradition of group protection. International Law and the Rights of Minorities concludes with an assessment of the achievements of international law in these areas and explores the possibilities for future progress.

The Political Rights of Migrant Workers in Western Europe.

Abstract: The Challenge of Political Rights - Zig Layton-Henry The Absence of Rights - Catherine Wihtol de Wenden The Position of Illegal Migrant Workers Industrial Rights - Jan Vranken Civil Rights of Aliens - Tomas Hammar Immigrant Associations - Zig Layton-Henry Consultative Forms of Participation - Uwe Andersen Voting Rights - Jan Rath The Politics of Citizenship Acquisition - Gerard de Rham Conclusion

Islam and Human Rights: Tradition and Politics

Abstract: Contents Preface Acknowledgments 1 Assimilating Human Rights in the Middle East Background: Legal Hybridity in the Middle East Misperceptions About Applying International Human Rights Law as Serving Imperialism Cultural Relativism Muslims Challenge Cultural Relativism Actual Human Rights Concerns in the Middle East The Emergence of International Human Rights Law Muslims' Responses to and Involvement in the UN Human Rights System Summary 2 Human Rights in International and Middle Eastern Systems: Sources and Contexts International Human Rights: Background Islamic Human Rights: Sources The Impact of Islamization on Constitutions and Justice The Taliban Takeover of Afghanistan and Its Aftermath Saudi Arabia Confronts Pressures for Reforms and Liberalization Summary 3 Islamic Tradition and Muslim Reactions to Human Rights The Premodern Islamic Heritage Muslim Reactions to Western Constitutionalism The Persistence of Traditional Priorities and Values Consequences of Insecure Philosophical Foundations Islamic Human Rights and Cultural Nationalism Ambivalent Attitudes on Human Rights Summary 4 Islamic Restrictions on Human Rights Permissible Qualifications of Rights in International Law Islamic Formulas Limiting Rights Restrictions in the Iranian Constitution Restrictions in the UIDHR Restrictions in Other Islamic Human Rights Schemes Islam and Human Rights in the New Constitutions of Afghanistan and Iraq Summary 5 Discrimination Against Women and Non-Muslims Equality in the Islamic Legal Tradition Equality in Islamic Human Rights Schemes Equal Protection in US and International Law Equal Protection in Islamic Human Rights Schemes Equality in the New Afghan and Iraqi Constitutions Summary 6 Restrictions on the Rights of Women Background Islamic Law and Women's Rights Muslim Countries' Reactions to the Women's Convention Tabandeh's Ideas Mawdudi's Ideas The UIDHR Islamization in Iran and the Iranian Constitution The al-Azhar Draft Constitution The Cairo Declaration and the Saudi Basic Law Women's Rights in Pakistan The New Afghan and Iraqi Constitutions The Influence of Sex Stereotyping Summary 7 Islamic Human Rights Schemes and Religious Minorities The Historical Background of Current Issues Facing Religious Minorities International Standards Prohibiting Religious Discrimination Shari'a Law and the Rights of Non-Muslims Tabandeh's Ideas The UIDHR The Iranian Constitution Mawdudi and Pakistan's Ahmadi Minority The Cairo Declaration, the Saudi Basic Law, and the al-Azhar Draft Constitution US Policies on Religious Minorities and Developments in Afghanistan and Iraq Summary 8 The Organization of Islamic Cooperation and Muslim States Resist Human Rights for Sexual Minorities Background Sexual Minorities in the Middle East Contested Islamic Authority Tensions with the West over the Treatment of Sexual Minorities Muslim States' Objections to New UN Initiatives Summary 9 Freedom of Religion in Islamic Human Rights Schemes Controversies Regarding the Shari'a Rule on Apostasy Muslim Countries Confront Freedom of Religion The Contemporary Significance of Apostasy Tabandeh's Ideas The UIDHR The al-Azhar Draft Constitution The Iranian Constitution Sudan Under Islamization Mawdudi and Pakistani Law Affecting Religious Freedom The Cairo Declaration and the Saudi Basic Law The Afghan and Iraqi Constitutions US Interventions in the Domain of Religious Freedom Expanding the Reach of Laws Criminalizing Insults to Islam: From the Rushdie Affair to the Danish Cartoons Controversy Summary 10 An Assessment of Islamic Human Rights Schemes Appendix A: Excerpts from the Iranian Constitution Appendix B: The Cairo Declaration on Human Rights in Islam Appendix C: 2009 Resolution on Combating Defamation of Religions Glossary Bibliography Notes Index

The age of rights

Abstract: Preface to the English Edition. Part I . 1. On the Fundamental Principles of Human Rights. 2. Human Rights Now and in the Future. 3. The Age of Rights. 4. Human Rights and Society. 5. Human Rights Today. Part II. 6. The French Revolution and Human Rights. 7. The Legacy of the Great Revolution. 8. Kant and the French Revolution. Part III. 9. Against the Death Penalty. 10. The Current Debate on the Death Penalty. Index.

What are Civil Rights

Abstract: For all the discussion and debate about civil rights, it is striking how little attention is given initially to the question of what civil rights are. There is no well-understood principle of inclusion or exclusion that defines the category. Nor is there an agreed list of civil rights, except perhaps a very short, avowedly nonexhaustive one, with rather imprecise entries. Yet, if the extension of the category of civil rights is uncertain, its significance is not. All agree that it is a principal task of government to protect civil rights, so much so, indeed, that a failure to protect them usually is regarded as outweighing substantial achievements of other kinds. But a right does not count as a civil right just because it is valuable or valued. Some of the rights most often asserted as civil rights reflect practical interests of their possessors considerably less than other actual or potential rights not so identified.In the United States, familiar legal doctrine provides a shortcut to the specification of civil rights. They are whatever is embraced by the provisions of the federal Civil Rights Acts: the right to vote, fair housing, equal employment opportunity, and so forth. That path, however, is not adequate for the present purpose. For the most part, the statutes refer explicitly or implicitly to federal constitutional rights, and the collective reference to them as civil rights is unexplained. The bases of the constitutional rights are too various to be a reliable guide to an independently designated category of civil rights.

Human Rights, State Sovereignty and the Protection of Undocumented Migrants Under the International Migrant Workers Convention

Abstract: Pursuant to the international legal principle of territorial sovereignty, states possess extensive authority to control the ingress of foreigners into their territory, but the presence of tens of millions of irregular migrants around the world reveals that states often fail to exercise such control in practice. As a result, international society is faced with the need to establish standards of appropriate treatment for irregular migrants who are present within the territory of receiving states. In view of the precarious social condition of these individuals, the need for human rights protections in this context is particularly urgent, but the interests of states in territorial sovereignty are also at stake. The International Convention seeks to accommodate these competing concerns by providing human rights protections to undocumented migrants which are substantial but less extensive than those provided to documented migrants, and through ensuring states' continuing authority in the spheres of immigration control and national "mem? bership policy." The article concludes that, despite the unmistakable normative value of many of the Convention's protective provisions, the Convention's ability to substantially ameliorate the human rights situation of irregular migrants is significandy constrained by its over? riding commitment to the norms and structures of sovereign statehood. [WJhile the international legal protection afforded to aliens is on [the] one hand an inchoate expression of human similarities which cannot be denied, it is simultaneously an expression of national differences which are equally beyond question. (Morgan, 1988:142)

The Bill of Rights as a Constitution

Abstract: To many Americans, the Bill of Rights stands as the centerpiece of our constitutional order-and yet constitutional scholars lack an adequate account of it. Instead of being studied holistically, the Bill has been chopped up into discrete chunks of text, with each bit examined in isolation. In a typical law school curriculum, for example, the First, Ninth, and Tenth Amendments are integrated into an introductory survey course on \"Constitutional Law\"; the Sixth, Eighth, and much of the Fifth are taught in \"Criminal Procedure\"; the Seventh is covered in \"Civil Procedure\"; the takings clause is featured in \"Property\"; the Fourth becomes a course unto itself, or is perhaps folded into \"Criminal Procedure\" or \"Evidence\" (because of the judicially-created exclusionary rule); and the Second and Third are ignored.' When we turn from law school classrooms to legal scholarship, a similar pattern emerges. Each clause is typically considered separately, and some amendments-again, the Second and Third-are generally ignored by main-

The Human Rights Committee: Its Role in the Development of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

Abstract: The Human Rights Committee is charged with the task of monitoring the implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Since its inception it has arguably become the most important independent international human rights body in the world. Through the consideration of State Reports, from over half of the world community, and the examination of communications submitted by individuals (under the Optional Protocol to the Covenant), the Human Rights Committee seeks to establish a universal human rights jurisprudence. This book analyses the institutional characteristics of the Human Rights Committee, how it has developed its practices and procedures under the Covenant and the Optional Protocol, and analyses the jurisprudence of the Committee under selected key articles of the Covenant.

European Human Rights Law: Text and Materials

Abstract: Preface. Table of Cases. Part I: Structure and Process. 1: The European Convention on Human Rights. 2: The European Commisssion on Human Rights. 3: The European Court of Human Rights. 4: Reform of the Commission and the Court. Part II: Substantive Adjudication in Court. 5: Torture Inhuman or Degrading Treatment of Punishment. 6: Freedom of Expression (Article 10). 7: Respect for Priivate and Family Life (Article 8). 8: Liberty (Article 5). 9: Right to a Public Hearing in the Determination of Civil Rights and Criminal Charges (Article 6). 10: The Convention in Municipal Law. Appendices A - E Index

Human Rights and the Allocation of US Military Assistance

Abstract: A relationship between US military aid and the human rights practices of potential recipient countries is mandated by law. Yet the preponderance of the results obtained in past quantitative studies seems to indicate that no such relationship exists in reality. This study focuses on the question of whether governments that abuse human rights are disqualified completely from US military aid programs. When some weaknesses of previous studies are rectified, human rights abuse is then found to have affected the allocation of military aid in two distinct samples of countries: Western hemisphere countries; and a random sample of the world's nations, micro-states excluded. Human rights abuse affected US military aid allocation during both the Carter and Reagan presidencies. The appearance of a relationship during the Reagan presidency indicates the effect endured even under an administration thought generally to have de-emphasized human rights in its foreign-policy decisions.

Arab Voices: The Human Rights Debate in the Middle East

Abstract: Although many Westerners claim human rights as a major achievement of Western civilization, Muslims argue just as sincerely that human rights are central to Islam. They argue as well that the West's rhetorical emphasis on human rights cannot hide the fact that within Western society basic human rights are violated every day. Through the use of extensive research and interview material from Egypt, Tunisia, and Morocco, Kevin Dwyer explores what human rights mean to Middle Eastern men and women - lawyers, political militants, religious thinkers, journalists, and human rights activists. The debate ranges widely from the nature of human freedom and human rights organizations to the role of religion in Arab and national identity. The reader gains a strong sense of the complexity and vitality of life in the Middle East today and of the kinds of issues that are at the center of informed discussion there. From the book: 'Human rights may be something new for the West, but we in Islam have had it since the beginning. We have no differences between whites, blacks, Jews, Muslims - everyone is free. We never persecuted the Jews here the way they did in France and England.In England and in the US you fight against the blacks - why just the other day there were news items about fighting between the police and blacks in London' - Muhammad Mekki Naciri, member of Morocco's Council of Religious Scholars.

Law and women's rights in early modern england

Abstract: (1991). LAW AND WOMEN'S RIGHTS IN EARLY MODERN ENGLAND. The Seventeenth Century: Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 169-187.

Free at Last?: The Civil Rights Movement and the People Who Made It

Abstract: In this account, the author traces the progress of the Civil Rights Movement, from its beginnings - the Supreme Court's 1954 Brown decision, the 1955 Montgomery bus boycott, the 1960 Greensboro sit-ins - through the growth of consciousness and confidence, all the way to Selma and beyond

The Soering Case

Abstract: The unanimous judgment of the European Court of Human Rights in the Soering case, handed down on July 7, 1989, holds that Great Britain’s extradition of the applicant to the United States to stand trial for capital murder, an offense punishable under the applicable Virginia law by “death, or imprisonment for life,” would violate the prohibition against “inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment” in the European Convention on Human Rights. Aside from its effect on the future ability of the United States (and many other countries) to obtain the extradition from Council of Europe countries of persons charged with offenses carrying the death penalty, the judgment in Soering has implications of a far wider nature for international criminal law, the law of state responsibility, the jurisprudence of the European Convention, and international human rights law in general. Some of these implications are obvious and immediate; others are more speculative and long range. Like the proverbial pebble thrown in the pond, Soering will cause ripples for some time to come.

The International Convention on the Rights of All Migrant Workers and Members of Their Families in the Context of International Migration Policies: An Analysis of Ten Years of Negotiation:

Abstract: This article is an effort, by one of the drafters, to analyze the factors affecting the creation of a new international instrument, like the UN Convention on Migrant Workers. The analysis may be ch...

What's wrong with rights? : problems for feminist politics of law

Abstract: Women in law sexist bias and law law, family and sexuality problems of reliance on rights discourse consent, coercion and sexual politics of sterilization medicine, ethics and law cohabitation contracts - a socialist-feminist issue cohabitation rights - status, contract or dependence? birthrights gendering rights.

Faith in Human Rights: Support in Religious Traditions for a Global Struggle

Abstract: In this first comprehensive study of the problem of a universal definition of human rights, Robert Traer argues that contemporary theological discourse contains an affirmation of faith that unites members of world religious traditions with secular humanists in a common struggle to establish human rights as the basis for human dignity. Scholars of religion, law, and comparative religious ethics, as well as human rights advocates will find it an invaluable guide.

The Migrant Workers Convention: Its Place in Human Rights Law

Abstract: This article summarizes the relationship between the Migrant Workers Convention and the principal general instruments of human rights law. The Convention's vocabulary and complexity invite a measur...

Judges and Human Rights: The Kenyan Experience

Abstract: On 4 July, 1989 in Maina Mbacha v. Attorney General the High Court of Kenya appeared to remove itself from its role of enforcing the Bill of Rights of Kenya. The court ruled “inoperative” section 84 of the Constitution of Kenya which grants original jurisdiction to the High Court to enforce Fundamental Rights and Freedoms of the Individual, section 70–83 (inclusive) (Chapter V). The provision was deemed “inoperative” in Kamau Kuria v. Attorney General, and this was upheld shortly thereafter in Maina Mbacha when the High Court found that no rules of procedure had been enacted to enforce the Bill of Rights and dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Indeed, in the latter case the court dismissed the application for lack of jurisdiction even though the case was before the court by virtue of the constitutional grant of “original unlimited jurisdiction”. As a matter of established law, the court can be approached by any available procedure when ruling to enforce established constitutional rights. Ordinary rights can be defeated for failure to follow procedure, but historically, procedural requirements often defer to constitutionally granted rights. Once the Bill of Rights was enacted in the Constitution, its enforcement became supreme to all other law, including procedural rules, for the supremacy clause of the Kenya Constitution states: “… if any other law became inconsistent with this Constitution, this Constitution shall prevail and the other law shall to the extent of the inconsistency be void”

Human rights and democracy in ghana: the record of the rawlings' regime

Abstract: At the same time, however, he acknowledges that this argument should not be taken to imply that 'Africans were "traditionally" more tolerant of arbitrary power . . ., or that they cannot now conceive of democracy and human rights other than in Western terms. This foreign import has become an integral part of sub-Saharan political cultures'.3 Bayart's assertions may be true; at the same time a number of African regimes, either currently or in the recent past, routinely denied many of their citizens even the most basic human right, that of the right to life. Amongst these should be noted the regimes of Macias Nguema in Equatorial Guinea, Amin in Uganda and Bokassa in the Central African Republic. They maintained themselves in power by means of truly repressive measures which were entirely incompatible with basic Western notions of democratic liberties and human rights. At the same time, however, other regimes such as that of Leopold Senghor (Senegal), Dawda Jawara (The Gambia) and Kenneth Kaunda (Zambia)appeared to have performed better in this respect.4 This is not to argue that human rights and democracy in Africa can be placed on some kind of 'sliding