Showing papers on "International human rights law published in 2004"

How to Influence States: Socialization and International Human Rights Law

Abstract: Regime design choices in international law turn on empirical claims about how states behave and under what conditions their behavior changes. We suggest that a central problem for human rights regimes is how best to socialize "bad actors" to incorporate globally legitimated models of state behavior and how to get "good actors" to do better. Substantial empirical evidence suggests three distinct mechanisms whereby states and institutions might influence the behavior of other states: coercion, persuasion, and acculturation. Several structural impediments preclude full institutionalization of coercion- and persuasion-based regimes in human rights law. Yet, inexplicably these models of social influence predominate in international legal studies. In this Article, we first describe in some detail the salient conceptual features of each mechanism of social influence. We then link each of the identified mechanisms to specific regime design characteristics - identifying several ways in which acculturation might occasion a rethinking of fundamental regime design problems in human rights law. Through a systematic evaluation of three design problems - conditional membership, precision of obligations, and enforcement methods - we elaborate an alternative way to conceive of regime design problems. We maintain that (1) acculturation is a conceptually distinct social process through which state behavior is influenced; and (2) the regime design recommendations issuing from this approach defy conventional wisdom in international human rights scholarship. This exercise not only recommends reexamination of policy debates in human rights law; it also provides a conceptual framework within which the costs and benefits of various design principles might be assessed. Our aim is to improve the understanding of how norms operate in international society with a view to improving the capacity of global and domestic institutions to harness the processes through which human rights cultures are built.

Putting the ‘rights‐based approach’ to development into perspective

Abstract: This paper seeks to unravel some of the tangled threads of contemporary rights talk. For some, the grounding of rights‐based approaches in human rights legislation makes them distinctively different to others, lending the promise of re‐politicising areas of development work—particularly, perhaps, efforts to enhance participation in development, that have become domesticated as they have been ‘mainstreamed’ by powerful institutions like the World Bank. Others complain that like other fashions, the label ‘rights‐based approach’ has become the latest designer item to be seen to be wearing, and has been used to dress up the same old development. We pose a series of questions about why rights have come to be of interest to international development actors, and explore the implications of different versions and emphases, looking at what their strengths and shortcomings may come to mean for the politics and practice of development.

Declaration on fundamental principles and rights at work

Abstract: A key measure of women's improvement in employment is the availability of good-quality jobs for women in legislative, senior official or managerial (LSOM) positions. Higher participation rates for women in LSOM jobs indicate a reduction of discriminatory barriers. Although women still represent a distinct minority in such positions throughout the world, holding only 28% of these senior jobs, there has been considerable progress. In the EU, women have increased their share of high-status positions over the past decade by 3.1% to current level of 30.6%.

How to Influence States: Socialization and International Human Rights Law

Abstract: Regime design choices in international law turn on empirical claims about how states behave and under what conditions their behavior changes. We suggest that a central problem for human rights regimes is how best to socialize "bad actors" to incorporate globally legitimated models of state behavior and how to get "good actors" to do better. Substantial empirical evidence suggests three distinct mechanisms whereby states and institutions might influence the behavior of other states: coercion, persuasion, and acculturation. Several structural impediments preclude full institutionalization of coercion- and persuasion-based regimes in human rights law. Yet, inexplicably these models of social influence predominate in international legal studies. In this Article, we first describe in some detail the salient conceptual features of each mechanism of social influence. We then link each of the identified mechanisms to specific regime design characteristics - identifying several ways in which acculturation might occasion a rethinking of fundamental regime design problems in human rights law. Through a systematic evaluation of three design problems - conditional membership, precision of obligations, and enforcement methods - we elaborate an alternative way to conceive of regime design problems. We maintain that (1) acculturation is a conceptually distinct social process through which state behavior is influenced; and (2) the regime design recommendations issuing from this approach defy conventional wisdom in international human rights scholarship. This exercise not only recommends reexamination of policy debates in human rights law; it also provides a conceptual framework within which the costs and benefits of various design principles might be assessed. Our aim is to improve the understanding of how norms operate in international society with a view to improving the capacity of global and domestic institutions to harness the processes through which human rights cultures are built.

Human Rights: Between Idealism and Realism

Abstract: Table of Treaties and Other Relevant Instruments 1. Introduction 2. History of Human Rights 3. The Different 'Generations' of Human Rights: From Human Rights to Good Governance 4. Universality of Human Rights 5. Implementation at National Level 6. The Work of the Political Bodies of International Organizations 7. The Work of Expert Bodies: Examination of State Reports 8. The Work of Expert Bodies: Complaint Procedures and Fact-finding 9. Supervision by International Tribunals 10. Enforcement by States and the Role of Non-Governmental Organizations 11. Mitigating the Effects of Armed Conflict: Humanitarian Law 12. Criminal Prosecution of Human Rights Violations 13. Civil Suits against Human Rights Violators 14. Time for Hope, or Time for Despair?

Globalizing Democracy and Human Rights

Abstract: Acknowledgements Introduction: between the personal and the global Part I. Theoretical Considerations: 1. Hard questions in democratic theory: when justice and democracy conflict 2. Two concepts of universality and the problem of cultural relativism Part II. Democracy and Rights, Personalized and Pluralized: 3. Embodied politics 4. Racism and democracy 5. Cultural identity, group rights, and social ontology 6. Conceptualizing women's human rights Part III. Globalizing Democracy in a Human Rights Framework: 7. Evaluating the claims for a global democracy 8. Are democracy and human rights compatible in the context of globalization? 9. The global democratic deficit and economic human rights Part IV. Current Applications: 10. Democratic management and the stakeholder idea 11. Democratic networks: technological and political 12. Terrorism, empathy, and democracy Index.

Human Rights and the End of Empire: Britain and the Genesis of the European Convention

Abstract: NOTE ON THE PAPERBACK EDITION PREFACE ABBREVIATIONS 1 Human Rights, Fundamental Freedoms, and the World of the Common Law 2 The Mechanisms of Repression 3 The International Protection of Individual Rights Before 1939 4 The Ideological Response to War: Codes of Human Rights 5 Human Rights and the Structure of the Brave New World 6 The Burdens of Empire 7 The Foreign Office Establishes a Policy 8 Beckett's Bill and the Loss of the Initiative 9 Conflict Abroad and at Home 10 The Growing Disillusion 11 Britain and the Western Option 12 From the Brussels Treaty to the Council of Europe 13 A Convention on the Right Lines: The Rival Texts 14 The Conclusion of Negotiations and the Rearguard Action 15 The First Protocol 16 Ratification and its Consequences 17 Emergencies and Derogations 18 The First Cyprus Case 19 The Outcome of the Two Applications 20 Coming In, Rather Reluctantly, From the Cold Bibliography Index

Global Civil Society and the International Human Rights Movement: Citizen Participation in Human Rights International Nongovernmental Organizations

Abstract: We examine patterns of citizen participation in the global human rights movement through memberships in human rights international nongovernmental organizations (HRINGOs). After showing enormous growth in the number of HRINGOs in recent decades, we investigate country level characteristics leading to greater participation in the international human rights movement. Drawing on the social movement literature and world society theory, we employ multivariate regression analyses to explain HRINGO memberships in 1978, 1988 and 1998. To understand changes over time, we also use panel analyses for 1978 - 88 and 1988 - 98. The strongest predictors of memberships in HRINGOs are found to be embeddedness in global civil society and international flows of human resources. The effects of these international factors grew stronger over time while domestic factors became less important.

‘Core Labour Standards’ and the Transformation of the International Labour Rights Regime

Abstract: A person's enthusiasm for the protection of labour rights through the EU's foreign and trade policy is tempered by two factors. First, he/she is aware that the protection of labour rights in external relations can quickly generate suspicions of protectionism, and, that where this is indeed the case such protectionism can be challenged as illegal in the context of the international trade regime, the suspicions of representatives of non-EU countries that initiatives aimed at linking trade to labour rights are fuelled by the desire to protect European businesses from competition must be taken seriously. Second, simply taking a 'rights-based approach' does not provide easy answers in the context of the EU's complex legal order, there is a very real risk that competing rights claims may arise at the national and at the international levels. Keywords: European Union (EU); external trade; labour rights; protectionism

The Development of Positive Obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights by the European Court of Human Rights

Abstract: During the last thirty years the European Court of Human Rights has been developing,at an expanding pace, positive obligations under the European Convention. This monograph seeks to provide a critical analysis of the burgeoning case law concerning positive obligations, a topic which is relatively uncharted in the existing literature. Positive obligations require many different forms of action by member states, ranging from effectively investigating killings through to protecting peaceful demonstrators from violent attacks by their opponents. The contemporary significance of these obligations is graphically illustrated by the fact that it is the obligation upon states to provide fair trials to determine civil and criminal proceedings within a reasonable time that is the source of the overwhelming majority of complaints to the European Court in recent years. The study examines the legal bases and content of key positive obligations. Conclusions are then drawn concerning the reasons for the development of these obligations and areas of potential expansion are identified.

Defending Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Practical Issues Faced by an International Human Rights Organization

Abstract: International organizations like Human Rights Watch are legitimately urged to pay more attention to economic, social and cultural rights. But practical prescriptions are often simplistic—typically involving only the rhetorical invocation of these rights. The strength of organizations like Human Rights Watch is not their rhetorical voice but their shaming methodology—their ability to investigate misconduct and expose it to public opprobrium. That methodology is most effective when there is relative clarity about violation, violator, and remedy. That clarity is best achieved when misconduct can be portrayed as arbitrary or discriminatory rather than a matter of purely distributive justice.

Children's rights

Abstract: Origins and Early Thinking: Philip Veerman (1987) Janusz Korczak and the Rights of The Child C.R. Margolin (1978) Salvation versus Liberation - The Movement For Children's Rights In a Historical Context Carl M. Rogers and Lawrence S. Wrightsman (1978) Attitudes Toward Children's Rights - Nurturance or Self-Determination? Hillary Rodham (1973) Children Under The Law. The Theory of Children's Rights: B. Bandman (1973) Do Children Have Any Natural Rights? D.N. MacCormick (1976) Children's Rights - A Test-Case For Theories of Rights W.N.R. Lucy (1990) Controversy About Children's Rights Michael Wald (1979) Children's Rights - A Framework for Analysis. Children's Liberation: Richard Farson (March 1974) A Bill of Rights for Children John Holt (1975) Escape from Childhood Ann Palmeri (1980) Childhood's End - Toward The Liberation of Children. Contemporary Thinking about Children's Rights: Michael D.A. Freeman (1992) Taking Children's Rights More Seriously John Eekelaar (1986) The Emergence of Children's Rights Joel Feinberg (1980) The Child's Right To An Open Future Kathleen Hunt Federle (1994) Rights Flow Downhill Jeremy Roche (1999) Children - Rights, Participation and Citizenship. Some Critics: Onora O'Neill (1988) Children's Rights and Children's Lives Michael King (1994) Children's Rights as Communication - Reflections on Autopoietic Theory and the United Nations Convention Laura Purdy (1994) Why Children Shouldn't Have Equal Rights Lynn Wardle (1996) The Use and Abuse of Rights Rhetoric - The Constitutional Rights of Children. Feminism and Children's Rights: Martha Minow (1986) Rights for the Next Generation - A Feminist Approach to Children's Rights Cynthia Price Cohen (1997) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child - A Feminist Landmark. Legislating for Children's Rights: Dominic McGoldrick (1991) The United Nations Convention on the Rights of The Child Jane Fortin (1999) Rights Brought Home For Children Jonathan Todres (1998) Emerging Limitations on The Rights of The Child - The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and its Early Case Law. Cultural Diversity and Children's Rights: Philip Alston (1994) The Best Interests Principle - Towards A Reconciliation of Culture and Human Rights Chuma Himonga (2001) Implementing The Rights of the Child in African Legal Systems. Whose Rights?: Virginia Morrow (1999) "We are People Too" - Children's and Young People's Perspectives on Children's Rights and Decision-Making in England Susan Kimber et al (1999) Estonian Children's Perceptions of Rights - Implications for Societies in Transition. The Future of Childrens's Rights: Michael Freeman (2000) The Future of Children's Rights Thomas Simon (2000) The United Nations Convention on Wrongs To The Child Julia Sloth-Nielsen (1996) The Contribution of Children's Rights To The Reconstruction of Society.

People Out of Place : Globalization, Human Rights and the Citizenship Gap

Abstract: Part 1: Framework 1 Globalization and the Citizenship Gap Alison Brysk and Gershon Shafir 2 Citizenship and Human Rights In An Era of Globalization Gershon Shafir Part 2: Producing Citizenship 3 Constituting Political Community Ronnie Lipschutz 4 Latitudes of Citizenship Aihwa Ong Part 3: Constructing Rights 5 Agency on a Global Scale: Rules, rights and the European Union David Jacobson and Galya Benarieh Ruffer 6 International Law and Citizenship: Mandated membership, diluted identity Peter Spiro Part 4: Globalizing the Citizenship Gap 7 Deflated Citizenship: Labor rights in a global era Gay W Seidman 8 The Globalization of Social Reproduction: Women migrants Kristen Hill Maher 9 Children Across Borders: Patrimony, property or persons? Alison Brysk Part 5: Reconstructing Citizenship 10 Citizenship and Globalism: Markets, empire and terrorism Richard Falk 11 The Repositioning of Citizenship Saskia Sassen 12 Globalizing Citizenship? Alison Brysk and Gershon Shafir

Post‐national citizenship, social exclusion and migrants rights: Mexican seasonal workers in Canada

Abstract: In the past few decades, migrants residing in many European and North American countries have benefited from nation‐states' extension of legal rights to non‐citizens. This development has prompted many scholars to reflect on the shift from a state‐based to a more individual‐based universal conception of rights and to suggest that national citizenship has been replaced by post‐national citizenship. However, in practice migrants are often deprived of some rights. The article suggests that the ability to claim rights denied to some groups of people depends on their knowledge of the legal framework, communications skills, and support from others. Some groups of migrants are deprived of the knowledge, skills, and support required to negotiate their rights effectively because of their social exclusion from local communities of citizens. The article draws attention to the contradiction in two citizenship principles—one linked to legal rights prescribed by international conventions and inscribed through internati...

Explaining Costly International Institutions: Persuasion and Enforceable Human Rights Norms

Abstract: Why do states create enforceable international human rights norms that empower third parties to prevent and sanction domestic human rights abuses? Recent theories suggest that international institutions are shaped not only by power and interests but also by the content of arguments during intensive communication and argumentation processes. Moving beyond the simple notion that “communication matters,” I argue that states are likely to be persuaded by arguments that draw on widespread taken-for-granted norms, in particular, prohibitions on bodily harm, the importance of precedent in decision making, and the link between cooperation and progress. This model extends previous theories by specifying mechanisms and scope conditions for international change through persuasion. I illustrate the argument by examining the convention against torture, a costly international institution that allows domestic courts to prosecute crimes that occur in the territory of other states (universal jurisdiction). Because of its enforcement mechanisms, the torture convention poses a difficult case for theories explaining international institutions. If persuasion models can explain even costly institutions, they should be more widely considered as explanations for all kinds of international institutions.

Shouting from the Bottom of the Well The Impact of International Trials for Wartime Rape on Women's Agency

Abstract: This article critically examines the presumption that international adjudication of wartime rape cases advances the interests of survivors. It argues that just as national women's rights advocates recognize the futility of relying on court testimony alone for the production of a narrative that reflects women's experiences, promotes their agency and addresses their need for closure and healing, international women's rights advocates should explore the limitations of international tribunals and examine complementary and alternative mechanisms. Using the landmark "Foca case' as an illustration, the author explains that although women may still exercise agency in the context of the adversarial process, their ability to do so is stunted. Moreover, I argue that, although witnesses may actively resist the legal meta-narrative of Woman Victim, adversarial processes serve to reinforce gender essentialism and cultural essentialism. This analysis has important implications for women human rights advocates seeking to...

The human right to water : legal and policy dimensions

Abstract: The evolution of the right to water can be traced to the developments of the early 1970s. This Study analyzes the resolutions and declarations of the various conferences and forums that have been held since that time, and the ways in which they have confronted the issue of the right to water. The Study then discusses the evolution of the international legal regime for the protection and promotion of human rights, and pays particular attention to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, as well as to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The role of each of the committees established to oversee the implementation of the two Covenants is considered in some detail. Particular attention is given to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, its evolution, and its strengthening, and the practice of issuing General Comments. The last two parts of the Study are devoted to General Comment No. 15, which recognizes the human right to water. These parts analyze the extent to which the Comment recognizes a legal right to water, and highlights some policy aspects that are related to, and may affect, this right. The core thesis of this book is that there exists, within the legal framework of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, a human right to water because it is a right that inheres in several other rights, and a right without which key provisions of the Covenant would be rendered ineffectual. This conclusion is buttressed also by the interpretative authority that lies with the Committee having evolved from its initial form as a Working Group, to what is now undeniably, a fully-fledged entity, with significant formal authority and legitimacy. Although this conclusion acknowledges that General Comments do not create new rights, it recognizes that General Comment No. 15 extrapolates the normative and practical bases of a human right to water within the fabric of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Together with a number of General Assembly resolutions on the issue, including the Millennium Development Goal related to water, as well as the voluminous body of soft law provisions, the General Comment arguably provides further evidence that there is an incipient right to water evolving in public international law today. Moreover, the Comment has offered a new momentum to efforts aimed at translating those soft law commitments into substantive, precise, and legally binding obligations.

Unintended Consequences of Land Rights Reform: The Case of the 1998 Uganda Land Act

Abstract: Empirical studies of land rights privatisation have tended to underemphasise the unintended impacts of land rights reform relative to establishing whether the predicted impacts have occurred. This article, in reviewing some of the unintended consequences of the 1998 Uganda Land Act, draws attention to ways in which intended impacts may be undercut by lack of both consultation and foresight in anticipating responses to new legal provisions and by lack of adequate resourcing of the reform process. It also recognises that unintended outcomes may sometimes reflect appropriate adaptations of legal provisions at the local level, and briefly considers what light the Ugandan experience can throw on recent proposals for Normalisation of informal property rights in the Third World.

Human Rights in Africa: From the OAU to the African Union

Abstract: Acknowledgements List of abbreviations 1. Historical overview of human rights in the OAU/AU 2. The relationship between the OAU/AU and the African Commission on human and peoples' rights 3. The link between human rights and democracy 4. The relationship between conflict and human rights 5. Women and the OAU/AU 6. Children's rights in the OAU/AU 7. Refugees and human rights 8. Development, NEPAD and human rights 9. Conclusion Appendix I. Charter of the Organization of African Unity Appendix II. Constitutive Act of the African Union Appendix III. African Charter on human and peoples' rights Bibliography Index.

Corporations and Transnational Human Rights Litigation

Abstract: Since the mid-1980s,beginning with the unsuccessful Union Carbide litigation in the USA, litigants have been exploring ways of holding multinational corporations [MNCs] liable for offshore human rights abuses in the courts of the companies' home States. The highest profile cases have been the human rights claims brought against MNCs (such as Unocal, Shell, Rio Tinto, Coca Cola, and Talisman) under the Alien Tort Claims Act in the United States. Such claims also raise issues under customary international law (which may be directly applicable in US federal law) and the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations [RICO] statute. Another legal front is found in the USA, England and Australia, where courts have become more willing to exercise jurisdiction over transnational common law tort claims against home corporations. Futhermore, a corporation's human rights practices were indirectly targeted under trade practices law in groundbreaking litigation in California against sportsgoods manufacturer Nike. This new study examines these developments and the procedural arguments (eg regarding personal jurisdiction and especially forum non conveniens) which have been used to block litigation, as well as the principles which can be gleaned from cases which have settled. The analysis is important for human rights victims in order to know the boundaries of possible available legal redress. It is also important for MNCs, which must now take human rights into account in managing the legal risks (as well as moral and reputation risks) associated with offshore projects.

Unfair Advantage: Workers' Freedom of Association in the United States under International Human Rights Standards

Abstract: Excerpt] Human Rights Watch selected case studies for this report on workers’ freedom of association in the United States with several objectives in mind. One was to include a range of sectors services, industry, transport, agriculture, high tech – to assess the scope of the problem across the economy, rather than to focus on a single sector. Another objective was geographic diversity, to analyze the issues in different parts of the country. The cases studied here arose in cities, suburbs and rural areas around the United States. Another important goal was to look at the range of workers seeking to exercise their right to freedom of association high skill and low skill, blue collar and white collar, resident and migrant, women and men, of different racial, ethnic and national origins. Many of the cases involved the most vulnerable parts of the labor force. These include migrant farmworkers, sweatshop workers, household domestic workers, undocumented immigrants, and welfare-to-work employees. But the report also examines the rights of U.S. workers with many years of employment at stable, profitable employers. These include packaging factory workers, steel workers, shipyard workers, food processing workers, nursing home workers, and computer programmers. The cases studied here offer a cross-section of workers’ attempts to form and join trade unions, to bargain collectively, and to strike. The cases reflect violations and obstacles workers met in the exercise of these rights. In many cases, workers’ voices recount their experiences. Human Rights Watch also made written requests for responses and comments from employers identified in the report. Most of them declined. Of those who did respond, most did not want to be identified by name. In several cases, the names of individual managers are known to Human Rights Watch, but they are omitted so as not to profile them unduly in a human rights report with wide distribution to the public. This report is intended to illuminate systemic problems in U.S. labor law and practice, not conduct of individuals.

International law and hegemony: a reconfiguration

Abstract: Instead of appearing as a stable set of normative demands opposed to international politics, international law is better understood as an aspect of hegemonic contestation, a technique of articulating political claims in terms of legal rights and duties. The controversies in the law concerning the use of force, the law of peace, human rights, trade and globalisation reflect strategies through which political actors seek to make their preferences appear to be universal ones. But the legal idiom also contains a utopian aspect: it distances political actors from their idiosyncratic preferences and thus creates the international world as a legal community in the act of invoking it.

Same-Sex Sexualities and the Globalization of Human Rights Discourse

Abstract: In the past decade, a “double movement of globalization” has taken place in the realm of gay rights. On the one hand, a globalization of human rights has occurred, whereby human rights have become a key criterion by which the “progress” of nations is evaluated. On the other hand, there has been a globalization of same-sex sexualities as identities. These movements have the potential to conflict with, rather than complement, each other in terms of progressing toward a greater recognition of gay rights worldwide: resistance to cosmopolitan claims to gay rights is often grounded in communitarian claims based in the language of the right of self-determination of a people. The article argues, however—largely through the use of case studies (Tasmania, Zimbabwe, and Romania)— that the discourse of universal human rights can and has been used successfully by local gay rights activists. This has taken place through the use of several strategies: the recognition of multiple and intersecting identities; the development of a discourse by which international legal standards become part of the “essence of a people”; and by the reclaiming of an authentic gay past within a national community context. In this way, gay rights activists have become able to move seamlessly between discourses of the local and the global. Ultimately, the article concludes, gay rights struggles will be most successful when they not only engage in the protection of human rights for individuals based on international human rights standards but also fight for inclusion at the level of communitarian political debate within the larger society.

EU Human Rights Policies: A Study in Irony

Abstract: Preface Acknowledgements 1. Introduction 2. Development Policy and Human Rights 3. Accession to the EU and Human Rights 4. The Scope of Internal-External Incoherence 5. Explaining Incoherence: the Orthodox Arguments 6. The Invention of Human Rights in the EU 7. European Identity and Human Rights 8. Conclusion

Extraterritorial Application of Human Rights Treaties

Abstract: Be as it is the result of the war on terrorism, foreign military intervention, economic globalisation or otherwise, state conduct increasingly affects the human rights of individuals beyond its own borders. This book provides a comprehensive answer to the question whether existing human rights treaties are applicable in such circumstances. The principal treaties on civil and political rights require states to guarantee certain human rights to persons within their jurisdiction. What is the meaning of these terms? Are states able to evade the application of these treaties by detaining their opponents on foreign soil rather than within their own borders? Does it make a difference to the applicability of these treaties, whether a victim of an extraterritorial assassination by state agents, was a detainee, who had not been arrested? By contrast, treaties on economic, social and cultural rights tend to specifically to provide that states must strive for the full realisation of these rights through international co-operation. The problem here is that the precise nature and content of this obligation is unclear. For example, what is the extent of states' obligations to contribute to sustainable development in other states? What are their obligations as members of the executive bodies of international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the IMF? This book focuses on the extraterritorial application of four key human rights treaties: the two UN Covenants on Human Rights and the American and European Conventions on Human Rights. It reveals that supervisory bodies are inconsistent in their implementation of these treaties and discusses the pros and cons of both a restrictive and a non-restrictive approach.

An introduction to rights

Abstract: Part I. The First Expansionary Era: 1. The prehistory of rights 2. The rights of man: The Enlightenment 3. 'Mischievous nonsense'? 4. The nineteenth century: Consolidation and retrenchment 5. The conceptual neighborhood of rights: Wesley Newcomb Hohfeld Part II. The Second Expansionary Era: 6. The universal declaration and a revolt against utilitarianism 7. The nature of rights: 'choice' theory and 'interest' theory 8. A right to do wrong? Two conceptions of moral rights 9. The pressure of consequentialism 10. What is interference? 11. The future of rights 12. Conclusion.

Women's Rights, the European Court, and Supranational Constitutionalism

Abstract: This analysis examines supranational constitutionalism in the European Union. In particular, the study focuses on the role of the European Court of Justice in the creation of women’s rights. I examine the interaction between the Court and member state governments in legal integration, and also the integral role that women’s advocates – both individual activists and groups – have played in the development of EU social provisions. The findings suggest that this litigation dynamic can have the effect of fueling the integration process by creating new rights that may empower social actors and EU organizations, with the ultimate effect of diminishing member state government control over the scope and direction of EU law. This study focuses specifically on gender equality law, yet provides a general framework for examining the case law in subsequent legal domains, with the purpose of providing a more nuanced understanding of supranational governance and constitutionalism.