Showing papers on "International human rights law published in 2012"

Human Rights and Social Work: Towards Rights-Based Practice

Abstract: Now in its third edition, Human Rights and Social Work explores how the principles of human rights inform contemporary social work practice. Jim Ife considers the implications of social work's traditional Enlightenment heritage and the possibilities of 'post-Enlightenment' practice in a way that is accessible, direct and engaging. The world has changed significantly since the publication of the first edition in 2000 and this book is situated firmly within the context of present-day debates, concerns and crises. Ife covers the importance of relating human rights to the non-human world, as well as the consequences of political and ecological uncertainty. Featuring examples, further readings and a glossary, readers are able to identify and investigate the important issues and questions arising from human rights and social work. Now more than ever, Human Rights and Social Work is an indispensable resource for students, scholars and practitioners alike.

CSR and the Debate on Business and Human Rights: Bridging the Great Divide

Abstract: Human rights have not played an overwhelmingly prominent role in CSR in the past. Similarly, CSR has had relatively little influence on what is now called the "business and human rights debate." This contribution uncovers some of the reasons for the rather peculiar disconnect between these two debates and, based on it, presents some apparent synergies and complementarities between the two. A closer integration of the two debates, as it argues, would allow for the formulation of an expansive and demanding conception of corporate human rights obligations. Such a conception does not stop with corporate obligations "merely" to respect human rights, but includes an extended focus on proactive company involvement in the protection and realization of human rights. In other words, the integration of the two debates provides the space within which to formulate positive human rights obligations for corporations.

On banning autonomous weapon systems: human rights, automation, and the dehumanization of lethal decision-making

Abstract: This article considers the recent literature concerned with establishing an international prohibition on autonomous weapon systems. It seeks to address concerns expressed by some scholars that such a ban might be problematic for various reasons. It argues in favour of a theoretical foundation for such a ban based on human rights and humanitarian principles that are not only moral, but also legal ones. In particular, an implicit requirement for human judgement can be found in international humanitarian law governing armed conflict. Indeed, this requirement is implicit in the principles of distinction, proportionality, and military necessity that are found in international treaties, such as the 1949 Geneva Conventions, and firmly established in international customary law. Similar principles are also implicit in international human rights law, which ensures certain human rights for all people, regardless of national origins or local laws, at all times. I argue that the human rights to life and due process, and the limited conditions under which they can be overridden, imply a specific duty with respect to a broad range of automated and autonomous technologies. In particular, there is a duty upon individuals and states in peacetime, as well as combatants, military organizations, and states in armed conflict situations, not to delegate to a machine or automated process the authority or capability to initiate the use of lethal force independently of human determinations of its moral and legal legitimacy in each and every case. I argue that it would be beneficial to establish this duty as an international norm, and express this with a treaty, before the emergence of a broad range of automated and autonomous weapons systems begin to appear that are likely to pose grave threats to the basic rights of individuals.

Welfare States and Immigrant Rights: The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion

Abstract: Acknowledgments List of Tables and Figures 1. Welfare States and Immigrant Rights PART I: IMMIGRANTS' SOCIAL RIGHTS IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE 2. Introduction to Part I 3. Liberal Welfare States and Immigrants' Social Rights 4. Conservative Corporatist Welfare States and Immigrants' Social Rights 5. Social Democratic Welfare States and Immigrants' Social Rights 6. Immigrants' Social Rights across Welfare States PART II: THE POLITICS OF INCLUSION AND EXCLUSION 7. Introduction to Part II 8. Liberal Welfare States and the Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion 9. Conservative Corporatist Welfare States and the Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion 10. Social Democratic Welfare States and the Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion 11. The Politics of Inclusion and Exclusion Compared 12. Conclusion: Immigrant Rights - a Challenge for Welfare States References Index

International Human Rights Law in Africa

Abstract: An introduction to international human rights law -- The role of United Nations organs and agencies in realizing human rights in Africa -- The United Nations treaty-based human rights system and Africa -- The African Union and human rights architecture -- Substantive human rights norms in the African regional system -- The African Commission : introduction and assessment -- The African Commission : protective mandate -- The African Commission : promotional mandate -- The African children's charter and children's rights committee -- The African Court on Human and Peoples' rights -- The realization of human rights in Africa through subregional institutions -- Domestic implementation of international human rights law in African States -- Conclusion.

Climate Change, Forced Migration, and International Law

Abstract: Introduction 1. Conceptualizing Climate Change-Related Movement 2. The Relevance of International Refugee Law 3. Climate Change-Related Movement and International Human Rights Law: The Role of Complementary Protection 4. State Practice on Protection from Disasters and Related Harms 5. 'Disappearing States', Statelessness, and Relocation 6. Moving with Dignity: Responding to Climate Change-Related Mobility in Bangladesh 7. 'Protection' or 'Migration'? The 'Climate Refugee' Treaty Debate 8. Institutional Governance 9. Overarching Normative Principles Conclusion

Territorial Rights: Concept and Justification

Abstract: This article begins by analysing the idea of territorial rights. It argues that the rights over territory standardly claimed by states can be separated into three main elements: the right of jurisdiction, the right to the territory's resources and the right to control borders. A full justification of territorial rights must therefore address each of these three elements. It proceeds to examine theories that treat states as the primary holders of territorial rights. Utilitarian theories (such as Sidgwick's) maintain that states acquire such rights simply by maintaining social order over the relevant territory. Such theories are insufficiently discriminating and cannot deal adequately with the issues raised by invasion and secession. An alternative view adds the condition that the state must be the legitimate representative of the people who (innocently) occupy the territory, but this too faces an objection. A historical version of the statist theory claims that states gain territorial rights by increasing ...

Human rights as myth and ceremony? Reevaluating the effectiveness of human rights treaties, 1981-2007.

Abstract: Much research has shown human rights treaties to be ineffective or even counterproductive, often contributing to greater levels of abuse among countries that ratify them. This article reevaluates the effect of four core human rights treaties on a variety of human rights outcomes. Unlike previous studies, it disaggregates treaty membership to examine the effect of relatively “stronger” and “weaker” commitments. Two-stage regression analyses that control for the endogeneity of treaty membership show that stronger commitments in the form of optional provisions that allow states and individuals to complain about human rights abuses are often associated with improved practices. The article discusses the scholarly and practical implications of these findings.

Children's Rights and a Capabilities Approach: The Question of Special Priority

Abstract: The latter part of the twentieth century saw the near-universal recognition of the idea of children’s rights as human rights. At the same time, the conceptual basis for such rights remains largely under-theorized. Part of the aim of this article is to draw on the insights of the “capabilities approach” developed by Martha Nussbaum in philosophy, and Amartya Sen in economics, in order to provide a fuller theoretical justification of this kind. In addition, this article investigates the degree to which it will be justifiable, under such an approach, for international human rights law or national constitutions, to give special priority to children’s rights. It begins this task by first considering, and rejecting, potential justifications for such special priority based on the need to ensure the future self-reliance of children as adults and ideas about the special “innocence” of children; and, then, by developing two affirmative justifications for such special priority, based on the special vulnerability of children, and the special cost-effectiveness of protecting children’s rights. This article also explores the degree to which these principles may provide a starting point for thinking about more general trade-offs between different rights claims, or claimants, under a capabilities approach.

The UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women : a commentary

Abstract: First commentary on one of the most important anti-discrimination and women's rights instruments Systematic article-by-article structure, setting out each provision's negotiating history, interpretation, and relevant case law Full overview of the work of the CEDAW Committee, including all of its decisions and recommendations Includes detailed history of the adoption of the Optional Protocol This volume is the first comprehensive commentary on the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women and its Optional Protocol. The Convention is a key international human rights instrument and the only one exclusively addressed to women. It has been described as the United Nations' 'landmark treaty in the struggle for women's rights'. The Commentary describes the application of the Convention through the work of its monitoring body, the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women. It comprises detailed analyses of the Preamble and each article of the Convention and of the Optional Protocol. It also includes a separate chapter on the cross-cutting substantive issue of violence against women. The sources relied on are the treaty language and the general recommendations, concluding observations and case law under the Optional Protocol, through which the Committee has interpreted and applied the Convention. Each chapter is self-contained but the Commentary is conceived of as an integral whole. The book also includes an Introduction which provides an overview of the Convention and its embedding in the international law of human rights. Readership: Scholars and students of international human rights law and women's rights; practitioners and NGO and government legal advisers and policy-makers working in these areas

Human Rights and the Environment

Abstract: The relationship between human rights and environmental protection in international law is far from simple or straightforward. A new attempt to codify and develop international law on this subject was initiated by the UNHRC in 2011. What can it say that is new or that develops the existing corpus of human rights law?. Three obvious possibilities are explored in this article. First, procedural rights are the most important environmental addition to human rights law since the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Any attempt to codify the law on human rights and the environment would necessarily have to take this development into account. Secondly, a declaration or protocol could be an appropriate mechanism for articulating in some form the still controversial notion of a right to a decent environment. Thirdly, the difficult issue of extra-territorial application of existing human rights treaties to transboundary pollution and global climate change remains unresolved. The article concludes that the response of human rights law � if it is to have one � needs to be in global terms, treating the global environment and climate as the common concern of humanity.

Implementing the New UN Corporate Human Rights Framework: Implications for Corporate Law, Governance, and Regulation

Abstract: The UN Framework on Human Rights and Business comprises the State’s duty to protect human rights, the corporate responsibility to respect human rights, and the duty to remedy abuses. This paper focuses on the corporate responsibility to respect. It considers how to overcome obstacles, arising out of national and international law, to the development of a legally binding corporate duty to respect human rights. It is argued that the notion of human rights due diligence will lead to the creation of binding legal duties and that principles of corporate and tort law can be adapted to this end. Furthermore, recent legal developments accept an “enlightened shareholder value” approach allowing corporate managers to consider human rights issues when making decisions. The responsibility to respect involves adaptation of shareholder based corporate governance towards a more stakeholder oriented approach and could lead to the development of a new, stakeholder based, corporate model.

Including the other: regulation of the human rights of mobile students in a nation-bound world

Abstract: The world’s three million cross-border international students are located in a ‘gray zone’ of regulation with incomplete human rights, security and capabilities Like other mobile persons such as short-term business and labour entrants, and refugees, students located on foreign soil do not enjoy the same protections and entitlements as do citizens International students are affected by two different national regulatory regimes, in the nations of citizenship and of education But they are fully covered by neither Their position is vulnerable and uncertain, mediated by non-citizen status and the related facts of cultural difference, information asymmetry and communication difficulties Referring to research on international education in Australia, which has the world’s fifth largest international student population, the article focuses on the manner in which the subordinated outsider status of international students magnifies the problems they face It considers what might be done to enable them to access comprehensive protections, empowerment and human rights as defined in the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights

The Impact of Human Rights Organizations on Naming and Shaming Campaigns

Abstract: Given the myriad of human rights abuses that occur globally and daily, why are some nations on the receiving end of a substantial amount of international opprobrium, while others receive far less attention and condemnation? The authors contend that the increasing presence of human rights organizations in such states is the critical link between the local and the international. Increases in the number of such groups contributes significantly to the generation of Amnesty International urgent actions, one of the most-often-utilized tools in naming and shaming campaigns against human rightsabusingregimes.Theauthorsfindstrongsupportfornearlyalltheirhypotheses.

International Regimes for Human Rights

Abstract: This article provides a roadmap for understanding the points of agreement and contention that characterize contemporary empirical scholarship on international human rights legal regimes. It explores what the statistical research teaches us about why states participate in these regimes; knowledge of how these regimes operate; and their relationship to actual human rights behavior. It also describes the central shortcomings of this research tradition and suggests a few areas especially promising for future research.

The Creation of New Rights by the Food Sovereignty Movement: The Challenge of Institutionalizing Subversion

Abstract: This article analyses the creation of new human rights by a contemporary transnational agrarian movement, Via Campesina. It makes the case that the movement’s assertion of new rights contributes to shaping a cosmopolitan, multicultural, and anti-hegemonic conception of human rights. It discusses the advantages and constraints of the human rights framework and analyses the creation of new rights by the movement as a way to overcome the limitations of the ‘rights master frame’. It concludes with a discussion of some of the challenges involved in the institutionalization of new rights.

Commentary to the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the Area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

Abstract: On 28 September 2011, at a gathering convened by Maastricht University and the International Commission of Jurists, a group of experts in international law and human rights adopted the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The experts came from universities and organizations located in all regions of the world and included current and former members of international human rights treaty bodies, regional human rights bodies, and former and current Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Access to education in Africa: responding to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Abstract: Article 24 of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities mandates that disabled people should have full rights to education in inclusive settings. However, to ensure that educational polices and settings are designed to meet this criterion seems challenging to African countries that have ratified this Convention. This article arises from the 2nd African Network of Evidence-to-Action on Disability Symposium. This fluid network was established to address the gap between research and practice in the region. The article reports proceedings and the emerging themes from the Education, Training and Work Commission; one of the six commissions of this Symposium, focusing specifically on the education aspect. It also challenges various stakeholders to move from evidence to action to ensure the educational rights of disabled people in inclusive settings.

Constituting Economic and Social Rights

Abstract: 1. Introduction: The Path to Transformation PART I: CONSTITUTING RIGHTS BY INTERPRETATION 2. Interpretative Standpoints 3. Interpreting the Minimum 4. Interpreting Limits PART II: CONSTITUTING RIGHTS BY ENFORCEMENT 5. A Typology of Judicial Review 6. The Catalytic Court 7. A Comparative Typology of Courts PART III: CONSTITUTING RIGHTS BY CONTESTATION 8. Social Movements and Economic and Social Rights 9. The Governance Function of Economic and Social Rights 10. Conclusion: Economic and Social Rights as Human Rights and Constitutional Rights

Commentary to the Maastricht principles on extraterritorial obligations of states in the area of economic, social and cultural rights

Abstract: On 28 September 2011, at a gathering convened by Maastricht University and the International Commission of Jurists, a group of experts in international law and human rights adopted the Maastricht Principles on Extraterritorial Obligations of States in the area of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The experts came from universities and organizations located in all regions of the world and included current and former members of international human rights treaty bodies, regional human rights bodies, and former and current Special Rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

Human Rights and the Environment: Where Next?

Abstract: The relationship between human rights and environmental protection in international law is far from simple or straightforward. A new attempt to codify and develop international law on this subject was initiated by the UNHRC in 2011. What can it say that is new or that develops the existing corpus of human rights law?. Three obvious possibilities are explored in this article. First, procedural rights are the most important environmental addition to human rights law since the 1992 Rio Declaration on Environment and Development. Any attempt to codify the law on human rights and the environment would necessarily have to take this development into account. Secondly, a declaration or protocol could be an appropriate mechanism for articulating in some form the still controversial notion of a right to a decent environment. Thirdly, the difficult issue of extra-territorial application of existing human rights treaties to transboundary pollution and global climate change remains unresolved. The article concludes that the response of human rights law � if it is to have one � needs to be in global terms, treating the global environment and climate as the common concern of humanity.

Global constitutionalism: Human rights, democracy and the rule of law

Abstract: When the European Court of Justice (ECJ) issued its judgment in Kadi and Al Barakaat 2 – better known now as the Kadi case – it highlighted the constitutional dimension that results from the interaction between different political and legal arenas in the global system. The ECJ challenged the hierarchic international legal order in which the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) was understood to have fi nal normative authority. In so doing, the ECJ reiterated the centrality of the rule of law in the protection of human rights. In the process the case promoted the constitutionalisation of the global system. At the same time, the ECJ justifi ed its judgment by the need to protect the constitutional order of the EU and the constitutional values of its member states. While scholars of European law have addressed the far-reaching implications of this case, there has been less attention paid to it by those working on wider issues in international relations theory, international law and political science more generally. This case demonstrates how the interaction between different political and legal orders impacts on the fundamental rights of individuals in ways that deserve much more attention. It is, therefore, a good example of how constitutional questions and claims are emerging beyond the state and how they require the input of different disciplines at the intersection of law and politics. If we take the range of academic output on the case as an indicator, it clearly is infl uential far beyond the discipline of European or International Law, possibly marking a critical juncture for the fi eld of international

Reverse SolangeProtecting the essence of fundamental rights against EU Member States

Abstract: This article presents an innovative approach to EU fundamental rights protection against the Member States. It draws on recent studies which have shown that the fundamental rights situation in a number of Member States is an increasing cause for concern, particularly with respect to media freedom. However, while the Union intensely scrutinizes the fundamental rights situations in candidate countries, there is scant action so far in case of serious problems in the Member States. Although the latter are comprehensively committed to "respect for human rights" according to Art 2 TEU and subject to the enforcement mechanism foreseen by Art 7 TEU this has proven to be of very limited practical impact. Therefore, the article suggests opening up "respect for human rights" for individual legal actions via Union citizenship. Its starting point is the recent jurisprudential development of the "substance" of Union citizenship in Ruiz Zambrano. This substance can and should basically be defined with reference to the essence of fundamental rights enshrined in Article 2 TEU. To put this into practice the article suggests a reverse Solange-doctrine, applied by the ECJ towards the Member States: outside the scope of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights the Member States remain autonomous in fundamental rights protection as long as it can be presumed that they ensure the essence of fundamental rights enshrined in Article 2 TEU. However, should this presumption be rebutted, the "substance" of Union citizenship - within the meaning of Ruiz Zambrano - comes into play. On this basis Union citizens can seek redress before national courts and the ECJ.

The Global Model of Constitutional Rights

Abstract: Since the end of the Second World War and the subsequent success of constitutional judicial review, one particular model of constitutional rights has had remarkable success, first in Europe and now globally. This global model of constitutional rights is characterized by an extremely broad approach to the scope of rights (sometimes referred to as 'rights inflation'), the acceptance of horizontal effect of rights, positive obligations, and increasingly also socio-economic rights, and the use of the doctrines of balancing and proportionality to determine the permissible limitations of rights. Drawing on analyses of a broad range of cases from the UK, the European Court of Human Rights, Germany, Canada, the US, and South Africa, this book provides the first substantive moral, reconstructive theory of the global model. It shows that it is based on a coherent conception of constitutional rights which connects to attractive accounts of judicial review, democracy and the separation of powers. The first part of the book develops a theory of the scope of rights under the global model. It defends the idea of a general right to personal autonomy: a right to everything which, according to the agent's self-conception, is in his or her interest. The function of this right is to acknowledge that every act by a public authority which places a burden on a person's autonomy requires justification. The second part of the book proposes a theory of the structure of this justification which offers original and useful accounts of the important doctrines of balancing and proportionality.

Protocol to the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights on the Rights of Women in Africa

Abstract: International treaties that deal with specific human rights and groups of persons Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Rights of the Child on the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Child Pornography United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment United Nations Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child United Nations International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination United Nations International Convention on the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance ●

"Makers and Shapers": Human Rights INGOs and Public Opinion

Abstract: Do human rights international nongovernmental organizations (HROs) impact public opinion? This article argues that HROs provide information to citizens in repressive regimes about their government's human rights practices Without this information, worsening governmental abuse of human rights alone will not lead to fewer people believing their government respects human rights With increased HRO shaming of the state, however, a smaller proportion of people come to believe that their government respects human rights These hypotheses are tested using an updated dataset on shaming by over 400 HROs, together with never-before-examined data from the World Values Survey on the public's opinion of human rights within a state The results largely support the article's contention: HROs are powerful conduits through which a population becomes informed of domestic human rights issues Without HRO shaming, a bad or worsening human rights condition does not diminish the proportion of a population that believes their government respects human rights

Exploring the Limits of the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights

Abstract: Scope of application of Charter – What does ‘implementing Union law’ mean? – Application of v. derogation from EU law – Asylum cases, N.S. – Familiapress, Schmidberger, Viking – Implementing to include derogation – Annibaldi and Dereci – Interpretation of the Charter – ‘Provided for by law’ – The ‘essence’ of a right or freedom – Legitimate objectives and proportionality – Rights both in EU Treaties and in Charter: citizenship – Charter and ECHR – Constitutional Traditions, level of protection and deference – Article 53 not according to Solange, but like Omega and Sayn-Wittgenstein – Principles and Rights

The Margin of Appreciation in International Human Rights Law: Deference and Proportionality

Abstract: 1. Introduction PART ONE - THEORY: CONCEPTUALIZING AND JUSTIFYING THE MARGIN OF APPRECIATION 2. Deference: Reasoning Differently On The Basis Of External Factors 3. Different Approaches To Deference In International Human Rights Law PART TWO - PRACTICE: FACTORS AFFECTING THE MARGIN OF APPRECIATION 4. Democracy And Participation 5. Treaty Interpretation, Current State Practice And Other International Law Influences On The Practice Of Deference 6. Expertise And Competence PART THREE - THE STRUCTURE OF HUMAN RIGHTS ADJUDICATION: THE MARGIN OF APPRECIATION AND PROPORTIONALITY 7. Proportionality: Determining Rights 8. Nature Of The Right And Type Of Case 9. Concluding Remarks Bibliography

Outlawed: Between Security and Rights in a Bolivian City

Abstract: Acknowledgments ix 1. Security, Rights, and the Law in Evo's Bolivia 1 2. Getting Engaged: Reflections on an Activist Anthropology 35 3. The Phantom State: Law and Ordering on the Urban Margins 77 4. Exorcising Ghosts: Managing Insecurity in Uhspa Uhspa 121 5. Community Justice and the Creative Imagination 167 6. Inhuman Rights? Violence at the Nexus of Rights and Security 203 7. An Uncertain Anthropology 239 Notes 257 References 281 Index 305