Protected persons and entities: human rights, group rights, and self-determination

2022 ◽  
pp. 375-409
Author(s):  
Alexander Orakhelashvili
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Group Rights

19. Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Havemann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Indigenous Group ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines issues surrounding the human rights of Indigenous peoples. The conceptual framework for this chapter is informed by three broad, interrelated, and interdependent types of human rights: the right to existence, the right to self-determination, and individual human rights. After describing who Indigenous peoples are according to international law, the chapter considers the centuries of ambivalence about the recognition of Indigenous peoples. It then discusses the United Nations's establishment of a regime for Indigenous group rights and presents a case study of the impact of climate change on Indigenous peoples. It concludes with a reflection on the possibility of accommodating Indigenous peoples' self-determination with state sovereignty.

External and Internal Secession in Ethiopia’s Multinational Federation

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-28
Author(s):  
Christophe Van der Beken
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Ethnic Groups ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Unity In Diversity ◽  
The Right

Abstract The ethno-territorial nature of Ethiopian federalism finds its constitutional foundation in Article 39 of the Constitution. Article 39 grants a right to self-determination to all of Ethiopia’s ‘nations’, ‘nationalities’ and ‘peoples’. The right to self-determination as conceived by Article 39 is comprehensive and has both so-called internal (such as the right to territorial autonomy) and external dimensions (the right to secession). This article argues that these constitutional provisions display weaknesses and gaps since they affect the achievement of the constitutional objectives and involve serious risks for the rights of (persons belonging to) other ethnic groups. Although the right to self-determination is one of the fundamental constitutional principles, so is the respect for individual and group rights. Furthermore, the unity in diversity objective of the Constitution requires equilibrium between ethnic empowerment and human rights. The article therefore provides a number of legal recommendations to address these gaps and weaknesses.

Human Rights and Collective Self-Determination

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Peter Jones
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Collective Good ◽  
Moral Thinking ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Collective Rights ◽  
Collective Goods ◽  
Collective Self ◽  
The Relationship

The doctrine of human rights has been closely associated with rights of collective self-determination in both international law and moral thinking. How should we conceive their relationship? Can the first subsume the second? Many commentators think not since human rights are rights of individuals while rights of collective self-determination must be group rights. This chapter presents a conception of group rights as collective rights and examines the relationship between group rights so conceived and collective goods. It argues that some collective rights can be human rights and these include the collective right to the collective good of self-determination. The link between human rights and peoples’ rights to self-determination is not however complete. The doctrine of human rights can incorporate the principle that the determined should also be the determiners but it cannot tell us how humanity should be divided into peoples each of whom is entitled to be self-determining.

When Rights Embrace Responsibilities

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giulia Sajeva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous People ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Local Communities ◽  
Economic Interests ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Potential Applicability ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Relationship Of

The conservation of environment and the protection of human rights are two of the most compelling needs of our time. Unfortunately, they are not always easy to combine and too often result in mutual harm. This book analyses the idea of biocultural rights as a proposal for harmonizing the needs of environmental and human rights. These rights, considered as a basket of group rights, are those deemed necessary to protect the stewardship role that certain indigenous peoples and local communities have played towards the environment. With a view to understanding the value and merits, as well as the threats that biocultural rights entail, the book critically assesses their foundations, content, and implications, and develops new perspectives and ideas concerning their potential applicability for promoting the socio-economic interests of indigenous people and local communities. It further explores the controversial relationship of interdependence and conflict between conservation of environment and protection of human rights.

Self-Determination Through Autonomy or Independence? – On the Current and Future Position of New Caledonia

ICL Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-105
Author(s):  
Markku Suksi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
European Court ◽  
Determination Process ◽  
The Right

Abstract New Caledonia is a colonial territory of France. Since the adoption of the Nouméa Accord in 1998, a period of transition towards the exercise of self-determination has been going on. New Caledonia is currently a strong autonomy, well entrenched in the legal order of France from 1999 on. The legislative powers have been distributed between the Congress of New Caledonia and the Parliament of France on the basis of a double enumeration of legislative powers, an arrangement that has given New Caledonia control over many material fields of self-determination. At the same time as this autonomy has been well embedded in the constitutional fabric of France. The Nouméa Accord was constitutionalized in the provisions of the Constitution of France and also in an Institutional Act. This normative framework created a multi-layered electorate that has presented several challenges to the autonomy arrangement and the procedure of self-determination, but the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee have resolved the issues regarding the right to vote in manners that take into account the local circumstances and the fact that the aim of the legislation is to facilitate the self-determination of the colonized people, the indigenous Kanak people. The self-determination process consists potentially of a series of referendums, the first of which was held in 2018 and the second one in 2020. In both referendums, those entitled to vote returned a No-vote to the question of ‘Do you want New Caledonia to attain full sovereignty and become independent?’ A third referendum is to be expected before October 2022, and if that one also results in a no to independence, a further process of negotiations starts, with the potential of a fourth referendum that will decide the mode of self-determination New Caledonia will opt for, independence or autonomy.

Self-determination, Democracy, Human Rights, and Migrants’ Rights

2020 ◽  
Vol 34 (2) ◽  
pp. 295-309
Author(s):  
Gillian Brock ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Free Movement ◽  
Temporary Worker ◽  
Migration Policies ◽  
Fair Process ◽  
Contemporary World ◽  
Migrants Rights ◽  
Core Requirements ◽  
Governance Arrangements

What weight should we place on self-determination, democracy, human rights and equality in an account of migration justice? Anna Stilz and Andrea Sangiovanni offer insightful comments that prompt us to consider such questions. In addressing their welcome critiques I aim to show how my account can help reduce migration injustice in our contemporary world. As I argue, there is no right to free movement across state borders. However, migrants do have rights to a fair process for determining their rights. Democratic communities should have scope to make many migration decisions, although there are constraints on that self-determination. The migration governance oversight arrangements I favor are compatible with core requirements of agency and responsiveness that are operative in mature democracies. In responding to concerns about objectionable power inequalities that often characterize temporary worker programs, I show why addressing these issues requires various institutional protections that are well enforced. Robust migration governance arrangements can assist in formulating defensible migration policies that we can implement here and now as we aim to reduce migration injustices in our current world.

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