Extraterritorial Obligations in Core International Human Rights Treaties

Fragmentation Of International Law

Moral Concept ◽

Customary International Law ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

International Human ◽

International Human Rights Law has emerged as an academic subject in its own right, separate from, but still related to, International Law. This book explains the distinctive nature of the new discipline by examining the influence of the moral concept of human rights on general international law. Rather than make use of moral philosophy or political theory, the work explains the term ‘human rights’ by examining its usage in international law practice, on the understanding that words are given meaning through their use. Relying on complexity theory to make sense of the legal practice in the United Nations, the core human rights treaties, and customary international law, The Idea of International Human Rights Law shows how a moral concept of human rights emerged, and then influenced the international law doctrine and practice on human rights, a fact that explains the fragmentation of international law and the special nature of International Human Rights Law.

The Fallacy of Effective Human Rights Protection under Relevant Treaty Law when Armed Groups Commit Violations

10.1093/oso/9780198821946.003.0007 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Tilman Rodenhäuser

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Human Rights Violations ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Armed Groups ◽

Human Rights Protection ◽

Rights Protection ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

Chapter 5 adds to the contemporary discourse on human rights obligations of non-state armed groups by showing that in many situations, there is a clear legal need for these obligations. This chapter first engages in the debate on whether and to what extent certain human rights treaties address armed groups directly. Second, it shows that under the law of state responsibility, states are generally not responsible for human rights violations committed by non-state entities. Third, it recalls that under international human rights law, states have an obligation to protect human rights against violations committed by armed groups. However, it argues that because this cannot be a strict obligation but is one that depends on states’ capacities and the particular circumstances, often this framework cannot adequately protect individuals against human rights violations by armed groups. The result is a legal and practical need for human rights obligations of non-state armed groups.

The Institutional Future of the Covenants

10.1093/oso/9780198825890.003.0014 ◽

2018 ◽

Author(s):

Felice D Gaer

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Body System ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

Treaty Monitoring ◽

Treaty Body ◽

International Human ◽

Normative Standards ◽

Individual Petition

Longstanding proposals to strengthen implementation of the international human rights treaties have often focused on procedural reforms such as harmonizing methods of work or consolidating ten treaty monitoring bodies into one. This article reviews past reform efforts and then considers proposals to create stronger individual petition mechanisms—including a ‘world court’—as a way of strengthening human rights implementation. After discussing these proposals, the author offers additional ways to make the system more effective and efficient. She rejects the oft-suggested proposal to create a ‘world court’ for human rights, noting legal, organizational, logistical, and financial obstacles. Rather than rushing to tear down the current treaty body system, the author offers a proposal for determining how consolidation of petition proceedings might affect normative standards.

Preventive Strategies: Obligations To Prevent Under International Human Rights Treaties And Jurisprudence

The Fundamentals of International Human Rights Treaty Law ◽

10.1163/ej.9789004176089.i-288.53 ◽

2011 ◽

pp. 99-121

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Preventive Strategies ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

Disability in International Human Rights Law

10.1093/oso/9780198824503.001.0001 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Gauthier de Beco

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Theoretical Framework ◽

Social Model ◽

International Human Rights Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

Legal Subject ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

International Human ◽

International Instruments

This book examines what international human rights law has gained from the new elements in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons (CRPD). It explores how the CRPD is intricately bound up with other international instruments by studying the relationship between the Convention rights and those protected by other human rights treaties as well as the overall objectives of the UN. Using a social model lens on disability, the book shows how the Convention sheds new light on the very notion of human rights. In order to so, the book provides a theoretical framework which explicitly integrates disability into international human rights law. It explains how the CRPD challenges the legal subject by drawing attention to distinct forms of embodiment, before introducing the idea of the ‘dis-abled subject’ stemming from a recognition that all individuals encounter disability-related issues in the course of their lives. The book also examines how to apply this theoretical framework to a number of rights and highlights the consequences for the implementation of human rights treaties as a whole. It not only builds upon available literature straddling different fields, which include disability studies and legal and political theory, but also draws upon the recommendations of treaty bodies and reports of UN agencies as well as disabled people’s organisations. The book provides an agenda-setting analysis for all human rights experts by inviting them to appreciate the benefits of placing disabled people at the heart of international human rights law.

Fifty Years of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination ◽

General Recommendation 35 on combating racist hate speech

10.7228/manchester/9781784993047.003.0013 ◽

2017 ◽

Author(s):

Tarlach McGonagle

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Hate Speech ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

General Recommendation ◽

The chapter outlines how ICERD has traditionally had an outlier status among international human rights treaties in respect of racist hate speech due to its heavy reliance on the criminalisation of certain types of expression in order to combat racism. The recent General Recommendation 35 recognises that ICERD as a living instrument must be better synchronised and informed by contemporary understandings of racist hate speech, its causes, manifestations and impact.

3 Right to be Presumed Innocent

The Right to a Fair Trial in International Law ◽

10.1093/law/9780198808398.003.0004 ◽

2021 ◽

Author(s):

Clooney Amal ◽

Webb Philippa

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Criminal Justice ◽

Burden Of Proof ◽

Reasonable Doubt ◽

The Rule Of Law ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

International Human ◽

Assessment Of Evidence ◽

The Right

This chapter focuses on the right to be presumed innocent, one of the most ancient and important principles of criminal justice, and a prerequisite for any system based on the rule of law. The right is absolute and non-derogable and, at its core, prohibits convictions that are predetermined or based on flimsy grounds. International human rights bodies have therefore found that where a conviction is based on non-existent, insufficient, or unreliable evidence, the presumption has been violated and a miscarriage of justice has occurred. More frequently, international human rights bodies have applied the presumption to require specific procedural protections during a trial. These include guarantees that the prosecution bears the burden of proving a defendant’s guilt beyond reasonable doubt, and that the defendant should not be presented or described as a criminal before he has been proved to be one. The chapter concludes that the presumption is protected in similar terms in international human rights treaties, but also highlights divergences in international jurisprudence relating to the standard for finding that a court’s assessment of evidence violates the presumption, the permissibility of reversing the burden of proof, and the extent to which the presumption applies after a trial has been completed.

Conclusion: Human Rights Treaties (Sometimes) Protect Rights

Contentious Compliance ◽

10.1093/oso/9780190910976.003.0007 ◽

2019 ◽

pp. 193-224

Author(s):

Courtenay R. Conrad ◽

Emily Hencken Ritter

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

International Law ◽

International Institutions ◽

Domestic Institutions ◽

Human Rights Regime ◽

Human Rights Treaties ◽

This chapter highlights the conclusions and contributions of theresearch: obligation to international law can constrain leaders from violating human rights-and encourage potential dissidents to revolt against their governments. The argument that human rights treaties "work" is contrary to the explanations of a wide variety of scholars who maintain that the international human rights regime has been an abject failure. Although scholars have found evidence that domestic institutions can lead to decreased repression, there has been little support for the argument that international institutions do so.In contrast, this book finds that-if international law creates even the smallest shift in assumptions over domestic consequences for repressive authorities-these effects can yield a substantively meaningful reduction in rights violations when leaders have significant stakes in domestic conflicts.