scholarly journals The Human Right to Sexual Autonomy

2021 ◽  
Vol 22 (5) ◽  
pp. 703-717
Author(s):  
Dana-Sophia Valentiner

AbstractDuring the 20th century, society’s view on sexualities has undergone a severe paradigm shift. While moving away from ideas of decency and bawdiness to evaluate legitimate sexuality, concepts of autonomy and consent gained importance. This transformation is also challenging the law.1 With the broad acceptance of various forms of sexual behavior and sexual orientation, legal regulation based on morality and ethics is outdated. Recent debates on law and sexualities focus on sexual autonomy and its conditions. This is shown especially by the legal debate on sexual violence and criminal law.2 But the right to sexual autonomy does not only require adequate protection against sexual violence. As a human right, it obliges State Parties to Human Rights Treaties such as the European Convention on Human Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women to respect, protect, and fulfill sexual autonomy. This includes the guarantee of freedom from sexual violence, coercion and discrimination, as well as control over one’s own body and over the involvement in sexual interactions with others. In order to ensure the different components of sexual autonomy, sexual education and reliable access to information and medical services are necessary. This paper presents an approach concerning the multifaceted dimensions of sexual autonomy through a human rights lens.

1998 ◽  
Vol 67 (1) ◽  
pp. 17-35 ◽  
Author(s):  

AbstractExisting case law under human rights treaties, in particular Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights, includes several findings and interpretations related to sexual rights. The sexual identity and orientation of a person, as well as his or her sexual autonomy and integrity have found protection under the right to respect for one's private and family life. Among other important treaty provisions giving protection to sexual rights in the framework of international human rights law are the prohibition of torture and other inhuman or degrading treatment, the prohibition of discrimination, the right to a fair trial and the right to marry and to found a family. Under humanitarian law rape, one of the main forms of violations of sexual integrity and autonomy, is defined as a crime against humanity, with the consequence of individual criminal responsibility arising. Rape committed by a public official during detention has been defined as form of torture by the European Court of Human Rights. Positive state obligations exist under the right to respect for an individual's private life to sanction rape or other breaches of sexual autonomy and integrity when committed by other private individuals. Sexual identity and its manifestations, again, enjoy protection under the right to private and family life, as has been shown by international case law related to homosexuality and transsexualism. Here, the autonomous and independent non-discrimination clause in Article 26 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights is a basis for further guarantees.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (3) ◽  
pp. 20-27
Author(s):  
Halyna Savchyn ◽  
◽  
Vitalina Borovikova ◽  

The article is devoted to the research of current tendencies changes of the content of the right of citizenship under the influence of general integration processes and practices of European Court of human rights. The content of the right of citizenship is subjected under new tendencies assessment taking place in the process of realization of the Association Treaty between Ukraine and European Union. Analyzing the notion of citizenship in the context of Constitution, national legislature, European convention of citizenship differentiation of formal and legal status of an individual, legal relations between an individual and a state, combination of rights and duties according to the current tendencies of the conception of citizenship evolution are carried out. It’s indicated in the work that according to the current realization of the content of the right of citizenship it’s appropriate to maintain practical intention of regulation of legal nature and essence of absent nationality, improving of contextual and legislative principles concerning citizenship and legal identity of an individual in Ukraine as one of the basic constitutional human right. The right of citizenship, as institution of constitutional law, in recent years was proved as subjective right, changing owing to interpretation of citizenship by European Court of human rights within conventional rights and freedoms. At the same time a state, that is the subject of the definition of citizenship policy, regulates all spectrum of issues, connected with citizenship and derivative from above mentioned institution by national legislature. The sphere of citizenship minimally influenced by the norms of international law, that refers legal regulation of citizenship to the internal affairs of a state. A state owns the possibilities to determine a circle of citizens, correcting grounds of citizenship admission, setting restriction for citizens. The right of citizenship is a protection measure of possible behavior directing for the gratification of human interests, appeared in connection with acquirement, changing and outgoing of citizenship. The effectiveness of guarantees of the realization of right of citizenship in Ukraine consists of making legal guarantees that are contained in the norms of laws and depends on logic and systematic expediency, accurate focus and certainty relating specific subject and appropriate social relationship.


2011 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 165-176 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dennis Kurzon

In two English cases which reached the European Court of Human Rights in the mid-2000s, it was argued that the statutory requirement on the part of a motorist who has been caught speeding to give the police information concerning the identity of the driver of the car at the time of the offence is a violation of the right of silence by which a person should not be put into a position that s/he incriminates him/herself. The right of silence is one of the conventional interpretations of Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights. As well as a study on the right of silence with regard to written texts, this paper also investigates the two cases in terms of icons and indices: a text may be indexical of a basic human right, and then may become an icon of that right. The European Court of Human Rights considers the particular section of the relevant statute as an icon of the "regulatory regime".


2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (s2) ◽  
pp. 9-17
Author(s):  
Pir Ali Kaya ◽  
Ceyhun Güler

Abstract According to The European Social Charter, the European Convention on Human Rights, the ILO Conventions, the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the decisions of the European Social Rights Committee and the ILO supervisory bodies, the right to collective action is a democratic right that aims to protect and correct the economic and social interests of workers in the workplace or in another place appropriate for the purpose of action. The above-mentioned institutions accept the right to collective action as a fundamental human right. According to the decisions of the European Court of Human Rights, the right to collective action is regarded as a democratic right, including strike. In particular, the right to collective action is being used as a resistance mechanism against new working relations, which are imposed on working conditions, right to work and the right to organize. However, the tendency of this right to political field, leads to some debate about the legality of the right to collective action. In this context, In the decision of the European Court of Human Rights, the ILO's supervisory bodies and the European Committee on Social Rights, it is emphasized that collective action rights should be a basic human right. In this study, the legal basis of the right to collective action will be discussed in accordance with the decisions and requirements of the European Court of Human Rights and the decisions of the ILO supervisory bodies.


Author(s):  
James Gallen

James Gallen’s chapter reviews the case and the contributions of Adrian Hardiman and Conor O’Mahony to this book. Gallen argues that their discussion reveals the tension between the principle of subsidiarity and the right to effective protection and an effective remedy in the European Convention on Human Rights. The chapter argues that the case of O’Keeffe v Ireland also raises concerns about the European Court of Human Right methodology for the historical application of the Convention and about the interaction of Article 3 positive obligations with vicarious liability in tort. A further section examines the impact of the decision for victims of child sexual abuse and identifies that the decision provides the potential for an alternative remedy to the challenging use of vicarious liability in Irish tort law.


Author(s):  
d’Argent Pierre ◽  
de Ghellinck Isabelle

Principle 32 deals with the procedural aspect of the right to reparation, that is, the right for victims of human right violations to access remedial procedures. It addresses three issues: the right to access remedial procedures, procedural requirements of national reparation programmes, and regional and international procedures. While the obligation of states to provide effective remedies is enshrined in most of, if not all, the key international human rights treaties, Principle 32 provides for a right to all victims to access remedies. ‘Reparation’ and ‘remedies’ are both envisioned as victims’ rights, but the distinction between them is vague. After providing a contextual and historical background on Principle 32, this chapter discusses its theoretical framework and how the reparation procedure, judicial or administrative, dealing with gross violations of human rights at national or international level has been implemented.


2019 ◽  
Vol 52 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
Jurij Toplak ◽  
Boštjan Brezovnik

European Court of Human Rights ruled in 2016 that the European Convention on Human Rights includes a right to access information held by public authorities. While according to international documents the procedures for accessing information should be ‘rapid’, the courts have yet to rule on what ‘rapid’ means and when the procedures are so long that they violate rights of those asking for information. This article analyses the length of proceedings in access to information cases in Slovenia and Croatia. It shows that these two countries do not have a system of effective protection of rights because the authorities can easily delay disclosure of information for several years. It argues that lengthy procedures violate the right to access the information and the freedom of expression. It then presents solutions for improving access to information procedures in order for them to become ‘rapid’


1997 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 99-110 ◽  
Author(s):  
Leo Zwaak

In this article, special attention will be given to the recent judgment of the European Court of Human Right in the case of Akdivar and Others v. Turkey. Since 1985, a violent conflict has raged in the South-Eastern region of Turkey, between the Turkish security forces and sections of the Kurdish population in favour of Kurdish autonomy, in particular members of the PKK (Workers' Party of Kurdistan). Since 1987, 10 of the 11 provinces of South-Eastern Turkey have been subjected to emergency rule, which was in force at the time of the facts complained of. The main issue in this case concerned the fact that during this conflict, a large number of villages have been destroyed and evacuated by the security forces. According to the applicants, the alleged burning of their houses by the security forces constituted, inter alia, a violation of Article 3 (the prohibition of torture and inhuman treatment or punishment) and Article 8 (the right of respect for private life, family life, and home) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), and Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (property rights).


Author(s):  
G.V. Puchkova ◽  
L.P. Bohutska

The aim. The aim of the article is to study the implementation of the principle of autonomy in the medical law of Ukraine, to determine the compliance of the medical legislation of Ukraine with the specified principle in terms of the exercising of the human right to express wishes for the provision of medical care in the future in case if a patient cannot personally express such wishes. Materials and methods. The authors have studied the European standards and practice of the European Court of Human Rights regarding the right of a person to participate in the decision-making process on the provision of medical care, scientific works of specialists in the field of medical law, dedicated to the patient's right to informed consent to medical intervention, the right to refuse treatment and ethical standards of legal regulation of relations with the participation of patients using the formal-logical method, the method of structural analysis, comparative method and legal modeling. Results. The study has found that there are gaps in the normative regulation of the patient's right to participate in the decision-making process in the provision of medical care, which carries a potential danger of violating the right to respect for private and family life, guaranteed by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Conclusions. It is proposed to eliminate these gaps by ratifying the Oviedo Convention by Ukraine, implementation of the institution of previously expressed wishes in the national legislation, determining the mechanism for drawing up, changing and revoking previously expressed medical directives, the designation an authorized person in case a patient is unable to independently express his or her own wishes for the provision of medical care taking into account the European experience, cultural characteristics of Ukrainian society, the state of functioning of the institutional and legal systems and the level of development of biology and medicine.


2019 ◽  
Vol 8 (4) ◽  
pp. 9035-9038

The article analyzes the specifics of ensuring the protection of the right to education in case-law decisions of the European Court of Human Rights. The authors have found that there are problems in the current education systems both in Europe and Russia. These problems are solved in accordance with the case law created by the European Court of Human Rights making decisions to ensure the right to education. The authors have noted the main violations committed by governments or governmental bodies in its implementation. The authors have shown the correspondence of the norms of national education legislation of a number of European countries to the provisions of the European Convention on Human Rights. In this regard, the authors have concluded that today, the right to education in European states is not always respected due to migration policy and in the future, relations in this area will deteriorate.


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