scholarly journals TRANSCENDING THE INDIVIDUAL/COLLECTIVE MINORITY RIGHTS DIVIDE: A PROCEDURAL SOLUTION

Author(s):  
Zsolt Körtvélyesi

Abstract Relying on examples from international, EU and comparative law and drawing on insights from the class action literature, this article argues that important advances in minority rights protection can be achieved without the revision of substantive legal provisions and the full-scale embracing of collective rights. Allowing minority members to present their claims on behalf of a larger group (collective procedure), even when such claims ultimately rest on the rights of individuals as opposed to those of the group, strengthens minority rights and can transform our vision of them. An overview of eight interrelated benefits shows not only how these advantages occur, but also why the procedural approach avoids the issues that motivate negative critiques of group rights.

2020 ◽  
Vol 36 (4) ◽  
pp. 46-52
Author(s):  
D.A. Gadzhieva ◽  

This article is devoted to the analysis of some of the issues related to the definition of the content of the concept of collective human rights. The author examines the issues related to the definition of methods of exercising and the range of subjects of collective rights, some problems concerning their relations with individual rights, as well as whether the term “collective rights of the individual” is a proper one to be used in law science. The author analyzes the difference between the concepts of “collective” and group” rights, and also substantiates the reasons why these categories of human rights cannot be equated or why group rights cannot be singled out into an independent category of individual rights. In addition, the author substantiates the impossibility of possessing of collective rights by legal entities.


Author(s):  
Meaghan Dalby

This essay will look at the controversial topic of multiculturalism in Canada.  It will explore aspects of individual rights compared with group rights.  This is a very important topic to Canadians, as they claim to live in a multicultural nation where many different groups co‐exist.  In order to answer the many questions which arise with this topic, it is first necessary to define multiculturalism as it has developed throughout the nation.  With this background in mind, it will be easier to understand where individual rights stemmed from.  Did they evolve on their own, or do they stem from group rights and traditions which were already in existence? Does this make a difference when we compare the two?  As multiculturalism becomes more prominent in Canadian culture, and the rights of the group come to the forefront, where do individual rights stand?  Immigrants coming to Canada can expect that their cultural differences will be tolerated and respected, yet problems can arise if individual rights are infringed upon.  This essay will specifically look at the case study of Sharia Law infringing on women’s rights in Ontario, and Ernst Zundel who spread hate crimes against the Jews under the pretext of the individual right to free speech. Through these case studies, it will be determined whether Canadians prefer to have their individual rights protected, or respect their cultural and groups rights above all else.   The conclusion will express how Canadians feel about the difference between group and individual rights.


2015 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 130-133
Author(s):  
Hamid Mavani

The polyvalent Qur’anic text lends itself to multiple interpretations, dependingupon one’s presuppositions and premises. In fact, Q. 3:7 distinguishesbetween muḥkam (explicit, categorical) and mutashābih (metaphorical, allegorical,symbolic) verses. As such, this device provides a way for reinterpretingverses that outwardly appear to be problematic – be it in the area ofgender equality, minority rights, religious freedom, or war. However, manyof the verses dealing with legal provisions in such areas as devotional matters,marriage, divorce, child custody, inheritance and bequest, and specific punishmentsappear to be unequivocal, categorical, and explicit. As such, scholarshave devised certain hermeneutical strategies to situate and contextualizethese verses in a particular socio-historical context, as well as to emphasizethat they were in conversation with the society to which the Qur’an was revealedand thereby underlining the “performative” (p.15) nature of the relationshipbetween the Qur’an and the society.No verse is more problematic, in the sense that it offends contemporarysensibilities and is quite difficult to reconcile with an egalitarian worldviewwhen dealing with gender issues, than Q. 4:34, which allows the husband todiscipline his wife if he deems her guilty of nushūz (e.g., disobedience, intransigence,sexual lewdness, aloofness, dislike or hatred of himself). AyeshaChaudhry undertakes a study of this challenging verse by engaging the corpusof literature in Arabic from the classical period to the seventeenth century; shealso includes Urdu and English sources for the post-colonial period.She starts off by relating her personal journey from a state of discomfortand puzzlement when she first came across this verse in middle school to adefensive posture in trying to convince herself by invoking the Prophet’scompassion toward his wives and in cherishing the idea that the Qur’an gavemore rights to women than either the Hebrew Bible or the New Testament.She began a more rigorous and nuanced study of this verse after equippingherself with the necessary academic tools and analytic skills during her universitystudies. Frustrated with the shallow responses and the scholars’ circumspectionas regards any creative and novel reading of the verse for fearof losing their status in the community, she decided to do so herself with thehope of discovering views that would promote an egalitarian reading ...


1992 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Will Kymlicka

AbstractIn his most recent work, John Rawls argues that political theory must recognize and accomodate the ‘fact of pluralism’, including the fact of religious diversity. He believes that the liberal commitment to individual rights provides the only feasible model for accomodating religious pluralism. In the paper, I discuss a second form of tolerance, based on group rights rather than individual rights. Drawing on historical examples, I argue that this is is also a feasible model for accomodating religious pluralism. While both models ensure tolerance between groups, only the former tolerates individual dissent within groups. To defend the individual rights model, therefore, liberals must appeal not only to the fact of social pluralism, but also to the value of individual autonomy. This may require abandoning Rawls’s belief that liberalism can and should be defended on purely ‘political’, rather than ‘comprehensive’ grounds.


1994 ◽  
Vol 27 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Avigail Eisenberg

AbstractConstitutional commentators who interpret conflicts between individuals and communities in terms of a struggle between individual and collective rights do not accurately capture the jurisprudence developed in the courts regarding such conflicts. Such conflicts are more clearly analyzed when they are framed in terms of identity-related differences. The difference perspective has three advantages over the “individual versus collective rights” perspective. First, the difference perspective accurately retrieves the courts' reasoning by framing it in terms of the values actually at stake. Second, it avoids the traditional dichotomy between individual and collective rights. Third, it provides a means to compare claims of individuals and groups without reducing group interests to individual interests.


2012 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
pp. 389-415 ◽  
Author(s):  
Angela Kachuyevski

Abstract This article examines the efforts of the High Commissioner on National Minorities (HCNM) of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) to manage tensions in Ukraine between the substantial Russian minority and the Ukrainian government, and to prevent potentially violent conflict in Crimea from 1994 to 2001, as well as the subsequent efforts to promote peace and stability. It questions why the HCNM was remarkably successful in crisis management from 1994 to 2001, especially in averting secessionism in Crimea, but was hampered in his efforts to achieve a solid foundation for durable peace through the creation of a robust system of minority rights protection. The central argument is that regional politics often preclude the construction of a minority rights regime that could otherwise provide the foundation for durable peace.


1984 ◽  
Vol 24 (242) ◽  
pp. 263-273
Author(s):  
Géza Herczegh

In a rich and abundant literature on the subject of international humanitarian law, two trends in the interpretation of the term “humanitarian law” stand out: one takes it in its broad meaning, the other in a narrow sense. According to the definition by Jean S. Pictet, humanitarian law, in the broad interpretation, is constituted by all the international legal provisions, whether written or customary, ensuring respect for the individual and the development of his life. Humanitarian law includes two branches: the law of war and human rights. The law of war, still following Professor Pictet's definition, can be subdivided into two sections, that of The Hague, or the law of war, in the strict sense, and that of Geneva, or humanitarian law, in the narrow sense. It is often difficult to distinguish clearly between these branches of law, and especially between the law of The Hague and the law of Geneva, because of the reciprocal influence each has had on the development of the other, to the extent that some well-known experts considered the traditional difference between them out-of-date and superfluous.


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