Re-examining States’ External Obligations to Implement Economic and Social Rights of Children

2009 ◽  
Vol 22 (2) ◽  
pp. 407-449 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wabwile
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
Social And Economic Rights

International law on the protection and promotion of social and economic rights of the child binds states parties to respect, protect and secure these rights both in their own territories as well as to contribute to the programmes for such fulfilment in other countries in a strategy aiming at global implementation of these rights. This paper explores the legal basis for states‘ external obligations to support fulfilment of social and economic rights. It surveys inter alia the relevant treaty texts, explanatory resolutions of the UN General Assembly and statements in reports submitted by states parties to the UN monitoring committees, and argues that recent state practice and interpretation of human rights obligations confirms the extraterritorial obligations to support fulfilment of these rights. Since these are obligations to fulfil the rights of human beings in other countries rather than obligations to third states, they can be referred to as ‘diagonal obligations‘ to distinguish them from inter-state horizontal responsibility.

The Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States (1975)

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. H. Alexandrowicz
Keyword(s):  
International Economic ◽  
International Law ◽  
The Other ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Economic Relations ◽  
International Economic Relations ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Un General Assembly

This chapter focuses on the Charter of Economic Rights and Duties of States adopted by the UN General Assembly on 12 December 1974. The Charter consists of a preamble and four chapters, the most important of which are Chapter I relating to the fundamentals of international economic relations, and Chapter II on the detailed economic rights and duties of States. Chapter I contains general principles such as the sovereignty and equality of states and other principles, the adoption of which presented few difficulties to members of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD). On the other hand, the provisions of Chapter II, particularly article 2, were the subject of hard bargaining in which the negotiating states had to face some of the most controversial problems of international law in the economic field.

Elements of Nordic Practice 2005–2006: Finland

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 141-161
Author(s):  
Juha Rainne
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
International Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
International Tribunals ◽  
International Sanctions

AbstractThis report includes selected parts of Finnish state practice in the field of international law in 2005 and 2006. The activities during this period were dominated by Finland's Presidency of the European Union (EU) in the second half of 2006. The report comprises state practice related, inter alia, to humanitarian law, international tribunals, international sanctions, measures to combat terrorism and the work of the Sixth Committee of the UN General Assembly. Special attention is paid to the activities that took place in the field of international law during the Finnish EU Presidency.

Implementing the Social and Economic Rights of Children in Developing Countries: The Place of International Assistance and Cooperation

2010 ◽  
Vol 18 (3) ◽  
pp. 355-385 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michael Wabwile
Keyword(s):  
Developing Countries ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Macroeconomic Conditions ◽  
Financial Cooperation ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Legal Obligations ◽  
The Social ◽  
State Practice

AbstractIt is a common feature of the treaties on international protection of economic and social rights that all states, regardless of their resource capabilities, are invited to ratify these treaties. Although all developing countries except Somalia have ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the macroeconomic conditions of systemic poverty and underdevelopment in these countries indicate that there are concerns as to whether and how such states can really perform their legal obligations and guarantee the fulfilment of the Convention's economic and social rights. This article examines the emerging patterns of recent state practice in this area, with a view to identifying the contribution of international cooperation and assistance in these processes. The gist of the discussion presented here is that despite their macro-economic disadvantages, developing countries can accelerate the processes of achieving full implementation of economic and social rights if they have access to appropriate arrangements for external technical and financial cooperation and assistance. In view of this, it is suggested that there may be a legal obligation on the part of the international community to render such assistance and cooperation.

scholarly journals INTERNATIONAL LAW INTERNATIONS AND HUMAN RIGHTS

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Saleh Raed Shatat
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Civil Liberties ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Right To Food ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
State Practice ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Conventions

International law, also known as public international law and law of the nation is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally accepted in relations between nations. The sources of international law include international custom (general state practice accepted as law), treaties, and general principles of lawrecognized by most national legal systems. Human Rights are the basic rights and freedoms to which all human beings are entitled, like civil and politicalrights, the right to life and liberty, freedom of thought and speech/expression, equality before the law, social, cultural and economic rights, the right to food,the right to work, and the right to education. In short, human rights are freedoms established by custom or international agreements that protect the interests of humans and the conduct of governments in every nation. Human rights are distinct from civil liberties, which are freedoms established by the lawof a particular state and applied by that state in its own jurisdiction. Human rights laws have been defined by international conventions, by treaties, and by organizations, particularly the United Nations. These laws prohibit practices such as torture, slavery, summary execution without trial, and arbitrarydetention or exile.

Was There Something Missing in the Decolonization Process in Africa?: The Territorial Dimension

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 529-556
Author(s):  
MAMADOU HÉBIÉ
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
African Countries ◽  
State Practice ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
La Gomera

AbstractFive decades after the wave of independence of the 1960s, have all African territories been decolonized in accordance with international law? On the basis of the General Assembly and state practice, this study argues that only the continuing possession of African territories by colonial powers is contrary to the obligation to decolonize under international law. Thus, colonialism is still persisting in Africa with regard to the Glorious Islands, Mayotte, the Chagos, Ceuta and Melilla, the islands Alhucemas, Chafarinas, Leïla, and Peñon de Vélez de la Gomera. These territories belong respectively to Madagascar, the Comoros Islands, Mauritius, and Morocco. However, the obligation to decolonize under international law, which is premised on the existence of a colonial possession, does not provide any legal basis to claims directed against independent African states. Besides, the maintenance of boundaries existing upon the achievement of African countries to independence is not a case of enduring colonialism.

The Work of the International Law Commission, 2007–2011: Progress and Prospects

2012 ◽  
Vol 106 (2) ◽  
pp. 322-340 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald McRae
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Armed Conflicts ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
The Law ◽  
International Law Commission ◽  
Transboundary Aquifers ◽  
Law Commission ◽  
The Way

On November 17, 2011, the UN General Assembly elected the members of the International Law Commission for the next five years. In the course of the quinquennium that was completed in August 2011 with the end of the sixty-third session, the Commission concluded four major topics on its agenda: the law of transboundary aquifers, the responsibility of international organizations, the effect of armed conflicts on treaties, and reservations to treaties. It was by any standard a substantial output. The beginning of a new quinquennium now provides an opportunity to assess what the Commission has achieved, to consider the way it operates, and to reflect on what lies ahead for it.

Self-Determination during the Cold War: UN General Assembly Resolution 1514 (1960), the Prohibition of Partition, and the Establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory (1965)

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 419-468 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victor Kattan
Keyword(s):  
Indian Ocean ◽  
West Africa ◽  
International Law ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
South West ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
Un General Assembly

This article uses the history of partition to assess when self-determination became a rule of customary international law prohibiting partition as a method of decolonization. In so doing it revisits the partitions of Indochina, Korea, India, Palestine, Cyprus, South Africa, and South West Africa, and explains that UN practice underwent a transformation when the UN General Assembly opposed the United Kingdom’s partition proposals for Cyprus in 1958. Two years later, the UN General Assembly condemned any attempt aimed at the partial or total disruption of the national unity and the territorial integrity of a country in Resolution 1514 (1960). The illegality of partition under customary international law was raised during the second phase of the South West Africa Cases (1960–1966) in respect of South Africa’s homelands policy, but the International Court of Justice (ICJ) infamously did not address the merits of those cases. The illegality of partition was also raised in the arbitration between the United Kingdom and Mauritius over the establishment of the British Indian Ocean Territory in 1965. Like the ICJ in the South West Africa Cases, the Arbitral Tribunal decided that it did not have jurisdiction to address the legality of the British excision of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius, even though the legality of the excision was argued at length between counsels for Mauritius and the United Kingdom in their oral pleadings and written statements. However, in their joint dissenting opinion, Judge Rüdiger Wolfrum and Judge James Kateka expressed their opinion that self-determination had developed before 1965, and that consequently the partition was unlawful. This paper agrees that selfdetermination prohibited the partition of Mauritius to establish the British Indian Ocean Territory, a new colony, in 1965 although self-determination probably did not emerge as a rule of customary international law until the adoption of the human rights covenants in 1966, after the excision of the Chagos Archipelago in 1965, but before the passage of the Mauritius Independence Act in 1968.

A STEP TOO FAR? THE JOURNEY FROM “BIOLOGICAL” TO “SOCIETAL” FILIATION IN THE CHILD'S RIGHT TO NAME AND IDENTITY IN ISLAMIC AND INTERNATIONAL LAW

2019 ◽  
Vol 34 (3) ◽  
pp. 383-407 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shaheen Sardar Ali
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Islamic Law ◽  
Legal Traditions ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Legal Position ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Muslim Communities ◽  
Human Rights Discourse

AbstractThis socio-legal narrative investigates the journey from “biological” to “societal” filiation undertaken by Islamic and international law regimes in their endeavors to ensure a child's right to name and identity. Combining a discussion of filiation—a status-assigning process—with adoption and kafāla (fostering) as status-transferring mechanisms, it highlights a nuanced hierarchy relating to these processes within Muslim communities and Muslim state practices. It questions whether evolving conceptions of a child's rights to name and identity represent a paradigm shift from “no status” if born out of wedlock toward “full status” offered through national and international law and Muslim state and community practices. The article challenges the dominant (formal, legal) position within the Islamic legal traditions that nasab (filiation) is obtainable through marriage alone. Highlighting inherent plurality within the Islamic legal traditions, it demonstrates how Muslim state practice and actual practices of Muslim communities on the subject are neither uniform nor necessarily in accordance with stated doctrinal positions of the juristic schools to which they subscribe. Simultaneously, the paper challenges some exaggerated gaps between “Islamic” and “Western” conceptions of children's rights, arguing that child-centric resources in Islamic law tend to be suppressed by a “universalist” Western human-rights discourse. Tracing common threads through discourses within both legal traditions aimed at ensuring children a name and identity, it demonstrates that the rights values in the United Nations Convention on Rights of the Child resonate with preexisting values within the Islamic legal traditions.

Non-discrimination, Accommodation, and Intersectionality under the CRPD: New Trends and Challenges for the UN Human Rights System

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 (1) ◽  
pp. 98-130
Author(s):  
Wiebke Ringel
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
National Level ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Treaty Body ◽  
Key Issues ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
And Gender

On 3 May 2008, the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) entered into force. The CRPD is the first human rights treaty adopted by the UN General Assembly in the 21st century. It is also the first binding international law instrument that specifically and comprehensively addresses disability from a human rights perspective. Building on existing UN human rights treaties, the CRPD aims to strengthen the effective enjoyment of all human rights by persons with disabilities. Specifically, the new convention seeks to remedy the neglect and marginalization of the rights of persons with disabilities not just at the national level but also at the international level, most notably within the UN treaty system. In this regard, the new convention endorses innovative and new approaches relating to, inter alia, the notions of disability, nondiscrimination, and intersectionality. This article analyses selected emerging key issues, including the principle of reasonable accommodation and the intersectionality of disability and gender. A specific focus will be on the emerging jurisprudence of the responsible treaty body, the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. While some of the aspects discussed may appear to primarily arise under a disability-specific perspective, it is suggested that they could potentially provide an impetus to advance the UN human rights system in general, beyond the context of disability.

The Choice of a Treaty

2019 ◽  
pp. 100-118
Author(s):  
Alan Boyle
Keyword(s):  
International Organizations ◽  
Codes Of Conduct ◽  
Soft Law ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Legal Effect ◽  
State Practice ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
International Legal System ◽  
Multilateral Treaty

From a lawmaking perspective “soft law” is simply a convenient description for a variety of non-binding normatively worded instruments used in contemporary international relations by states and international organizations. Examples include UN conference declarations, appropriately worded resolutions and declarations adopted by the UN General Assembly or one of its subsidiary organs or specialized agencies, or codes of conduct, guidelines, and principles adopted by any of these UN organs. The main advantage of adopting rules and principles in soft-law form is that the process is simpler, faster, and potentially more inclusive than a multilateral treaty. The UN has pioneered the use of soft law, most obviously through the adoption of General Assembly resolutions that, inter alia, interpret and amplify the UN Charter, codify and progressively develop international law, provide evidence of opinio juris on new norms and general principles, or legitimize state practice. The functions of soft law in the international legal system—and in UN practice—are diverse, but it would be wrong to see the choice of instrument—treaty or soft law—in either/or terms. Non-binding soft law sometimes presents alternatives to lawmaking by treaty; at other times it complements and amplifies treaties while also providing different ways of understanding the legal effect of different kinds of treaties. But it is inconceivable that modern treaty regimes or international organizations such as the UN could function successfully without resort to soft law.

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