scholarly journals The implicit taxonomy of the equality jurisprudence of the UN Human Rights Committee

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
Niels Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Systematic Analysis ◽  
Arbitrary State ◽  
Stable Pattern ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Argument Proceeds

Abstract The article analyses the individual communications of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC) on how the latter conceptualizes equality under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It finds an implicit taxonomy in the case law that is not reflected in the doctrinal formulae that the HRC applies. The argument proceeds in several steps: First, I argue that the concept of equality in human rights treaties depends heavily on its operationalization by courts and quasi-judicial bodies, like the HRC. Second, I analyse the doctrinal formulae that the HRC has developed in order to specify equality. I argue that the doctrine is rather inconsistent and does not give significant guidance for resolving actual cases. Third, I present the results of a systematic analysis of the case law of the HRC. The latter shows a rather stable pattern which is not reflected in the doctrinal formulae: The best predictor whether the HRC finds a violation of Article 26 ICCPR or another equality norm of the Convention is the existence of a suspect criterion on which the challenged distinction was based. There are only very few cases in which a violation is found in the absence of a suspect criterion. The majority of these cases arguably concern arbitrary state actions. At the same time, the HRC has only rarely held that a state has not violated an equality norm despite the existence of a suspect criterion.

scholarly journals An Undemocratic Guardian of Democracy - International Human Rights Complaint Procedures

2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Shotaro Hamamoto
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Narrow View ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Individual

This paper discusses the individual complaints procedures established pursuant to international human rights treaties such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. It discusses the bases on which these systems have been criticised as undemocratic. After considering how these democratic failings could be ameliorated through greater involvement of domestic parliaments, it questions this narrow view of democracy that looks only to parliamentary involvement, suggesting instead that apparently undemocratic individual complaints procedures can actually have a beneficial "democratising" effect.

The Right to Enter One’s Own Country: The Conflict between the Jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee and the Travaux Préparatoires of Article 12(4) of the iccpr

2021 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 75-123
Author(s):  
Jamil Ddamulira Mujuzi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

Abstract Article 12(4) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (iccpr) provides that ‘[n]o one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.’ The jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee shows that Committee members have often disagreed on the question of whether the right under Article 12(4) is reserved for citizens only or it can be claimed by non-citizens who consider the countries in which they were born or they have lived for longer periods as their own. In its earlier case law, the Committee held that Article 12(4) is applicable to nationals only. Since 1999, when General Comment No.27 was adopted, the Committee has moved towards extending the right under Article 12(4) to non-nationals. Its latest case law appears to have supported the Committee’s position that Article 12(4) is applicable to non-nationals. Central to both majority and minority decisions in which the Committee has dealt with Article 12(4), is whether the travaux préparatoires of Article 12(4) support either view. This article relies on the travaux préparatoires of Article 12(4) to argue that it does not support the view that Article 12(4) is applicable to non-nationals.

scholarly journals Cultural Identity in the Case-Law of the Human Rights Committee

2017 ◽  
Vol 7 ◽  
pp. 119-139
Author(s):  
Sylwia Stryjkowska
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Identity ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Linguistic Minorities ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Insight Into

The aim of the article is to present the jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee on Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights concerning the rights of persons belonging to ethnic, religious and linguistic minorities. Therefore, the study examines the underprivileged position of minorities within States and focuses on their will to survive as a distinct culture. Examination of the aforementioned caselaw provides an insight into the Committee’s understanding of the concept of cultural identity.

scholarly journals International Human Rights Law and the Response to the covid-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-269
Author(s):  
Sarah Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Do So

Abstract States have duties under Article 12(2)(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to prevent, control and treat covid-19. Implementation of these three obligations is analysed, taking account of countervailing human rights considerations. Regarding prevention, lockdowns designed to stop the spread of the virus are examined. Control measures are then discussed, namely transparency measures, quarantine, testing and tracing. The human rights compatibility of treatment measures, namely the provision of adequate medical and hospital care (or the failure to do so), are then examined. Finally, derogations from human rights treaties in times of pubic emergency are discussed.

Democracy and Compliance with Human Rights Treaties: The Conditional Effectiveness of the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women

2019 ◽  
Vol 63 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-138
Author(s):  
Daniel W Hill ◽  
K Anne Watson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Institutions ◽  
Democratic Governance ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Beneficial Effects ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Conditional Effect ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

Abstract Research on international human rights law suggests that the beneficial effects of treaties depend on the strength of democratic political institutions. However, democracies are, by definition, compliant with many provisions in treaties that protect civil and political rights. Additionally, theories of compliance derive from a focus on civil and political rights rather than on other rights, so we lack a good understanding of whether predictions hold for other kinds of rights. We examine compliance with the Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which protects rights that are distinct from those that characterize democratic governance. To measure compliance, we create a new indicator of women's rights that offers several advantages over existing indicators. We examine the conditional effect of CEDAW using models that allow for heterogenous treaty effects. This helps to adjudicate between theories that expect treaties to be most effective in highly democratic countries and those that expect them to be most effective among partial democracies. Our findings do not support either expectation and suggest that effectiveness does not depend on democracy, at least in the case of CEDAW. This points to the need to enrich existing theories of ratification and compliance by accounting for differences in the nature of the rights protected by different treaties.

State Succession to Human Rights Treaties: Hong Kong and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

1996 ◽  
Vol 45 (4) ◽  
pp. 928-946 ◽  
Author(s):  
Johannes Chan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
United Kingdom ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
State Succession ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Made In

In 1976 the United Kingdom ratified the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and extended it to Hong Kong. Under the Covenant the United Kingdom assumed an obligation to submit periodic reports to the Human Rights Committee on the measures it has adopted to give effect to the rights recognised by the Covenant and on the progress made in the enjoyment of these rights.1 The United Kingdom has submitted four periodic reports on Hong Kong, in 1978,2 1988,3 19914 and 1995.5

scholarly journals BRIDGING THE INTERNATIONAL GAP: THE ROLE OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES IN AFRICA

Obiter ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliyu Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
National Human ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
National Human Rights Institutions ◽  
Domestic Level

While most of the United Nations (UN) treaties have committees to monitor the implementation of their provisions among their States parties, one of the major challenges they encounter is their inability to independently verify the information provided by the States parties, on the level of fulfilling their obligations to the treaties. However, the establishment of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) by the majority of UN member states was meant to not only promote and protect human rights within the territories of States parties, but also to monitor the implementation of the provisions of treaties at the domestic level. This resulted in treaty bodies to encourage NHRIs, in monitoring and providing it with information on the level of implementation of the provisions of these treaties within the territories of respective States parties. This article examines whether these institutions in Africa have been able to discharge their mandates concerning the implementation of two treaties, namely, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which is monitored by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which is overseen by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). The NHRIs of South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria have been selected to test the effectiveness of these institutions. The study ultimately shows that the majority of these institutions are still far off from achieving their potential.

Human Rights

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-141
Author(s):  
Hurst Hannum
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Western Values ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Norms

This chapter focuses on human rights in Asia and the Pacific. On the level of purely legal commitments, the great majority of Asian and Pacific states have ratified both of the two major UN human rights treaties, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the most developed of the sub-regional organizations with respect to human rights, although that development has been fairly recent and, to date, relatively minimal. However, attempts to characterize or distinguish different approaches to human rights in Asia frequently include reference to a number of arguments put forward to justify Asian exceptionalism in this field. Perhaps the most widely asserted argument contends that ‘Asian values’ are different from the Western values that animate today’s international human rights norms.

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