Safeguarding Women’s Political Freedoms under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights in the Face of Religious Fundamentalism

Author(s):  
Courtney W. Howland
1993 ◽  
Vol 25 (3) ◽  
pp. 423-442 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elia Zureik ◽  
Fouad Moughrabi ◽  
Vincent F. Sacco

When commentators discuss the Israeli political system, they invariably single it out as the exception in a region otherwise lacking in democratic and representative regimes. Although political philosophers and theorists remind us that the test of de mocracy hinges on, among other things, the way a society treats its minorities and guarantees them civil and political rights in the face of majority opposition, the de bate over what constitutes justice, equality, and freedom is unlikely to be resolved in a discussion centered on abstract principles and their absolute meanings. It is one thing for a society to profess egalitarian values and another to measure the extent to which these values are perceived and experienced by those immediately affected by them. This does not mean that there are no universal standards of justice against which to measure performance of the law. Our point is that the experiential dimen sion of the law is equally relevant, for it mediates between the meaning of the law as derived from abstract principles and the way it is implemented in daily life.


KPGT_dlutz_1 ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 27-48
Author(s):  
Vivianny Galvão

O direito estatal à suspensão das obrigações do Pacto Internacional de Direitos Civis e Políticos Resumo: Este artigo dedica-se à análise do artigo 4.º do Pacto Internacional de Direitos Civis e Políticos de 1966, com especial atenção à interpretação do direito estatal à suspensão das obrigações internacionais. Cabe, atualmente, ao Conselho de Direitos Humanos das Nações Unidas a tarefa de investigar os casos em que esta suspensão acontece, bem como fiscalizar os motivos da suspensão e estabelecer os parâmetros considerados legítimos. Os direitos humanos trazidos pelo Pacto Internacional sobre os Direitos Civis e Políticos, além dos demais tratados em matéria de direitos humanos, limitam o direito estatal de suspensão. As medidas aplicadas pelo Estado que evocam o direito de derrogação precisam ser consideradas estritamente necessárias e sua adoção, fundamentada e temporária; caso contrário, o Estado derrogador será considerado violador das obrigações assumidas na ordem internacional. Somente o instrumento da denúncia é capaz de desobrigar o Estado dos acordos firmados e, ainda assim, essa desvinculação não alcançariam em tese certos costumes internacionais nem, tampouco, as normas de ius cogens ou obrigações erga omnes. Infere-se que a lógica do artigo 4.º, também presente na Convenção Europeia de Direitos Humanos, está norteada pela preservação do Estado Democrático de Direito conforme se extraiu da criação da categoria dos direitos irrevogáveis. Além disso, mesmo diante da possibilidade de suspensão parcial e temporária dos direitos, o Conselho de Direitos Humanos não deixa de fiscalizar a atuação do Estado, pelo contrário, esse Conselho passa a emitir recomendações mais contundentes contra o Estado. Palavras-chave: Direito de suspensão. Direitos humanos. Direito Internacional. Pacto Internacional de Direitos Civis e Políticos. _____ The state right to the suspension of the obligations of the international covenant on civil a: nd political right Abstract: This article is devoted to the analysis of the article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), 1966, with special attention to the interpretation of state law to the suspension of international obligations. The UN Human Rights Council is now responsible for investigating the cases in which this suspension takes place, as well as monitoring the reasons for the suspension and establishing the parameters considered legitimate. The human rights brought by the ICCPR, in addition to the other human rights treaties, limit the State's right to suspend. The measures applied by the State that evoke the right of derogation must be considered strictly necessary and the adoption, substantiated and temporary. Otherwise, the derogating State shall be considered as violating the obligations assumed in the international order. Only the instrument of denunciation can release the State from the agreements reached and, even so, that untying would not achieve in theory certain international customs nor the norms of jus cogens or obligations erga omnes. It is inferred that the logic of Article 4, which is also present in the European Convention on Human Rights, is guided by the preservation of the Democratic Rule of Law as derived from the creation of the category of irrevocable rights. Moreover, even in the face of the possibility of partial and temporary suspension of rights, the Human Rights Council does not cease to supervise the actions of the State; on the contrary, this Council is issuing more forceful recommendations against the State. Keywords: Human rights. International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. International Law. Right of suspension.


2018 ◽  
Vol 41 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 9-18
Author(s):  
Peter Crowley

Northern Ireland’s Troubles conflict, like many complex conflicts through the world, has often been conceived as considerably motivated by religious differences. This paper demonstrates that religion was often integrated into an ethno-religious identity that fueled sectarian conflict between Protestants and Catholics in Northern Ireland during the Troubles period. Instead of being a religious-based conflict, the conflict derived from historical divides of power, land ownership, and civil and political rights in Ireland over several centuries. It relies on 12 interviews, six Protestants and six Catholics, to measure their use of religious references when referring to their religious other. The paper concludes that in the overwhelming majority of cases, both groups did not use religious references, supporting the hypothesis on the integrated nature of ethnicity and religion during the Troubles. It offers grounding for looking into the complex nature of sectarian and seemingly religious conflicts throughout the world, including cases in which religion acts as more of a veneer to deeply rooted identities and historical narratives.


Author(s):  
Yogesh Tyagi

The golden jubilee of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) coincides with the emergence of Asia as a centre of global attention. However, greater attention to Asia has been accompanied by some scepticism over its attitude towards human rights. The chapter provides an overall assessment of the impact of the ICCPR on the major Asian States, with an analysis of the factors affecting such influence. The chapter considers the involvement in, observance of, and compliance with the provisions of the ICCPR by these States. It further delves into the academic and judicial discourse on the ICCPR within these States, recording the domestic disposition towards judgments of foreign courts, the output of the Human Rights Committee, and the work of other international human rights bodies. It makes suggestions for developing mechanisms to improve the effectiveness of the ICCPR and for creating databases to perform further research in the area.


Author(s):  
Başak Çali

This chapter surveys the legal influence of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on the domestic laws of States in the Middle East region. It analyses ratification, reservation, and reporting practices, the domestic legal status of the ICCPR, and State responses to the Human Rights Committee’s concluding observations. The chapter argues that the ICCPR’s legal influence in the region is structurally hampered due to its lack of authoritative legal status and the dominance of defensive domestic legalism. A significant gap remains between the HRC’s vision of civil and political rights protection grounded in the entrenchment of liberal, democratic, and multicultural laws and the region’s authoritarian or majoritarian political structures that foreground security and treat non-majority identities as threats. The influence of the ICCPR on domestic laws in the Middle East remains a long-term battle, whereby small gains under limited legal opportunity structures remain the overarching norm.


1978 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 145-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vicente Navarro

This paper presents an analysis and critique of the U.S. government's current emphasis on human rights; and (a) its limited focus on only some civil and political components of the original U.N. Declaration of Human Rights, and (b) its disregard for economic and social rights such as the rights to work, fair wages, health, education, and social security. The paper discusses the reasons for that limited focus and argues that, contrary to what is widely presented in the media and academe: (1) civil and political rights are highly restricted in the U.S.; (2) those rights are further restricted in the U.S. when analyzed in their social and economic dimensions; (3) civil and political rights are not independent of but rather intrinsically related to and dependent on the existence of socioeconomic rights; (4) the definition of the nature and extension of human rights in their civil, political, social, and economic dimensions is not universal, but rather depends on the pattern of economic and political power relations particular to each society; and (5) the pattern of power relations in the U.S. society and the western system of power, based on the right to individual property and its concomitant class structure and relations, is incompatible with the full realization of human rights in their economic, social, political, and civil dimensions. This paper further indicates that U.S. financial and corporate capital, through its overwhelming influence over the organs of political power in the U.S. and over international bodies and agencies, is primarily responsible for the denial of the human rights of the U.S. population and many populations throughout the world as well.


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