scholarly journals Localising human rights law: a case study of civil society interpretation of rights in Scotland

2017 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 22-42
Author(s):  
Elaine Webster ◽  
Deirdre Flanigan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Human Rights Law

scholarly journals Governmental human rights focal points in federal contexts: The implementation of the Istanbul convention in Switzerland as a case study

2021 ◽  
pp. 092405192110169
Author(s):  
Matthieu Niederhauser
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Focal Points ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Federal States ◽  
International Human

The implementation of international human rights law in federal States is an underexplored process. Subnational entities regularly enjoy a degree of sovereignty, which raises questions such as whether they implement obligations of international law and how the federal level may ensure that implementation takes place at the subnational level. This article aims to answer these questions, using the implementation of the Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence (Convention) in Switzerland as a case study. To implement the Convention at the cantonal level, federal actors decided to use networks of civil servants in charge of domestic violence issues, who act as governmental human rights focal points (GHRFPs). This article is based on original empirical data, on 25 interviews with State officials who participate in this implementation. The findings show how complex GHRFPs networks work in practice to implement the Convention and highlight the role played by numerous non-legal State actors in this process. As a result, the article argues that international human rights law implementation becomes more diversified both within and across federal States.

The Politics of Domestic Implementation of International Human Rights Law

2015 ◽  
Vol 16 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 104-149 ◽  
Author(s):  
Deepika Udagama
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Violence ◽  
Social Indicators ◽  
Interesting Case ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
International Human

Domestic application of international human rights law may encounter more serious obstacles than purely doctrinal constraints due to political factors. Sri Lanka offers an interesting case study in that regard. Once a committed democracy with high social indicators, it descended into authoritarianism and political violence a few decades after independence. This article examines the interplay between Sri Lanka’s dualist legal system and its international human rights obligations and points to how the relationship is increasingly being defined by political factors than doctrinal complexities. It argues that in such circumstances remedial action may lie more within the political arena than before legal forums.

WINGO Politics

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jocelyn Olcott
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Generational Differences ◽  
International Council ◽  
Governmental Organizations ◽  
Non Governmental Organizations ◽  
Australian Case ◽  
Ideological Tensions ◽  
Rules Of The Game

This chapter examines the organizational and geopolitical rivalries that gave rise to IWY. It considers how long-simmering ideological tensions between the International Council of Women (ICW) and the Women’s International Democratic Federation (WIDF)—dubbed WINGOs (women’s international non-governmental organizations)—fostered competing visions for IWY. While the WIDF and its allies saw IWY as linking women’s issues with human rights, their Cold War rivals linked IWY humanitarian concerns and development strategies. Australia provides a case study of the growing rift in civil society between WINGOs and feminists and the tensions between those working within the rules of the game to those who wanted to change the game entirely. The chapter examines the Australian case to demonstrate the ways that IWY highlighted generational differences, particularly between younger women’s liberationists and older, more establishmentarian activists.

11. Sexual Orientation, Gender Identity, and Human Rights

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christine (Cricket) Keating ◽  
Cynthia Burack
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Sexual Orientation ◽  
Civil Society ◽  
Gender Identity ◽  
Interpersonal Violence ◽  
Important Development ◽  
Queer People ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Rights Issues

This chapter examines the issue of the human rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer people (LGBTI). In recent years, LGBTI groups have used the language and frameworks of human rights to organize against state, civil society, religious, and interpersonal violence and discrimination. The broadening of the human rights framework to address issues of sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) has been an important development in both the human rights and the LGBTI movements. The chapter begins with a discussion of SOGI rights as human rights, focusing on questions such as the central human rights issues for LGBTI people; how these groups have organized to address these challenges through a human rights framework; and the challenges faced by LGBTI human rights advocates and what successes they have had. It also considers critiques of SOGI human rights activism and concludes with a case study of Uganda's Anti-Homosexuality Bill.

scholarly journals Respecting Human Rights: Does Treaty Ratification Lead to Compliance?

2012 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 169-179
Author(s):  
Daniel St. Pierre
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International System ◽  
Indigenous Populations ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
State Compliance ◽  
The Cost

Since the nonbinding Universal Declaration of Human Rights, states have created treaties and conventions to outline what is or is not acceptable regarding the treatment of human beings, with the understanding that if a state signs and ratifies these documents then that state will comply with the principles outlined within it.  Time and again however, compliance, or the lack thereof, has presented as a concern amongst many states, as well as non-state actors.  The issue of compliance is a serious one because it speaks to credibility.  If states do not anticipate compliance from one another it undermines the entire international system and any structure that has been created to address the anarchic nature of international relations will dissolve.  In order to make analysis of this massive issue area manageable, I focus on state compliance with human rights law and more specifically, compliance with the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention 1989, or C169.  Both Brazil and Argentina have signed and ratified C169 and both are democratic with indigenous populations.  Comparing these two states it allows us to better ascertain the circumstances under which states may comply with or defect from international human rights law.  I provide an overview on what rationalist theories suggest about compliance, followed by constructivist views.  I then outline my position before examining the results of the case study and assessing its’ impact as related to both theory and my arguments.  Ultimately, I find that notwithstanding ratification and well-developed democratic institutions that allow for a strong civil society to participate in politics, there are still circumstances wherein a state will defect from a human rights treaty because the gain of doing so outweighs the cost of non-compliance.

scholarly journals The Manus Island Regional Processing Centre: A Legal Taxonomy

2018 ◽  
Vol 20 (4) ◽  
pp. 427-451
Author(s):  
Nikolas Feith Tan
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Black Hole ◽  
Supreme Court ◽  
Papua New Guinea ◽  
New Guinea ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Control Approach ◽  
Processing Centre ◽  
Migration Control

Abstract This article considers the controversial cooperative migration control approach of extraterritorial asylum through a case study of the Manus Island Regional Processing Centre (RPC), in operation between 2012 and 2017. Rather than operating in a ‘legal black hole’, the RPC was the site of legal contestation, as refugees and their lawyers turned to various legal fora in an attempt to hold Australia, Papua New Guinea and private contractors responsible for violations of human rights law. The recent closure of the RPC, as a result of litigation in the Papua New Guinea Supreme Court, shows that just as States employ a broad range of deterrence policies, refugee lawyers have an emerging ‘toolbox’ at their disposal to challenge extraterritorial asylum policies. The Manus Island RPC experience holds lessons for future litigation on policies of extraterritorial asylum, presenting both opportunities and risks for policymakers and refugee lawyers alike.

Australia and the Abortive Convention on Territorial Asylum: A Case Study of a Cul de Sac in International Refugee and Human Rights Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 86-112
Author(s):  
Savitri Taylor ◽  
Klaus Neumann
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Treaty

Abstract Focusing on the period from the adoption of the 1967 Declaration on Territorial Asylum to the 1977 Conference of Plenipotentiaries on Territorial Asylum in Geneva, this article examines attempts to arrive at an international treaty on territorial asylum. Charting the trajectory of the drafting process, it shows how the ambition of international lawyers and UNHCR to go beyond article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1967 Declaration was eventually thwarted. Australia played a significant role at the 1977 conference and particular attention is paid to the development of its position. The article argues that the discussions over the proposed convention on territorial asylum were symptomatic of States’ unwillingness to countenance a right to asylum, and their concomitant willingness to extend the principle of non-refoulement.

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