scholarly journals Is China Playing by the Rules? — Assessing China’s Reservations to International Human Rights Treaties

2020 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 253-281
Author(s):  
Jingjing Wu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Constructive Dialogue ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human

Abstract In this paper, I examine two substantive reservations China has made to international human rights treaties, namely China’s reservation to Article 8.1(a) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and Article 6 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), as well as the arguments China adopted to support them in the constructive dialogue between China and the two treaty committees. By positioning China’s reservations and its supporting arguments against the current criteria on making reservations to international human rights treaties, I argue that these two reservations are permissible and the arguments that support them are in general justifiable, all things considered. In conclusion, I reflect on China’s relationship with international human rights treaty bodies through the lens of reservations.

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.

scholarly journals Conflict over Conflict: The Right to Strike in International Law

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane F Frey
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
International Labour Organisation ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Right

<p>The existence of a right to strike under international law has been challenged by the International Organization of Employers since the late 1980s. The employer group claims that no such right exists under international law and has been moving to undermine recognition of the right at the International Labour Organisation (ILO). This article examines the right to strike in international human rights law. It considers specifically the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and finds that the right to strike exists in both of these treaties. Further, the article demonstrates that while the ILO employers group may challenge the existence of the right to strike, its government members have overwhelmingly ratified international human rights treaties contradicting the employer group's position that there is no such right.</p>

scholarly journals Utilising the International Human Rights Framework to Access the Benefits of Paediatric Research in The covid Era: A Wales Case Study

2021 ◽  
Vol 29 (2) ◽  
pp. 326-352
Author(s):  
Rhian Croke ◽  
Rhian Thomas Turner ◽  
Phillip Connor ◽  
Martin Edwards
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Health Professionals ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Paediatric Research ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human

Abstract This article uses Wales as a case study to discuss the challenges to accessing the benefits of paediatric research before and during the covid-19 pandemic. Due to the rapidly changing political and legislative landscape, it is critical that health professionals working for the benefit of children can utilise international human rights treaties and the most relevant General Comments that offer a bridge between legalistic provisions and practice. Additionally, it is vital for health professionals to interpret and understand domestic children’s rights legislation, including tools for implementation for realising children’s rights. This article shares learning from the Children’s Hospital for Wales, Children and Young Adult Research Unit’s endeavour to challenge the Welsh Government to pay due regard to the rights of the child in ensuring children can access the benefits of paediatric research; including research concerning children’s role in infection and transmission, during the pandemic.

scholarly journals Contested Representations

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (3) ◽  
pp. 333-359 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Factual Information ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Sovereign Equality ◽  
Periodic State ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Treaty Body ◽  
International Human

As states become parties to international human rights treaties, they undertake the obligation to provide periodic state reports to UN human rights treaty bodies. Officially, state reports are paramount vehicles of factual information of a given state’s human rights situation. Unofficially their status may be contested and their data reduced to state propaganda. This article examines this transformation through the submission of China’s first state report to the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The article shows how human rights documents of diverse genres join together in a continual ceremony of dialogue. It connects minute details of treaty body proceedings to more general developments in the international human rights field, and argues that beneath the veneer of diplomatic conduct accompanying human rights dialogue lays an intense struggle for representation and legitimacy. It further discusses how this struggle reflects the recent rise of Kantian theories of international law. These theories seek to re-evaluate the foundational concept of international law, namely ‘sovereign equality’, and, thus continue the mission civilisatrice that has characterized elements of international collaboration for centuries.

Human Rights Unbound

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lea Raible
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Power ◽  
Public Institutions ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Major Shift ◽  
International Human ◽  
Conceptual Necessity

This book develops a theory of extraterritorial human rights obligations in international law. It links debates on human rights theory with those relating to extraterritoriality and merges accounts of economic social and cultural rights with those of civil and political rights. It advances four main arguments aimed at changing the way we think about extraterritoriality of human rights. First, it is argued that the questions regarding extraterritoriality are really about justifying the allocation of human rights obligations to specific states. Second, the book shows that human rights as found in international human rights treaties are underpinned by the values of integrity and equality. Third, it is argued that these same values justify the allocation of human rights obligations towards specific individuals to public institutions—including states—that hold political power over said individuals. And fourth, the book argues that title to territory is best captured by the value of stability, as opposed to integrity and equality. If these arguments are successful, their consequence is a major shift in how we view extraterritorial human rights obligations. Namely, the upshot is that all standards in international human rights treaties that count as human rights require that a threshold of jurisdiction, understood as political power, is met. However, on the present account, this threshold is not just a conceptual necessity but a normative one as well. It is needed because it not only describes, but also justifies the allocation of obligations.

scholarly journals COMPULSORY CHILDHOOD VACCINATION: THE EUROPEAN COURT OF HUMAN RIGHTS PERSPECTIVE

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucia Bakošová
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Childhood Vaccination ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Rights Of The Child ◽  
European Court ◽  
Life Threatening ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Right

Vaccination of children is of particular importance not only for their parents, but also for Governments in upholding their obligations under international human rights instruments, such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights or the Convention on the Rights of the Child. In the last years, however, the amount of children vaccinated against life-threatening diseases is declining. One of the most frequent arguments against vaccination (especially in case of compulsory vaccination) is the interference with the right to private and family life and the freedom of thought, conscience and religion. The aim of this paper is to analyse the judgement of the European Court of Human Rights in the case of Vavřička and Others v. the Czech Republic and to highlight its relevance to Slovakia and international human rights law.

The Idea of International Human Rights Law

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Wheatley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Moral Concept ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human ◽  
Fragmentation Of International Law

International Human Rights Law has emerged as an academic subject in its own right, separate from, but still related to, International Law. This book explains the distinctive nature of the new discipline by examining the influence of the moral concept of human rights on general international law. Rather than make use of moral philosophy or political theory, the work explains the term ‘human rights’ by examining its usage in international law practice, on the understanding that words are given meaning through their use. Relying on complexity theory to make sense of the legal practice in the United Nations, the core human rights treaties, and customary international law, The Idea of International Human Rights Law shows how a moral concept of human rights emerged, and then influenced the international law doctrine and practice on human rights, a fact that explains the fragmentation of international law and the special nature of International Human Rights Law.

The Fallacy of Effective Human Rights Protection under Relevant Treaty Law when Armed Groups Commit Violations

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tilman Rodenhäuser
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human

Chapter 5 adds to the contemporary discourse on human rights obligations of non-state armed groups by showing that in many situations, there is a clear legal need for these obligations. This chapter first engages in the debate on whether and to what extent certain human rights treaties address armed groups directly. Second, it shows that under the law of state responsibility, states are generally not responsible for human rights violations committed by non-state entities. Third, it recalls that under international human rights law, states have an obligation to protect human rights against violations committed by armed groups. However, it argues that because this cannot be a strict obligation but is one that depends on states’ capacities and the particular circumstances, often this framework cannot adequately protect individuals against human rights violations by armed groups. The result is a legal and practical need for human rights obligations of non-state armed groups.

The Institutional Future of the Covenants

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felice D Gaer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Body System ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Treaty Monitoring ◽  
Treaty Body ◽  
International Human ◽  
Normative Standards ◽  
Individual Petition

Longstanding proposals to strengthen implementation of the international human rights treaties have often focused on procedural reforms such as harmonizing methods of work or consolidating ten treaty monitoring bodies into one. This article reviews past reform efforts and then considers proposals to create stronger individual petition mechanisms—including a ‘world court’—as a way of strengthening human rights implementation. After discussing these proposals, the author offers additional ways to make the system more effective and efficient. She rejects the oft-suggested proposal to create a ‘world court’ for human rights, noting legal, organizational, logistical, and financial obstacles. Rather than rushing to tear down the current treaty body system, the author offers a proposal for determining how consolidation of petition proceedings might affect normative standards.

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