State of Play and the Road Ahead

2020 ◽  
pp. 213-221
Author(s):  
Margot E Salomon
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Democratic Deficit ◽  
The Road ◽  
World Today ◽  
Poverty And Inequality ◽  
The World ◽  
Key Features

This introductory chapter draws from, and builds on, the three chapters on human rights and poverty in this edited volume. It explores those contributions with an eye to what they advocate and as a basis for exposing obstacles to bringing human rights to bear on poverty and material inequality. Three key features that characterize the world today are addressed: a multilevel democratic deficit, a harmful commitment to growth, and a categorical absence of accountability for the state of poverty and inequality. This chapter reflects on the state of play and the road ahead and concludes by, querying whether international law in fact values people living in poverty and the limits of the human rights project in seeking to ensure that that it does.

scholarly journals STATUS AGAMA DALAM KEHIDUPAN PUBLIK PERSPEKTIF HAM INTERNASIONAL

2020 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 190
Author(s):  
Yudi Junadi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Modern State ◽  
Positive Contribution ◽  
The West ◽  
Transnational Movements ◽  
Current Wave ◽  
The World

Along with the rise of religious claims as one of the solid foundations for the grounding of Human Rights (HAM), the problems confronting humanity in relation to the presence of religion, in the contemporary era tend to escalate. The current wave of globalization has not only marginalized but rather provided an opportunity for the birth of various religious transnational movements that had not been predicted before. The conception of the modern state adopted by the West which was later referred to as a model for the construction of the state in various other parts of the world, was founded on the basis of secular values that transcended traditional solidarity, among which were national equality. Apart from the black stain that has been inscribed in history, especially in the field of freedom of thought, religion at this time can be said to have a positive contribution as a source of aspiration for the parties that are suppressed. Keywords : Globalization, Freedom of Religion, International Law, Human Rights.

scholarly journals Les rôles respectifs de l'État et du citoyen

2005 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 511-521 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marcelio Oreja
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The State ◽  
International Agreement ◽  
National Sovereignty ◽  
World Today ◽  
The People ◽  
The World ◽  
Sovereign Nations

At first glance, national sovereignty and the respect of Human Rights seem, since the first is unachievable without detriment to the second, irréconciliable. When a country binds itself through an international agreement to respect Human Rights it may still violate these accords with impunity by hiding behind the sacred principle of non-interference, a precept often invoked by other countries to justify their passivity. For the author, this pessimistic view does not, however, take into consideration the fact that evolution in the safeguards to human rights has only come about with the consent of sovereign nations. There are few countries in the world today who flagrantly disregard Human Rights without feeling the need to justify themselves. It may now be said that there is a beginning of virtue in the reality of international relations. There may certainly exist conflict between the exercice of sovereignty and the respect of Human Rights, but in democratic countries, this does not constitute an absolute paradox. It is the responsibility of the people governed to make good their rights by exerting the necessary pressure on their government when it does not have a tendency to liberalize its policies. This is because, in the end, Human Rights do not belong to the State but to the people.

Making Human Rights a Reality

2013 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emilie M. Hafner-Burton
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Population ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
National Human ◽  
The World ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
National Human Rights Institutions

In the last six decades, one of the most striking developments in international law is the emergence of a massive body of legal norms and procedures aimed at protecting human rights. In many countries, though, there is little relationship between international law and the actual protection of human rights on the ground. This book takes a fresh look at why it's been so hard for international law to have much impact in parts of the world where human rights are most at risk. The book argues that more progress is possible if human rights promoters work strategically with the group of states that have dedicated resources to human rights protection. These human rights “stewards” can focus their resources on places where the tangible benefits to human rights are greatest. Success will require setting priorities as well as engaging local stakeholders such as nongovernmental organizations and national human rights institutions. To date, promoters of international human rights law have relied too heavily on setting universal goals and procedures and not enough on assessing what actually works and setting priorities. This book illustrates how, with a different strategy, human rights stewards can make international law more effective and also safeguard human rights for more of the world population.

Conceptions And Interpretations of Human Rights in Europe and Asia: Normative Aspects

2010 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 117-135
Author(s):  
Bożena Drzewicka
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The West ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
The World ◽  
International Human

Conceptions And Interpretations of Human Rights in Europe and Asia: Normative AspectsThe issue of confronting values between civilizations has become very important. It influences not only the level of international politics but also the international normative activity. It is very interesting for the modern international law and its doctrine. The most important factor of causing huge changes in the system of international law is still the international human rights protection and the international humanitarian law which is related to it. It is very difficult to create one catalogue of executive instruments and procedures but it is possible to influence the attitude toward the basic paradigms. The frictions appear from time to time and move to other planes. The West and Asia are still antagonists in the dialogue on the future of the world. The article is a contribution to the intercivilizational dialogue.

Diplomatic Assurances Against Torture – An Effective Strategy? A Review of Jurisprudence and Examination of the Arguments

2008 ◽  
Vol 77 (4) ◽  
pp. 319-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lena Skoglund
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
War On Terror ◽  
The State ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Actual Risk ◽  
Substantial Risk ◽  
International Human ◽  
Controversial Area

AbstractHuman rights organisations have warned repeatedly that basic human rights are being challenged in the so-called 'War on Terror'. One particularly controversial area is the use of diplomatic assurances against torture. According to international human rights instruments, the state shall not return anyone to countries in which they face a substantial risk of being subjected to torture. In the 'War on Terror', an increasing number of non-citizens are being deemed 'security threats', rendering them exempt from protection in many Western states. To be able to deport such 'threats' without compromising their duties under international law, states are increasingly willing to accept a diplomatic assurance against torture – that is, a promise from the state of return that it will not subject the returnee to torture. There is wide disagreement as to whether and/or when diplomatic assurances can render sufficient protection to satisfy the obligations of non-refoulement to risk of torture. Whereas the human rights society label such assurances as 'empty promises', others view them as effective, allowing states to retain their right to remove non-citizens without violating international law. This article reviews international and selected national jurisprudence on the topic of diplomatic assurances against torture and examines if and/or when such assurances might render sufficient protection against torture to enable removals in accordance with international law. The courts and committees that have reviewed the use of diplomatic assurances against torture have identified essential problems of using them, thus rejecting reliance on simple promises not to torture. However, they have often implied that sufficient protection might be rendered by developing the assurances. I argue that this approach risks leading the governments into trying to perfect a system that is inherently flawed – whilst, incidentally, deportations to actual risk of torture continue. Even carefully modelled assurances render only unreliable protection against torture. For this, and reasons connected to undesirable side-effects of their use, I argue that the practice should be rejected.

Recognized and Violated by International Law: The Human Rights of the Global Poor

2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 717-745 ◽  
Author(s):  
THOMAS POGGE
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
World Bank ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
The World Bank ◽  
Institutional Structures ◽  
The World

Various human rights are widely recognized in codified and customary international law. These human rights promise all human beings protection against specific severe harms that might be inflicted on them domestically or by foreigners. Yet international law also establishes and maintains institutional structures that greatly contribute to violations of these human rights: fundamental components of international law systematically obstruct the aspirations of poor populations for democratic self-government, civil rights, and minimal economic sufficiency. And central international organizations, such as the WTO, the IMF, and the World Bank, are designed so that they systematically contribute to the persistence of severe poverty.

Remarks by Sean D. Murphy

2020 ◽  
Vol 114 ◽  
pp. 193-199
Author(s):  
Sean D. Murphy ◽  
Claudio Grossman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Human Rights Movement ◽  
Interstate System ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Individual

Our conversation might begin by looking backward a bit. The human rights movement from 1945 onward has been one of the signature accomplishments of the field of international law, one that refocused our attention from a largely interstate system to a system where the individual moved in from the periphery to the center. Human rights champions point to numerous landmark treaties, numerous institutions, and the rise of NGOs as a critical vehicle for developing and monitoring human rights rules. Yet others look at the international human right system and still see the state as overly central, tolerating and paying lip service to human rights, but too easily discarding them when they prove to be inconvenient. The persistence of racism comes to mind. As a general matter, how would you assess the strengths and weaknesses of the system that was built essentially during your lifetime?

Between the utopian imaginaries of literature and international law: The question of the insurgent child in international legal discourse and Kris Montañez’s Youth

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-20
Author(s):  
José Duke S. Bagulaya
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Discourse ◽  
The State ◽  
The Other ◽  
State Of Exception ◽  
Utopian Vision ◽  
The World ◽  
Realistic Representation ◽  
The One

Abstract This article argues that international law and the literature of civil war, specifically the narratives from the Philippine communist insurgency, present two visions of the child. On the one hand, international law constructs a child that is individual and vulnerable, a victim of violence trapped between the contending parties. Hence, the child is a person who needs to be insulated from the brutality of the civil war. On the other hand, the article reads Filipino writer Kris Montañez’s stories as revolutionary tales that present a rational child, a literary resolution of the dilemmas of a minor’s participation in the world’s longest-running communist insurgency. Indeed, the short narratives collected in Kabanbanuagan (Youth) reveal a tension between a minor’s right to resist in the context of the people’s war and the juridical right to be insulated from the violence. As their youthful bodies are thrown into the world of the state of exception, violence forces children to make the choice of active participation in the hostilities by symbolically and literally assuming the roles played by their elders in the narrative. The article concludes that while this narrative resolution appears to offer a realistic representation and closure, what it proffers is actually a utopian vision that is in tension with international law’s own utopian vision of children. Thus, international law and the stories of youth in Kabanbanuagan provide a powerful critique of each other’s utopian visions.

The Hardest Part: Creating a Right of Secession

2020 ◽  
pp. 219-241
Author(s):  
Timothy William Waters
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Rule ◽  
The State ◽  
Making Sense ◽  
Legal Right

This chapter explores strategies to achieve acceptance of a right to secede, whether as a legal rule or as a model for individual states. Secession is a hard sell, and the principal battleground is moral and political. A shift in attitudes must precede the legal project; only then will people see doctrinal arguments lining up and making sense. And, after all, the goal is not a new legal right for its own sake, but a change in how societies and states behave. The chapter then considers why a formal right of secession is implausible, and what that implies about the best strategies to adopt—the narrow but real possibilities that exist. The path is indirect: It relies on transnational diffusion of norms, and for this people can draw lessons from once-improbable projects that have become orthodoxies, such as decolonization and human rights; also, recent secession attempts suggest that constitutional projects could serve as models. The path leads through many small changes, rather than a single, quixotic swerve toward a new legal rule. But because the existing global norm limits the ability to create change within states, people cannot abandon the idea of a new rule: Advocates of secession need a point of triangulation outside the state to advance their cause, and that point will be found in international law.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document