Human Rights Unbound

Author(s):  
Lea Raible

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.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-269
Author(s):  
Sarah Joseph

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.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Diane F Frey

<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>


2007 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 199
Author(s):  
Shotaro Hamamoto

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.


Author(s):  
Emilie M. Hafner-Burton

This chapter reviews scholarly research on international human rights law, focusing on systematic studies that are based on historical statistics and carried out by social scientists. The systematic, scholarly study of international human rights law can be grouped into two main categories. First are studies on the process of international law, such as on how judges in human rights tribunals make decisions. Second are studies that look for relationships between the presence of law (and laws of different types) and actual changes in human behavior. The chapter concentrates on the second category of research and highlights its main weaknesses. It also discusses some of the findings of statistical research regarding civil and political rights as well as economic, social, and cultural rights. Finally, it examines the mechanisms of influence of the international human rights legal system.


2019 ◽  
pp. 407-438
Author(s):  
Gleider Hernández

This chapter addresses international human rights and refugee law. In 1948, the General Assembly adopted the famed Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). Many of its provisions have influenced the adoption of major multilateral treaties, or have come to reflect customary international law, at times through influencing the drafting of State constitutions. The UDHR has also been referred to by international courts to give weight, or to interpret, obligations contained in other treaties. Two overarching covenants were also adopted separately in 1966: the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). In parallel with the emergence of human rights protection at the international level, several regional frameworks exist. The chapter then looks at the European, American, and African human rights conventions and accompanying institutions.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (1) ◽  
pp. 46-56
Author(s):  
Aisha Jadoon ◽  
Ali Asghar Chusti

The ICCPR 1966 is an important international human rights treaty that provides a number of protections for civil and political rights. The Charter was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly in 1966 and came into force in 1976. July 2020 So far, the agreement has been ratified by 171 countries. The newly liberated states of Africa and the Caribbean, together with the ICCPR, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, are considered international human rights bills. The ICCPR obliges countries that ratify the agreement to ensure the protection of fundamental human rights, such as the right to life and human dignity, equality before the law, freedom of expression, the right to assembly and other rights also. ICCPR guarantees the fair trial for the accused in three stages i.e. Rights before trial, during trial and after trial. This article appraises the analytical study of the rights granted to the accused during the trial.


Author(s):  
Khan Ferdousour Rahman

The relationship between human rights and conflict is dynamic, complex, and powerful, constantly shaping and reshaping the course of both peace and war. The world was worried with the devastating effect of the World War II. The United Nations was formed out of the ashes of the war in 1945, putting respect for human rights alongside peace, security and development as the primary objectives. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was also adopted in 1948 as a continuation of that obligation, which provided a framework for a series of international human rights conventions. Presently almost all the national legislations are influenced by these conventions. The modern system of international human rights treaties is based on the concept of universalism. Depending on the agency, human rights include civil and political rights, economic, social and cultural rights, development rights, and indigenous rights. However, what is or is not considered a human right differs from one nation to another (Fedorak, 2007).


2015 ◽  
Vol 69 (2) ◽  
pp. 405-441 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wade M. Cole

AbstractAccording to recent studies, international human rights treaties are ineffective, counterproductive, or else beneficial for only those countries that tend to respect human rights regardless of treaty membership. Analysts often attribute gaps between human rights principles and practices to willful disobedience, self-interested defection, and ineffective enforcement. Using two-stage regression models to analyze compliance with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, I examine whether countries' inability (as opposed to unwillingness) to implement treaty terms is also responsible for the gap between commitment and compliance. I find that one dimension of state capacity in particular—bureaucratic efficacy—enhances levels of compliance with civil, political, and physical integrity rights provisions. These findings lend credence to an important aspect of the managerial approach—that noncompliance is often inadvertent and conditioned by a state's ability to implement treaty terms.


1982 ◽  
Vol 76 (4) ◽  
pp. 754-778 ◽  
Author(s):  
Theodor Meron

One of the characteristic phenomena of contemporary international life is the proliferation of human rights instruments and systems of supervision. In addition to the Charter of the United Nations and comprehensive global conventions such as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Economic Covenant) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Political Covenant), instruments have been adopted within the United Nations or the specialized agencies to govern particular aspects of human rights (e.g., racial discrimination, rights of women) and within regional organizations (e.g., the Council of Europe, the Organization of American States) to govern both general and particular aspects of human rights. In the United Nations, the general practice has been for each normative instrument to create its own system of supervision whenever such systems have been established. Typically, each organ of supervision applies only the norms adopted in the specific “founding” instrument, rather than the entire corpus juris of international human rights or even all of the instruments comprising the International Bill of Human Rights, i.e., the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Universal Declaration), the Economic Covenant, the Political Covenant, and the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This proliferation of normative instruments and systems of supervision, which is similar to the proliferation that has given rise to difficult questions of coordination within and between international organizations in the fields of budget, programming, and administration, has led to overlapping jurisdiction and even to conflicts between the legislative and supervisory competence, or claims of competence, of various international bodies. The object of this article is not to compile or map out all the possible conflict areas or to undertake a detailed analysis of the conflicts, whether real or imaginary. Its more modest purpose is to present a broad panorama of the problems, directions, and policy. These matters merit attention, even though political and institutional reasons may make major reforms impossible for the time being. The questions to be discussed are relevant to three major fields of international law: treaties, human rights, and international organizations. While substantive problems of “legislation” or norm making are closely related to problems of supervision or implementation, normative problems will be focused upon first, and problems of supervision second.


Author(s):  
Audrey R. Chapman

The right to health and health services is generally framed as the right to the highest attainable standard of health. Like other human rights, the right to health confers to all people specific entitlements and imposes duties on governments to protect and promote them. It reflects a broadened sense of governmental responsibility for the welfare of its citizens and a more inclusive understanding of human rights. All countries, including the United States, have ratified at least one binding human rights convention that includes a provision on the right to health. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the United Nations more than six decades ago, has given rise to a series of international human rights instruments that legally obligate states to implement their provisions. The two most important of these are the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Despite substantial progress, a number of issues still need to be addressed for the realization of the right to health, such as the lack of political commitment on the part of many states with regard to implementation and the weakness of the international human rights system. Furthermore, many states which have ratified international or regional human rights instruments that recognize a right to health or have relevant constitutional provisions still do not invest the necessary resources or apply human rights standards to the framing of health policies.


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