Comparative Human Rights Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sandra Fredman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Cultural Relativity ◽  
Foreign Materials ◽  
Speech Education ◽  
Similar Solutions ◽  
Rights Issues

Courts in different jurisdictions face similar human rights questions. Does the death penalty breach human rights? Does freedom of speech include racist speech? Is there a right to health? This book uses the prism of comparative law to examine the fascinating ways in which these difficult questions are decided. On the one hand, the shared language of human rights suggests that there should be similar solutions to comparable problems. On the other hand, there are important differences. Constitutional texts are worded differently; courts have differing relationships with the legislature; and there are divergences in socio-economic development, politics, and history. Nevertheless, there is a growing transnational conversation between courts, with cases in one jurisdiction being cited in others. Part I (Chapters 1–5) outlines the cross-cutting themes which shape the ways judges respond to challenging human rights issues. Chapters 1–5 examine when it is legitimate to refer to foreign materials; how universality and cultural relativity are balanced in human rights law; the appropriate role of courts in adjudicating human rights in a democracy; and the principles judges use to interpret human rights texts. The book is unusual in transcending the distinction between socio-economic rights and civil and political rights. Part II (Chapters 6–12) applies these cross-cutting themes to comparing human rights law in five jurisdictions. These chapters focus on seven particularly challenging issues: the death penalty, abortion, housing, health, speech, education, and religion, with the aim of inspiring further comparative examination of other pressing human rights issues. It is primarily court-centred, but also examines courts’ drawbacks.

The Interests Protected by the Right to Security of Person

2019 ◽  
pp. 103-122
Author(s):  
Rhonda Powell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
South African ◽  
Capabilities Approach ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Canadian Charter ◽  
The Right

Drawing on the analysis of security in Chapter 3 and the capabilities approach in Chapter 4, Chapter 5 provides examples of the interests that the right to security of person protects. It also considers the extent to which human rights law already recognizes a link between those interests and security of person. Five overlapping examples are discussed in turn: life, the means of life, health, privacy and the home, and autonomy. Illustrations are brought primarily from the European Convention on Human Rights, the Canadian Charter, and the South African Bill of Rights jurisprudence. It is argued that protection against material deprivations that threaten a person’s existence are as much part of the right to personal security as protection against physical assaults. The right to security of person effectively overcomes the problematic distinction between civil and political rights and socio-economic rights because it sits in both categories.

scholarly journals Corporate Human Rights Obligations under Socio-economic Rights

2021 ◽  
pp. 64-102
Author(s):  
Jernej Letnar Černic
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Significant Contribution ◽  
Financial Resources ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Un Global Compact ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

In the chapter it is examined obligations of business in the field of socio-economic rightsThe author proceeds from the understanding of the importance of socio-economic rights to ensurethe livelihood of people and the creation of human opportunities, as well as their fundamental naturein terms of enjoying civil and political rights. The author is convinced that not only states, but alsocorporations, have certain obligations in the field of socio-economic rights. Because socioeconomicrights are linked to financial resources, corporations can make a significant contribution to securingthem in case of state fragility.The author analyzes international documents, compares national legal systems, as well as othersources (decisions of treaty bodies on human rights), and he concludes that corporate obligationsgain their legitimacy due to the horizontal application of national and international human rights law.It is noted that the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, the OECD Guidelines forTransnational Enterprises, the UN Global Compact, the ILO Tripartite Declaration play a significantrole in promoting corporate human rights obligations in the field of socio-economic rights.The author also analyzes the significance of voluntary commitments of both individual corporationsand individual sectors that are generally the part of corporate policy and suggests their questionablelegal nature (lex imperfecta), as they do not provide sanctions for their violation.Analyzing the features of corporate obligations under socio-economic rights, the author takes asa basis the negative and positive dichotomy of human rights, as well as the approach embodied ininternational human rights law on three types of human rights obligations – to respect, protect, ensure.The author concludes that within each of the types of socio-economic rights obligations, corporationshave both preventive (negative and positive) and some corrective (negative and positive) obligations,especially where they control and/or or influence or in proximity of their operations.

Conclusion

2018 ◽  
pp. 457-466
Author(s):  
Sandra Fredman
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Judicial Interpretation ◽  
Analytic Framework ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Fundamental Values

The first part of this book sets out the themes which form the analytic framework for subsequent chapters: the role of comparative materials; the meaning of human rights; the relationship between civil and political rights and socio-economic rights; the role of adjudication; and approaches to judicial interpretation. Subsequent chapters apply these themes to some of the most challenging issues in comparative human rights law. The coverage is not intended to be complete, but aims to bring comparative human rights to life, asking similar questions across several jurisdictions and a range of human rights topics. Judges faced with acutely difficult questions must refer to their textual mandate, the fundamental values informing the text, their own interpretive philosophy, and their perception of their role relative to the legislature. But increasingly, their decision-making can be enriched by considering, in a deliberative sense, how judges in other jurisdictions have faced these questions.

Women’s Participation in the Public Domain Under Human Rights Law: Towards a Participatory Equality Paradigm Shift

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Rubio-Marín
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Gender Quotas ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Private Governance ◽  
Public And Private ◽  
Full Diversity ◽  
Women's Participation ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Participation Of Women

This chapter explores how human rights law has contributed to the shift towards participatory gender equality by legitimating the adoption of quotas and parity mechanisms to ensure women’s equal participation in decision-making. Since the adoption of CEDAW, human rights law has moved away from formal equality notions that simply affirm women’s equal political rights. Instead, we see growing endorsement of substantive equality doctrines that validate the adoption of gender quotas, initially as temporary special measures to ensure women equal opportunities, and, more recently, as permanent measures targeting the gender-balanced composition of an ever-expanding range of public and private governance bodies. The chapter explores how human rights law connects this participatory turn to issues of pluralism, calling attention to the need for public bodies to represent the full diversity of the population, and calling on state parties to increase the participation of women from ethnic minorities, indigenous groups, and religious minorities.

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights at Seventy: Progress and Challenges

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (4) ◽  
pp. 395-406 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ş. İlgü Özler
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Vital Role ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Good Time ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Accountability Measures ◽  
Current State ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
State Of Affairs

AbstractNow is a good time to take stock of the global progress made toward achieving the ideals enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), which was passed by the UN General Assembly seventy years ago. Though the UDHR has played a vital role in advancing human rights globally, threats to human rights areever present. Two issues in particular stand out as barriers to further progress. The first is state sovereignty, which presents a fundamental challenge to any effort to establish universal norms. Without strong global institutional mechanisms to ensure implementation, UDHR's impact remains limited. The second major concern is the “siloing” of human rights efforts, whereby civil and political rights have been given primacy over social and economic rights. Emphasis on some principles to the exclusion of others undermines the comprehensive advancement of human rights. The current state of affairs is a product of the collective failure to address human rights holistically and to implement real monitoring and accountability measures for states, which are directly charged with upholding them within their borders.

scholarly journals EKSISTENSI HUKUMAN MATI DITINJAU DARI ASPEK HAM SIPIL DALAM PERSEPEKTIF HAK UNTUK HIDUP

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 72-91
Author(s):  
I Gusti Bagus Hengki
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Death Penalty ◽  
Research Methodology ◽  
Scientific Paper ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
The Republic ◽  
Perpetrators And Victims ◽  
The Right

This scientific paper is expected to find out how the existence of the death penalty is viewed from the aspect of Civil Human Rights in the perspective of the right to life and whether the existence of the death penalty is contrary to the ideology of the Pancasila State and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia and the Human Rights Law with a normative research methodology with using a statutory approach. From the results of the discussion that the existence of the death penalty in terms of the Civil Human Rights aspect in the perspective of the right to life still needs to be maintained, because it does not conflict with the ideology of the Pancasila State and the 1945 Constitution of the Republic of Indonesia, the Human Rights Law, UDHR and ICCPR, as well as religion. in Indonesia, as long as it is not carried out arbitrarily, in accordance with the provisions of the legislation. This needs to be done because to provide protection for individual perpetrators and victims against acts of revenge, emotional, uncontrollable, vigilante, so that it does not guarantee that the death penalty is abolished. Indeed, there are parties who are pro and contra about the death penalty by both underpinning Pancasila, all of which is to make Pancasila a "Justification".   Tulisan ilmiah ini diharapkan dapat mengetahui bagaimana eksistensi  hukuman mati  ditinjau dari aspek  HAM Sipil dalam perspektif hak untuk hidup  dan apakah eksistensi  hukuman mati bertentangan dengan  ideologi Negara Pancasila dan Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 serta  Undang-Undang HAM dengan metodologi penelitian normatif dengan menggunakan jenis pendekatan perundang-undangan (statute Approach). Dari hasil pembahasan bahwa eksistensi hukuman mati ditinjau dari aspek HAM Sipil dalam perspektif Hak untuk hidup  masih perlu dipertahankan, karena tidak bertentangan dengan ideologi Negara Pancasila dan Undang-Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945, Undang-Undang HAM, UDHR dan ICCPR, maupun agama yang ada di Indonesia, asal dilaksanakan  tidak sewenang-wenang, sesuai dengan ketentuan peraturan perundang-undangan. Hal ini perlu diadakan  karena untuk memberikan perlindungan terhadap individu pelaku dan korban terhadap tindakan balas dendam, emosional, tidak terkendali, main hakim sendiri, sehingga tidak menjamin bahwa kalau hukuman pidana mati ditiadakan.  Memang ada pihak yang pro dan kontra tentang hukuman mati dengan sama-sama mendasari Pancasila, semuanya itu untuk menjadikan Pancasila sebagai “Justification“.

Toward a More Youthful Democracy

2021 ◽  
pp. 141-160
Author(s):  
Richard P. Hiskes
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Justice ◽  
Children's Rights ◽  
Children’S Rights ◽  
Best Interests ◽  
Citizenship Rights ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Structural Inequality ◽  
Rights Issues

This concluding chapter begins with a discussion of how the global coronavirus pandemic called attention to children’s rights issues, specifically in how children were not allowed to participate in decisions directly affecting their “best interests,” as required by CRC. Granting children human rights will fundamentally alter the nature of both democracy and human rights. Giving children citizenship rights will renew democracy, as past enfranchisements have, but also will push democracies to resemble less Western, liberal models. Group rights will predominate in democracies where children are full citizens. Also, the human rights agendas of child-incorporating democracies will be dominated by social and economic rights issues, since children’s rights of protection and provision will be given priority. Finally, children’s participation rights will emerge as crucial in diminishing structural inequality in democratic societies, providing a pathway to a fuller form of social justice predicated on the human rights of children.

Introduction The customary law of human rights is hiding in plain sight

2021 ◽  
pp. 1-8
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Customary Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Regional Systems ◽  
Second World

Many areas of international law developed first as custom and were only subsequently, generally in the course of the twentieth century, subject to codification. Human rights law was different. It was viewed as quintessentially a matter of domestic concern, a subject shrouded in State sovereignty. Only following the Second World War was international human rights law recognised as a source of binding obligations, mainly through the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other instruments of the United Nations as well as the regional systems. Later, jurists began contending that the norms in these instruments might also be customary in nature. They struggled with identifying the two classic elements in the determination of custom, opinio juris and State practice. Most analysis of the content of customary international law was rather perfunctory and also quite conservative, confining itself largely to civil and political rights.

Challenging the Divide: Socio-economic Rights as Human Rights

2018 ◽  
pp. 59-78
Author(s):  
Sandra Fredman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Subject Matter ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Right ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Mutual Dependence ◽  
Participative Democracy ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Available Resources

This chapter critically examines the ways in which civil and political rights have been distinguished from socio-economic rights, including differing ideologies, subject matter; obligations, resource implications, and justiciability. Instead of such bright-line distinctions, it suggests that all rights should be seen as giving rise to a cluster of duties: to respect, protect, and fulfil. The duty to fulfil is most challenging, especially when framed as a duty of progressive realization subject to maximum available resources. Section II assesses these concepts, particularly the attempt to establish a minimum core. It concludes that a thoroughgoing acceptance of socio-economic rights requires more than the label of ‘human right’. It also entails a re-characterization of human rights values, emphasizing inter-connectedness, mutual dependence, and a substantive conception of equality. Freedom and dignity need to be refashioned to ensure that individuals have genuine choices from a range of valuable options, within a framework of participative democracy.

21. Indigenous peoples’ and minority rights

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhona K. M. Smith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Minority Status ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
International Human

This chapter examines the scope and application of indigenous peoples’ rights and minority rights in international human rights law. It discusses the recognition of the need for minority protection in the drafting of the International Bill of Human Rights; analyses the provisions of Art 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights; and describes tests employed to determine minority status. The chapter also considers developments in the protection of minority rights in Europe. The rights of indigenous peoples are also examined.

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