Protecting Basic Legal Freedoms: International Legal Complexes, Accountability Devices, and the Deviant Case of China

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Terence C. Halliday ◽  
Shira Zilberstein ◽  
Wendy Espeland
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Political Liberalism ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
Deviant Case ◽  
Collective Actor

With a focus on legal and other organizational actors beyond the state, this article seeks to expand the theory of conditions under which legal occupations will mobilize to fight for basic legal freedoms within states. It elaborates the line of scholarship on legal complexes and political liberalism within states since the 17th century. First, we catalog harms that international organizations (IOs) of many kinds seek to protect in the more than 190 states in the world. Second, we elaborate the concept of an international legal complex (ILC) as a collective actor in the global struggle for basic legal freedoms. We illustrate these two steps with new data on China drawn from a wider project. We show what harms mobilize the ILC, international human rights organizations (IHROs) and an international governmental organization, the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC). We focus on accountability devices as tools differentially deployed by the ILC, IOs, and UNHRC in their efforts to influence the institutionalization of basic legal freedoms, an open civil society, and a moderate state in China. The illustrative case of China provides a framework for research and theory on all other countries. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 17 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Advancing Socioeconomic Rights Through Interdisciplinary Factfinding: Opportunities and Challenges

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Knuckey ◽  
Joshua D. Fisher ◽  
Amanda M. Klasing ◽  
Tess Russo ◽  
Margaret L. Satterthwaite
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Mixed Methods ◽  
Social Science ◽  
Science Volume ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Limited Resources ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Socioeconomic Rights ◽  
Human Rights Movement

The human rights movement is increasingly using interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, mixed-methods, and quantitative factfinding. There has been too little analysis of these shifts. This article examines some of the opportunities and challenges of these methods, focusing on the investigation of socioeconomic human rights. By potentially expanding the amount and types of evidence available, factfinding's accuracy and persuasiveness can be strengthened, bolstering rights claims. However, such methods can also present significant challenges and may pose risks in individual cases and to the human rights movement generally. Interdisciplinary methods can be costly in human, financial, and technical resources; are sometimes challenging to implement; may divert limited resources from other work; can reify inequalities; may produce “expertise” that disempowers rightsholders; and could raise investigation standards to an infeasible or counterproductive level. This article includes lessons learned and questions to guide researchers and human rights advocates considering mixed-methods human rights factfinding. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 17 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

Business and Human Rights: Alternative Approaches to Transnational Regulation

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Surya Deva
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Corporate Culture ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Polycentric Governance ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
Treaty Reform ◽  
And Control ◽  
Investment Agreements

In recent years, various approaches to transnational regulation of business conduct have evolved as an alternative to the command-and-control model focusing on conduct of domestic businesses and the soft law approach of international human rights law to regulate corporations. On reviewing the potential of five such approaches (i.e., polycentric governance, extraterritorial regulation, proposed international treaty, reform of corporate laws, and rebalancing of trade-investment agreements), this article makes two arguments. First, although polycentric governance is critical to fill regulatory deficits of state-based regulation, this approach should not ignore or weaken further the role and relevance of states in regulating businesses, given the dynamic relation between state-based and other regulatory approaches. Second, greater attention should be paid to nonhuman rights regulatory regimes to change the corporate culture, which tends to externalize human rights issues. The increasing focus on the role of corporate laws and trade-investment agreements should be seen in this context. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Law and Social Science, Volume 17 is October 2021. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

scholarly journals Religious situation and problems of freedom of religion and belief in Kazakhstan

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (19) ◽  
pp. 71-75
Author(s):  
Roman Podoprigora
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Negative Reaction ◽  
Freedom Of Religion ◽  
Religious Activities ◽  
Soviet History ◽  
Religious Issues ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
The Government

In the situation with Kazakhstan, first of all, it is necessary to determine the starting point: October 2011. It was at this time that a new (second in post-Soviet history) law on religious issues (the “Law of 2011”) was adopted. It is very indicative of how he was taken: everything looked like a secret operation, quickly, without noise, long discussions and approvals. The fact is that several attempts of legislative initiatives in the field of regulating religious activities in the 2000s failed, including because of the negative reaction of local and foreign human rights organizations, international organizations and even individual states. The government, taught by such experience, immediately after the chairmanship of Kazakhstan in the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe in 2010, promptly drafted a new law, the adoption of which should have been provided by the Agency for Religious Affairs, specially created in the same year.

scholarly journals Roma Rights and Discrimination Based on Ethnicity in Sweden (Göteborg, Vänersborg, Stockholm and Trollhätan)

SEEU Review ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 15-29
Author(s):  
David Berat
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Parties ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Civil Society Organizations ◽  
Actual Situation ◽  
Governmental Organization ◽  
Legal Remedies ◽  
Financial Benefits ◽  
Discrimination In Employment ◽  
Positive Discrimination

Abstract This article is about the rights of the Roma in Sweden and the level of discrimination that Roma are facing. The aims and objectives of the article is theoretical and practical understanding of the situation of the Roma and their human rights through our research and analysis of reports from international organizations, civil society organizations, deep interviews and data from the collected 57 questionnaires. The data is collected during the two study visits in November 2016 and February 2017. The article sumarises the actual situation of the Roma in Sweden and shows new data I have collected while visiting Göteborg, Stockholm, Vänersborg and Trollhättan. I did 4 deep interviews with representatives from Civil Right Defenders, Kronan School and members from UNHCR Sweden. The interviews were composed out of 22 questions about the current condition of Roma in Sweden, implemented projects for improving the Roma human rights, discrimination, police harasment, Roma register, legal remedies against discrimination, financial benefits if persuing education, non-governmental organization working for and with Roma, equitable representation of Roma in the state bodies, affirmative actions (positive discrimination), Romani political parties, allocated funds for projects improving the Romani situation, system of minority right protection, equality of Roma among the Swedish citizens. The questionnaire about discrimination is composed out of 15 questions about the forms of discrimination, feeling or witnesing discrimination, discrimination in delivering services, discrimination in employment, and reporting discrimination.

A3. VARIOUS ORGANIZATIONS, LOSSES ON THE THREE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF THE AL-AQSA INTIFADA (COMPARATIVE STATISTICAL TABLE).

2004 ◽  
Vol 33 (2) ◽  
pp. 161-164
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Specific Data ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
Statistical Table ◽  
To Come

As the Journal of Palestine Studies has noted in tracking the al-Aqsa intifada since the outbreak of violence on 28 September 2000 (see Peace Monitors in JPS 118––129), figures for casualties and other losses often vary widely from source to source, and sometimes from report to report issued by a single organization. Tracking casualties and damage became particularly difficult, and indeed controversial, after Israel launched Operations Colorful Journey and Defensive Shield in spring 2002, when the pace and level of violence escalated dramatically, and Israeli restrictions on movement in the territories tightened. As a result, many groups stopped reporting comprehensive tolls altogether, while others ceased collecting specific data (e.g., injuries, trees uprooted, house demolitions). More groups have stopped reporting in 2003 as Israeli restrictions on international organizations tightened further. Since definitive, reliable statistics are hard to come by, the table below presents data on the first three years of the intifada as reported by several reputable human rights organizations (Israeli, Palestinian, and international), the IDF, the PA, the UN, and JPS's own in-house tally, along with some possible explanations for the discrepancies. JPS ran similar documents covering the first (Doc. A7 in JPS 122) and second (Doc. A2 in JPS 126) years of the intifada. The chart below was compiled by Michele K. Esposito.

Scaling Up Public Health Interventions: Engaging Partners Across Multiple Levels

2021 ◽  
Vol 43 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Leeman ◽  
Alix Boisson ◽  
Vivian Go
Keyword(s):  
Public Health ◽  
Scale Up ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Annual Review ◽  
Publication Date ◽  
Illustrative Case ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
Effective Interventions ◽  
Illustrative Case Study ◽  
The Impact

Advancing the science of intervention scale-up is essential to increasing the impact of effective interventions at the regional and national levels. In contrast with work in high-income countries (HICs), where scale-up research has been limited, researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) have conducted numerous studies on the regional and national scale-up of interventions. In this article, we review the state of the science on intervention scale-up in both HICs and LMICs. We provide an introduction to the elements of scale-up followed by a description of the scale-up process, with an illustrative case study from our own research. We then present findings from a scoping review comparing scale-up studies in LMIC and HIC settings. We conclude with lessons learned and recommendations for improving scale-up research. Expected final online publication date for the Annual Review of Public Health, Volume 43 is April 2022. Please see http://www.annualreviews.org/page/journal/pubdates for revised estimates.

The Global Rise of Social Cash Transfers

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lutz Leisering
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Security ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Cash Transfers ◽  
Social Citizenship ◽  
Human Beings ◽  
Sociological Approach ◽  
The Poor ◽  
Social Cash Transfers ◽  
The Right

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948) proclaimed the equality of all human beings in dignity and rights. The right to social security, however, has been taken more seriously only since the 2000s, through calls for ‘Social security for all’ and ‘Leaving no one behind’. The book investigates a major response, social cash transfers to the poor. The idea of simply giving money to the poor had been rejected by all major development organizations until the 1990s, but since the early 2000s, social cash transfers have mushroomed in the global South and on agendas of international organizations. How come? What programmes have emerged in which countries? How inclusive are the programmes? What models have international organizations devised? Based on unique quantitative and qualitative data, the book takes stock of all identifiable cash transfers in all Southern countries and of the views of all major international organizations. The author argues that cash transfers reflect broader changes: new understandings of development, of human rights, of global risks, of the social responsibility of governments, and of universalism. Social cash transfers have turned the poor from objects of charity into rights-holders and agents of their own lives and of development. A repertoire of cash transfers has evolved that has enhanced social citizenship, but is limited by weak political commitments. The book also contributes to a general theory of social policy in development contexts, through a constructivist sociological approach that complements the dominant approaches from welfare economics and political economy and includes a theory of social assistance.

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