Bigger or Better? The Role of Human Rights and Democracy in Determining Membership of the European Institutions

2004 ◽  
Vol 73 (4) ◽  
pp. 421-460
Author(s):  
Alison Duxbury
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Progressive Change ◽  
European Institutions ◽  
Admission Decisions ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Eu

AbstractThis article traces the development of the role of human rights and democracy in determining admission to three European organizations: the Council of Europe, NATO and the EU. Despite the different functions that each organization performs, they have all assumed that prospective members must comply with human rights and democratic conditions. This is evident in both the organizations' constituent instruments and related membership documents, and also in the recent admission practice of the three organizations. But the membership practice also indicates that since their establishment the organizations have not always applied these conditions rigorously – thus there is a tension between the organizations' desire for homogenous universality (getting better) and heterogeneous universality (getting bigger). The admission practice also reveals a number of problems with the use of human rights and democratic criteria, including inconsistencies in the application of the criteria between applicants and existing members of the same organization, and inconsistencies in the application of the shared criteria across the three organizations. In the end, the development of the common membership criteria of human rights and democracy highlights both a degree of flexibility in admission decisions, as well as a progressive change in the functions of each organization.

Sociocultural Rights and the Media: International Developments 2017

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-62
Author(s):  
Mariya Riekkinen
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Hate Crime ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Economic Rights ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Media ◽  
The Eu

This article provides an overview of international developments in the area of the sociocultural and economic rights of European minorities, including access to and portrayal in the media, throughout 2017. The year brought several significant advancements in these areas. The adoption of the 2017 UNESCO Declaration of Ethical Principles in Relation to Climate Change acknowledged the role of indigenous knowledge in counteracting the challenge of climate change. Protection and integration of Roma was addressed in the activities of the human rights organizations and bodies at the level of the UN, the Council of Europe, the OSCE and the EU. The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) delivered a series of significant judgments specifying the factors that would allow a court to classify an act as a hate crime. The ECtHR also instituted procedural rules protecting people from violence based on ethnic and racial motives.

scholarly journals Europa som utopi og dystopi hos Antonio Muñoz Molina

2009 ◽  
Vol 37 (108) ◽  
pp. 92-111
Author(s):  
Hans Lauge Hansen
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Society ◽  
The Other ◽  
Illegal Immigrants ◽  
Cultural Identities ◽  
Official Discourse ◽  
Antonio Munoz Molina ◽  
Point Of Departure ◽  
The Eu

Utopian and Dystopian Representations of Europe in Antonio Muñoz Molina:How does a modern European society like the Spanish one reflect upon the experience of having dead bodies of illegal immigrants washed up on the nice clean beaches prepared for English, German and Danish tourists? How do such experiences affect the dominant national discourse, which identifies itself with the EU as a global centre of modernity? How do these experiences affect the Spanish citizen’s understanding of the character of this modernity? And what kind of narratives does it take to bridge the gap between the image of the democratic, open and human-rights oriented European Community created by official discourse and these traumatizing experiences? Taking its point of departure in two books written by one of Spain’s greatest novelists, Antonio Muñoz Molina, the article aims to investigate the role of literature as an actor in the creation and negotiation of cultural identities. The hypothesis is that literary discourse has got the unique capacity to offer the reader the image of him- or herself as another and to present the other as a self through its aesthetic strategy, thereby contributing to the reader’s appropriation of textual experiences as his or her own. In this process, the different aspects of reality, the dark and brighter sides of European history and the rise of modern, globalized society become mediated and dialogized.

scholarly journals Roles of the Courts in New Zealand in Giving Effect to International Human Rights - with Some History

1999 ◽  
Vol 29 (1) ◽  
pp. 27 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kenneth J Keith
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Common Law ◽  
General Effect ◽  
International Affairs ◽  
The Common ◽  
The Right ◽  
Domestic Law

The Right Honourable Sir Kenneth Keith was the fourth speaker at the NZ Institute of International Affairs Seminar. In this article he describes and reflects upon the role of courts and judges in relation to the advancement of human rights, an issue covered in K J Keith (ed) Essays on Human Rights (Sweet and Maxwell, Wellington, 1968). The article is divided into two parts. The first part discusses international lawmakers attempting to protect individual groups of people from 1648 to 1948, including religious minorities and foreign traders, slaves, aboriginal natives, victims of armed conflict, and workers. The second part discusses how from 1945 to 1948, there was a shift in international law to universal protection. The author notes that while treaties are not part of domestic law, they may have a constitutional role, be relevant in determining the common law, give content to the words of a statute, help interpret legislation which is in line with a treaty, help interpret legislation which is designed to give general effect to a treaty (but which is silent on the particular matter), and help interpret and affect the operation of legislation to which the international text has no apparent direct relation. 

scholarly journals The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in the Polish Social Safeguard System

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Tabernacka
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Common

The ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Poland was preceded by a heated debate. From the very beginning it was be object of political battles between the conservative and liberal circles. Culturally and socially conditioned position of women has influenced its operation and the scope of its implementation. The Convention is a universally binding tool which guarantees the protection of human rights in events of violence against the woman and children. The case of this Convention in Poland proofs the existence of a universal European understanding of human rights protection standards. The Convention thus has a protective function not only for individuals but also, in a broader context, for the common European cultural identity.

The Common Core of European Administrative Laws and the Pan-European General Principles of Good Administration

2021 ◽  
pp. 21-34
Author(s):  
Ulrich Stelkens
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Public Administration ◽  
Common Core ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Administrative Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Institute Of Public Administration ◽  
German Research ◽  
The Common

This chapter examines a research project carried out at the German Research Institute of Public Administration and the German University of Administrative Sciences Speyer. This 'Speyer project' studies the development, content, and effectiveness of the written and unwritten standards of good administration drawn up within the framework of the Council of Europe (CoE), i.e. on the basis of its Statute (SCoE) and the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), which is a sort of 'second pillar' of the CoE. These CoE standards are called 'pan-European principles of good administration'. This 'Speyer project' can be understood as a counterpart to the project carried out by Giacinto della Cananea and Mauro Bussani on the Common Core of European Administrative Law (CoCEAL) as it has a similar objective: to ascertain whether, despite many differences between European systems of administrative law, there are some connecting elements, or a 'common core', and, if so, whether such 'connecting elements' can be formulated in legal terms rather than as generic idealities. However, the methodological approach of the 'Speyer project' clearly differs from the 'factual approach' adopted in CoCEAL.

Human Rights in EU Development Policy

2021 ◽  
pp. 682-706
Author(s):  
Jan Wouters ◽  
Michal Ovádek
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Development Policy ◽  
External Action ◽  
Development Cooperation ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
Member States ◽  
Missed Opportunities ◽  
Constitutional Level ◽  
The Eu

This chapter studies the role of human rights in EU development policy. The place of human rights in development policy was solidified at the constitutional level with the entry into force of the Lisbon Treaty, which made the promotion of human rights in all EU external action a legal obligation. As a result, different institutional mechanisms, thematic guidelines, and dedicated instruments and strategies have been put in place to consolidate a comprehensive operational framework aimed at ensuring that EU development programs advance human rights worldwide coherently and consistently. EU development policy is a shared competence, which means that both the EU and its Member States are entitled to act within this domain, as long as national actions do not undermine EU laws and positions. The sharing of competences, however, makes it more difficult for the EU to live up to the commitment of coherent and consistent promotion of human rights. In any case, substantial amount of coordination between the EU and the Member States is required in order to deliver coherence in development policy. However, the role of the EU as a normative leader in development cooperation remains subject to a multitude of long-standing criticisms and various evaluations of EU human rights policy point to a series of mixed results and missed opportunities.

scholarly journals International Courts and Tribunals – the New Environmental Sentinels in International Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (1-2) ◽  
pp. 17-33
Author(s):  
Bharat H. Desai ◽  
Balraj K. Sidhu
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
International Law ◽  
Law Of The Sea ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Peaceful Settlement ◽  
The Common ◽  
Common Future

This study examines the role of international courts and tribunals (ICTs) as important agents for the peaceful settlement of international disputes through the instrumentality of law. The rapid upswing in the number of specialised international courts and tribunals (in areas such as trade, human rights, law of the sea, criminal justice and environment) can be perceived as an attempt by sovereign States to maintain the viability of ICTs in light of perplexity in international relations, growing recognition of peaceful co-existence, quest for institutionalised cooperation and emergence of some of the “common concerns of humankind”, as well as the “duty to cooperate”. The article has sought to make sense of the emergence of ICTs as the “New Environmental Sentinels” and what it portends for our common future. Do we need a specialised international environmental court?

The Reception Process in Austria and Switzerland

2008 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniela Thurnherr
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Early Stage ◽  
Case Law ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
The Other ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Starting Position ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Status ◽  
The Common

This chapter discusses the reception of the ECHR in Austria and Switzerland. Topics covered include the accession and ratification of the ECHR in both countries, the status of the ECHR in national law, an overview of the activity of the European Court of Human Rights, and the ECtHR's case law and its effects on the national legal order. Although both countries joined the ECHR at a relatively early stage, this starting position led to different outcomes. The main reason is because the common denominators of neutrality and federalism in these two countries are actually rather small: as Austria follows a very different concept of neutrality, it did not face any (political) difficulties before and during the ratification process. Switzerland, on the other hand, was very reluctant to join the Council of Europe and careful to avoid any concessions with regard to neutrality.

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