scholarly journals Namibië Drie Jaar Later: Politiek Ontvoogd Maar Economisch Wankel

Afrika Focus ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 179-202
Author(s):  
Yves Willemot
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
South African ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Collaboration ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Government

Namibia, After Three Years : Political Independent but Economic Unstable Namibia became independent on the 21st of March 1990, after seventy-five years of South African colonial and racial rule. SW APO fought a long war for liberation, but the independence was also gained thanks to the diplomatic pressure from the United Nations. The United Nations were actively involved in the organisation of the first free elections which were held on the 7th of November 1989. The SW APO liberation movement became by far the most important political party in the Namibian Parliament. But from the beginning the SWAPO-leaders explained that the past should be forgotten. They promoted a constructive political and economic collaboration with all Namibians, African and European. Due to this atmosphere of reconciliation Namibia had a successful political independence. One of the world's most progressive constitutions was written. It ends all racial discrimination and guarantees an extensive review of the human rights. The rules for the organisation of the legislative, executive and judiciary power are respected by all political parties. Namibia is without any doubt an example for a lot of African countries, which are now making steps towards democracy and multi-partyism. The Namibian government has still a lot of problems to deal with. The major ones are the social and economic inequalities that still exist between African and European Namibians. The conditions of life of the European Namibians are comparable to these in modern western societies, while African Namibians are living in poverty. The government will have to change this, because in the long term one cannot expect to build democracy on empty stomachs. But in order to realize the necessary economic growth, Namibians are also counting on the support and the investments from abroad. A member of government recently said: “Now we’ve installed democracy and the human rights are respected, where are the foreign investments and the international aid?”

scholarly journals Namibia, After Three Years: Political Independent but Economic Unstable

Afrika Focus ◽  
1992 ◽  
Vol 8 (3-4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Yves Willemot
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
South African ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Political Independence ◽  
The Social ◽  
Economic Collaboration ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Government

Namibia became independent on the 21st of March 1990, after seventy-five years of South African colonial and racial rule. SWAPO fought a long war for liberation, but the independence was also gained thanks to the diplomatic pressure from the United Nations. The United Nations were actively involved in the organisation of the first free elections which were held on the 7th of November 1989. The SWAPO liberation movement became by far the most important political party in the Namibian Parliament. But from the beginning the SWAPO-leaders explained that the past should be forgotten. They promoted a constructive political and economic collaboration with all Namibians, African and European. Due to this atmosphere of reconciliation Namibia had a successful political independence. One of the world's most progressive constitutions was written. It ends all racial discrimination and guarantees an extensive review of the human rights. The rules for the organisation of the legislative, executive and judiciary power are respected by all political parties. Namibia is without any doubt an example for a lot of African countries, which are now making steps towards democracy and multi-partyism. The Namibian government has still a lot of problems to deal with. The major ones are the social and economic inequalities that still exist between African and European Namibians. The conditions of life of the European Namibians are comparable to these in modern western societies, while African Namibians are living in poverty. The government will have to change this, because in the long term one cannot expect to build democracy on empty stomachs. But in order to realize the necessary economic growth, Namibians are also counting on the support and the investments from abroad. A member of government recently said: "Now we've installed democracy and the human rights are respected, where are the foreign in- vestments and the international aid?" 

United Nations Human Rights Law

2019 ◽  
pp. 65-94
Author(s):  
Steven Wheatley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Regulatory Authority ◽  
Moral Code ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
African Countries ◽  
South West Africa ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The 1960S

Chapter 3 tells the story of human rights in the United Nations. The work shows how we can understand the UN as a complex system of regulatory authority, which evolves with changes in the behaviours of the Member States and United Nations bodies as they respond to new information. The analysis demonstrates that, up until the 1960s, human rights provided a set of moral guidelines only, informing states how they should treat those subject to their jurisdiction and control. That was until the newly independent African countries joined the Organization and turned their attention to the problem of systematic racial discrimination in southern Africa, especially after the 1960 Sharpeville Massacre, when UN action against South Africa and South West Africa (Namibia) transformed the non-binding moral code contained in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights into a body of international human rights law, with the development explained by the importance of subsequent agreements and practices in the evolution of the regulatory authority of the United Nations.

The Commonwealth and Domestic Jurisdiction

1961 ◽  
Vol 55 (1) ◽  
pp. 29-44 ◽  
Author(s):  
John M. Howell ◽  
Robert R. Wilson
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
South African ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
Internal Conflict ◽  
Domestic Jurisdiction ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Racial Policy ◽  
The Government

The United Nations Security Council in a resolution passed on August 9, 1960, reaffirmed that “the United Nations force in the Congo will not be a party to or in any way intervene in or be used to influence the outcome of any internal conflict. …” A Commonwealth state, Ceylon, was a cosponsor of this precedent-making resolution. A few weeks earlier the Government of Malaya had announced a boycott on South African goods in protest against South Africa’s racial policy, another dispute involving a domestic jurisdiction plea. Commonwealth members have been parties to approximately half of the disputes in League of Nations or United Nations history that are fairly classifiable as involving pleas of domestic jurisdiction. These recent actions of Ceylon and Malaya suggest that the newer members of the Commonwealth will be no less active in shaping the domestic jurisdiction concept than the older members have been.

scholarly journals The Case for Leverage-Based Corporate Human Rights Responsibility

2012 ◽  
Vol 22 (1) ◽  
pp. 63-98 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stepan Wood
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Social Role ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
The Social ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
John Ruggie ◽  
Do So

ABSTRACT:Should companies’ human rights responsibilities arise, in part, from their “leverage”—their ability to influence others’ actions through their relationships? Special Representative John Ruggie rejected this proposition in the United Nations Framework for business and human rights. I argue that leverage is a source of responsibility where there is a morally significant connection between the company and a rights-holder or rights-violator, the company is able to make a contribution to ameliorating the situation, it can do so at modest cost, and the threat to human rights is substantial. In such circumstances companies have a responsibility to exercise leverage even though they did nothing to contribute to the situation. Such responsibility is qualified, not categorical; graduated, not binary; context-specific; practicable; consistent with the social role of business; and not merely a negative responsibility to avoid harm but a positive responsibility to do good.

Human rights in the fight against terrorism: Sanctions regimes of the United Nations Security Council

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (1-3) ◽  
pp. 35-42
Author(s):  
Mariya Hristozova
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Security Council ◽  
United Nations Security Council ◽  
World Peace ◽  
Islamic State ◽  
The Social ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Effective Remedy ◽  
The Right

In the last decade, the growing num­ber of acts of terrorism that threaten world peace and security, as well as the funda­mental values in every democratic socie­ty, in particular respect for fundamental human rights, have called for more active action by the international community in the struggle with terrorism. In this regard, the United Nations Security Council adopted a number of resolutions establish­ing sanctions regimes against the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (IDES), Al-Qai­da and the Taliban, and other individuals, groups, and related entities and suspected terrorist suspects. Despite the social pur­pose of these regimes, they created se­rious preconditions for violations of the human rights of the affected subjects, in particular the right to a fair trial, the right to an effective remedy, the right to prop­erty, the right of the persons concerned to be informed of the charges against them, the right to be heard and other procedur­al rights. This circumstance calls for re­forms to be made to the arrangements in place to ensure fundamental human rights in the fight against terrorism.

The United Nations Creates a Working Group on Arbitrary Detention

1991 ◽  
Vol 85 (4) ◽  
pp. 709-715
Author(s):  
Reed Brody
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Working Group ◽  
Gulf War ◽  
Recent History ◽  
World Conference ◽  
The World ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
Set Up

The United Nations Commission on Human Rights, which met from January 28 to March 8, 1991, in the shadow of the gulf war, nevertheless completed what many observers considered its most productive session in recent history. The Commission took action on a record of nineteen country situations—creating new rapporteurs on Iraq and Iraqi-occupied Kuwait—began plans for a 1993 World Conference on Human Rights, and set up an intersessional working group to complete a draft declaration on disappearances. The most important long-term accomplishment of the Commission, however, was the creation of a five-member working group to investigate cases of arbitrary detention throughout the world.

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