With the Stroke of a Pen: Legal Standards for Adding Names to Government Kill Lists

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 194-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandre Andrade Sampaio ◽  
Luís Renato Vedovato
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Central Intelligence Agency ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Intelligence Agency ◽  
Special Operations ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
The Right

United States (us) government officials disclosed, in 2010, that Anwar Al-Aulaki, a dual us-Yemeni citizen alleged to be a leader of the terrorist group Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula, had been added to a list of individuals that the Central Intelligence Agency (cia) and the Joint Special Operations Command (jsoc) were authorised to target for death. It is clear that the right to life is affected by targeted killing actions, as the objective of the practice is to kill the targeted individual. For such a practice to be lawful, it has to be considered non-arbitrary according to international standards. The two main instruments of universal scope that provide a legal protection for this right are the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The use of lethal force by a State would be legally justified by: (1) the carrying out of a lawfully imposed death penalty; (2) during an armed conflict, under international humanitarian law; and (3) if the force used was necessary, proportional and not the first option. This article examines the question of whether adding names to kill list remains legal under international human rights and humanitarian law, and if so, under what circumstances?

scholarly journals THE LONG ROAD TO THE INTERNATIONAL RECOGNITION OF ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL RIGHTS: THE RIGHT TO AN ADEQUATE STANDARD OF LIVING

2018 ◽  
pp. 43-60
Author(s):  
GERMANA AGUIAR RIBEIRO DO NASCIMENTO
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Standard Of Living ◽  
Social Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Second World

A long road was necessary for economic and social rights to be internationally recognized. In fact, it was only after the Second World War that the protection of human rights, including economic and social rights, became one of the aims of the United Nations. Despite that, this legal protection was by no means made without controversies, especially when it comes to economic and social rights. The fact that most of the articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights refer to civil and political rights corroborates these difficulties. Only articles 22 through 27 protected economic and social rights. The objective of this article is to shed some light into this process, as the Universal Declaration has been the foundation of the codification of the whole human rights system. Particular attention will be given to the discussions around the inclusion of article 25 that refers to the right to an adequate standard of living. It is interesting to analyze how this right was adopted during the process of elaboration of the Declaration, as it was then incorporated by so many texts and influenced the recognition of other rights. In fact, if today we are able to have autonomous rights to water, to health, to food, to housing and to education, it is thanks to the proclamation of the right to an adequate standard of living in the first place.

scholarly journals The Right to Life

2014 ◽  
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Use Of Force ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Rules And Principles ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Self Defence

This chapter examines the rules and principles of the international humanitarian law (IHL) governing the right to life. It discusses the origins and scope of the right to life and clarifies that the protection provided by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) does not cease in times of war. It also considers some widely-recognized exceptions to or limitations upon the right to life, including killing in self-defence and the lethal use of force by the authorities in order to prevent crime. This chapter argues that while resorting to armed force may be necessary to prevent human rights violations, its benefits should not be exaggerated.

scholarly journals The right to information in criminal proceedings in the context of international legal standards.

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 266-271
Author(s):  
Oksana Pchelina
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Criminal Proceedings ◽  
Criminal Offense ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Court Proceedings ◽  
Right To Information ◽  
The Right ◽  
Procedural Rights ◽  
Material Evidence

It has been noted that such activities are a sphere of public life, which is inextricably linked with the need and possibility of coercion, which clearly indicates the restriction of certain human rights and freedoms to ensure the effectiveness of pre-trial investigation and trial. The provisions of international legal acts proclaiming and ensuring human rights and fundamental freedoms in criminal proceedings have been analyzed. It has been emphasized that in the specified international legal acts there is no interpretation of the right to information, and also it is not considered as the separate right. The essence of the right to information and its place in the system of human rights and freedoms has been determined. The author’s understanding of the concept of the right to information in criminal proceedings has been offered, its content has been revealed and its compliance with international standards of human rights and freedoms has been clarified. The right to information in criminal proceedings has been defined as the possibility and procedure for obtaining, using, disseminating, storing and protecting information provided by the criminal procedure legislation of Ukraine, which determines the principles of criminal proceedings and ensures the solution of its tasks. It has been emphasized that the right to information in criminal proceedings in the context of international legal standards is multifaceted in nature, which allows us to consider it in several aspects, namely as: the basis of criminal proceedings; providing information on procedural rights; informing the person about his / her detention, suspicion / accusation of committing a criminal offense; gaining access to information on material evidence; a ban on the disclosure of information obtained during the pre-trial investigation and court proceedings, and its use not to solve the problems of criminal proceedings.

Jamaica Withdraws the Right of Individual Petition under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

1998 ◽  
Vol 92 (3) ◽  
pp. 563-568 ◽  
Author(s):  
Natalia Schiffrin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Optional Protocol ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
Roll Back ◽  
Individual Petition

In October 1997, a little-noticed event took place at the United Nations that may roll back the international legal protection of human rights. Jamaica became the first country to denounce the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and thus withdrew the right of individual petition to the UN Human Rights Committee (Committee). Although it is provided for under the Protocol’s Article 12, no state has previously made such a denunciation.

Drone Deaths Violate Human Rights: The Applicability of the iccpr to Civilian Deaths Caused by Drones

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-241
Author(s):  
Jessica Lynn Corsi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The United States ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Customary International Law ◽  
Legal Context ◽  
Drone Strikes ◽  
The Right ◽  
And Control

This article argues that the thousands of lethal drone strikes conducted since 2001 violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (iccpr), and in particular, the right to life. The analysis provided is also applicable to the right to life enshrined in customary international law and regional human rights treaties. While most legal and academic commentary on deaths caused by drones has focused on an international humanitarian law (ihl) framework—perhaps because the primary weaponised drone user, the United States, insists that this is the appropriate legal context—this article argues that a human rights framework for assessing lethal drone strikes is preferable, useful, and necessary. Not only is it likely that the so-called war on terror is a semantic rather than a legal war, the iccpr continues to apply during conflict. Moreover, opacity surrounds most lethal drone strikes, which the Trump administration appears likely to increase, while simultaneously reducing Obama-era safeguards. In that context, a human rights assessment, which will be inherently more stringent towards fatalities than an ihl framework, is urgently needed. The article concludes that the right to life attaches to everyone regardless of the territory in which they are targeted; that effective jurisdiction and control is satisfied upon ability to lethally target an individual; that relevant iccpr rights apply in ungoverned territories as well; and that the threat of terrorism does not displace these rights or the applicability of the iccpr.

A human rights approach to health care in conflict

2013 ◽  
Vol 95 (889) ◽  
pp. 167-187 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katherine H. A. Footer ◽  
Leonard S. Rubenstein
Keyword(s):  
Health Care ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Health Care Services ◽  
Care Delivery ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Care Services ◽  
The Right

AbstractAttacks on and interference with health care services, providers, facilities, transports, and patients in situations of armed conflict, civil disturbance, and state repression pose enormous challenges to health care delivery in circumstances where it is most needed. In times of armed conflict, international humanitarian law (IHL) provides robust protection to health care services, but it also contains gaps. Moreover, IHL does not cover situations where an armed conflict does not exist. This paper focuses on the importance of a human rights approach to addressing these challenges, relying on the highest attainable standard of health as well as to civil and political rights. In particular we take the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights General Comment No. 14 (on Article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights) as a normative framework from which states' obligations to respect, protect and fulfil the right to health across all conflict settings can be further developed.

scholarly journals Peculiarities of Using International Legal Standards in the Field of Ensuring the Rights of Persons Sentenced to Deprivation of Freedom in Ukraine

2020 ◽  
Vol 91 (4) ◽  
pp. 158-169
Author(s):  
O. S. Pochanska
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
General Education ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
International Standards ◽  
Social Adaptation ◽  
Legal Norms ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Effective System ◽  
Characteristic Features

It is established that international standards in the field of human rights are developed by international organizations and institutions, specified in the process of law enforcement of international judicial agencies, and subsequently applied in certain national systems, directly influencing the development of legislation and national practice of protecting the convicts. It is noted that international standards for ensuring the rights of persons sentenced to imprisonment define the mandatory or recommended for states normative minimum legal status of a convict, including his legal protection and the relevant legalities and responsibilities of state agencies and officials. The content and characteristic features of international legal standards in the field of human rights are determined. The main forms of using international legal norms, principles, rules and recommendations on the legal status of persons sentenced to imprisonment in the national legislation of Ukraine are highlighted; their content is analyzed. It is emphasized that the practical solution to the problem of application of international standards of convicts’ treatment in the penitentiary system of Ukraine, in particular, provides: prevention of prohibited methods of treatment of convicts that degrade their human dignity; ensuring the legality of the activities of the staff of penitentiary institutions and agencies; bringing the conditions of detention of convicts into compliance, providing proper medical care, general education and vocational training of convicts, etc.; creation of an effective system of resocialization and social adaptation of convicts; expansion of public control over the observance of the rights of convicts while serving a criminal sentence in the form of imprisonment.

The taking of hostages and international humanitarian law

1989 ◽  
Vol 29 (270) ◽  
pp. 196-216 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hernán Salinas Burgos
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
European Convention ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
United Nations General ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
United Nations General Assembly ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Right

It is generally acknowledged by the international community that the taking of hostages is one of the most vile and reprehensible of acts. This crime violates fundamental individual rights—the right to life, to liberty and to security—that are protected by binding legal instruments such as the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on the worldwide level, and the 1969 American Convention on Human Rights and the 1950 European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms on the regional level. The United Nations General Assembly has stated that the taking of hostages is an act which places innocent human lives in danger and violates human dignity.

The Obligation to Afford Reparation to Injured Individuals

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carla Ferstman
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Access ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter considers the consequences of breaches of human rights and international humanitarian law for the responsible international organizations. It concentrates on the obligations owed to injured individuals. The obligation to make reparation arises automatically from a finding of responsibility and is an obligation of result. I analyse who has this obligation, to whom it is owed, and what it entails. I also consider the right of individuals to procedures by which they may vindicate their right to a remedy and the right of access to a court that may be implied from certain human rights treaties. In tandem, I consider the relationship between those obligations and individuals’ rights under international law. An overarching issue is how the law of responsibility intersects with the specialized regimes of human rights and international humanitarian law and particularly, their application to individuals.

scholarly journals Blasphemy Law as a Structural Violence: A Challenge for Maintaining Sustainable Peace

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cekli Setya Pratiwi ◽  
Sidik Sunaryo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
International Community ◽  
Peace Studies ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
The Right

Abstract Blasphemy law (BL) has become a central issue for the international community in various parts of the world in the last three decades. In almost every case involving the BL, especially in Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia, they are always responded with violence or threats of attack that cause many victims, loss of homes, damage to places of worship, evictions, stigma of being heretical, severe punishments, or extra-judicial killings. When international human rights law (IHLR) and declaration of the right to peace are adopted by the international community, at the same time, the number of violence related to the application of BL continues to increase. This paper aims to examine the ambiguity of the concept of the BL in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and how its lead to the weak of enforcement that creates social injustice and inequality. Then, referring to Galtung’s theory of structural violence and other experts of peace studies, this paper argues that blasphemy law should be included as a form of structural violence. Therefore its challenges these States to reform their BL in which its provisions accommodate the state’s neutrality and content high legal standards. Thus, through guarantee the fully enjoyment of human rights for everyone may support the States to achieve sustainable peace.

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