Human rights referendum: Dissonance between ‘the will of the people’ and fundamental rights?

2020 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 115-133
Author(s):  
Ignatius Yordan Nugraha

Referendums and popular initiatives have proliferated in many parts of the world as part of the effort to improve the quality of democracy and enhance citizen participation in policy making. However, even before the surge of populist nationalism in the 2010s, referendums have become a sort of weapon to restrict various rights. Furthermore, the juxtaposition between ‘the will of the people’ and human rights has once again brought back the classical criticism against direct democracy that it constitutes ‘a tyranny of the majority’ that could erode minority rights. With these concerns in mind, this paper is written to analyse the dissonance between human rights referendums and international human rights law through a positivist lens. The overall goal is to determine whether States have an ex ante obligation to prevent a referendum on a subject matter that is contrary to human rights.

Author(s):  
Henning Grosse Ruse-Khan

This chapter examines the human rights system and the way it deals with human creations and innovations that are the traditional core subject matter of intellectual property (IP) rights. It begins by reviewing the scope for protection under Article 27 (2) Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Article 15 (1) (c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The chapter moves on to the protection of property in human rights law, especially on the regional, European level. It examines how IP can be protected as property under the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR) and under the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights (EU Charter). Finally, the chapter looks at some of the overlaps with international IP rules and the conflict norms in the human rights system to address such overlaps.


2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Muhammad Abdul Azis ◽  
Muhammad Syaprin Zahidi ◽  
David Pradhan

Efforts in promoting international legal protection of Indonesian migrant workers can be explained that it has complete regulations. This situation cannot be separated from the facts that show the importance of granting Specific labour rights for migrant workers in the international community’s perspective. The purposes of this article are to encourage all people to consider seriously the applying of international human rights law in order to promote of human rights, especially, for Indonesia migrant workers (TKI) and create better migration management. In legal-formal matter, the applying of legal mechanisms has been recognized as human rights by Indonesia law. One of the best ways is trying to join the outside world in order to attain Economic development for the nation. Exploiting Opportunities of globalized world economy does not mean our sovereignty weakened but rather as an effort to achieve more substantive effort. This can be interpreted as a political commitment from the government - by learning and cooperating with Other States - to be more pragmatic by prioritizing the interests of the people as a form of democracy.


Author(s):  
Melanie Studer ◽  
Kurt Pärli

In Switzerland, the participation in certain work programmes is an eligibility criterion to social assistance benefits and the constitutionally granted right to the financial means required for a decent standard of living. This chapter examines whether the implementation of these programmes is in accordance with fundamental rights and more precisely, whether they respect the normative framework elaborated in Chapter 4. As will be shown, the right to financial assistance when in need has close links to human dignity. Therefore, the evaluation of the mentioned work programmes against the human rights background leads to some critical conclusions on their compatibility with international human rights law in general and human dignity in particular. Especially, the authors argue that the Swiss Federal Supreme Court’s case law lacks a comprehensive approach for the evaluation of human rights infringements in this context.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (6) ◽  
pp. 924-939
Author(s):  
Pierre Thielbörger

AbstractWhile the “essence” of EU fundamental rights has received much attention following the CJEU’s Schrems decision, the concept of “essence” remains much less examined in international human rights law. Nonetheless, a concept of “essence” for human rights can also be found in international law. This Article discusses different aspects of the “essence” concept in international human rights law, namely non-derogability, non-restrictability, and minimum core, in three steps. First, the Article looks at civil political rights and socioeconomic rights separately and identifies two different approaches to the concept of essence for each of the two categories: While for civil and political rights the concept of essence is mainly linked to the notions of non-derogability and non-restrictability, for socioeconomic rights, the concept refers mainly to the states’ obligation to guarantee an essential level of protection independent of their resource limitations. Second, the Article continues by reading the two approaches together and identifies certain elements of an overarching “essence” concept. Finally, the Article discusses the relationship between the CJEU’s “essence” jurisprudence and the related concepts in international law and concludes with two theses: First, international law deserves more attention when reflecting on the EU’s concept of essence. It equally employs concepts of “essence” and also informs the development and interpretation of EU law. Second, when engaging with the question of whether the EU law should draw lessons from its international counterpart on the notion of “essence,” one must contemplate drawbacks for EU law that the concept has presented for international law.


Author(s):  
I Putu Dwika Ariestu

Human Rights and the State could not be separated from one another. Both are interconnected in terms of how to ensure internal stability in a country. With the existence of human rights, it is hoped that state is not arbitrary to treat its people and is obliged to protect everyone in its territory including in this case Stateless persons mentioned in Article 7 paragraph 1 of the Convention relating Status of Stateless Persons in 1954. This study aims to analyze the obligations the State must take in relation to the protection of persons with stateless persons status, and to recognize the legal consequences and responsibilities of States in the event of omitting acts of human rights violations against people with stateless persons status. This paper using normative research methods with statute approach and conceptual approach. The study shows that in relation to the obligation of the state that each State shall be obliged to provide protection to persons with stateless persons status as stipulated in the 1954 Convention and the provisions of the International Human Rights Law, the obligations of state protection include the protection of the right to life, the right to employment and even the right to obtain citizenship status. The international legal consequences accepted by the state are listed in Article 39, Article 41, and 42 of the UN Charter. Then for state responsibility are listed under Article 35, Article 36, and Article 37 of UNGA 56/83 of 2001.   Hak Asasi Manusia dan Negara tidak bisa dipisahkan satu sama lain. Keduanya saling terkait dalam hal bagaimana menjamin stabilitas internal di suatu negara. Dengan adanya hak asasi manusia, diharapkan negara tidak sewenang-wenang memperlakukan rakyatnya dan berkewajiban melindungi semua orang di wilayahnya termasuk dalam hal ini para warga negara yang disebutkan dalam Pasal 7 ayat 1 Konvensi terkait Status Orang Tanpa Negara di tahun 1954. Tulisan ini bertujuan untuk menganalisis kewajiban yang harus diambil Negara sehubungan dengan perlindungan orang-orang dengan status orang tanpa kewarganegaraan, dan untuk mengakui konsekuensi hukum serta tanggung jawab negara dalam hal melakukan  tindakan pelanggaran hak asasi manusia terhadap orang-orang dengan status  tanpa kewarganegaraan. Tulisan ini menggunakan metode penelitian normatif dengan pendekatan perundang-undangan dan pendekatan konseptual. Hasil studi menunjukkan bahwa sehubungan dengan kewajiban negara bahwa setiap Negara wajib memberikan perlindungan kepada orang-orang dengan status orang tanpa kewarganegaraan sebagaimana diatur dalam Konvensi 1954 dan ketentuan-ketentuan Hukum Hak Asasi Manusia Internasional, kewajiban perlindungan negara termasuk perlindungan hak untuk hidup, hak untuk bekerja dan bahkan hak untuk mendapatkan status kewarganegaraan. Konsekuensi hukum internasional yang diterima oleh negara tercantum dalam Pasal 39, Pasal 41, dan 42 Piagam PBB. Kemudian untuk tanggung jawab negara tercantum di bawah Pasal 35, Pasal 36, dan Pasal 37 UNGA 56/83 tahun 2001.


NEO POLITEA ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 43-61
Author(s):  
DEDEN SUHENDAR

Although the village has been given authority by the Village Law to conduct its own affairs, in practice most of the villages studied still tend to depend on the district government. Related to the implementation of village democracy, the space for citizen articulation has not yet been functioned optimally. BPD, as a vehicle for the representation of citizens has not played an optimal role, and there is no effort to strengthen these roles, both from the BPD itself and by residents. So that it can be said that village governance after the implementation of the Village Law can be said to have not experienced much change. The village's authority to form Perdes is also not fully utilized. Not many perdes have been issued, other than major perdes such as the APBDes. With full authority, more perdes should be issued because the consequences will be that many matters will be managed by the village itself. The mindset of the village head seems to have shown something positive, in the sense that the village head has begun to open up democratic space, but nevertheless it takes courage to run it without the need for fears of intervention from the district government. The low quality of democracy has an impact on the performance of village governments. Government performance is only understood as physical development performance. Voices from residents regarding other development needs besides physical development are still not accommodated. In the Sarinagen case, the development carried out was more likely because of the will and initiative of the village head. Even though it still refers to the will of the people conveyed in the Musdes, the portion is not significant.


2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 249
Author(s):  
Bisariyadi Bisariyadi

The power of the Indonesian Constitutional Court to review laws is a constitutional adjudication process. It is a forum to resolve constitutional issues where a citizen can challenge Law that has injured his rights. The Court's reasoning provides audiences with the debates for its deliberation. Audiences may find reference to the international human rights law. It is an interesting practice. However, there is no studies yet about the information on the statistic of the Court made reference to international human rights law. As such, this study aims to identify reference to international human rights law in the Court's decision on judicial review cases from 2003 to 2016. Additionally, this study also aims to answer the question of what underlies the Court to made reference to international human rights law. As many studies show, the objective of Constitutional Court's references to the international human rights law is to strengthen constitutional rights protection. Nonetheless, the Court did not pay any interests to the global agenda of transnational constitutionalism or a convergence of rights and legal pluralism. The article is divided into 5 (five) sections, commencing with the introduction. The second part discusses the status of international human rights law in Indonesia. As the third presents information on Court's decision which cited international human rights law. Then, the fourth presents typical function of the decision that made reference to international human rights law. It concluded that the practice of referring to international law demonstrates the open attitude of Indonesian constitutional justices to the universal nature of fundamental rights.


2012 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 65-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bridget Lewis

The numerous interconnections between the environment and human rights are well established internationally. It is understood that environmental issues such as pollution, deforestation or the misuse of resources can impact on individuals’ and communities’ enjoyment of fundamental rights, including the right to health, the right to an adequate standard of living, the right to self-determination and the right to life itself. These are rights which are guaranteed under international human rights law and in relation to which governments bear certain responsibilities. Further, environmental issues can also impact on governments’ capacity to protect and fulfil the rights of their citizens. In this way human rights and environmental protection can be constructed as being mutually supportive. In addition to these links between the environment and human rights, human rights principles arguably offer a framework for identifying and addressing environmental injustice. The justice implications of environmental problems are well documented and there are many examples where pollution, deforestation or other degradation disproportionately impact upon poorer neighbourhoods or areas populated by minority groups. On the international level, environmental injustice exists between developed and developing States, as well as between present and future generations who will inherit the environmental problems we are creating today. This paper investigates the role of human rights principles, laws and mechanisms in addressing these instances of environmental injustice and argues that the framework of human rights norms provides an approach to environmental governance which can help to minimise injustice and promote the interests of those groups which are most adversely affected. Further, it suggests that the human rights enforcement mechanisms which exist at international law could be utilised to lend weight to claims for more equitable environmental policies.


2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 164
Author(s):  
Iryna PROTSENKO ◽  
Кostiantyn SAVCHUK

In the contemporary science of international law, the state sovereignty issue lacks adequate treatment. In particular, the list and essence of sovereign rights and duties of the state are not defined, although these are referred to in some international legal instruments and resolutions of international courts and arbitrations. In addition, particular circumstances are being under development, which require if not precise outlining of the catalogue of fundamental rights of states, then at least determining the essence of some of these rights and the scope of their implementation. It goes about developing the practice to limit specific sovereign rights of the state to ensure the implementation of human rights (notably, the ones not directly related to the respective rights of the state). In this very way, the state is limited in its right to determine its own immigration policy. The fact is that the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) has ruled in some of its judgments that by implementing this right, the state violates the right to respect for private and family life provided for by the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms 1950 (ECHR). This resulted in ECtHR`s practice to be somewhat considered in the draft articles on the expulsion of aliens elaborated by the International Law Commission (ILC) in 2014. The examples from ECtHR`s practice analyzed in this paper provide the basis for the conclusion that the development of the International Human Rights Law is gradually narrowing the scope of the internal sovereign rights of the state.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document