scholarly journals BRIDGING THE INTERNATIONAL GAP: THE ROLE OF NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS IN THE IMPLEMENTATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS TREATIES IN AFRICA

Obiter ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 39 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aliyu Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
National Human ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
National Human Rights Institutions ◽  
Domestic Level

While most of the United Nations (UN) treaties have committees to monitor the implementation of their provisions among their States parties, one of the major challenges they encounter is their inability to independently verify the information provided by the States parties, on the level of fulfilling their obligations to the treaties. However, the establishment of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) by the majority of UN member states was meant to not only promote and protect human rights within the territories of States parties, but also to monitor the implementation of the provisions of treaties at the domestic level. This resulted in treaty bodies to encourage NHRIs, in monitoring and providing it with information on the level of implementation of the provisions of these treaties within the territories of respective States parties. This article examines whether these institutions in Africa have been able to discharge their mandates concerning the implementation of two treaties, namely, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) which is monitored by the Human Rights Committee (HRC) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) which is overseen by the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). The NHRIs of South Africa, Morocco and Nigeria have been selected to test the effectiveness of these institutions. The study ultimately shows that the majority of these institutions are still far off from achieving their potential.

scholarly journals International Human Rights Law and the Response to the covid-19 Pandemic

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 249-269
Author(s):  
Sarah Joseph
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Do So

Abstract States have duties under Article 12(2)(c) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and Article 6 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights to prevent, control and treat covid-19. Implementation of these three obligations is analysed, taking account of countervailing human rights considerations. Regarding prevention, lockdowns designed to stop the spread of the virus are examined. Control measures are then discussed, namely transparency measures, quarantine, testing and tracing. The human rights compatibility of treatment measures, namely the provision of adequate medical and hospital care (or the failure to do so), are then examined. Finally, derogations from human rights treaties in times of pubic emergency are discussed.

Human Rights

2019 ◽  
pp. 123-141
Author(s):  
Hurst Hannum
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Great Majority ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Regional Organizations ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
The Pacific ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Western Values ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
Human Rights Norms

This chapter focuses on human rights in Asia and the Pacific. On the level of purely legal commitments, the great majority of Asian and Pacific states have ratified both of the two major UN human rights treaties, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is the most developed of the sub-regional organizations with respect to human rights, although that development has been fairly recent and, to date, relatively minimal. However, attempts to characterize or distinguish different approaches to human rights in Asia frequently include reference to a number of arguments put forward to justify Asian exceptionalism in this field. Perhaps the most widely asserted argument contends that ‘Asian values’ are different from the Western values that animate today’s international human rights norms.

The History of the Covenants

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Hertig Randall
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cold War ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
History Of ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
Acid Test ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Domestic Level

Translating the UDHR into a binding treaty ‘with teeth’ was an acid test for the international community. This chapter places the genesis of the ICESCR and the ICCPR in its political context. It highlights the interlocking challenges of the Cold War and of decolonization and also underscores disagreement among allied nations as well as attempts to ‘export’ the domestic conception of human rights. Three issues central to completing the International Bill of Human Rights are analysed: (1) identification of the rights to be included; (2) States’ obligations to give effect to human rights on the domestic level; and (3) international supervision mechanisms. These issues are closely related to the decision to divide human rights into two Covenants. In tracing the major controversies and decisions reached, light is also cast on the relationship and characteristics of civil and political rights and economic, social, and cultural rights, as understood at the time.

1 The Great Enterprise Gets Underway (1946–1955)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pace John P
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Unsuccessful Attempt ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Holistic Concept ◽  
Initial Setting ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
The United Nations

This chapter describes the formation of the Commission on Human Rights following the coming into force of Charter of the United Nations. It then discusses the developments immediately following the launch of the Commission on Human Rights, notably the unsuccessful attempt to maintain an integral, holistic concept of human rights. It describes the role of the Commission in drafting the International Bill of Human Rights during the first seven years of its existence. It dwells on the challenge of maintaining a unitary Convention and the eventual separation of civil and political rights, and economic, social and cultural rights into two Covenants, and the related challenge of implementation. It describes the initial setting up of Sub-Commissions, followed by the emergence of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, and its fluctuating relations with the Commission in the years that followed.

scholarly journals Investigating the extraterritorial application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights as well as the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights

De Jure ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 54 ◽  
Author(s):  
Simon Mateus
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
Military Occupation ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

The territorial scope of the application of human rights treaties has been a core discussion when dealing with the enforcement of human rights obligations imposed by human rights treaties on State Parties. In particular, this is because the conduct of a State may affect the human rights of people situated outside the State's territorial borders. Accordingly, to afford protection to the affected States, most international human rights instruments contain the so-called jurisdictional clause which aims to identify the range of people to whom States owe their human rights obligations under a treaty. However, the term "jurisdiction" has not achieved an undoubted definition as yet and remains a continued area of contention. The subject matter of this article is the extraterritorial application of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). It concerns therefore, the applicability of these human rights treaties to the conduct of a State which affects the rights of people outside its territorial borders and results in the lack of the full enjoyment of the human rights recognised in the Covenants, and which would be qualified as a violation of human rights treaty had it been undertaken on the State Party's own territory. Although most of the literature on this topic relates specifically to armed conflict and military occupation, the author applies the tests established for the determination of the exterritoriality of the treaties in circumstances inclusive of and beyond armed conflict and military occupation.

The Human Rights Covenants at 50

2018 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
The World ◽  
Un General Assembly ◽  
New Challenges ◽  
Civil And Political Rights ◽  
First And Second Generation

Half a century ago, on 16 December 1966, the UN General Assembly adopted the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). While the adoption of the twin Covenants was celebrated all over the world, their fiftieth anniversary has received very little attention from the international community. This book marks this anniversary by taking stock of the first half-century of the existence of what are probably the world’s two most important human rights treaties. It does so by reflecting on what the Covenants have achieved (or failed to achieve) in the years that have passed, determining and comparing their current influence in the various regions of the world, and assessing their potential roles in the future. The book contains papers presented during a symposium held in Zurich in 2016, which brought together experts and stakeholders from a range of disciplines and world regions. Some fundamental issues addressed by the contributors are as old as the two Covenants themselves. They concern, for example, the division of human rights into first- and second-generation rights, and the question of whether there should be one central monitoring body—possibly a world court—or more than just one. Other important questions dealt with are how the Covenants should be interpreted and who is bound by them. However, the contributors go beyond such questions, which have been explored before; they develop new answers to old questions and point to new challenges.

TOWARDS NON-DISCRIMINATION AGAINSTWOMEN AND DE JURE EQUALITY IN UGANDA: THE ROLE OF UGANDA'S CONSTITUTIONAL COURT

2008 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-34 ◽  
Author(s):  
MANISULI SSENYONJO
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Men And Women ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Substantive Equality ◽  
Participation Of Women ◽  
Formal Equality ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

The principles of equality and non-discrimination represent the twin pillars or the cornerstone upon which the whole edifice of human rights law is established.1 At least every State in the world today is a party to a human rights treaty prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sex and/or protecting equality between men and women.2 Despite this fact inequality and discrimination remain two major impediments to the enjoyment of human rights of women. Discrimination against women on the basis of sex denies or limits as it does their equality with men, and is ‘fundamentally unjust’ since it violates the principles of equality of rights and respect for human dignity.3 It is an obstacle to the participation of women, on equal terms with men, in the political, social, economic and cultural life of their States, hampers the growth of the prosperity of society and the family and makes more difficult the full development of the potentialities of women.4 International human rights instruments such as Article 3 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)5 and Article 3 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR)6 underline commitment to sexual equality in the enjoyment of all civil and political rights, as well as economic, social and cultural rights. Similarly, Article 2 and 3 of the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) prohibit discrimination and protect equality before the law.7 This demands de jure (or formal) equality and de facto (or substantive) equality for men and women.8 Formal equality assumes that equality is achieved if a law or policy treats men and women in a neutral manner.9 Substantive equality is concerned, in addition, with the effects of laws, policies and practices and with ensuring that they do not maintain, but rather alleviate, the inherent disadvantages that particular groups experience.10

The Strategic Use of Human Rights Treaties in Hong Kong’s Cage-Home Crisis: No Way Out?

2016 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 159-188 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luke MARSH
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Government Policies ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Ongoing Debate ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Socioeconomic Rights ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Legal Nature ◽  
Civil And Political Rights

AbstractUsing a socioeconomic rights framework, this article will evaluate government policy relating to housing welfare in Hong Kong. In particular, it will explore the alarming plight of cage tenants in Hong Kong, a highly marginalized group estimated to be as many as 200,000 in number, who live day to day in cramped, dank dwellings averaging 15 square feet in size. It will argue that current government policies are incompatible with the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). It will further look at strategies for domesticating these international human rights treaties. In doing so, this article will contribute to the ongoing debate concerning the legal nature of socioeconomic rights.

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