scholarly journals FORMATION AND DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL MINORITY RIGHTS PROTECTION IN INTERNATIONAL LAW

2020 ◽  
Vol 33 (20) ◽  
pp. 159-166
Author(s):  
V.O. Nahorna
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
League Of Nations ◽  
European Convention ◽  
National Minority ◽  
General Tendency ◽  
Universal System ◽  
National Minorities

The article focuses on the evolutionary development of international legal regulation in the field of protection of the national minority rights from the Westphalian system of international relations to the present. The aspiration of non-dominant groups to preserve their cultural, religious, or ethnic background was manifested simultaneously with the emergence of nation-states in the seventeenth century. However, since then, the international community has not reached a consensus on the content of the concept of minority: a unified approach to the issue has not been elaborated in either international legal acts, law doctrine, or judicial practice. At the universal level, the protection of minority rights in international law was institutionalized only during the functioning of the League of Nations. The established procedures for the implementation and control over the observance of minority rights within the League of Nations were elaborated in sufficient detail and provided for effective collective security measures to resolve international disputes and problems arising in connection with the protection of minority rights. Indeed, this system also had a number of significant shortcomings that were subsequently taken into account when establishing mechanisms for the protection of minority rights within the United Nations. In reviewing international legal acts after 1945, the following general tendency should be emphasized. It concerns the adoption of a large array of documents in this field, most of which are advisory and general in nature. This is explained by the fact that minority issues are a sensitive area of public relations, and states are reluctant to make this sphere regulated by international law. The Council of Europe Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (1995) became the first legally binding legislative act on the protection of minorities in general, and this fact makes it fundamentally important. The absence of the norms directly aimed at the protection of national minorities in the catalog of rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights (1950) cannot but affects the efficient application of the mechanism of the European Court by national minorities. However, the link between human rights violations and minority rights allows the latter to fight for the restoration of individual human rights protected by the European Convention, which undoubtedly plays a positive role in the context of the protection of collective minority rights. Keywords: national minorities, periodization, universal system for the protection of human rights, Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, ECHR.

scholarly journals The problem of applying reservations to international human rights agreements

2021 ◽  
pp. 68-73
Author(s):  
Ivanna Maryniv ◽  
Liubov Rudai
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
International Treaties ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
European Court ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
International Human

A problem statement. Human rights law, as a branch of public international law, to date, is mainly codified and consists mainly of treaty rules contained in universal and regional conventions. At the same time, in most cases, the parties to these agreements make reservations of both a substantive and procedural nature that apply to all generations of human rights. The question arises as to the legitimacy of the reservations declared by states to international acts on human rights and freedoms. Аnalysis of research and publications. Many international lawyers deal with the issue of reservations to human rights treaties and their validity. Thus, the works of E.S. Alisievich, are devoted to this issue, I.I. Lukashuk, V.G. Butkevich, V.L. Tolstoy, M.V. Buromensky and others. However, there are a number of problems with the legal regime of reservations to human rights treaties. The main thesis that reveals their essence is that there is no mechanism for effective control over the legitimacy of such reservations. The main text. The article considers the concept of reservations to international treaties, examines the problem of issuing reservations to international human rights treaties. The application of the institution of reservations is studied on the example of certain international treaties in the field of human rights, such as: the European Convention on Human Rights, the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights. The case law of the European Court of Human Rights on the application of reservations to the European Convention on Human Rights is studied. Conclusions. Today, the sovereign right of every state to stipulate international treaties is firmly established in international law, but there is no clear legal regulation of this institution that would prevent abuses by states in this area. We see the need to further study the institution of reservations to human rights treaties, its development and the development of general principles, procedures, and control over their legitimacy.

Recognizing Religious Minority Rights

2021 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Eugenia Relaño Pastor
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Religious Communities ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Religious Minority ◽  
Religious Minorities ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
European Court

The European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) does not contain any provision on minorities, and neither has the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) considered the notion of minority rights when dealing with claims involving religious minorities. This contribution aims to show how the Court addresses the rights of religious minorities through the concepts of ‘religious diversity’ and ‘pluralism’. In order to overcome the historical tension between individual rights versus group rights, the author offers a theoretical typology on religious minority rights that combines rights- holders with individual and group interests and takes into consideration UN human rights texts on minorities and the freedom of religion, as well as the ECHR and the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities. By applying the three categories of the above- mentioned typology— individual differentiated rights to members of minorities, group- differentiated rights, and special interest group rights— to the Court’s jurisprudence on members of religious minorities and religious communities, the author concludes that while the ECtHR has systematically reiterated its commitment to pluralism, it has partly failed to grant protection to religious diversity, particularly, when ‘uncomfortable’ religious diversities are the stake.

scholarly journals Legal regulation of Hungarian activities regarding its kin-minority in Zakarpattia

2020 ◽  
pp. 243-252
Author(s):  
Віта Антонівна Чепек
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Legal Regulation ◽  
The State ◽  
National Minority ◽  
Preferential Treatment ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Wide Range ◽  
Domestic Legislation ◽  
International Advisory ◽  
Legal Consequences

The article analyzes the role and competences of a kin-state in the protection of its national minority living abroad. The issue had been analyzed with the example of Hungarian unilateral legal acts, which present legal consequences and the legitimacy of the actions of a kin-state. The article focuses on the basic international legal mechanisms for the protection of the rights of national minorities and the recommendations given by international advisory bodies in this area. According to international law, the state, in which the minority lives, has the primary duty to protect minority rights. Only few types of actions can be taken by a kin-state in favour of its kin-minority: actions in the context of international bodies and mechanisms, actions in co-operation with the home state and domestic legislation concerning relations with its kin minority. The last one is not regulated by international law and is broadly discussed in its doctrine. The article analyzes Hungarian domestic legislation providing a wide range of preferential treatment to the members of the kin minorities in Zakarpattia, namely Act LXII OF 2001 on Hungarians Living in Neighbouring Countries and Аmendmentof Act LV of 1993 on Hungarian citizenship. Soft law instruments confirm that this kind of legislation of kin-states has to be assessed in accordance with relevant principles of the international law, such as territorial sovereignty of the state, pactasunt servanda, friendly relations among state and the respect of human rights and fundamental freedoms, in particular the prohibition of discrimination.

New minorities, old instruments? Diversity governance from the perspective of minority rights

2016 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 178-192
Author(s):  
Roberta Medda-Windischer
Keyword(s):  
International Law ◽  
Minority Groups ◽  
Minority Rights ◽  
Minority Protection ◽  
Common Definition ◽  
National Minorities ◽  
Scope Of Application

In international law, minority rights instruments have been traditionally conceived for, and applied to, old minority groups with the exclusion of new minority groups originating from migration. Yet, minority groups, irrespective of their being old or new minorities, can be subsumed under a common definition and have some basic common claims. This allows devising a common but differentiated set of rights and obligations for old and new minority groups alike. This paper argues that the extension of the scope of application of legal instruments of minority protection, such as the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (FCNM), is conceptually meaningful and beneficial to the integration of new minorities stemming from migration. 

The European Convention on Human Rights and International Law

2007 ◽  
Vol 56 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-231 ◽  
Author(s):  
Luzius Wildhaber
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Comparative Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Mutual Relationship ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
European Court ◽  
Special Character ◽  
British Institute

AbstractThis article is an expanded and footnoted version of the lectur given at the British Institute of International and Comparative Law on Tuesday 21 March 2006, entitled ‘International Law in the European Court of Human Rights’.The article begins with some comparative comments on the application of the European Convention on Human Rights in monistic and dualistic systems It then discusses in detail the European Court's case law which confirms that the Convention, despite its special character as a human rights treaty, is indeed part of public international law. It concludes that the Convention and international law find themselves in a kind of interactive mutual relationship. checking and buildine on each other.

SCOPE AND NATURE OF PROCEDURAL OBLİGATİONS UNDER ARTICLE 2 OF THE EUROPEAN CONVENTION ON HUMAN RİGHTS

2020 ◽  
Vol 53 (04) ◽  
pp. 79-81
Author(s):  
Nargiz Nasimi Mammadova ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Key Words ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Key Words Human

Key words: human rights, positive obligations, right to life, international law

Fragmentation of International Law Revisited: Insights, Good Practices, and Lessons to be Learned from the Case Law of the European Court of Human Rights

2015 ◽  
Vol 28 (4) ◽  
pp. 863-885 ◽  
Author(s):  
ADAMANTIA RACHOVITSA
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Vienna Convention ◽  
International Courts ◽  
Good Practices ◽  
European Court ◽  
Interpretation Process ◽  
Fragmentation Of International Law

AbstractThis article discusses the contribution of the European Court of Human Rights to mitigating difficulties arising from the fragmentation of international law. It argues that the Court's case law provides insights and good practices to be followed. First, the article furnishes evidence that the Court has developed an autonomous and distinct interpretative principle to construe the European Convention on Human Rights by taking other norms of international law into account. Second, it offers a blueprint of the methodology that the Court employs when engaging with external norms in the interpretation process. It analyses the Court's approach to subtle contextual differences between similar or identical international norms and its position towards the requirements of Article 31(3)(c) of the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT). It concludes that international courts are developing innovative interpretative practices, which may not be strictly based on the letter of the VCLT.

scholarly journals The Guarantees for Accused Persons Under the Article of the European Convention on Human Rights: An Analysis of the Application of the Convention and a Comparison with other Instruments

1996 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 610
Author(s):  
Andrew S Butler
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
High Standard ◽  
Case Law ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Criminal Charges ◽  
The Subject

This article is a book review of Stephanos Stavros The Guarantees for Accused Persons under Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights: An Analysis of the Application of the Convention and a Comparison with Other Instruments (Martinus Nijhoff, Dordrecht, 1993) 388 pp (including 3 appendices), price (hbk) £87.00. This book is a detailed analysis of the case law of the organs of the European Convention on Human Rights on the interpretation and application of Article 6 of the Convention. That article guarantees fair trial rights in the determination of criminal charges and in the determination of civil rights and obligations. The scope of Dr Stavros' study is the rights of an accused under Article 6. Butler praises Dr Stavros for being thorough in his treatment of both case law and international law, providing a closely argued critique alongside the law presented, and for his general enthusiasm for the subject matter (reflected in the book's readability). Despite its limitations, Butler commends this book's high standard of scholarship overall.

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