scholarly journals Civil Rights and Participating in Today's Multilingual Europe

2019 ◽  
Vol 6 (1) ◽  
pp. 12-27
Author(s):  
Lieven Buysse ◽  
Pascal Rillof

Abstract: Today’s European society is incrementally superdiverse, which raises all sorts of challenges as well as concerns about the degrees to which people from varying backgrounds can be integrated in society. Key to such integration is access to public services, since precisely these facilities cater for people’s basic needs and guarantee that they can exercise their civil rights. All too often language barriers pose an insurmountable obstacle to adequate service provision in many vital areas such as healthcare, social welfare, and education. Legislative frameworks should be developed, both at a supranational and a national level in order to establish the right to high-performing public service interpreting and translation, and more generally, policy frameworks for effective communication with anyone appealing to public services.Resumen: La sociedad europea actual es cada vez más diversa, lo que desencadena toda clase de retos e inquietudes acerca del nivel en el que personas con distintos orígenes pueden integrarse en la sociedad. El acceso a los servicios públicos es un elemento clave en este proceso, ya que precisamente en estas instalaciones se responden ante las necesidades básicas de los ciudadanos y se garantiza que puedan ejercer sus derechos civiles. Las barreras lingüísticas con frecuencia plantean muros insuperables a la hora de proporcionar servicios en áreas básicas, como la sanidad, la asistencia social y la educación. Deben desarrollarse marcos legislativos tanto a nivel supranacional como nacional para establecer el derecho a una traducción e interpretación eficiente en los servicios públicos y, de forma más general, marcos políticos destinados a garantizar una comunicación efectiva para todo aquel que recurra a un servicio público

Author(s):  
Jared Abbott ◽  
Benjamin Goldfrank

The three books reviewed here represent a new generation of rigorous scholarship on participatory institutions (PIs). They demonstrate that – under certain conditions – it is possible to build large-scale PIs that strengthen democratic governance and improve citizens’ lives. Nonetheless, significant challenges remain. Due in part to the absence of either high-quality national-level comparative data or fine-grained subnational data, and in part to research design choices of existing studies, the literature remains limited in its capacity to make general claims about the causes and effects of large-scale PIs. Ultimately, the key question collectively addressed, but not fully answered, by the works reviewed is whether governments can build PIs that deliver on their promise to improve the quality of democracy and enhance public service provision on a large scale in diverse contexts beyond Brazil.


2021 ◽  
pp. 263-270
Author(s):  
William A. Schabas

Political rights are often grouped with civil rights as if both adjectives apply to certain categories, and some fundamental rights, such as freedom of expression, can be described as belonging to both categories. But the concept of political rights has an autonomous meaning. It applies specifically to the democratic vision of human rights, encompassing the right to participate in government, the right to vote and the right to participate in government. Elections must be both genuinie and periodic, based upon universal and equal suffrage and by secret vote or an equivalent free voting procedure. Equal access to the public service is also comprised within political rights.


2020 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 289-307
Author(s):  
Dušica Miladinović-Stefanović

The right to freely decide on the conclusion or dissolution of marriage traditionally falls into the corpus of human and civil rights which are guaranteed both at the international and the national level. In Serbian legislation, the implications of being deprived of this right, particularly as a result of coercion or duress, are two-fold: in the sphere of civil law, it is one of the legal grounds for voidability of marriage (Art. 38 of the Family Act) while, in the field of criminal law, it is qualified as a special criminal offence of forced marriage (Art. 187a of the Criminal Code). The initial text of the Criminal Code did not contain the incrimination of forced marriage, it was introduced by novelties in 2016, during the process of harmonising domestic legislation with the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence (the Istanbul Convention), which was signed and ratified by the Republic of Serbia. Thus, Serbia assumed an obligation to adjust and enhance its system for the protection of victims of violence. The author in this paper seeks to examine the criminal protection from forced marriage in its historical vertical, analyzing earlier criminal-law responses to this phenomenon, critically considering the capacities of positive law, but also dealing with possible directions for its further development.


2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (02) ◽  
pp. 263-279 ◽  
Author(s):  
PETER RANGAZAS ◽  
XIAOBING WANG

We develop a simple model with endogenous rural–urban migration to analyze the implications of migration restrictions for economic welfare. The model reveals that a combination of an efficient urban bias in public service provision and internal migration restrictions can raise social welfare. Our results suggest that migration restrictions should be carefully assessed as a policy choice rather than immediately dismissed as suboptimal. However, even when restrictions raise social welfare, they increase urban households’ welfare at the expense of rural households’ welfare, creating an equity tradeoff for policy-makers to consider.


Jurnal Hukum ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 1833
Author(s):  
Rihantoro Bayu Aji

 AbstractActually the existence of foreign investment in Indonesia is not new phenomenon, due to foreign investment exist since colonialism era.The existence of foreign investment is still continuing to Soeharto era until reformation era. Spirit of foreign investment in colonialism era, Soharto era, and reformation era are different. Foreign investment in colonialsm era just explore of nation asset and ignore of nation welfare, and this matter is different from the character of foreign investment in Soeharto era also reformation era. Eventhough the involvement of foreign investor have any benefits to the host country, but on the other hand foreign investment have business oriented only whether the investment is secure and may result of profit. Refer to The Law Number 25 Year of 2007 Concerning Investment (hereinafter called UUPM) can not be separated from various interest that become of politic background of the law, even the law tend to liberalism of investment. Liberalism in the investment sector particularly of foreign investment basically exist far from issuing of UUPM, and the spirit of liberalism also stipulate in several rules among others The Law Number 5 Year of 1999 Concerning Prohibitation of Anti Trust and Unfair Competition, The Law Number 22 Year of 2001 Concerning Oil and Gas, The Law Number 7 Year of 2004 Concerning Water Resource, and also The Law Number 30 Year of 2009 Concerning Electricity.   Many rules as mentioned above has liberalism character and also indicator opposite wit the right to manage of the state to nation asset that relate to public interest as stipulated in the Indonesia Constitution. Actually the issuing of UUPM in case of implementation of article 33 Indonesia Constitution (UUD NRI 1945). Due to opportunity by Government to foreign investment as stipulate by article 12 UUPM and also the existence of many rules as well as The Law Number 5 Year of 1999 Concerning Prohibitation of Anti Trust and Unfair Competition, The Law Number 22 Year of 2001 Concerning Oil and Gas, The Law Number 7 Year of 2004 Concerning Water Resource, and also The Law Number 30 Year of 2009 Concerning Electricity, so the foreign investment that relate to public service is more exist in Indonesia. The existence is reflected many foreign companies. Free of foreign investment relate to public service is opposite with spirit of article 33 Indonesia Constitution. Keywords: Foreign Investment, Right of  State, Article 33 Indonesia Consitution AbstrakEksistensi penanaman modal asing (investasi asing) di Indonesia sebenarnya bukan merupakan fenomena baru di Indonesia, mengingat modal asing telah hadir di Indonesia sejak zaman kolonial dahulu.   Eksistensi penanaman modal asing terus berlanjut pada era orde baru sampai dengan era reformasi. Tentunya semangat penanaman modal asing pada saat era kolonial, era orde baru, dan era reformasi adalah berbeda. Penanaman modal asing pada saat era kolonial memiliki karakter eksploitatif atas aset bangsa dan mengabaikan kesejahteraan rakyat, hal ini tentunya berbeda dengan karakter penanaman modal asing pada era orde baru, dan era reformasi. Sekalipun kehadiran investor membawa manfaat bagi negara penerima modal, di sisi lain investor yang hendak menanamkan modalnya juga tidak lepas dari orientasi bisnis (oriented business), apakah modal yang diinvestasikan aman dan bisa menghasilkan keuntungan. Melihat eksistensi Undang–Undang Nomor 25 Tahun 2007 tentang Penanaman Modal (UUPM) tidak dapat dilepaskan dari beragam kepentingan yang mendasari untuk diterbitkannya undang–undang tersebut, bahkan terdapat kecenderungan semangat dari UUPM lebih cenderung kepada liberalisasi investasi. Liberalisasi pada sektor investasi khususnya investasi asing pada dasarnya eksis jauh sebelum lahirnya UUPM ternyata juga tampak secara tersirat dalam beberapa peraturan perundang–undangan di Indonesia. Perundang–undangan tersebut antara lain Undang–Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1999 tentang Larangan Praktek Monopoli dan Persaingan Usaha Tidak Sehat, Undang–Undang Nomor 22 Tahun 2001 tentang Minyak Dan Gas Bumi, Undang–Undang Nomor 7 Tahun 2004 tentang Sumber Daya Air, dan Undang–Undang Nomor 30 Tahun 2009 tentang Ketenagalistrikan.Banyaknya peraturan perundang–undangan yang berkarakter liberal sebagaimana diuraikan di atas mengindikasikan bahwa hak menguasai negara atas aset bangsa yang berkaitan dengan hajat hidup orang banyak sebagaimana diamahkan oleh Undang–Undang Dasar 1945 (Konstitusi) mulai “dikebiri” dengan adanya undang–undang yang tidak selaras semangatnya. Padahal, UUPM diterbitkan dalam kerangka mengimplementasikan amanat Pasal 33 Undang–Undang Dasar Negara Republik Indonesia Tahun 1945 (UUD NRI 1945). Dengan adanya peluang yang diberikan oleh pemerintah kepada investor asing sebagaimana yang diatur dalam Pasal 12 UUPM ditambah lagi dengan adanya Undang–Undang Nomor 5 Tahun 1999 tentang Larangan Praktek Monopoli dan Persaingan Usaha Tidak Sehat, Undang–Undang Nomor 22 Tahun 2001 tentang Minyak Dan Gas Bumi, Undang–Undang Nomor 7 Tahun 2004 tentang Sumber Daya Air, dan Undang–Undang Nomor 30 Tahun 2009 tentang Ketenagalistrikan, maka investasi asing yang berhubungan dengan cabang– cabang yang menguasai hajat hidup orang banyak semakin eksis di Indonesia. Terbukanya investasi asing atas cabang–cabang produksi yang menguasai hajat hidup orang banyak tentunya hal ini bertentangan dengan konsep hak menguasai negara sebagaimana diatur dalam Pasal 33 UUD NRI 1945. Kata Kunci: Investasi Asing, Hak Menguasai Negara, Pasal 33 UUD NRI Tahun          1945


2018 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chiemeka Onyema

The goal of berthing Nigeria’s full-scale industrial revolution is yet to be achieved. All the industrial development plans have so far failed to accelerate the nation’s industrialization, hence the country’s low industrial base which has kept her in the league of developing nations. In fact, Nigeria has in recent times been experiencing deindustrialization, as several industries have collapsed and some others, such as Unilever and Michelin, have relocated to other countries. Several factors are responsible for Nigeria’s low industrial development and they include: inadequate infrastructure (particularly, energy), poor technological base, multiple taxes and levies, and, the shortage and high cost of foreign exchange. Despite a growing body of literature on industrialization in Nigeria, not much has been written about the link between Public Service Reforms and industrialization in Nigeria. This paper examines the links between the implementation of the Service Compact (SERVICOM) Charter and the achievement of Nigeria’s industrial development policies, especially the ‘Ease of Doing Business’ Policy. The paper makes the case that the goal of industrializing Nigeria will not be fully realised without an efficient Public Service. Furthermore, the paper highlights the need for Nigerian public servants to have the right work attitude, and to be morally upright and patriotic, in order to create a business-friendly environment and to build investor confidence, so as to facilitate and accelerate the country’s industrialization and overall national development. The author recommends that the Nigerian government should strengthen the implementation of the Servicom Charter and also incorporate the Charter into the industrialization plan.


2017 ◽  
pp. 67-86
Author(s):  
Arkadiusz Krajewski

The Constitutional Tribunal is defined as the Polish constitutional court and at the same time the judicial authority. It was created at the turn of 1982. Not long after that it began its jurisprudence; more precisely it was in 1986. Describing its basic tasks, it is pointed out that judicial review of so-called constitutional law deserves a closer look. This is particularly true about controlling the compliance of lower legal norms with higher legal norms. Here attention is drawn towards the connection of the Constitution with some international agreements, ie. the court of law. The purpose of the paper below was to analyze the constitutional principles of criminal proceedings in the context of the case law of the Polish Constitutional Court. At the beginning the concept, the division and the role of the constitutional rules of criminal procedure were presented. In this section, it was emphasized that all the rules of the criminal process are considered superior norms of a very significant social importance. Then the principle of objectivity, which is reflected in the Constitution of the Republic, was described. A following aspect was the discussion of the principle of the presumption of innocence and the principle of in dubio pro reo. It has been emphasized that the essence of the principle is that the person who was brought before the court is treated as innocent until a lawful judgment is pronounced against the defendant. The author also pointed out the principle of the right to defense. According to this rule, the defendant has the right to defend themselves in the process and to use the help of a defender. Another described principle is so-called rule of publicity. It concerns the fact that information about criminal proceedings should be accessible to the public. Then it was pointed to the principle of the right to the trial and the independence of the judiciary. The first one is reflected in national law and acts of international rank. The second shows that the independence of the judiciary is determined by the proper exercise of the profession of judge and becomes a guarantee of freedom and civil rights. The humanitarian principle and the principle of participation of the social factor in the penal process are shown in the final section. At the end of the paper a summary and conclusions were presented.


Author(s):  
Madeline Baer

Chapter 5 provides a case study of the human rights-based approach to water policy through an analysis of the Bolivian government’s attempts to implement the human right to water and sanitation. It explores these efforts at the local and national level, through changes to investments, institutions, and policies. The analysis reveals that while Bolivia meets the minimum standard for the human right to water and sanitation in some urban areas, access to quality water is low in poor and marginalized communities. While the Bolivian government expresses a strong political will for a human rights approach and is increasing state capacity to fulfill rights, the broader criteria for the right to water and sanitation, including citizen participation and democratic decision-making, remain largely unfulfilled. This case suggests political will and state capacity might be necessary but are not sufficient to fulfill the human right to water and sanitation broadly defined.


This edited book will make an important, timely, and innovative contribution to the now flourishing academic discipline of political leadership studies. We have developed a conceptual framework of leadership capital and a diagnostic tool—the Leadership Capital Index (LCI)—to measure and evaluate the fluctuating nature of leadership capital. Differing amounts of leadership capital, a combination of skills, relations, and reputation, allow leaders to succeed or fail. This book brings together leading international scholars to engage with the concept of “leadership capital” and apply the LCI to a variety of comparative case studies. The LCI offers a comprehensive yet parsimonious and easily applicable ten-point matrix to examine leadership authority over time and in different political contexts. In each case, leaders “spend” and put their “stock” of authority and support at risk. United States president, Lyndon Johnson, arm-twisting Congress to put into effect civil rights legislation, Tony Blair taking the United Kingdom into the invasion of Iraq, Angela Merkel committing Germany to a generous reception of refugees: all ‘spent capital’ to forge public policy they believed in. We are interested in how office-holders acquire, consolidate, risk, and lose such capital. This volume concentrates predominantly on elected ‘chief executives’ at the national level, including majoritarian and consensus systems, multiple and singular cases. We also consider some presidential and sub-national cases. The purpose of the exercise is indeed exploratory: the chapters are a series of plausibility probes, to see how the LCI framework ‘performs’ as a descriptive and analytical tool.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document