scholarly journals Universal dignity, justice and accountability: protection of human rights and dealing with atrocities

Author(s):  
M Oelofse

The notion that human beings have rights as humans is part of the contemporary world and its pol itics . With respect to human rights , the United Nations (UN) plays a major role in promoting, protecting, and expanding internationally accepted rights through establishing several comprehensive agreements and mechanisms since 1945. Thus, on a global level, human rights and the violations thereof have become a legitimate concern of international society. However, there is a difference between declaring and practising human rights.Consequently, political changes have occurred all over the world in recent years where several repressive regimes have been replaced with democratic or semi-democratic governments. In the process, these regimes are confronted with the question of justice and that accountability is due after atrocity. The widely held belief is that crimes against humanity must be addressed and perpetrators have to be called to account, while justice has to be determined.The article will focus on what is understood by “human rights” and how the UN went about to guarantee human rights and el iminate the violations thereof by implementing a network of human rights instruments and mechanisms. The article will also indicate that, in practice, there are certain difficulties with the enforcement of these UN Conventions. The different options to be considered by countries in dealing with a violent legacy will be examined to explain why many transitional societies prefer to establish a truth commission.

Author(s):  
Mettraux Guénaël

This chapter discusses crimes against humanity under international law. Crimes against humanity were first introduced at Nuremberg as a means of criminalizing three sorts of criminality that so far had evaded the sanction of international law: atrocities committed outside the context of an armed conflict or independent of it; crimes committed against fellow nationals or nationals of allied nations; and institutionalized discriminatory violence that resulted in individuals being targeted and mistreated by a state because of their identity. Crimes against humanity seek to protect core attributes of all human beings: their dignity; their humanity; and their fundamental human rights. The notion of crimes against humanity reflects the fact that the protection of those interests and the punishment of serious violations of these interests is a matter of universal concern. It also makes it clear that the protection arising from international law does not depend on the nationality of the victim or his membership in a group, nor on his or relationship to the perpetrator. Instead, it is the sheer humanity of the victim that warrants and justifies the criminalization of such acts. And whilst the notion of genocide and crimes against humanity overlap in part in their efforts to protect these core values, unlike genocide, crimes against humanity seek to protect individuals as such, rather than groups of individuals. The chapter then looks at the relationship between crimes against humanity and other international crimes as well as the process of defining crimes against humanity.


2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 335-344
Author(s):  
Laurence Lwoff

Abstract Convergence of emerging technologies (e.g. biotechnologies, information and cognitive technologies) has opened new perspectives for progress with regard to human health. However, these technologies also open new possibilities for interventions on human beings, which may be more invasive, and possibly affect and modify individuals. Established practices in the field of biomedicine are also evolving in a way that exerts pressure on existing protective mechanisms. Thus, consideration is required as to whether existing human rights provisions are still fit for purpose or whether there is a need to re-examine, clarify or re-enforce them or even a need to identify new human rights and protective measures. This article gives an overview of the main issues considered by the Committee on Bioethics of the Council of Europe to develop a Strategic Action Plan aimed at ensuring appropriate protection of human rights in the developments in biomedicine, promoting thereby progress for human health.


2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 81
Author(s):  
Nyoman Satyayudha Dananjaya ◽  
Fuchikawa Kazuhiko

This paper aims to examine the protection of the environment in Indonesia which is part of the realization of a law state that guarantees the constitutional rights of its citizens. It is a legal research that reviews Indonesian constitutional and statutory provisions, besides adding a comparative perspective from a Japanese Constitution and legal system. It is found that the concept of a law state in Indonesia does not specifically follow the concept of a law state like what is meant in “rechtsstaat” or “the rule of law”. It has peculiar characteristics which indeed seem to adopt the noble values ??of those two concepts which clearly confesses in the constitution along with the elements and characters stated in it. One of the most prominent characteristics of a law state is the recognition and protection of human rights. In the Indonesian Constitution 1945, human rights as the fundamental rights of human beings have been arranged and compiled which is legally legitimized become constitutional rights. Among human rights, rights related to the environment include essential rights in array of international human rights formulations. Article 28 letter H of the Indonesian Constitution 1945 expressly states the rights to habitable and wholesome environment for citizen. The protection form can be a normative arrangement in the constitution or in a formal juridical through legislation. Protection of citizens' constitutional rights related to the environment is faced with due process of environmental protection that requires consistency in order to achieve the intention and direction of the Indonesian law state itself.


2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 113-126
Author(s):  
André Luiz Olivier da Silva

Resumo: Neste trabalho analisam-se as exigências por direitos humanos enunciados a partir de uma perspectiva universal, segundo a qual esses direitos se constituem dentro de obrigações gerais e são válidos para todas as pessoas do mundo. Mas podemos falar em direitos humanos considerados gerais e absolutos mesmo quando não se consegue especificar o detentor e o destinatário dos direitos em uma relação obrigacional específica? Com base em um procedimento de observação e na explicitação de algumas exigências por direitos humanos no mundo contemporâneo, aborda-se a natureza dos direitos a partir da correlação obrigacional entre direitos e deveres, bem como a distinção entre direitos especiais e direitos gerais, destacando que os direitos humanos são reivindicados como direitos gerais e universais, embora não se possa afirmar que sejam universais em si mesmos. A hipótese  neste artigo é a de que os direitos humanos são reivindicados “como se” fossem “gerais” dentro de obrigações específicas, seja em um conflito entre cidadãos e o Estado, seja a partir das relações dos países na comunidade internacional. Quando não estão especificados em obrigações concretas, esses direitos apresentam dificuldades quanto à sua efetividade justamente porque não se consegue identificar e especificar sujeitos e destinatários – que não são exatamente o Estado ou o cidadão deste ou daquele país, mas, sim, a pessoa humana. Nesse sentido, ainda estamos longe do ideal de universalização dos direitos humanos na comunidade internacional, e esses direitos só podem ser exercidos quando incorporados a um ordenamento jurídico ou, ao menos, inseridos em práticas morais e sociais.Palavras-chave: Direitos humanos. Direitos gerais. Universalidade. Obrigações específicas. Abstract: This paper discusses the claims by human rights from a universal perspective, according to which human rights constitute general obligations and are valid for all people of the world. Can we talk about human rights considered general and valid for all human beings even when we can not specify the holder and the addressee of rights in a specific obligational relationship? Based on a procedure of observation and explanation of some claims for human rights in the contemporary world, this article aims to approach the nature of these rights from the obligational correlation between rights and duties, as well as the distinction between special rights and general rights, highlighting that human rights are claimed as general rights, emphasizing its “universal” character, although we can’t ensure that these rights are universal in themselves. Our hypothesis is that human rights are claimed “as if” they were “general” within specific obligations, whether in a conflict between citizens and the state, as based on the relations of countries in the international community. When not specified in concrete obligations, human rights have doubts as to its effectiveness precisely because it is not easy to identify and specify recipients and subject of rights – which are not exactly state or country, but rather the human person. In this sense, we are still far from the ideal of universal human rights in the international community, and these rights may be exercised only when incorporated into a law, or at least, embedded in moral and social practices.Keywords: Human Rights. General rights. Universality. Specific obligations.


Author(s):  
Duthie Roger ◽  
Mayer-Rieckh Alexander

Principle 38 calls for the repeal or abolition of laws and institutions that contribute to impunity for human rights violations. It considers habeas corpus as a fundamental and non-derogable individual right, and calls for the enactment of ‘legislative measures necessary to ensure protection of human rights and to safeguard democratic institutions and processes’, along with a ‘comprehensive review of legislation and administrative regulations’. This chapter first provides a contextual and historical background on Principle 38 before discussing its theoretical framework and practice. It shows how this Principle has evolved from an initial narrower focus only on emergency legislation and courts in preparatory reports and prior versions to a broader focus on legislative and institutional reform to combat impunity. It also cites examples of legislative reform in countries such as Morocco, Guatemala, Northern Ireland, Sierra Leone, and Uganda, particularly where truth commission recommendations have addressed the matter.


2016 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 285-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jernej Letnar Černič

This article critically examines weak execution of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights from the perspective of on-going innate struggle between ideas of liberalism and illiberalism in transitional societies of Central and Eastern European countries. This article thereafter identifies and analyses the reasons for poor execution of judgements in most Central and Eastern European states from the perspective of (il)liberalism, trying to draw out lessons concerning the understanding of current failures of those states to comply with the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. Equipped with this knowledge, this article goes on to argue that some common reasons for non-execution of judgement can be identified across Central and Eastern European states. It argues that those reasons can be inter alia located in legal formalisms, authoritarian judicial cultures and lack of self-criticisms of judicial structures. To this end, this article suggests how Central and Eastern European states could overcome the hurdles posed by remains of socialist legal culture in a manner that will live up to their obligations concerning execution of judgements of the European Court of Human Rights.


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