scholarly journals An Enduring Path for National Unity and Human Rights Protection in Ethiopia: A Case for Human Dignity Centered Constitutional Design and Interpretation

2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-40
Author(s):  
Tsega Andualem Gelaye
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
National Unity ◽  
Constitutional Design ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

Ensuring National Unity and upholding Human Rights have always been a big challenge in Ethiopia, since the establishment of the modern Ethiopian state. These problems are still troubling the country, long after the adoption of the present Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia (FDRE) Constitution, which is claimed to have addressed them once and for all. This article seeks to revisit the historical underpinnings of the FDRE Constitution and its ethnic-centered design, in relation to its actual capacity to achieve national unity and adequate protection of human rights. The article demonstrates how human dignity centered constitutional design and interpretation could advance both national unity and adequate protection of rights. It argues that the historical foundation of the FDRE Constitution and the design that came out of it is backward looking, exclusionary and inadequate to address both challenges for a number of reasons. As a possible alternative, it proposes a human dignity centered re-reading of history, constitutional design and interpretation. Since Ethiopia is in a process of reform in various spheres, the issues raised and discussed in the article deserve serious attention as they are essential to move forward.

Regional Human Rights

2021 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Protective Mechanisms ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Protection Systems ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Local Languages ◽  
Specific Country

Regional human rights mechanism are now in place covering nearly all five continents with the notable exception of Australia. Regional and international human rights protection are not meant to thwart each other. On the contrary, the regional protection of human rights is intended to back up and strengthen the international one by translating human rights into local languages and supporting them with additional protective mechanisms like commissions and courts that enforce regional human rights documents. In this volume, five experts from various continents will introduce regional human rights protection systems in Europe, Africa, Asia, Latin America and Australia providing an overview of the regional protections vis-à-vis the international one and then contextualising it in specific country context.

scholarly journals Politics Of Law Human Rights Protection In Indonesia

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 513
Author(s):  
Pradikta Andi Alvat
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Political Development ◽  
Legal Protection ◽  
Secondary Data ◽  
Three Dimensions ◽  
Reform Era ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Source Data ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

This study aims to know how political development of legal protection of human rights in Indonesia and political objectives of the legal protection of human rights itself. The research method using normative juridical approach. Specification of the research is descriptive. Provide an overview and critical analysis and conclusions of the research object. Source data using secondary data sources through books and legislation. The data collection method through the study of literature. Analysis of data using qualitative approach. The results showed that the political development of the legal protection of human rights has undergone discourse tight since the formulation of the Constitution and found basic juridical-constitutional is ideal since the reform era with the birth of Chapter XA in the constitution on human rights, born Law of Human Rights, and the formation of the court of HAM. The purpose of a political human rights protection law contains three dimensions, namely the dimensions of philosophical, sociological dimension and juridical dimension.Keywords: Protection Of Human Rights; Political Law; State Law.

scholarly journals The Council of Europe Convention on Preventing and Combating Violence against Women and Domestic Violence in the Polish Social Safeguard System

2017 ◽  
Vol 12 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Magdalena Tabernacka
Keyword(s):  
Domestic Violence ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Violence Against Women ◽  
Council Of Europe ◽  
Protective Function ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Heated Debate ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Common

The ratification of the Council of Europe Convention on preventing and combating violence against women and domestic violence in Poland was preceded by a heated debate. From the very beginning it was be object of political battles between the conservative and liberal circles. Culturally and socially conditioned position of women has influenced its operation and the scope of its implementation. The Convention is a universally binding tool which guarantees the protection of human rights in events of violence against the woman and children. The case of this Convention in Poland proofs the existence of a universal European understanding of human rights protection standards. The Convention thus has a protective function not only for individuals but also, in a broader context, for the common European cultural identity.

scholarly journals Law, Cosmopolitan Law and the Protection of Human Rights

2008 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-264 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sarah Sorial
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Rights Discourse ◽  
Cosmopolitan Law ◽  
Human Rights Discourse ◽  
Subjective Rights

In Between Facts and Norms, Habermas articulates a system of rights, including human rights, within the democratic constitutional state. For Habermas, while human rights, like other subjective rights have moral content, they do not structurally belong to a moral system; nor should they be grounded in one. Instead, human rights belong to a positive and coercive legal order upon which individuals can make actionable legal claims. Habermas extends this argument to include international human rights, which are realised within the context of a cosmopolitan legal order. The aim of this paper is to assess the relevance of law as a mechanism for securing human rights protection. I argue that positive law does make a material difference to securing individual human rights and to cultivating and augmenting a general rights culture both nationally and globally. I suggest that Habermas' model of law presents the most viable way of negotiating the tensions that human rights discourse gives rise to: the tensions between morality and law, between legality and politics, and between the national and international contexts of human rights protection.

25. International Human Rights Law

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nigel Rodley
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Political Rights ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
International Protection ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Cultural Rights ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Human Rights Treaties ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights

This chapter considers the background to, and current developments concerning the manner in which international law has engaged with the protection of human rights, including both civil and political rights and economic, social, and cultural rights. It looks at historical, philosophical, and political factors which have shaped our understanding of human rights and the current systems of international protection. It focuses on the systems of protection developed by and through the United Nations through the ‘International Bill of Rights’, including the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the UN human rights treaties and treaty bodies, and the UN Special Procedures as well as the work of the Human Rights Council. It also looks at the systems of regional human rights protection which have been established.

The Increasingly Marginal Appreciation of the Margin-of-Appreciation Doctrine

2006 ◽  
Vol 7 (6) ◽  
pp. 611-623 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ignacio de la Rasilla del Moral
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Cultural Relativism ◽  
European Convention ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Margin Of Appreciation ◽  
Rome Convention ◽  
Related Notion ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Sensitive Issues

What song the Syrens sang, or what name Achilles assumed when he hid himself among the women, although puzzling questions are not beyond all conjecture.What is so fundamental in terms of the protection of human rights in Europe that it requires the same standards for all countries and what, by contrast, would be better dealt with by each State's organs in line with verbigratia Michael Walzer's-related notion of “thick morality”?. Where should the line be drawn between unity and diversity notwithstanding the resulting risk of human rights cultural relativism associated to the latter?. On what grounds could the axiomatic universality of human rights possibly be connoted in a continent which prides itself on possessing the most developed regional system for the protection of human rights world-wide in view of the resulting risk of legal contagion to other systems for the protection of human rights and, even, to general international law that such a practice can trigger?. At the end of the day, these are the sort of questions that the study of the margin-of- appreciation doctrine raises. The Trojan Horse-like character of the Strasbourg's judge-made margin-of-appreciation doctrine within the European human rights protection system has long since bothered human rights lawyers. Cases of reliance on this review doctrine have been generally criticised as denials of justice for individuals, abdications by the Court of its duty of adjudication in difficult or sensitive issues or as a judicial diluting technique of the strict conditions laid down in the European Convention of Human Rights. This line of criticism, aimed at what from the viewpoint of some occupants of the bench is seen as “a well established and legitimate part of the convention's jurisprudence”, has been reinforced by the entry of 21 new Eastern and Central European contracting parties to the Council of Europe following the 1989-1991 events. With a current membership of 46 States, all of which have ratified the 1950 Rome Convention, it is further feared that the doctrine will increasingly become an open door for abusive limitations in the exercise of human rights in states who traditionally leaned towards human rights cultural relativism. Against this background, I will briefly look into the technical criteria used by Strasbourg's judicial interpreters to factually implement this “much maligned notion” or, as one commentator has put it, this “manière pseudo-technique d'évoquer le pouvoir discrétionnaire que les organes de Strasbourg ont estimé reconnu aux Etats par la Convention dans certains cas”. I will, secondly, provide a basic overview of the general doctrinal positions one can adopt regarding this long debated question.

“Not Taking Rights Seriously”. Opting for the Primacy of eu Law over Broader Human Rights Protection

2015 ◽  
Vol 4 (2) ◽  
pp. 277-302
Author(s):  
Fisnik Korenica ◽  
Dren Doli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Eu Law ◽  
The European Union ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Court Of Justice ◽  
Charter Of Fundamental Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
The Relationship

The European Union (eu) accession to the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (echr) has been a hot topic in the European legal discourse in this decade. Ruling on the compliance of the Draft Agreement on eu accession to the echr with the eu Treaties, the Court of Justice of the eu (cjeu) came up with a rather controversial Opinion. It ruled that the Draft Agreement is incompliant with the eu Treaties in several respects. One of the core concerns in Opinion 2/13 relates to the management of horizontal relationship between the eu Charter of Fundamental Rights (ChFR) and echr, namely Article 53 ChFR and Article 53 echr. The article examines the Opinion 2/13’s specific concerns on the relationship between Article 53 ChFR and Article 53 echr from a post-accession perspective. It starts by considering the question of the two 53s’ relationship from the eu-law autonomy viewpoint, indicating the main gaps that may present a danger to the latter. While questioning from a number of perspectives the plausibility of the cjeu’s arguments in relation to the two 53s, the article argues that the Court was both controversial and argued against itself when it drew harshly upon these concerns. The article also presents three options to address the cjeu’s requirements on this issue. The article concludes that the cjeu’s statements on the two 53s will seriously hurt the accession project, while critically limiting the possibility of Member States to provide broader protection.

scholarly journals The Experience of the Inter-American Human Rights System

2009 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 103 ◽  
Author(s):  
Felipe González
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
American System ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
State Behaviour

This article is one of four which provide a useful comparative paradigm to any discussion of a Pacific human rights charter or regional mechanism. The article describes the Inter-American system of human rights protection, which stretches across the Americas.  After an historical introduction, the article analyses the advances that took place after 1990.  The discussion focuses mainly on the roles of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The article concludes that the system is able to influence state behaviour and has made significant contributions to the protection of human rights in the region.

scholarly journals A Brief Analysis on Human Rights from Hannah Arendt’s Criticism

2018 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 95
Author(s):  
Janilce Silva Praseres ◽  
Marcelo Ramos Saldanha
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Dignity ◽  
Hannah Arendt ◽  
Ethical Values ◽  
Legal Systems ◽  
Right To Life ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Right

Abstract: human rights are a set of ethical values whose purpose is to protect and enable the realization of human dignity in its various dimensions and also prevent the reduction of the individual to the condition of object or, above all, the reduction of his condition as subject of rights, such as the right to life, freedom, security, equality. The universal character of human rights protection demonstrates some weaknesses, especially in the transposition into concrete legal systems, so what we propose is a brief analysis of human rights from Hannah Arendt.Uma Breve Análise Acerca dos Direitos Humanos a partir da Crítica de Hannah ArendtResumo: os direitos humanos são um conjunto de valores éticos que têm por finalidade proteger e possibilitar a realização da dignidade humana em suas várias dimensões e, ainda, impedir a redução do indivíduo à condição de objeto ou, sobretudo, a diminuição da sua condição na qualidade de sujeito de direitos, a exemplo o direito à vida, à liberdade, à segurança, à igualdade. O caráter universal de proteção aos direitos humanos demonstra algumas fragilidades, principalmente, na transposição para ordenamentos jurídicos concretos, assim, o que propomos é uma breve análise acerca dos direitos humanos a partir de Hannah Arendt.

scholarly journals Constitutional Change: Towards Better Human Rights Protection in Australia

2019 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 248
Author(s):  
Mohammad Ibrahim
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Primary Sources ◽  
Constitutional Change ◽  
Bill Of Rights ◽  
Legal Scholar ◽  
State Laws ◽  
Human Rights Protection ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
Constitutional System

Many legal scholars contend that Australia does not have a charter of rights in its Constitution. The legal scholar Rosalind Dixon, however, suggests that the Constitution does include some provisions that could be viewed as resembling a (partial) bill of rights. This constitutional framework might cause one to ponder whether human rights are adequately protected in the Australian constitutional system. This paper attempts to consider this question. It is argued that the protection of human rights under the Constitution, federal and state laws is not fully capable of responding to at least three human rights crises presented. Accordingly, the paper suggests that Australia should consider the idea of amending the Constitution in order to better human rights protection in the country. It offers suggestion that the Canadian model protection of human rights could be considered as one of the primary sources for reforms in the future.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document