The Political Economy of the (Non-)Enforcement of International Human Rights Pronouncements by States

2017 ◽  
pp. 230-257
Author(s):  
Andreas von Staden
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Human

scholarly journals Human Rights Promotion through Transnational Investment Regimes: An International Political Economy Approach

2013 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 16-31 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire Cutler
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Investment ◽  
International Investment ◽  
Democratic Legitimacy ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
International Investment Agreements ◽  
International Human ◽  
Investment Agreements

International investment agreements are foundational instruments in a transnational investment regime that governs how states regulate the foreign-owned assets and the foreign investment activities of private actors. Over 3,000 investment agreements between states govern key governmental powers and form the basis for an emerging transnational investment regime. This transnational regime significantly decentralizes, denationalizes, and privatizes decision-making and policy choices over foreign investment. Investment agreements set limits to state action in a number of areas of vital public concern, including the protection of human and labour rights, the environment, and sustainable development. They determine the distribution of power between foreign investors and host states and their societies. However, the societies in which they operate seldom have any input into the terms or operation of these agreements, raising crucial questions of their democratic legitimacy as mechanisms of governance. This paper draws on political science and law to explore the political economy of international investment agreements and asks whether these agreements are potential vehicles for promoting international human rights. The analysis provides an historical account of the investment regime, while a review of the political economy of international investment agreements identifies what appears to be a paradox at the core of their operation. It then examines contract theory for insight into this apparent paradox and considers whether investment agreements are suitable mechanisms for advancing international human rights.

Hate-speech laws: consistency with national and international human rights law

Legal Studies ◽  
1998 ◽  
Vol 18 (4) ◽  
pp. 453-485 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dominic McGoldrick ◽  
Thérèse O'Donnell
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Hate Speech ◽  
Freedom Of Expression ◽  
Political Agenda ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Anti Semitism ◽  
International Human

Racism has climbed the political agenda at national, European and international levels. Reports from national and international non-governmental organisations (NGO’s) and inter-governmental organisations have focused considerable attention on racism and xenophobia and document an increase in racism, xenophobia, anti-Semitism and race-related activities. As racism has climbed the political agendas, so there has been a substantial increase in the number of national, European and international legal instruments devoted to it. In particular, race-related restrictions on freedom of expression (‘hate-speech’) are increasing and seem likely to continue to do so. Such restrictions give rise to controversy in terms of constitutionality, legal policy and consistency with European and international human rights law. There are also differences of views between the policies of NGO's on restrictions on racist speech.

Universal Rights versus Sharia? Reflections on the Moral and Legal Dimensions of Human Rights Law and Sharia

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 139-161
Author(s):  
Elena Namli
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Positive Law ◽  
The Social ◽  
Liberal Ideology ◽  
International Human ◽  
Effective Development

Abstract This article develops a critique of the monopoly of liberal ideology in the field of human rights by considering how law, morality and politics are related to each other. The author argues that the constructive potential of international human rights law does not lie in its being understood and practiced as a positive law. On the contrary, to focus on human rights law as positive law is to conceal the political nature of human rights and to prevent effective development of its moral and political potential. Further, the author considers the case of Sharia law and argues that Sharia, for it to be implemented concretely in the social, political, and legal spheres, must be understood as a moral and religious ‘way’. These interpretations of human rights law and Sharia are used as the basis for a critique of the idea that human rights law and Sharia contradict each other.

scholarly journals Māori Women, Discrimination and Paid Work: The Need for an Intersectional Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The Political ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Political Will ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Regulation

New Zealand has been at the forefront of labour regulation and views itself as a leader in the field of human rights. However, this article focuses on an area where the law is underdeveloped. It argues that the ongoing socio-economic inequality of Māori women is inconsistent with social justice, New Zealand's international human rights obligations and the Treaty of Waitangi. Improving access to paid work could help to address this, but the law does not adequately address the intersectional discrimination – discrimination on multiple grounds – that Māori women and others experience. New Zealand discrimination law, in both the human rights and employment jurisdictions, is largely comparator-based which is inherently flawed as a mechanism for addressing intersectional discrimination. Moreover, the law is poorly understood and weakly enforced. New Zealand also has limited affirmative action provisions; no quotas or targets are set with regards to improving the access to paid work of Māori women and very few New Zealand employers are required to report on matters pertaining to gender equality. The article concludes that the impact of intersectional discrimination on Māori women (and others) must be recognised and addressed and that a range of options is available to do this, if the political will were present.

scholarly journals Māori Women, Discrimination and Paid Work: The Need for an Intersectional Approach

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Amanda Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The Political ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Political Will ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Regulation

New Zealand has been at the forefront of labour regulation and views itself as a leader in the field of human rights. However, this article focuses on an area where the law is underdeveloped. It argues that the ongoing socio-economic inequality of Māori women is inconsistent with social justice, New Zealand's international human rights obligations and the Treaty of Waitangi. Improving access to paid work could help to address this, but the law does not adequately address the intersectional discrimination – discrimination on multiple grounds – that Māori women and others experience. New Zealand discrimination law, in both the human rights and employment jurisdictions, is largely comparator-based which is inherently flawed as a mechanism for addressing intersectional discrimination. Moreover, the law is poorly understood and weakly enforced. New Zealand also has limited affirmative action provisions; no quotas or targets are set with regards to improving the access to paid work of Māori women and very few New Zealand employers are required to report on matters pertaining to gender equality. The article concludes that the impact of intersectional discrimination on Māori women (and others) must be recognised and addressed and that a range of options is available to do this, if the political will were present.

Human Rights Watch

2020 ◽  
pp. 204-232
Author(s):  
Aryeh Neier
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Reagan Administration ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Soviet Invasion ◽  
The Moment

This chapter focuses on the Human Rights Watch as one of the two most important institutions for the protection of human rights worldwide in the late 1970s. It points out that the Human Rights Watch was established during the moment of burgeoning public concern on the cause of international human rights, particularly in the United States. It also highlights the radical political shift in the United States in 1981 from the Carter administration to the Reagan administration. The chapter describes the Human Rights Watch's development of reporting that entered into political combat with officials of the Reagan administration who were intent on co-opting the human rights cause for their own Cold War purposes. It discusses the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in December 1979 and the emergence of Solidarity in Poland in August 1980 as part of the political developments that helped transform Helsinki Watch into Human Rights Watch.

Political Limits of International Human Rights

2019 ◽  
pp. 137-146
Author(s):  
Başak Çalı
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
The Political ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The West ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
International Human ◽  
Western Hegemony

This chapter addresses the political limits of international human rights, but disagrees with the realist international relations and the Western hegemony approaches as to how we may locate and problematize such limits. A key objection that the chapter makes to realists and the Western hegemony approach is their static conception of human rights. Contrary to the view that human rights is a gift of Western powers to the rest, the chapter proposes to conceive contemporary human rights as a multiple authored transnational practice that challenges power not only in the rest but also in the West. Yet, human rights, conceived in this dynamic and transformative way, are not free from political limits. Limits to contemporary human rights can best be located in two places: the majoritarian objection to human rights domestically and the global resistance to regulate corporate powers for human rights abuses.

scholarly journals Māori Women, Discrimination and Paid Work: The Need for an Intersectional Approach

2019 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 321
Author(s):  
Amanda Reilly
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The Political ◽  
Paid Work ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Political Will ◽  
International Human ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Labour Regulation

New Zealand has been at the forefront of labour regulation and views itself as a leader in the field of human rights. However, this article focuses on an area where the law is underdeveloped. It argues that the ongoing socio-economic inequality of Māori women is inconsistent with social justice, New Zealand's international human rights obligations and the Treaty of Waitangi. Improving access to paid work could help to address this, but the law does not adequately address the intersectional discrimination – discrimination on multiple grounds – that Māori women and others experience. New Zealand discrimination law, in both the human rights and employment jurisdictions, is largely comparator-based which is inherently flawed as a mechanism for addressing intersectional discrimination. Moreover, the law is poorly understood and weakly enforced. New Zealand also has limited affirmative action provisions; no quotas or targets are set with regards to improving the access to paid work of Māori women and very few New Zealand employers are required to report on matters pertaining to gender equality. The article concludes that the impact of intersectional discrimination on Māori women (and others) must be recognised and addressed and that a range of options is available to do this, if the political will were present.

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