The Political Conception of Human Rights and Its Rule(s) of Recognition

The political conception makes sense of human rights strictly in light of their role in international human rights practice, more specifically by describing how they justify interventions against states that engage in or fail to prevent human rights violations. This conception is, therefore, normative and fact-dependent. Beyond this, it does not seem to have much to say about the actual nature of international human rights practice. The argument sustained here reinterprets the political conception by resorting to a heuristic device that explains how normativity can be fact-dependent: the Hartian model. The characteristics of H.L.A. Hart’s rule of recognition are useful to determine the characteristics of human rights practice from the viewpoint of the political conception. Also, they help to overcome some of the problems typically faced by the political conception, such as whether there is only one practice or many, whether the notion of human rights becomes too contingent on the way the world is currently organised, how agents can violate content-changing practices, or how reliance on current states of affairs leaves room for criticism of those states of affairs.

The heritage of the League of Nations’ minority protection system

This paper discusses the system of minority protection of the League of Nations. Minority protection occupied a prominent place on the League’s agenda, which developed a significant expertise in the field. The League’s system of minority protection is often regarded as an experiment. With regard to both material and procedural aspects this assessment is certainly correct. In particular, minority protection based upon legally binding treaties and declarations gave rise to the question of how individual and group rights should be treated within the frame of an international political organization. The paper further examines whether at least some of the elements of the League’s minority protection system still persist in the context of contemporary international human rights law.

Article 9: The Right Not to Be Separated from Parents

The Travaux Préparatoires insist upon the close nexus between Articles 9, 10, and 11 along with the several other provisions of the UNCRC that protect the close bond between child and parent. This chapter analyses the content of Article 9 in relation to the general principles of Child rights, related provisions in other international human rights treaties and materials, and sets out four main attributes of the right, as a child, to not be separated from one’s parents against one’s will. These four attributes are: (1) no separation from parents unless necessary for the child’s best interests; (2) no separation from one’s parents without due process before competent authorities; (3) the right to maintain relations and personal contact with both parents, if separated; and (4) the right to be informed of the whereabouts of one’s parent or child, if detained.

International Human Resource Management Strategies for Multicultural Organizations

The increasingly global nature of construction has highlighted the importance of multiculturalism and the new challenges it brings to execution especially in the light of the dependency on international human resources for expertise and delivery of construction projects in a cost-effective and timely manner. Adopting an analytical approach, this chapter attempts to review international HRM strategies and outlook for multicultural organizations of the construction sector in the Zimbabwean context and also provides some deeper insights on the gaps and inadequacies and recommends possible ways of bridging the identified gaps in practice. In the process, the chapter also examines the cultural factors that influence communication and how communication can be made effective in multicultural environments. But the core of the chapter is to explore international human resource management strategies for multicultural organizations.

Queering Reparations Under International Law: Damages, Suffering, and (Heteronormative) Kinship

It is a long-standing principle of international law that every breach of an international obligation that results in harm gives rise to a duty to make adequate reparation. Reparations can take different forms, from the ideal of full restitution to the provision of satisfaction, and the payment of compensation. Notwithstanding reparation's main aim––to ameliorate, if not eradicate, the detrimental consequences of an internationally wrongful act–– it also serves other purposes, such as reinforcing the authority of the norm breached, acknowledging the injury, and recognizing the bearer of harm (the victim). This essay adopts a queer approach to examine the role played by reparation–– in particular, compensation––in determining what (and whose) suffering matters to international law. With a focus on internationally wrongful acts that result in deprivation of life, this piece discusses who is seen as worthy of redress when a violation of the right to life has taken place, as this, in turn, speaks volumes about who is seen as legally entitled to suffer, to mourn and, ultimately, to love. This essay argues that reparation orders from international human rights courts offer a valuable opportunity for re-evaluating––and perhaps even overcoming––heteronormative understandings of kinship.

International Human Resource Management

Nowadays, internationalization is key for the survival of firms. Internationalization of a firm involves an internationalization of all the functional areas of the firm, of which international human resource management (IHRM) is one of the most relevant. In an international context, managers should make decisions about what human resource practices are best suited to the firm's international operations. Being aware of the differences between domestic and international human resource management will help readers and managers to establish operational mechanisms to deal with country differences in terms of industrial labor, culture, and firm practices. Therefore, after reading this chapter, readers should be able to deal with aspects like adaptation or standardization of HR practices, international staffing, and relevant issues around expatriation and repatriation.

Self-Initiated Expatriates

This chapter discusses the emergence of a new category of expatriates, namely self-initiated expatriates. In particular, the demand for self-initiated academic expatriates has increased tremendously over the years in tandem with the globalization of the higher education sector across the globe. Hence, this chapter aims to provide greater understanding about the nature and motivation for expatriation among this group of expatriates which will have significant impact on the international human resource management policies and practices. This chapter begins with explanation about the concept of expatriation and expatriate. This is followed by comparison between organizational expatriates and self-initiated expatriates. The underlying motivation behind self-initiated expatriation is discussed as well. Definitions of academic self-initiated expatriates and their motivation to expatriate were included as well in this chapter. This chapter conclude with findings of one case study conducted among 152 academic self-initiated expatriates employed in 20 public universities in Malaysia.