International Human Rights: Library Resources

Globalization challenges fundamental principles governing international law, especially with respect to state sovereignty and international relations. This transformation has had a significant impact on the practice of trade law, financial regulation, and environmental law but relatively little effect on one area of law and regulation: human rights. Universal Human Rights and Extraterritorial Obligations examines both the international and domestic foundations of human rights law. What other contemporary human rights debates have almost totally ignored is that in an increasingly interdependent world--where public and private international actors have great influence on the lives of individuals everywhere--it is insufficient to assess only the record of domestic governments in human rights. It is equally important to assess the effect of actions taken by intergovernmental organizations, international private entities, and foreign states. From this standpoint, contributors to this book address how states' actions or omissions may affect the prospects of individuals in foreign states and asks important questions: To what extent do agricultural policies of rich countries influence the right to food in poorer countries? How do decisions to screen asylum seekers outside state borders affect refugee rights? How does cooperation among different states in the "war on terror" influence individuals' rights to be free from torture? This volume presents a brief for a more complex and updated approach to the protection of human rights worldwide.

This comprehensive sourcebook edited by esteemed professionals, is a compilation of important human rights documents: universal declaration of human rights, international covenant on civil and political rights, UN documents and many more that are critical to understanding and promoting human rights. As part of a sister volume (The International Law (Law of Armed Conflict) Sourcebook - being released in Spring of 2014), together or individually each serves as an excellent resource to anyone involved in understanding and defending the current laws and rules. Students, professors, lawyers, human rights activists and those interested in the legal regime governing human rights litigation and policy should not be without this single-source for the increasingly important body of law.

This revised compilation of universal human rights instruments is the first volume of the series prepared by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (the other volume relating to regional instruments). It contains selected international documents adopted up to 18 December 2002, including those by the International Labour Organization, UNESCO and the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Part One includes instruments relating to the right of self-determination, rights of indigenous peoples and minorities, prevention of discrimination, and rights of women, children, older persons and persons with disabilities, as well as the International Bill of Human Rights, and the UN Millennium Declaration. Part Two covers the promotion and protection of human rights, marriage, health, employment, freedom of association, slavery and forced labour, rights of migrants, nationality and asylum, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The fully revised and updated Third Edition of Remedies in International Human Rights Law provides a comprehensive analysis of the law governing international and domestic remedies for human rights violations. It reviews and examines the texts and the jurisprudence on this key area of human rights law. It is an essential practical and theoretical resource for policymakers, scholars, and students negotiating and litigating issues of redress for victims. The Third Edition incorporates the major developments in remedial human rights jurisprudence. Internationally, the United Nations and the International Criminal Court have issued reparations guidelines; the International Court of Justice has for the first time awarded compensation for human rights violations; the International Law Commission has considered the humanitarian responsibility of international organizations; and new international petition procedures and policies on redress have entered into force. Regionally, in Asia and Africa, human rights bodies have adopted new human rights accords and legal judgments; in Europe, the human rights case load unceasingly increases. Nationally, the jurisprudence of historical reparations has come to the fore, as has the juridical consideration of economic and social rights. All of these developments are analysed in context and create a comprehensive and accessible portrait of the state of remedial human rights law today.

The idea of multi-culturalism has had a significant impact across many areas of law. This book explores how it has shaped the recent development of international human rights law. Custodians of human rights, especially international monitoring bodies, try to advance the effectiveness of human rights standards by interpreting these standards according to a method strongly inspired by the idea of cultural 'relativism'. By using elements of cultural identity and cultural diversity as parameters for the interpretation, adjudication, and enforcement of such standards, human rights are evolving from the traditional 'universal' idea, to a 'multi-cultural' one, whereby rights are interpreted in a dynamic manner, which respond to the particular needs of the communities and individuals directly concerned. This book shows how this is epitomized by the rise of collective rights - which is intertwined with the evolution of the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples - in contrast with the traditional vision of human rights as inherently individual. It demonstrates how the process of 'culturalization' of human rights law can be shown through different methods: the most common being the recourse to the doctrine of the 'margin of appreciation' left to states in defining the content of human rights standards, extensively used by human rights bodies, such as the European Court of Human Rights. Secondly, different meanings can be attributed to the same human rights standards by adapting them to the cultural needs of the persons and - especially - communities specifically concerned. This method is particularly used by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the African Commission of Human and Peoples' Rights. The book concludes that the evolution of human rights law towards multi-cultural 'relativism' is not only maximizes the effectiveness of human rights standards, but is also necessary to improve the quality of communal life, and to promote the stability of inter-cultural relationships. However, to an extent, notions of 'universalism' remain necessary to defend the very idea of human dignity.

This volume focuses on the ethical significance of human rights, aiming at contributing to a universal culture of human rights with deep roots and wide horizons. Its purpose, scope and rationale are reflected in the three-part structure of the manuscript. Part I has a broad introductory historical, theoretical and legal character. Part II submits that an Ethics of Human Rights is best understood as an Ethics of Recognition of human worth, dignity and rights. Moreover, it is argued that human worth consists in the perfectibility of the human species, rooted in its semiotic nature, to be accomplished through the perfecting of human beings, for which the right to education is key. In Part III, the main legal and political outcomes of the Human Rights Revolution are described and answers to the most lasting and common criticisms of human rights are provided. To conclude, the human stature of the Big Five drafters of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights is profiled and the priority that should be recognized to human rights education is highlighted. Some appendices supplement the manuscript. While making a case for the high value and liberating power of the idea and ideal of human rights, objections, controversies and uncertainties are not at all overlooked and emerging issues are explored. The diversity of content of this volume meets many needs of the typical syllabus for a human rights course.

The significance of fundamental individual rights to substantive criminal law, criminal procedure law and sentencing law is undeniable for anyone who is familiar with the criminal justice system. The fourteen essays selected for this volume portray and discuss the meaning and rationale of those human rights that are most relevant to that system. They have been chosen for their high quality, timeless approach and general attention to issues that are of universal interest and thus not too closely related to the technicalities of a specific criminal justice system. In combination with the introduction to this volume, the essays cover almost the entire criminal justice system and offer a general overview as well as an in-depth examination of criminal law and human rights. As a result, this volume is essential for researchers, lecturers and students concerned with the tensions and harmonies between the values the criminal justice system and human rights respectively serve.

Human rights are considered one of the big ideas of the early twenty-first century. This book presents in an authoritative and readable form the variety of platforms on which human rights law is practiced today, reflecting also on the dynamic inter-relationships that exist between these various levels. The collection has a critical edge. The chapters engage with how human rights law has developed in its various subfields, what (if anything) has been achieved and at what cost, in terms of expected or produced unexpected side-effects. The authors pass judgment about the consistency, efficacy and success of human rights law (set against the standards of the field itself or other external goals). Written by world-class academics, this Companion will be essential reading for students and scholars of human rights law.

This volume is based on the theme that justice cannot be confined within limitations of space, time or academic discipline, a theme which Judge Christopher Weeramantry has consistently applied in the valuable writings which are collected here. Justice breaks out beyond the bounds of particular cultural traditions and territorial boundaries. It transcends generational barriers and imposes on every generation duties towards those who are to follow. It reaches beyond the bounds of the discipline of law and fertilizes the interface area between law and any discipline one may care to name. This representative selection of lectures and writings, delivered and published over the past three decades in many parts of the world, reveals the depth and significance of Judge Weeramantrys contribution to the ongoing debate on the nature and scope of Human Rights in the international community. Some of his essays foreshadowed future dangers which have since materialized, and they all represent a resistance to attitudes of legal formalism which often seem to override considerations of justice in the handling of the problems under examination. All of these discussions portray the all-pervasive nature of justice, its universality, and its timelessness. This volume is the first of several which will cover Judge Weeramantrys contribution to legal literature. The remaining volumes will contain essays on Justice in a Global Context, Justice in the Age of Technology and The Votaries of Justice.

Wartime rape has been virulent in wars of sovereignty, territory, conquest, religion, ideology and liberation, yet attention to this crime has been sporadic throughout history. Rape remains 'unspeakable', particularly within law. Moreover, rape has not featured prominently in post-conflict collective memory. And even when rape is 'remembered', it is often the subject of political controversy and heated debate. In this book, Henry asks some critical questions about the relationship between mass rape, politics and law. In what ways does law contribute to the collective memory of wartime rape? How do 'counter-memories' of victims compete with the denialism of wartime rape? The text specifically analyses the historical silencing of rape throughout international legal history and the potential of law to restore these silenced histories, it also examines the violence of law and the obstacles to individual and collective redemption. Tracing the prosecution of rape crimes within contemporary courts, Henry seeks to argue that politics underscores the way rape is dealt with by the international community in the aftermath of armed conflict. Providing a comprehensive overview of the politics of wartime rape and the politics of prosecuting such crimes within international humanitarian law, this text will be of great interest to scholars of gender and security, war crimes and law and society.

In times of conflict, women have traditionally been excluded from protection of the law. This book analyzes the treatment of sex and gender crimes under international law by identifying various legal eras, from the inception of international criminal law until its most recent formulation, the Rome Statute. The author conducts her critical journey armed with insights about the development of the crime of rape in domestic law and feminist theories, and exposes gaps and silences in international law's treatment of sex and gender crimes. The author claims that the underlying stratum of sex crimes - the gender stratum - must be acknowledged. Hence, it is not sufficient to treat rape as another offense under existing traditional crime categories. It must also be anchored as a separate crime category that clearly establishes the boundaries of the legal norm, harmonizes different nations' laws, and eradicates the remnants of patriarchy linked to this offense.