The first comprehensive history of the DREAM Act and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) In 1982, the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in Plyler v. Doe that undocumented children had the right to attend public schools without charge or impediment, regardless of their immigration status. The ruling raised a question: what if undocumented students, after graduating from the public school system, wanted to attend college? Perchance to DREAM is the first comprehensive history of the DREAM Act, which made its initial congressional appearance in 2001, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), the discretionary program established by President Obama in 2012 out of Congressional failure to enact comprehensive immigration reform. Michael A. Olivas relates the history of the DREAM Act and DACA over the course of two decades. With the Trump Administration challenging the legality of DACA and pursuing its elimination in 2017, the fate of DACA is uncertain. Perchance to DREAM follows the political participation of DREAMers, who have been taken hostage as pawns in a cruel game as the White House continues to advocate anti-immigrant policies. Perchance to DREAM brings to light the many twists and turns that the legislation has taken, suggests why it has not gained the required traction, and offers hopeful pathways that could turn this darkness to dawn.

This important Research Handbook explores the nexus between human rights, poverty and inequality as a critical lens for understanding and addressing key challenges of the coming decades, including the objectives set out in the Sustainable Development Goals. The Research Handbook starts from the premise that poverty is not solely an issue of minimum income and explores the profound ways that deprivation and distributive inequality of power and capability relate to economic, social, cultural, civil and political rights. Leading experts in the human rights field representing a range of disciplines outline a future research agenda to address poverty and inequality head on. Beginning with an interrogation of the definition of poverty, subsequent chapters analyse the dynamics of poverty and inequality in relation to matters such as race, gender, age, disability, sexual orientation, geography and migration status. The rights to housing, land, health, work, education, protest and access to justice are also explored, with a recognition of the challenges posed by corruption, climate change and new technologies. The Research Handbook on Human Rights and Poverty is an essential reference guide for those who teach in these areas and for scholars and students developing future research agendas of their own. This will also be a much-needed resource for people working practically to address poverty in both the Global North and Global South.

In 1994, Malawi adopted an unusually progressive Constitution, unprecedented in the country's political and constitutional history. 'Human Rights under the Malawian Constitution' takes stock of the human rights jurisprudence generated by the new Constitution and the new judiciary in Malawi over the past sixteen years. The book examines the largely unreported Malawian cases and legislation and systematically analyses them with a view to constructing a coherent corpus of human rights jurisprudence, which is essential to consolidating democracy, establishing the foundation for the rule of law and ushering in an era of accelerated development in Malawi. The author draws on a wealth of international and comparative jurisprudence, including that from other African countries, without detracting from the main objective of constructing a Malawian brand of jurisprudence. Ultimately the book reveals that it is possible for human rights to grow even in underdeveloped countries. 'Human Rights under the Malawian Constitution' is intended for use by judges, lawyers, legal scholars, students, civil society, law reform officers, human rights institutions and comparative law scholars. _______________________________________________ Danwood Mzikenge Chirwa is Associate Professor of Law and Head of the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town. He has published widely in the fields of constitutional and human rights law. _______________________________________________ ' This book] makes a significant contribution to African constitutional law. The author has engaged in a careful and systematic treatment of all of the clauses contained in Malawi's Bill of Rights, as well as the jurisprudence which has been developed by its courts over the past 16 years .... Accordingly, this is a work which anyone who wishes to engage in African constitutional law in general and Malawian law in particular will be required to use as a major source of reference.' Dennis Davis, Judge of the High Court of South Africa; Honorary Professor of Law, University of Cape Town ' This book] fills a gap in the literature of human rights in the region with its excellent examination of the Malawian provisions. It is well written and will appeal to a wider readership than Malawi.' Boyce Wanda, Professor of Law, University of Fort Hare

Understand your GDPR obligations and prioritise the steps you need to take to comply The GDPR gives individuals significant rights over how their personal information is collected and processed, and places a range of obligations on organisations to be more accountable for data protection. The Regulation applies to all data controllers and processors that handle EU residents' personal information. It supersedes the 1995 EU Data Protection Directive and all EU member states' national laws that are based on it - including the UK's DPA (Data Protection Act) 1998. Failure to comply with the Regulation could result in fines of up to 20 million or 4% of annual global turnover - whichever is greater. This guide is a perfect companion for anyone managing a GDPR compliance project. It provides a detailed commentary on the Regulation, explains the changes you need to make to your data protection and information security regimes, and tells you exactly what you need to do to avoid severe financial penalties. Clear and comprehensive guidance to simplify your GDPR compliance project Now in its fourth edition, EU General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) - An implementation and compliance guide provides clear and comprehensive guidance on the GDPR. It explains the Regulation and sets out the obligations of data processors and controllers in terms you can understand. Topics covered include: The DPO (data protection officer) role, including whether you need one and what they should do; Risk management and DPIAs (data protection impact assessments), including how, when and why to conduct one; Data subjects' rights, including consent and the withdrawal of consent, DSARs (data subject access requests) and how to handle them, and data controllers and processors' obligations; Managing personal data internationally, including updated guidance following the Schrems II ruling; How to adjust your data protection processes to comply with the GDPR, and the best way of demonstrating that compliance; and A full index of the Regulation to help you find the articles and stipulations relevant to your organisation. Supplemental material While most of the EU GDPR's requirements are broadly unchanged in the UK GDPR, the context is quite different and will have knock-on effects. You may need to update contracts regarding EU-UK data transfers, incorporate standard contractual clauses into existing agreements, and update your policies, processes and procedural documentation as a result of these changes. We have published a supplement that sets out specific extra or amended information for this pocket guide. Click here to download the supplement. About the authors The IT Governance Privacy Team, led by Alan Calder, has substantial experience in privacy, data protection, compliance and information security. This practical experience, their understanding of the background and drivers for the GDPR, and the input of expert consultants and trainers are combined in this must-have guide to GDPR compliance. Start your compliance journey now and buy this book today.

A clear, concise primer on the GDPR The GDPR aims to unify data protection and ease the flow of personal data across the EU. It applies to every organisation in the world that handles EU residents' personal data. While the GDPR is not law in countries outside the EU, it is effectively part of the legislative environment for organisations that do business with the EU. This is enforced through a combination of international trade law and business pressure - after all, a partner in the EU is unlikely to want to risk engaging with a company in the US, Australia or Singapore (or anywhere else) that will put them at risk. EU GDPR - An international guide to compliance is the ideal resource for anyone wanting a clear primer on the principles of data protection and their obligations under the GDPR. A concise pocket guide, it will help you understand: The terms and definitions used in the GDPR, including explanations; The key requirements of the GDPR, including: Which fines apply to which Articles; The principles that should be applied to any collection and processing of personal data; The Regulation's applicability; Data subjects' rights; Data protection impact assessments; The data protection officer role and whether you need one; Data breaches, and notifying supervisory authorities and data subjects; and Obligations for international data transfers. How to comply with the Regulation, including: Understanding your data, and where and how it is used (e.g. Cloud suppliers, physical records); The documentation you must maintain (such as statements of the information you collect and process, records of data subject consent, processes for protecting personal data); and The "appropriate technical and organisational measures" you need to take to ensure compliance with the Regulation. A full index of the Regulation, enabling you to find relevant Articles quickly and easily. Supplemental material While most of the EU GDPR's requirements are broadly unchanged in the UK GDPR, the context is quite different and will have knock-on effects. You may need to update contracts regarding EU-UK data transfers, incorporate standard contractual clauses into existing agreements, and update your policies, processes and procedural documentation as a result of these changes. We have published a supplement that sets out specific extra or amended information for this pocket guide. Click here to download the supplement.

This book offers insight on access to justice from rural areas in internationally comparable contexts to highlight the diversity of experiences within, and across rural areas globally. It looks at the fundamental questions for people's lives raised by the issue of access to justice as well as the rule of law. It highlights a range of social, geographic and cultural issues which impact the way rural communities experience the justice system throughout the world with chapters on Australia, Canada, England, Ireland, Kenya, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Syria, Turkey, the USA and Wales. Each chapter explores three questions: 1. How do people experience the institutions of justice in rural areas and how does this rural experience differ to an urban experience? 2. What impact have changes in policy had on the justice system in rural areas, and have rural and urban areas been affected in different ways? 3. What impact does the law have on people's lives in rural areas and what would rural communities like to be better understood about their experience of the justice system? By bringing in the voices and experiences of those who are often ignored or side-lined by justice systems, this book will set out an agenda for ensuring social justice in legal systems with a focus on protecting marginalised groups.

In 1846 two slaves, Dred and Harriet Scott, filed petitions for their freedom in the Old Courthouse in St. Louis, Missouri. As the first true civil rights case decided by the U.S. Supreme Court, Dred Scott v. Sandford raised issues that have not been fully resolved despite three amendments to the Constitution and more than a century and a half of litigation. The Dred Scott Case: Historical and Contemporary Perspectives on Race and Law presents original research and the reflections of the nation\u2019s leading scholars who gathered in St. Louis to mark the 150th anniversary of what was arguably the most infamous decision of the U.S. Supreme Court. The decision that held that African Americans \u201chad no rights\u201d under the Constitution and that Congress had no authority to alter that galvanized Americans and thrust the issue of race and law to the center of American politics. This collection of essays revisits the history of the case and its aftermath in American life and law. In a final section, the present-day justices of the Missouri Supreme Court offer their reflections on the process of judging and provide perspective on the misdeeds of their nineteenth-century predecessors who denied the Scotts their freedom.

ISO/IEC 27701:2019: An introduction to privacy information management offers a concise introduction to the Standard, aiding those organisations looking to improve their privacy information management regime, particularly where ISO/IEC 27701:2019 is involved.

Even more than the occasional and fleeting right to vote, citizens' equal and peremptory prerogatives of expression within public discourse distinguish post-World War II democracies from all earlier and rival forms of government. In fundamentally transforming public discourse, electronic media transform the very conditions of political legitimacy. Ian Cram continues to innovate at the forefront of the free speech debates by exploring that historical shift in the way we speak, and therefore in the way we govern ourselves.' - Eric Heinze, Queen Mary, University of London, UKThis monograph explores the phenomenon of 'citizen journalism' from a legal and constitutional perspective. It describes and evaluates emerging patterns of communication between a new and diverse set of speakers and their audiences. Drawing upon political theory, the book considers the extent to which the constitutional and legal frameworks of modern liberal states allow for a 'contestatory space' that advances the scope for non-traditional speakers to participate in policy debates and to hold elites to account. Topics covered include the regulation of offensive, abusive and anonymous speech, online defamation, compelled disclosure of 'journalists'' sources, private online research by jurors and analysis of the application of pre-Web 2.0 laws to non-traditional media speakers and outlets. After surveying a range of criminal and civil law provisions that impair the communicative reach of non-mainstream speakers, the broad conclusion casts doubt upon the capacity of 'citizen journalists' to effect a significant shift towards republican self-rule. Offering an original analysis of the phenomenon of 'citizen journalism' with developments from a broad range of jurisdictions, this book is a valuable resource for students, academics, policymakers and law reform agencies in the fields of constitutional law, human rights, media freedom, journalism and comparative media regulation.

The last twenty years have seen rapid development of the equitable action for breach of confidence. The Spycatcher saga of the late 1980s led to the restatement of the fundamental principles. There was increasing concern about press intrusion, and the need to protect privacy rights guaranteed by Article 8 of the European Convention in the wake of the Human Rights Act 1998. Against that background, a number of high-profile cases-such as Campbell v MGN Ltd (2004)-explored how common law principles laid down in the nineteenth century might be adapted to twenty-first century conditions. How far will the law go in protecting privacy? Meanwhile, in the "information age", the law has had to grapple-for instance in Douglas v Hello! Ltd (2007)-with how best to protect the commercially valuable information and when it should assist those who wish to exploit it. The result has been rapid development of the law in many diverse areas. The Law of Confidentiality: A Restatement goes behind the mass of cases to tease out the fundamental principles underlying the modern law. It examines the central questions of substance: the circumstances in which information is protected by law, and how it responds to conflicting public interests. It also looks at the important practical questions of procedure and remedies. It aims to be useful to those looking for a guide to the main principles and controversies in the field, and also to the practising lawyer looking for a clear statement of the basic principles.

In the United States and Europe, an increasing emphasis on equality has pitted rights claims against each other, raising profound philosophical, moral, legal, and political questions about the meaning and reach of religious liberty. Nowhere has this conflict been more salient than in the debate between claims of religious freedom, on one hand, and equal rights claims made on the behalf of members of the lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) community, on the other. As new rights for LGBT individuals have expanded in liberal democracies across the West, longstanding rights of religious freedom - such as the rights of religious communities to adhere to their fundamental teachings, including protecting the rights of conscience; the rights of parents to impart their religious beliefs to their children; and the liberty to advance religiously-based moral arguments as a rationale for laws - have suffered a corresponding decline. Timothy Samuel Shah, Thomas F. Farr, and Jack Friedman's volume, Religious Freedom and Gay Rights brings together some of the world's leading thinkers on religion, morality, politics, and law to analyze the emerging tensions between religious freedom and gay rights in three key geographic regions: the United States, the United Kingdom, and continental Europe. What implications will expanding regimes of equality rights for LGBT individuals have on religious freedom in these regions? What are the legal and moral frameworks that govern tensions between gay rights and religious freedom? How are these tensions illustrated in particular legal, political, and policy controversies? And what is the proper way to balance new claims of equality against existing claims for freedom of religious groups and individuals? Religious Freedom and Gay Rights offers several explorations of these questions.

This book paves the way for, and initiates, the second-generation of research in European private law subsequent to the Draft Common Frame of Reference (DCFR) needed for the 21st century.The book gives a voice to the growing dissatisfaction in academic discourse that the DCFR, as it stands in 2009, does not actually represent the condensed available knowledge on the possible future of European private law. The contributions in this book focus on the legitimacy of law making through academics both now and in the future, and on the possible conceptual choices which will affect the future of European private law. Drawing on experience gained from the DCFR the authors advocate the competition of ideas and concepts.This fascinating book will be a must-read for European lawyers, private lawyers in the Member States and academics dealing with conceptual issues of the future of the national and the European private law. Advanced students in both law and international business will also find this book invaluable, as will US scholars interested in the US?EU comparison of different legal orders.

Written by leading experts, Nationality and Statelessness under International Law introduces the study and practice of 'international statelessness law' and explains the complex relationship between the international law on nationality and the phenomenon of statelessness. It also identifies the rights of stateless people, outlines the major legal obstacles preventing the eradication of statelessness and charts a course for this new and rapidly changing field of study. All royalties from the sale of this book support stateless projects.

Fact-finding is at the heart of human rights advocacy, and is often at the center of international controversies about alleged government abuses. In recent years, human rights fact-finding has greatly proliferated and become more sophisticated and complex, while also being subjected to stronger scrutiny from governments. Nevertheless, despite the prominence of fact-finding, it remains strikingly under-studied and under-theorized. Too little has been done to bring forth the assumptions, methodologies, and techniques of this rapidly developing field, or to open human rights fact-finding to critical and constructive scrutiny. The Transformation of Human Rights Fact-Finding offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of fact-finding with rigorous and critical analysis of the field of practice, while providing a range of accounts of what actually happens. It deepens the study and practice of human rights investigations, and fosters fact-finding as a discretely studied topic, while mapping crucial transformations in the field. The contributions to this book are the result of a major international conference organized by New York University Law School's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. Engaging the expertise and experience of the editors and contributing authors, it offers a broad approach encompassing contemporary issues and analysis across the human rights spectrum in law, international relations, and critical theory. This book addresses the major areas of human rights fact-finding such as victim and witness issues; fact-finding for advocacy, enforcement, and litigation; the role of interdisciplinary expertise and methodologies; crowd sourcing, social media, and big data; and international guidelines for fact-finding.

When considering the structures that drive the global diffusion of human rights norms, Brian Greenhill argues that we need to look beyond institutions that are explicitly committed to human rights and instead focus on the dense web of international government organizations (IGOs)-some big, some small; some focused on human rights; some not-that has arisen in the last two generations. While most of these organizations have no direct connection to human rights issues, their participation in broader IGO networks has important implications for the human rights practices of their member states. Featuring a rigorous empirical analysis, Transmitting Rights shows that countries tend to adopt similar human rights practices to those of their IGO partners, whether for better or worse. Greenhill argues that IGOs constitute a tightly-woven fabric of ties between states and that this network provides an important channel through which states can influence the behavior of others. Indeed, his analysis suggests that a policy of isolating "rogue" states is probably self-defeating given that this will reduce their exposure to some of the more positive IGO-based influences on their human rights. Greenhill's analysis of the role of IGOs in rights diffusion will not only increase our understanding of the international politics of human rights; it will also reshape how we think about the role of international institutions in world politics.

Focussing on access to territory and authorization of presence and residence for third-country nationals, this book examines the EU law on immigration and asylum, addressing related questions of security of residence. Concentrating on the key measures concerning both the rights of third-country nationals to enter and stay in the EU, and the EU's construction of illegal immigration, it provides a detailed and critical discussion of EU and ECHR migration and refugee law. Rights of admission include three categories of entrants: labour migrants, family migrants, and asylum seekers and refugees. Legal entry raises further questions, and recent key measures, including the EU Blue Card Directive, the Family Reunification Directive, and the Dublin Regulation and related instruments are examined. As most of these EU measures deal with those border crossings where human rights norms have already established some constraints on state discretion, the interaction between the EU norms and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is a key concern. The uniting theme is the interaction between established human rights norms, in particular the ECHR, and EU law. Does the EU fulfil its post-national promise to create forms of membership beyond the state, or in its treatment of non-Europeans, does it undermine human rights and existing legal protections?

In 2015, both Portugal and Spain passed laws enabling descendants of Sephardi Jews to obtain citizenship, an historic offer of reconciliation for Jews who were forced to undergo conversions or expelled from Iberia nearly half a millennia ago. Drawing on the memory of the expulsion from Sepharad, the scholarly and personal essays in Reparative Citizenship for Sephardi Descendants analyze the impact of reconciliation laws on descendants andcontemporary forms of citizenship.

The goal of the book is to present the latest research on the new challenges of data technologies. It will offer an overview of the social, ethical and legal problems posed by group profiling, big data and predictive analysis and of the different approaches and methods that can be used to address them. In doing so, it will help the reader to gain a better grasp of the ethical and legal conundrums posed by group profiling. The volume first maps the current and emerging uses of new data technologies and clarifies the promises and dangers of group profiling in real life situations. It then balances this with an analysis of how far the current legal paradigm grants group rights to privacy and data protection, and discusses possible routes to addressing these problems. Finally, an afterword gathers the conclusions reached by the different authors and discuss future perspectives on regulating new data technologies.

This book draws on the analytic and political dimensions of queer, alongside the analytic and political usefulness of emotion, to navigate legal interventions aimed at progressing the rights of LGBT people. Scholars, activists, lawyers, and judges concerned with eliminating violence and discrimination against LGBT people have generated passionate conversations about pursuing law reform to make LGBT injuries, intimacies, and identities visible, while some challenge the ways legal systems marginalise queer minorities. Senthorun Sunil Raj powerfully contributes to these ongoing conversations by using emotion as an analytic frame to reflect on the ways case law seeks to "progress" the intimacies and identities of LGBT people from positions of injury. This book catalogues a range of cases from Australia, the United States, and the United Kingdom to unpack how emotion shapes the decriminalisation of homosexuality, hate crime interventions, anti-discrimination measures, refugee protection, and marriage equality. While emotional enactments in pro-LGBT jurisprudence enable new forms of recognition and visibility, they can also work, paradoxically, to cover over queer intimacies and identities. Raj innovatively shows that reading jurisprudence through emotions can make space in law to affirm, rather than disavow, intimacies and identities that queer conventional ideas about "LGBT progress", without having to abandon legal pursuits to protect LGBT people. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of human rights law, gender and sexuality studies, and socio-legal theory.

Understand the CCPA (California Consumer Privacy Act) and how to implement strategies to comply with this privacy regulation. Established in June 2018, the CCPA was created to remedy the lack of comprehensive privacy regulation in the state of California. When it comes into effect on January 1, 2020, the CCPA will give California residents the right to: Learn what personal data a business has collected about them Understand who this data has been disclosed to Find out whether their personal data has been sold to third parties, and who these third parties are Opt-out of such data transactions, or request that the data be deleted. Many organizations that do business in the state of California must align to the provisions of the CCPA. Much like the EU's GDPR (General Data Protection Regulation), businesses that fail to comply with the CCPA will face economic penalties. Prepare your business for CCPA compliance with our implementation guide that: Provides the reader with a comprehensive understanding of the legislation by explaining key terms Explains how a business can implement strategies to comply with the CCPA Discusses potential developments of the CCPA to further aid compliance Your guide to understanding the CCPA and how you can implement a strategy to comply with this legislation - buy this book today to get the guidance you need! About the author Preston Bukaty is an attorney and consultant. He specializes in data privacy GRC projects, from data inventory audits to gap analyses, contract management, and remediation planning. His compliance background and experience operationalizing compliance in a variety of industries give him a strong understanding of the legal issues presented by international regulatory frameworks. Having conducted more than 3,000 data mapping audits, he also understands the practical realities of project management in operationalizing compliance initiatives. Preston's legal experience and enthusiasm for technology make him uniquely suited to understanding the business impact of privacy regulations such as the GDPR and the CCPA. He has advised more than 250 organizations engaged in businesses as varied as SaaS platforms, mobile geolocation applications, GNSS/telematics tools, financial institutions, fleet management software, architectural/engineering design systems, and web hosting. He also teaches certification courses on GDPR compliance and ISO 27001 implementation, and writes on data privacy law topics. Preston lives in Denver, Colorado. Prior to working as a data privacy consultant, he worked for an international GPS software company, advising business areas on compliance issues across 140 countries. Preston holds a juris doctorate from the University of Kansas School of Law, along with a basketball signed by Hall of Fame coach Bill Self.

Why do governments pass freedom of information laws? The symbolic power and force surrounding FOI makes it appealing as an electoral promise but hard to disengage from once in power. However, behind closed doors compromises and manoeuvres ensure that bold policies are seriously weakened before they reach the statute book. The politics of freedom of information examines how Tony Blair's government proposed a radical FOI law only to back down in fear of what it would do. But FOI survived, in part due to the government's reluctance to be seen to reject a law that spoke of 'freedom', 'information' and 'rights'. After comparing the British experience with the difficult development of FOI in Australia, India and the United States - and the rather different cases of Ireland and New Zealand - the book concludes by looking at how the disruptive, dynamic and democratic effects of FOI laws continue to cause controversy once in operation. -- .

Law can be looked at from both an internal legal perspective - reflected in the official discourse supporting legal decisions - and an external perspective - which is pursued by studies that look at the law from the outside as the subject of sociological, economic, or philosophical analysis. This external dimension - related to extra-legal factors that impact the law, such as the institutional environment in which the law is applied - is usually ignored, or not addressed systematically by studies that focus on the internal perspective. By systematically internalizing these 'external' elements into legal theory and practice, contextual approaches lead to the development of better descriptive theories and more attractive normative models of the law, and specifically EU law, than de-contextualized approaches allow for. Additionally, contextual approaches are more self-aware than de-contextualized approaches, since they are able to make sense of the role that legal practice (by judges, legal practitioners, and academics) plays in the development of the law. It is through a contextual approach that Pedro Caro de Sousa develops a general theory of European constitutional law, in particular free movement law and the EU fundamental freedoms. As a contribution to the development of EU constitutionalism, this monograph focuses on the interplay between the different normative concerns behind the EU's market freedoms identified in traditional legal discourse and the various extra-legal and institutional factors that affect how that law is applied and develops in practice. Moving away from traditional studies of free movement law, Caro de Sousa's book offers a fresh approach to free movement law. Rather than proposing normative approaches, he uses this approach to construct a broader thesis: that the EU law of free movement can best be understood as interplay of traditional legal doctrines and practices and the specific institutional environment where this law is applied and developed.

Is there universalism of human rights? If so, what are its scope and limits? This book is a doctrinal attempt to define universalism of human rights, as well as its scope and limits. The book presents tests of universalism on international, regional and national constitutional levels. It is maintained that universalism of human rights is both a 'concept' and a 'normative reality'. The normative character of human rights is scrutinized through the study of international and regional agreements as well as national constitutions. As a consequence, limitations of normativity are identified, usually on the international level, and take the form of exceptions, reservations, and interpretations.

The book is based on the General and National Reports which were originally presented at the 18th International Congress of the International Academy of Comparative Law in Washington D.C. 2010.
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One of the most ambitious legacies of the 20th century was the universal commitment to ensure freedom from want as a human right. How far have we progressed; to what extent are countries across the world living up to this commitment? This book charts new territory in examining the extent to which countries meet their obligations to progressively realize social and economic rights - the rights to education, food, health, housing, work and social security. States have long escaped accountability for these commitments by claiming inadequate resources. The authors develop an innovative evidence based index, the Social & Economic Rights Fulfillment (SERF) Index and Achievement Possibilities Frontier methodology, making possible for the first time apples-to-apples comparisons of performance across very differently situated countries and over time. The book provides an overall global picture of progress, regress and disparities amongst and within countries and explores the factors influencing performance - including whether treaty and legal commitments, gender equity, democracy/autocracy, and economic growth, explain good performance - revealing surprising results. The data provide empirical evidence to resolve some long standing controversies over the principle of 'progressive realization'. The book concludes by observing how the SERF Index can be used in evidence based social science research, policy making and accountability procedures to advance social and economic rights. By defying the boundaries of traditional research disciplines, this work fundamentally advances our knowledge about the status of and factors promoting social and economic rights fulfillment at the dawn of the 21st century.

The Employment Equality Directive requires EU Member States to prohibit sexual orientation discrimination in the field of employment. This book is the first to assess to what degree the Directive's requirements have been met by the twenty-five Member States and by Bulgaria and Romania. The authors discuss the relevant aspects of EU law and provide a detailed analysis of the quality and conformity of national anti-discrimination legislation aimed at implementing the Employment Equality Directive. In this analysis special attention is paid to the implications of what distinguishes sexual orientation from other forbidden grounds of discrimination. Therefore the book focuses on the various private and public aspects of sexual orientation, such as preference, behaviour, partnership and 'coming out'. It discusses direct and indirect discrimination, harassment, permissible and impermissible exceptions, sanctions, and the role of interest groups and specialised enforcement bodies. This is done against the background of international human rights law and in relation to the general legal situation with respect to lesbian and gay rights in the twenty-seven countries. The unique perspective taken by the authors and the in-depth and systematic coverage of a wide range of jurisdictions make this book useful not only to judges, legal practitioners, policy makers, academics and students in the EU, but also to readers further afield, interested in European, anti-discrimination, sexual orientation and/or employment law. Kees Waaldijk is a senior lecturer at the E.M. Meijers Institute of Legal Studies of the University of Leiden, specialising in law & homosexuality issues. Matteo Bonini-Baraldi is a researcher, working at the Faculty of Law of the University of Bologna. Together they headed the European Group of Experts on Combating Sexual Orientation Discrimination set up by the European Commission.