This book offers an overview of the challenges in the emerging regime of international criminal justice as a tool of sustainable peace. It illustrates the impact of the regime on international law and international relations, focusing on the obstacles to and concerns of its governance in the context of the maintenance and restoration of international peace and security. The author advocates for an appropriate interaction strategy between the United Nations and the Rome Statute institutions as a matter of international mutual concern and for the sake of human security. In multiple and inter-linked country situations the failure of strategies to prevent mass atrocity crimes have severely compromised the safety of civilians, including their individual fundamental rights. In several countries - such as in Libya, Syria, Sudan, Democratic Republic of Congo, Uganda, Kenya, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast and Mali - civilians have severely suffered the consequences of such failure.Furthermore, the right of humanitarian intervention that it is sometimes claimed the international community has is now challenged and qualified by the responsibility to protect civilians in situations of mass atrocity crimes. Such an international norm represents unfinished business in global politics and is considered by many to be far from capable of preserving the rule of international law. The preservation of the rule of law requires discussions and the advocacy of global values in international relations, such as multilateralism, collective responsibility, global solidarity and mutual accountability.

The end of the Cold War has been characterized by a wave of violent civil wars that have produced unprecedented humanitarian catastrophe and suffering. Although mostly intra-state, these conflicts have spread across borders and threatened international peace and security. One of the worst affected regions is West Africa which has been home to some of Africa's most brutal and intractable conflicts for more than a decade. This volume locates the peacekeeping operations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) within an expanded post-Cold War conceptualization of humanitarian intervention. It examines the organization's capacity to protect civilians at risk in civil conflicts and to facilitate the processes of peacemaking and post-war peace-building. Taking the empirical case of ECOWAS, the book looks at the challenges posed by complex political emergencies (CPEs) to humanitarian intervention and traces the evolution of ECOWAS from an economic integration project to a security organization, examining the challenges inherent in such a transition.

First published in 1998, Black Globalism: The International Politics of a Non-state Nation examines the international political behaviour of African-Americans. From the slave revolts of Denmark Vesey and Nat Turner, to the influence of the Congressional Black Caucus on US foreign policy, the author examines the impact of the domestic racial environment on the international interests and activities of African-Americans. Black Globalism uses three levels of analysis to describe the dimensions of this international activity. At the individual level, the emigration debate which included Frederick Douglass, David Walker, Benjamin Russworm, Paul Cuffee, Martin Delany is considered. Here, the emigration efforts of Chief Alfred Sam, Bishop Henry Turner and Marcus Garvey are examined. The influence of scholar and activist W.E.B. DuBois and the leadership of Malcolm X is examined with respect to their ideological impact on the transnational political activity on organizations such as the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People, the Nation of Islam, and the Black Panther Party. From the 1869 appointment of Andrew Young to the US Ambassador to the United Nations, the impact of African-Americans on US foreign policy decision making is examined. This includes the Congressional Black Caucus' influence on president Clinton's humanitarian intervention in Haiti. This governmental level analysis includes an examination of the history and politics of desegregating the US Department of State. Finally, the relative economic status of African-Americans in the domestic and global economic system is considered with respect to the shrinking of the welfare state and the challenges of the post-cold war global economy.

This title was first published in 2001. The case of Lawless v Ireland is a landmark in the development of human rights jurisprudence. Stemming from the introduction of detention without trial by the Irish government in response to the resurgence of political violence, much of the material relevant to the case brought before the European Court of Human Rights, has remained closed to public scrutiny. This book is the first to provide a detailed documentary of the case, assessing the adequacy of the investigatory processes provided under the European Convention and questioning whether the factual conclusions reached by the European Commission on Human Rights were correct. In what will be an essential reference for academics and students of human rights, the book raises doubts as to whether the Strasbourg institutions, established to rectify national breaches of human rights, might in fact have perpetrated an international miscarriage of justice.

This comparative study investigates the place of Hindu divorce in the Indian legal system and considers whether it offers a way out of a matrimonial crisis situation for women. Using the narratives of the social actors involved, it poses questions about the relationship between traditional jurisdictions located in rural areas and the larger legal culture of towns and cities in India, and also in the UK and USA. The multidisciplinary approach draws on research from the social sciences, feminist and legal studies and will be of interest to students and scholars of law, anthropology and sociology.

Bringing together a range of contributors from multiple countries, this interdisciplinary volume offers a unique field view of the rule of law and human rights reform in the reconciliation and reconstruction process. The contributors all worked in Bosnia and Herzegovina during the ten years after the Dayton Peace Accords were signed; here they pause to analyze and critique the work they did. The contributors offer insights from within a variety of international organizations, including the Office of the High Representative, the Organization for Security and Cooperation and Europe, and the United Nations. Allowing those who were in the field to identify, discuss and reflect upon the programmes and policies, the collection reveals how the programmes were created, what laws they were pursuant to, and what alternatives were rejected and why. The authors not only assess both the positive and negative aspects and outcomes of their work, but also comment on lessons learned for future post-conflict reconstruction scenarios.

The Internet's importance for freedom of expression and other rights comes in part from the ability it bestows on users to create and share information, rather than just receive it. Within the context of existing freedom of expression guarantees, this book critically evaluates the goal of bridging the 'digital divide' - the gap between those who have access to the Internet and those who do not. Central to this analysis is the examination of two questions: first, is there a right to access the Internet, and if so, what does that right look like and how far does it extend? Second, if there is a right to access the Internet, is there a legal obligation on States to overcome the digital divide? Through examination of this debate's history, analysis of case law in the European Court of Human Rights and Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and a case study of one digital inclusion programme in Jalisco, Mexico, this book concludes that there is indeed currently a legal right to Internet access, but one that it is very limited in scope. The 2012 Joint Declaration on Freedom of Expression and the Internet is aspirational in nature, rather than a representative summary of current protections afforded by the international human rights legal framework. This book establishes a critical foundation from which some of these aspirations could be advanced in the future. The digital divide is not just a human rights challenge nor will it be overcome through human rights law alone. Nevertheless, human rights law could and should do more than it has thus far.

This volume deals with the manifold ways in which histories are debated and indeed historicity and historiography themselves are interrogated via the narrative modes of the truth commissions. It traces the various medial responses (memoirs, fiction, poetry, film, art) which have emerged in the wake of the truth commissions. The 1990s and the 2000s saw a spate of so-called truth commissions across the Global South. From the inaugural truth commissions in post-juntas 1980s Latin America, to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission set up by the incoming post-apartheid government in South Africa and the twinned gacaca courts and National Unity and Reconciliation Commission in Rwanda and that in indigenous Australia, various truth commissions have sought to lay bare human rights abuses. The chapters in this volume explore how truth commissions crystallized a long tradition of dissenting and resisting cultures of memorialization in the public sphere across the Global South and provided a significant template for contemporary attempts to work through episodes of violence and oppression across the region. Drawing on studies from Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australia, this book illuminates the modes in which societies remember and negotiate with traumatic pasts. This book will be of great interest to scholars and researchers of human rights, popular culture and art, literature, media, politics and history.

Affirmative Action and the Law analyses the practical application of affirmative action measures and their efficacy in achieving substantive equality through the lenses of the United Nations human rights machinery and the legal regime and policies implemented in China, India, Central and South America, South Africa and the United Kingdom. The product of a joint research project involving academics from the Brazil, Chile, Mexico, India, Spain and the United Kingdom, the findings identify and reflect on trends emerging from State practice across the world in eradicating structural inequality through special measures for certain designated groups. The book seeks to provide a coherent and systematic approach to the analysis of special measures in the targeted countries. It also comprises two case-studies with in-depth insights on gender diversity on the boards of public listed companies in the UK and the European Union and the access of persons with disabilities to higher education in Brazil. The book will be a valuable resource for students and academics in the field of human rights, law, sociology and politics. It will also provide a source of good practice for states and policy makers in the framing of responses to increased inequality at national and international level; and for civil society actors seeking to explore meaningful interaction with a highly controversial topic in society.

The orthodox view is that rights complement democracy. This book critically examines this view in the context of EU fundamental rights, specifically in situations where EU law requires member states to respect EU fundamental rights. It first sets out a legal theoretical account of how human rights can complement democracy. It argues that they can do so only if they are understood as both the conditions for the democratic process, and the outcome of such a democratic process. In light of this legal theoretical account of human rights, this book examines the demands which the Court of Justice of the EU (CJEU) imposes on the national orders in respect of EU fundamental rights. The conclusion reached is that the demands which EU fundamental rights impose on national legal orders entail a cost for the democratic legitimacy of those legal orders. Ultimately, accepting the demands of the CJEU in respect of EU fundamental rights may require the national legal order to abandon its commitment to protecting the human rights which are the foundation of the national legal order's very legitimacy.

The ideology of human rights protection has gained considerable momentum during the second half of the twentieth century at both national and international level and appears to be an effective lever for bringing about legal change. This book analyzes this strategy in economic and commercial policy and considers the transportation of the 'public law' discourse of basic human rights protection into the 'commercial law' context of economic policy, business activity and corporate behaviour. The volume will prove indispensable for anyone interested in human rights, international law, and business and commercial law.

Taking Robert Post's seminal article 'The Social Foundations of Reputation and the Constitution' as a starting point, this volume examines how the concept of reputation changes to reflect social, political, economic, cultural and technological developments. It suggests that the value of a good reputation is not immutable and analyzes the history and doctrines of defamation law in the US and the UK. A selection of Australian case studies illustrates different concepts of defamation law and offers insights into their specific nature. Drawing on approaches to celebrity in media and cultural studies, the author conceptualizes reputation as a media construct and explains how reputation as celebrity is of great contemporary relevance at this point in the history of defamation law.

The Routledge Handbook of Human Rights in Asia provides a rich study of human rights challenges facing some of the most vulnerable people in Asia. While formal accession to core international human rights instruments is commonplace across the region, the realisation of human rights for many remains elusive as development pressure, violent conflict, limited political will and discrimination maintain human rights volatility. This Handbook explores the underlying causes of human rights abuse in a range of contexts, considers lessons learnt from global, regional and domestic initiatives and provides recommendations and justifications for reform. Comprising 23 chapters, it examines the strengths and weaknesses of human rights institutions in Asia and covers issues such as: Participation, marginalisation, detention and exclusion Private sector responsibility and security Conflict and post-conflict rehabilitation Trafficking, displacement and citizenship Ageing populations, identity and sexuality. Drawing together a remarkable collection of leading and emerging scholars, advisers and practitioners, this Handbook is essential reading for students, scholars, policy makers and advocates of human rights in Asia and the world.

Originally published in 2004. The book examines the possibility of resolving past and continuing social injustices that are rooted in colonial or some such other similar experience of states from a variety of perspectives. First the issue is examined from an international law perspective, which evaluates the validity of counter claims to title to land in affected SADC states. Secondly the issue is examined from a human rights perspective, which privileges promotion for the respect of the inherent dignity of all persons. Thirdly, the issue is examined from victimology and psychology schools of thought in order to understand both the effect and impact on stakeholders of the operative dynamics in conflicts that arise from long standing social injustices that are connected to colonial or some such other similar historical experience of States. The book proposes humwefficiency as a model for resolution of this type of conflict. This model targets preservation of the inherent dignity of all stakeholders by combining international human rights morality with local intuition about land ownership and use. In this sense, the book takes human rights theory beyond politics and utopia, and applies it to foster new social engineering technologies for the resolution of social injustices and promotion of social justice. This is justified by the fact that the human rights culture has evolved in a considerably short period of time to become the dominant culture of the world.

Particularly valuable for both academics and practitioners, Human Rights and the Private Sphere: A Comparative Study, focusing primarily on civil and political rights, analyzes the interaction between constitutional rights and freedoms and private law.

This book asks the fundamental question of how new human rights issues emerge in the human rights debate. To answer this, the book focuses on nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) and on the case study of LGBTI (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex) rights. The work argues that the way in which NGOs decide their advocacy, conceptualise human rights violations and strategically present legal analysis to advance LGBTI human rights shapes the human rights debate. To demonstrate this, the book analyses three data sets: NGO written statements submitted to the United Nations Human Rights Council, NGO oral statements delivered during the Universal Periodic Review and 36 semi-structured interviews with NGO staff. Data are analysed with a combination of quantitative and qualitative approaches to discover what issues are most important for LGBTI networks (issue emergence) and how these issues are framed (issue framing). Along with NGO efficiency in lobbying for the emergence of new human rights standards, the book inevitably discusses important questions related to NGOs’ accountability and democratic legitimacy. The book thus asks whether the right to marry is important for LGBTI advocates working transnationally, because this right is particularly controversial among activists and LGBTI communities, especially in non-Western contexts.

This book defends the case for the expansion of the democratic model to the global political sphere. Concentrating on the democratic deficit of international affairs, it examines the nexus between the phenomenon of international exclusion and the political response of global democracy. This distinctive position is developed through a critical survey of the principal theories for and against global democracy. The main rival narratives (realism, nationalism, civilizationism, and liberal internationalism) are rebutted on grounds of failing democratic principles of inclusion. Based on a notion of interaction-dependent justice, these theories arguably provide a crucial ideological support to the exclusionary attitude of the current international system. Going beyond these exclusionary paradigms, the book defends a model of cosmo-federalism that is all-inclusive, multilayered and rooted. The text adopts an interdisciplinary perspective that combines three areas of scholarship: international political theory, international relations and political sociology. Within them, a number of contemporary controversies are analyzed, including the ethical dispute on global justice, the institutional debate on supranationalism, and the political discussion on social emancipatory struggles. From such an interdisciplinary perspective derives an engaged text that will be of interest to students and researchers concerned with the key political aspects of the discussion on globalization and democratic global order.

This book provides a critical assessment of the problem of internet child pornography and its governance through legal and non-legal means, including a comparative assessment of laws in England and Wales, the United States of America and Canada in recognition that governments have a compelling interest to protect children from sexual abuse and exploitation. The internet raises novel and complex challenges to existing regulatory regimes. Efforts towards legal harmonization at the European Union, Council of Europe, and United Nations level are examined in this context and the utility of additional and alternative methods of regulation explored. This book argues that effective implementation, enforcement and harmonization of laws could substantially help to reduce the availability and dissemination of child pornography on the internet. At the same time, panic-led policies must be avoided if the wider problems of child sexual abuse and commercial sexual exploitation are to be meaningfully addressed.

Ecological integrity is concerned with protecting the planet in a holistic way, while respecting ethics and human rights. Over recent years it has been introduced directly and indirectly in several legal regimes, culminating in international law with the 2016 expanded remit of the International Criminal Court, which now includes "environmental disasters". This book celebrates the 25th anniversary of the Global Ecological Integrity Group (GEIG), which includes more than 250 scholars and independent researchers worldwide, from diverse disciplines, including ecology, biology, philosophy, epidemiology, public health, ecological economics, and international law. It reviews the role of ecological integrity across a number of fields through inter- and trans-disciplinary engagement on matters affecting and governing the sustainability of life for both present and future generations. These include, ethics, environmental disasters, crimes against humanity and environmental health, and how such issues can be subject to sound governance and be incorporated into international law. The book also looks forward to new applications of the concept of ecological integrity, such as crimes that result in the exploitation of natural resources and the illegal dispossession of land.

This volume expands our understanding of the pursuit of human rights during the era of the War on Terror. The threat to human rights both in the United States and among detainees in US-governed detention facilities created a widely perceived crisis in human rights. This text explores the broad and complicated ramifications of crisis by looking comparatively at societies in the present era and looking back at the historical and legal foundations of human rights. Human Rights in Crisis contains an element of hope derived from a conviction that the pursuit of human rights happens on many fronts and in many ways around the globe; that a retreat from human rights in the United States does not necessarily signal a global retreat. The essays here include perspectives from History, Anthropology, and Legal Studies, with a resulting interdisciplinary portrait of the complexities of pursuing human rights in wartime.

The protection and promotion of human rights is an integral part of contemporary international peacekeeping operations. It is also a controversial aspect of peace operations at both an institutional and operational level.

By bringing together a wide range of practitioners and academic scholars, this special issue addresses key contemporary legal, political and operational challenges to human rights protection.

This book was previously published as a special issue of the leading journal International Peacekeeping.

The contributors in this volume address the fundamental relationship between the state and its citizens, and among the people themselves. Discussion centers on a recent decision by the United States Supreme Court in the case of Kelo v. City of New London. This case involved the use of eminent domain power to acquire private property for purposes of transferring it by the State to another private party that would make "better" economic use of the land. This type of state action has been identified as an "economic development taking". In the Kelo case, the Court held that the action was legal within provisions of the US Constitution but the opinion was contentious among some of the Justices and has been met with significant negative outcry from the public. The Kelo case and the public debate arising in its aftermath give cause to assess the legal landscape related to the ability of government to fairly balance the tension between private property and the public interest. The tension and the need to successfully strike a balance are not unique to any one country or any one political system. From the United States to the United Kingdom, to the People's Republic of China, property and its legal regulation are of prime importance to matters of economic development and civic institution building. The Kelo decision, therefore, explores a rich set of legal principles with broad applicability.

The most basic of human rights, the right to life, is the focus of this book. 'Human rights' has increasingly come to be seen as a significant framework, both to aid understanding of the experiences of those who face oppression, and to underpin social, legal and political measures to counter it. Disabled People and the Right to Life uses this framework to explore how disabled people's right to life is understood in different national contexts and the ways in which they are - or are not - afforded protection under the law, emphasizing the social, cultural and historical forces and circumstances which have promoted disabled people's right to life or legitimated its violation. Written by an international panel of contributors including individuals holding public office, academics from the fields of law, social policy, disability studies and bioethics as well as practitioners and activists attempting to further disabled people's human rights, this truly interdisciplinary book will be of interest to students and researchers of disability, law, social policy and human rights.

The most basic of human rights, the right to life, is the focus of this book. 'Human rights' has increasingly come to be seen as a significant framework, both to aid understanding of the experiences of those who face oppression, and to underpin social, legal and political measures to counter it. Disabled People and the Right to Life uses this framework to explore how disabled people's right to life is understood in different national contexts and the ways in which they are - or are not - afforded protection under the law, emphasizing the social, cultural and historical forces and circumstances which have promoted disabled people's right to life or legitimated its violation. Written by an international panel of contributors including individuals holding public office, academics from the fields of law, social policy, disability studies and bioethics as well as practitioners and activists attempting to further disabled people's human rights, this truly interdisciplinary book will be of interest to students and researchers of disability, law, social policy and human rights.

Human rights are at the heart of UNESCO's work in the fields of education, science and culture. Conceived from an international human rights legal framework, Human Rights in Education, Science and Culture: Legal Developments and Challenges combines insights into the content, scope of application and corresponding state obligations of these rights with analyses of issues relating to their implementation. The volume begins by presenting the principles of the indivisibility, interrelatedness and interdependence of all human rights. It then turns to questions related to economic, social and cultural rights, including their justiciability, their application between private parties and the development of indicators for measuring their implementation. Finally, it addresses the right to education, the right to enjoy the benefits of scientific progress and its applications, and the right to take part in cultural life - the content and scope of application of the latter two rights being especially in need of further elucidation. Dedicated to the sixtieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, this volume should be an invaluable resource for all those working in the area of human rights.