Notwithstanding the widespread and persistent affirmation of the indivisibility and equal worth of all human rights, socio-economic rights continue to be treated as the "Cinderella" of the human rights corpus. At a domestic level this has resulted in little appetite for the explicit recognition and judicial enforcement of such rights in constitutional democracies. The primary reason for this is the prevalent apprehension that the judicial enforcement of socio-economic rights is fundamentally at variance with the doctrine of the separation of powers. This study, drawing on comparative experiences in a number of jurisdictions which have addressed (in some cases more explicitly than others) the issue of socio-economic rights, seeks to counter this argument by showing that courts can play a substantial role in the vindication of socio-economic rights, while still respecting the relative institutional prerogatives of the elected branches of government. Drawing lessons from experiences in South Africa, India, Canada and Ireland, this study seeks to articulate a "model adjudicative framework" for the protection of socio-economic rights. In this context the overarching concern is to find some role for the courts in vindicating socio-economic rights, while also recognising the importance of the separation of powers and the primary role that the elected branches of government must play in protecting and vindicating such rights. The text incorporates discussion of the likely impact and significance of the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and looks at the implications of the Mazibuko decision for the development of South Africa's socio-economic rights jurisprudence.

From the Global to the Local develops a unique perspective on human rights governance in developing countries, where the state often lacks the required resources, capacities and expertise for implementing rights. Considering how rights that have been agreed upon in the global arena of world politics are locally implemented, this book then specifically explores how they reach the local children of Bangladesh's urban slums and poor rural areas. Andrea Schapper combines an analytical framework grounded in international relations scholarship on global governance with empirical field research methods that have their basis in sociology and anthropology. Utilising this methodology, the book examines three principles that represent a global consensus on children's rights (the protection of children from the worst forms of child labor, providing them with primary education, and delivering basic health care services to them) to illuminating the need for local and contextual solutions to transnational issues. Exploring such concerns with vigor, this book fills a gap in the study of human rights implementation and protection and will thus be of immense interest to students of Law, of International Relations and of Development Studies.

Media, Religion and Gender presents a selection of eminent current scholarship that explores the role gender plays when religion, media use and values in contemporary society interact. The book: surveys the development of research on media, religion and culture through the lens of key theoretical and methodological issues and debates within gender studies. includes case studies drawn from a variety of countries and contexts to illustrate the range of issues, theoretical perspectives and empirical material involved in current work outlines new areas and reflects on challenges for the future. Students of media, religion and gender at advanced level will find this a valuable resource, as will scholars and researchers working in this important and growing field.

This book traces the emergence and transformations of asbestos compensation to explore the wider issue of to what extent legal systems have converged in the era of globalization. Examining the mechanism by which asbestos compensation is delivered in Belgium, England, Italy and the United States, as well as the cultural forces and actors which contribute to its emergence and transformations, the book advances our understanding of how law operates within cultural norms, routines, and institutional relations of capitalist societies. With material gathered from 50 interviews and from primary and secondary sources, the author considers law as a cultural phenomenon, national styles of legal culture and the convergence and divergence of legal cultures, and law as a form of institutionalized power.

Third country nationals (TCNs) play an important part in the economy of the European Union, reflected in the rights granted to them under European Union Law. Political expediency is however shaped by world, regional and domestic influences that in turn determine policy towards third country nationals and their legal rights to freedom of movement. This book examines the concept of political legitimacy within the European Union through the principles of legal rationality, focusing in particular on the European Union's policy towards third country nationals. Richard Ball argues that for legal doctrine to be rational it must display the requirements of formal, instrumental and substantive rationality, each mutually exclusive and essential. In taking this position of legal rationality, the book focuses on free movement rights of TCNs within EU treaties and implementing legislation, the Area of Freedom Security and Justice, and Association Agreements. Ball concludes that the stance of European Union Law towards third country nationals lacks legitimacy, and suggests possible new directions that EU policy should take in the future.

The chapters in this book explore the impact of recent shifts in global and regional power and the subsequent development and enforcement of international refugee protection standards in the Asia Pacific region. Drawing on their expertise across a number of jurisdictions, the contributors assess the challenges confronting the implementation of international law in the region, as well as new opportunities for extending protection norms into national and regional dialogues. The case studies span key jurisdictions across the region and include a comparative analysis with China, Indonesia, Thailand, Myanmar, Malaysia, Bangladesh and Australia. This topical and important book raises critical questions for the Asia Pacific region and sheds light on the challenges confronting the protection of refugees and displaced persons in this area. Interdisciplinary in its approach, it will be of interest to academics, researchers, students and policy-makers concerned with the rights and protection of refugees.

In her innovative study of human rights discourse, Lena Khor takes up the prevailing concern by scholars who charge that the globalization of human rights discourse is becoming yet another form of cultural, legal, and political imperialism imposed from above by an international human rights regime based in the Global North. To counter these charges, she argues for a paradigmatic shift away from human rights as a hegemonic, immutable, and ill-defined entity toward one that recognizes human rights as a social construct comprised of language and of language use. She proposes a new theoretical framework based on a global discourse network of human rights, supporting her model with case studies that examine the words and actions of witnesses to genocide (Paul Rusesabagina) and humanitarian organizations (Doctors Without Borders). She also analyzes the language of texts such as Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost. Khor's idea of a globally networked structure of human rights discourse enables actors (textual and human) who tap into or are linked into this rapidly globalizing system of networks to increase their power as speaking subjects and, in so doing, to influence the range of acceptable meanings and practices of human rights in the cultural sphere. Khor's book is a unique and important contribution to the study of human rights in the humanities that revitalizes viable notions of agency and liberatory network power in fields that have been dominated by negative visions of human capacity and moral action.

Examining some of the huge challenges that liberal States faced in the decade after 11 September 2001, the chapters in this book address three aspects of the impact of more than a decade of military action.This book begins by considering four different expressions of universalist moral aspirations, including the prohibition of torture, and discusses migration and 'responsibility to protect,' as well as the United Nations Human Rights Committee's Concluding Observations about security and liberty in the last decade. International humanitarian law and the problems posed by the territorial character of war and the effects of new technologies and child soldiers are also analysed. Finally, Islamic law and its interface with international law is considered from a new perspective, and contributions in this final part offer a different way of thinking about an authentically Islamic modernisation that would be compatible with Western models of political order. With contributions from international lawyers from diverse backgrounds, this book fills an important gap in the literature on the themes of international human rights law, international humanitarian law and Islamic law.

What is the place assigned to religion in the constitutions of contemporary States? What role is religion expected to perform in the fields that are the object of constitutional regulation? Is separation of religion and politics a necessary precondition for democracy and the rule of law? These questions are addressed in this book through an analysis of the constitutional texts that are in force in different parts of the world. Constitutions are at the centre of almost all contemporary legal systems and provide the principles and values that inspire the action of the national law-makers. After a discussion of some topics that are central to the constitutional regulation of religion, the book considers a number of national systems covering countries with a variety of religious and cultural backgrounds. The final section of the book is devoted to the discussion of the constitutional regulation of some particularly controversial issues, such as religious education, the relation between freedom of speech and freedom of religion, abortion, and freedom of conscience.

The World Bank and the Asian Development Bank are two of the world's major institutions conducting development projects. Both banks recognize the importance of transparency, participation and accountability. Responding to criticisms and calls for reform, they have developed policies that are designed to protect these values for people affected by their projects. This original and timely book examines these policies, including those recently revised, through the prism of human rights, and makes suggestions for further improvement. It also analyzes the development of the Banks' stance to human rights in general.This unique book contains valuable and deeply insightful information drawn from extensive face-to-face interviews with relevant actors, including key personnel from both banks, consultants to the banks and members of civil society organizations. It expands the scope of research/discussion on the human rights obligation of International financial institutions that will prove insightful for both academics and students. Practitioners will gain a great deal from the detail given on the standards of transparency, participation and accountability and their applicability to the day-to-day operations of development institutions. Contents: Foreword by Paul Hunt Introduction 1. The World Bank, Asian Development Bank and Human Rights 2. Human Rights Critique of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank's Information Disclosure Policy 3. Human Rights Critique of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank's Participation Policy 4. Human Rights Critique of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank's Inspection Policy 5. Case Studies: Human Rights Analysis of Inspection Cases of the World Bank and Asian Development Bank Conclusion Bibliography Index

The development of an international substantive environmental right on a global level has long been a contested issue. To a limited extent environmental rights have developed in a fragmented way through different legal regimes. This book examines the potential for the development of a global environmental right that would create legal duties for all types of decision-makers and provide the bedrock for a new system of international environmental governance. Taking a problem solving approach, the book seeks to demonstrate how straightforward and logical changes to the existing global legal architecture would address some of the fundamental root causes of environmental degradation. It puts forward a draft global environmental right that would integrate duties for both state and non-state actors within reformed systems of environmental governance and a rational framework for business and industry to adhere to in order that those systems could be made operational. It also examines the failures of the existing international climate change regime and explains how the draft global environmental right could remedy existing deficits. This innovative and interdisciplinary book will be of great interest to policy-makers, students and researchers in international environmental law, climate change, environmental politics and global environmental governance as well as those studying the WTO, international trade law, human rights law, constitutional law and corporate law.

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child 1989 is one of the most highly ratified human rights treaties in the world, with 192 states currently signed up to it. Article Twelve is fundamental to the Convention and states that all children capable of forming views have the right to express those views, and recognises that all children have the right to be heard in any judicial and administrative proceedings affecting them.

This book explores the historical and theoretical background to Article Twelve, and examines the various models of participation which have been created to facilitate a better understanding of this provision. Aisling Parkes analyzes the extent to which Article Twelve has been implemented under international law, and in domestic law, as well as setting-out recommendations for the most effective ways of implementing Article Twelve in all areas of childrena (TM)s lives.

This casebook provides an overview of the main international and regional legal standards related to the human rights of women and explores their development and practical application in light of contemporary times, challenges, and advances. It navigates the nuances of the ongoing problems of discrimination and gender-based violence, and analyzes them in the context of modern challenges, such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the MeToo movement and its aftermath, the growth of non-state actors, environment and climate change, sexual orientation and gender identity, and the digital world, among others. Incorporating lessons learned from her experiences as a practitioner and a law professor, the author navigates and provides snapshots of priority issues and themes in the field of the human rights of women. In each chapter, students are encouraged to reflect and answer questions alluding to the intricacies, challenges, and advances in the protection and exercise of women's rights in modern times. The chapters also include many case judgments, decisions, views, and general recommendations adopted by universal and regional bodies and courts advancing the development of women human rights issues. This analysis is complemented by key scholarship, reports, and statements produced in the area of the human rights of women and its different features. Students of issues concerning human rights, women, gender equality, and international law will attain a thorough understanding of the field through this contemporary casebook.

This book examines different aspects of Asian popular culture, including films, TV, music, comedy, folklore, cultural icons, the Internet and theme parks. It raises important questions such as - What are the implications of popularity of Asian popular culture for globalization? Do regional forces impede the globalizing of cultures? Or does the Asian popular culture flow act as a catalyst or conveying channel for cultural globalization? Does the globalization of culture pose a threat to local culture? It addresses two seemingly contradictory and yet parallel processes in the circulation of Asian popular culture: the interconnectedness between Asian popular culture and western culture in an era of cultural globalization that turns subjects such as Pokemon, Hip Hop or Cosmopolitan into truly global phenomena, and the local derivatives and versions of global culture that are necessarily disconnected from their origins in order to cater for the local market. It thereby presents a collective argument that, whilst local social formations, and patterns of consumption and participation in Asia are still very much dependent on global cultural developments and the phenomena of modernity, yet such dependence is often concretized, reshaped and distorted by the local media to cater for the local market.

The Asia-Pacific is known for having the least developed regional mechanisms for protecting human rights. This edited collection makes a timely and distinctive contribution to contemporary debates about building institutions for human rights protection in the Asia-Pacific region, in the wake of ASEAN's establishment in 2009 of a sub-regional human rights commission. Drawing together leading scholarly voices, the book focuses on the systemic issue of institutionalising human rights protection in the Asia-Pacific. It critically examines the prospects for deepening and widening human rights institutions in the region, challenging the orthodox scepticism about whether the Asia-Pacific is "ready" for stronger human rights institutions and exploring the variety of possible forms that regional and sub-regional institutions might take. The volume also analyses the impediments to new institutions, whilst questioning the justifications for them. The collection provides a range of perspectives on the issues and many of the chapters bring interdisciplinary insights to bear. As such, the collection will be of interest to scholarly, practitioner, and student audiences in law, as well as to readers in international relations, political science, Asian studies, and human rights.

Mainstream counselling in domestic violence often fails to address critical issues, such as gender socialisation processes and the abuse of power that allows violence against women, and focuses primarily on the intra-psychic nature of individual women. In contrast, feminist counselling is an effective alternative model, owing to its ability to address the fundamental correlation of abuse with power. In going beyond the individual, it helps women locate the source of their distress in the larger social context of power and control, manifesting in intimate, interpersonal relationships, and enables them to resist systemic oppression. This volume offers one of the first systematic documentations of feminist psychosocial interventions in India. It situates the issue of domestic violence in the historical context of the women's movement, and examines institutional factors such as family and marriage that perpetuate abuse. Using extensive case studies, it discusses the methods, principles, techniques, skills and procedures followed by feminist organisations across the country, and their role in women's empowerment. The book will serve as a practical reference guide to practitioners such as social workers, counsellors and para-counsellors, health activists, grassroots workers, protection officers and service providers. It will also be useful to scholars and students of psychology, sociology, women's studies, law and public policy.

The scale of maternal mortality and morbidity today is staggering. This book focuses on a vital part of a human rights response to maternal mortality, viz. accountability. Accountability encompasses monitoring, review and redress at the local, national and international levels. The book's context includes the UN Human Rights Council maternal mortality and morbidity resolutions, as well as Millennium Development Goal 5. It comes out of a roundtable conference held in Geneva during 2010 that examined maternal mortality, human rights and accountability and provided a forum where maternal health and human rights experts could listen to, and learn from, each other. As well as revised and updated conference papers, this volume includes a rich collection of additional resource material on maternal mortality, human rights and accountability.

Freedom of religion and belief is one of the central rights set out in international human rights treaties and yet has also been one of the most controversial. This book provides a detailed analysis of the law on freedom of religion or belief as developed under the European Convention on Human Rights. It takes a critical view of the restrictive manner in which the European Court of Human Rights has interpreted freedom of religion or belief in areas such as education, conscientious objection, proselytism, and employment.

In a regional, national and global response to terrorism, the emphasis necessarily lies on preventing the next terrorist act. Yet, with prevention comes prediction: the need to identify and detain those considered likely to engage in a terrorist act in the future. The detention of 'suspected terrorists' is intended, therefore, to thwart a potential terrorist act recognising that retrospective action is of no consequence given the severity of terrorist crime. Although preventative steps against those reasonably suspected to have an intention to commit a terrorist act is sound counter-terrorism policy, a law allowing arbitrary arrest and detention is not. A State must carefully enact anti-terrorism laws to ensure that preventative detention does not wrongly accuse and grossly slander an innocent person, nor allow a terrorist to evade detection. This book examines whether the preventative detention of suspected terrorists in State counter-terrorism policy is consistent with the prohibitions on arbitrary arrest and detention in international human rights law. This examination is based on the 'principle of proportionality'; a principle underlying the prohibition on arbitrary arrest as universally protected in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and given effect to internationally in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and regionally in regional instruments including the European Convention on Human Rights. The book is written from a global counter-terrorism perspective, drawing particularly on examples of preventative detention from the UK, US and Australia, as well as jurisprudence from the ECHR.

The book studies the human rights monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe. It provides an in-depth examination of six such mechanisms: the Commissioner for Human Rights, the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the CPT), the European Committee of Social Rights (the ECSR), the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities (the ACFC), the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance (ECRI) and the Committee of Experts of the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages (the CECL). The human rights monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe seek to establish a permanent dialogue with governments to encourage them to better implement human rights treaties. They function principally through the use of national reports, on which basis they make recommendations, and may also visit or question states directly. The book looks at each mechanism in turn, discussing their composition, functions and working methods, as well as their relationship with other actors. It includes both a general discussion of the role of European human rights monitoring mechanisms as well as a comparative analysis of these mechanisms. The book aims to provide a clear understanding of the underlying approach of European human rights monitoring mechanisms and the challenges faced by them in terms of effectiveness. It will be useful for practitioners and students alike, especially those following courses in human rights or related fields.

The Human Right to Water and Its Application in the Occupied Palestinian Territories provides an overview and examination of the human right to water as determined under international human rights law. This is a highly topical issue, with the UN General Assembly having passed a resolution which declares access to clean water and sanitation a human right (New York, Jul 28 2010), the recent appointment of the UN Independent Expert on the issue of human rights obligations related to access to safe drinking water and sanitation, and movement within the NGO community for an international water treaty. Amanda Cahill Ripley analyses the current legal status, substantive content, and obligations correlative to the right, and examines the relationship between other economic, social and cultural rights related to the right to water. The book goes on to look more specifically at the application of the human right to water in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Using innovative methodology, Cahill Ripley combines legal analysis with a qualitative social science empirical case study to explore the enjoyment of the right 'on the ground'. The wider implications of the case study findings are then considered, looking at what can be done to strengthen the right legally in terms of its status and codification, and what remedy can be found for violations of the right, both specifically in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in a more general context. The book will be of interest to students, academics and practitioners within the fields of international human rights law and international humanitarian law, as well as those concerned with international relations and conflict resolution within Israel/Palestine and the wider Middle East region.

The system of the European Convention of Human Rights imposes positive obligations on the state to guarantee human rights in circumstances where state agents dot not directly interfere. In addition to the traditional/liberal negative obligation of non-interference, the state must actively protect the human rights of individuals residing within its jurisdiction. The liability of the state in terms of positive obligations induces a freestanding imperative of human rights that changes fundamentally the perception of the role of the state and the participatory ability of the individual, who can now assert their human rights in all circumstances in which they are relevant. In that regard, positive obligations herald the most advanced review of the state's business ever attempted in international law. The book undertakes a comprehensive study of positive obligations: from establishing the legitimacy of positive obligations within the system of the Convention to their practical implementation at the national level. Analysing in depth legal principles that pervade the whole system of the Convention, a coherent methodological framework of critical stages and parameters is provided to determine the content of positive obligations in a consistent, predictable and realistic manner. This study of the Convention explains and critically analyses the state's positive obligations, as imposed by the European Court of Human Rights, and sets out original proposals for their future development. The book will be of interest to those who study, research or practice public law, civil rights and liberties or international/European human rights law.

Taking its bearings from classic texts including Plato, Kant, Hegel and Arendt this thoughtful and intriguing book provides philosophical reflection on what it is to judge and what judgement achieves alongside, and sometimes in competition with, thinking and willing. Opening with the landmark Mabo High Court case in Australia and with detailed reference to other significant debates of judgement of the twentieth century Max Deutscher seeks to explore and explain approaches to the concepts of what is good, right and legal. Describing a connection between reason and grounds intrinsic to judgement he analyses and explores the tendency towards absolutism that displaces proper judgement. By weaving concrete instances of judgement with philosophical thought Deutscher provides a fascinating phenomenology of practices of judgement that should appeal to all readers with an interest in legal, philosophical and political thought.

The United Nations Human Rights Council was created in 2006 to replace the UN Commission on Human Rights. The Council's mandate and founding principles demonstrate that one of the main aims, at its creation, was for the Council to overcome the Commission's flaws. Despite the need to avoid repeating its predecessor's failings, the Council's form, nature and many of its roles and functions are strikingly similar to those of the Commission. This book examines the creation and formative years of the United Nations Human Rights Council and assesses the extent to which the Council has fulfilled its mandate. International law and theories of international relations are used to examine the Council and its functions. Council sessions, procedures and mechanisms are analysed in-depth, with particular consideration given to whether the Council has become politicised to the same extent as the Commission. Whilst remaining aware of the key differences in their functions, Rosa Freedman compares the work of the Council to that of treaty-based human rights bodies. The author draws on observations from her attendance at Council proceedings in order to offer a unique account of how the body works in practice. The United Nations Human Rights Council will be of great interest to students and scholars of human rights law and international relations, as well as lawyers, NGOs and relevant government agencies.

As constitutional law globalizes, the quest for a common grammar or 'generic constitutional law' becomes more pressing. Proportionality is one of the most prominent and controversial components of the modern, global constitutional discourse. In view of the alarming tension between the triumphant success of proportionality and the severity of the criticism directed towards it, this book offers an in-depth analysis of the critics of proportionality and demonstrates that their objections against the proportionality test are not convincing. It clarifies and further develops the current theories of proportionality and balancing. Building upon on Robert Alexy's predominant principles theory, the book suggests several modifications to this theory. Drawing examples from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Justice, and various national constitutional courts it illustrates the argument in favour of proportionality and demonstrates its relevance for deciding concrete cases.