This insightful book offers a critical reflection on the sustainability and effectiveness of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and its legacy over the last 70 years. Exploring the problems surrounding universality, proliferation and costs, it asks the provocative question, can we still afford human rights? Expert contributors illustrate the interdependence between these three key issues in an unprecedented way, addressing many of the contemporary criticisms voiced against the human rights system and the reasons for popular skepticism about human rights. In order to interrogate the deficiencies of the UDHR, chapters analyse the following questions: Can and should we keep claiming that human rights are universal? Is their proliferation rendering human rights meaningless? And have human rights become too costly? The book concludes that there is a pressing need for a renewed and lasting commitment to human rights. We cannot afford not to afford human rights. This book will be a valuable resource for academics and students of international relations, the political sciences and comparative legal studies. Covering policy and advocacy issues as well as the evolution of case law regarding particular human rights, it will also be beneficial for policy-makers and human rights practitioners.

For some time now, the European Court of Human Rights is under substantial pressure. From a case overload crisis it stumbled into a legitimacy crisis with regard to certain countries. This should be taken seriously, since scholars warn that institutions with eroding legitimacy risk demise or reform. The goal of this volume is to explore how widespread this critical attitude of the European Court of Human Rights really is. It also assesses to what extent such criticism is being translated in strategies at the political level or at the judicial level and brings about concrete changes in the dynamics between national and European fundamental rights protection. The book is topical and innovative, as these questions have so far remained largely unexplored, especially cross-nationally.Far from focusing exclusively on those voices that are currently raised so loud, conclusions are based on comparative in-depth reports, covering fifteen Contracting Parties and the EU.

Compiling a liber amicorum is always a difficult exercise. Not only because it is not easy to choose the authors from amongst the many friends of the one being celebrated, but also because it is often difficult to align the theme and style of the contributions offered. While one friend enjoys collecting amusing, but not always very relevant, memories for the reader, the other exhausts himself/herself in an extensive legal-technical argument. While one contributes to a classical and sometimes segmented theme, the other writes a contribution on a niche topic from an already niche area. This tribute avoids the classic pitfalls and contains contributions that are focused on human rights, in all their diversity, but with a strong emphasis on the European Convention on Human Rights. The aim of the book was to meet the highest academic standards, as Paul Lemmens has always embodied them. The well-renowned group of international authors already guarantees that quality. But this work is also, primarily, a Festschrift, with each contribution having a clear link to Paul Lemmens. Many authors make this link explicit, while others do this more implicitly, by dealing with a theme that they know Paul takes to heart. It is obvious that the contributors express great appreciation of Paul Lemmens. The image of Paul as known and appreciated by his friends and colleagues emerges from the collected contributions: that of an excellent and knowledgeable lawyer, but especially that of a warm and committed person. Few people may know that Judge and Professor Lemmens is a big fan of the American rock star Bruce Springsteen. The (sub) title of this book is gratefully derived from one of his albums, Human Touch. Indeed, there is no better way to describe Paul's relationship with human rights than "Human Rights with a Human Touch".

The Belgian Constitution, once described as a model of consensus democracy, has now become an enigma in comparative federalism. On the one hand, it demonstrates features which suggest institutional instability as well as elements that enhance the probability of secession. On the other hand, Belgium continues to exist as a federal system, based upon linguistic bipolarity. This linguistic bipolarity dominates Belgian politics and has shaped the design of Belgium's institutions as well as the Constitution's fundamental organising principles: concepts of federalism, democracy, separation of powers, constitutionalism and the rule of law. In this book, the institutional structure and the principles governing the Belgian constitutional system are explained in the light of its historical, demographic and political context. Linguistic bipolarity and its historical evolution explain the establishment of the Belgian State structure as a dual federalism, with exclusive powers, instruments for consensus making and obstruction, and elements of confederal decision making. It also explains the evolution in the concept of principles of democracy and the rule of law. Besides describing the devolutionary process, the book also incorporates two other elements that have shaped the Belgian constitutional landscape: fundamental rights and Europeanisation.