Bringing together interconnected discussions to make explicit the complexity of the Arctic region, this book offers a legal discussion of the ongoing territorial disputes and challenges in order to frame their impact into the viability of different governance strategies that are available at the national, regional and international level. One of the intrinsic features of the region is the difficulty in the determination of boundaries, responsibilities and interests. Against this background, sovereignty issues are intertwined with environmental and geopolitical issues that ultimately affect global strategic balances and international trade and, at the same time, influence national approaches to basic rights and organizational schemes regarding the protection of indigenous peoples and inhabitants of the region. This perspective lays the ground for further discussion, revolving around the main clusters of governance (focusing on the Arctic Council and the European Union, with the particular roles and interest of Arctic and non-Arctic states, and the impact on indigenous populations), environment (including the relevance of national regulatory schemes, and the intertwinement with concerns related to energy, or migration), strategy (concentrating in geopolitical realities and challenges analysed from different perspectives and focusing on different actors, and covering security and climate change related challenges). This collection provides an avenue for parallel and converging research of complex realities from different disciplines, through the expertise of scholars from different latitudes.

Bringing together interconnected discussions to make explicit the complexity of the Arctic region, this book offers a legal discussion of the ongoing territorial disputes and challenges in order to frame their impact into the viability of different governance strategies that are available at the national, regional and international level. One of the intrinsic features of the region is the difficulty in the determination of boundaries, responsibilities and interests. Against this background, sovereignty issues are intertwined with environmental and geopolitical issues that ultimately affect global strategic balances and international trade and, at the same time, influence national approaches to basic rights and organizational schemes regarding the protection of indigenous peoples and inhabitants of the region. This perspective lays the ground for further discussion, revolving around the main clusters of governance (focusing on the Arctic Council and the European Union, with the particular roles and interest of Arctic and non-Arctic states, and the impact on indigenous populations), environment (including the relevance of national regulatory schemes, and the intertwinement with concerns related to energy, or migration), strategy (concentrating in geopolitical realities and challenges analysed from different perspectives and focusing on different actors, and covering security and climate change related challenges). This collection provides an avenue for parallel and converging research of complex realities from different disciplines, through the expertise of scholars from different latitudes.

The development of the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice has transformed the European Union and placed fundamental rights at the core of EU integration and its principles of mutual recognition and trust. The impact of the AFSJ in the development of an EU standard of fundamental rights, which has come to the fore since the Treaty of Lisbon, is a topic of great theoretical and practical importance. This is the first systematic academic study of the AFSJ and its implications from the point of view of fundamental rights. The contributions to this collection examine the normative and jurisprudential development of the AFSJ in order to assess its effects on the overall construction of the scope and standards of protection of EU fundamental rights in this particularly complex and sensitive field of integration. The expert contributors systematically map and critically assess this area of EU law, together with the relevant case-law.

The concept of vulnerability has not been unequivocally interpreted either in regional or in universal international legal instruments. This book analyses the work of the EU and the Council of Europe in ascertaining a clear framework or a set of criteria suitable to determine those who should be considered vulnerable and disadvantaged. It also explores the measures required to protect their human rights. Key questions can be answered by analysing the different methods used to determine the levels of protection offered by the two European systems. These questions include whether the Convention and the case law of the Strasbourg Court, the monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe, EU law and the case law of the European Court of Justice enhance the protection of vulnerable groups and expand the protection of their rights, or, alternatively, whether they are mainly used to fill in relatively minor gaps or occasional lapses in national rights guarantees. The analysis also shows the extent to which these two European systems provide analogous, or indeed divergent, standards and how any such divergence might be problematic in light of the EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights.

The concept of vulnerability has not been unequivocally interpreted either in regional or in universal international legal instruments. This book analyses the work of the EU and the Council of Europe in ascertaining a clear framework or a set of criteria suitable to determine those who should be considered vulnerable and disadvantaged. It also explores the measures required to protect their human rights. Key questions can be answered by analysing the different methods used to determine the levels of protection offered by the two European systems. These questions include whether the Convention and the case law of the Strasbourg Court, the monitoring mechanisms of the Council of Europe, EU law and the case law of the European Court of Justice enhance the protection of vulnerable groups and expand the protection of their rights, or, alternatively, whether they are mainly used to fill in relatively minor gaps or occasional lapses in national rights guarantees. The analysis also shows the extent to which these two European systems provide analogous, or indeed divergent, standards and how any such divergence might be problematic in light of the EU accession to the European Convention on Human Rights.