Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Human rights law'
To see the other types of publications on this topic, follow the link: Human rights law.
Create a spot-on reference in APA, MLA, Chicago, Harvard, and other styles
Consult the top 50 dissertations / theses for your research on the topic 'Human rights law.'
Next to every source in the list of references, there is an 'Add to bibliography' button. Press on it, and we will generate automatically the bibliographic reference to the chosen work in the citation style you need: APA, MLA, Harvard, Chicago, Vancouver, etc.
You can also download the full text of the academic publication as pdf and read online its abstract whenever available in the metadata.
Browse dissertations / theses on a wide variety of disciplines and organise your bibliography correctly.
1
Al-Marzouqi, Abraheem Abdulla Muhammed. "Human rights in Islamic law." Thesis, University of Exeter, 1990. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.252974.
Full text
2
Keith, Linda Camp. "The Law and Human Rights: Is the Law a Mere Parchment Barrier to Human Rights Abuse?" Thesis, University of North Texas, 1999. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc2247/.
Full textAbstract:
This study is the first systematic global analysis of the impact of law on human rights, analyzing the impact of twenty-three constitution provisions and an international covenant on three measures of human rights behavior, over the period of 1976-1996. Three sets of constitutional provisions are analyzed, including 1) ten provisions for individual freedoms and due process rights, 2) nine provisions for elements of judicial independence and 3) four provisions that outline procedures for states of emergency. Additionally, the impact of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on actual human rights behavior is analyzed. Each of these areas of law are evaluated individually, in multiple models in which different elements vary. For example, some models control for democracy with different measures, others divide the data into the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, and some test constitutional indices. Finally, all provisions are simultaneously analyzed in integrated models. Provisions for fair and public trials are consistently shown to decrease the probability of abuse. An index of four freedoms (speech, religion, association, and assembly) decreases the probability of abuse somewhat consistently. Three of the provisions for judicial independence are most consistent in reducing the probability of abuse: the provisions for exclusive judicial authority, for the finality of judges' decisions, and banning exceptional courts. Two of four states of emergency provisions decrease abuse as international lawyers have argued: the provisions for legislative declaration of the emergency and the ban against dissolving the legislature during an emergency. However, two of the provisions are shown to hurt human rights practices: the duration and the derogation provisions. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not demonstrate a statistically significant impact. While the performance of the constitutional provisions is less than legal scholars would hope, their combined impact over time are shown to be quite large, relative to the impacts of other factors shown to affect human rights abuse.
3
Youngs, Raymond. "A comparative law assessment of the contribution which German human rights law can make to English human rights law." Thesis, Kingston University, 2013. http://eprints.kingston.ac.uk/27783/.
Full text
4
Swanson, Alan D. "International human rights law and development : a human rights way to development." Thesis, University of Essex, 2001. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.341236.
Full text
5
Legg, Andrew. "Deference in international human rights law." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2011. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:42fc2528-cf7c-4cd8-9ff6-0d0bd25b6220.
Full textAbstract:
Deference in international human rights law has provoked animated discussion, particularly the margin of appreciation doctrine of the European Court of Human Rights. Many commentators describe the practice of deference but do not explain how it affects judicial reasoning. Some approve characteristics of deference but do not provide a justification to defend the practice against criticism. Others regard deference as a danger to human rights because it betrays the universality of human rights or involves tribunals either failing to consider a case properly or missing an opportunity to set human rights standards. This thesis employs a different approach by focussing on deference as the practice of assigning weight to reasons for a decision on the basis of external factors. This approach draws on theories of second-order reasoning from the philosophy of practical reasoning. The thesis offers a conceptual account of deference that accords with the practice not only of the European Court of Human Rights, but also the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee. Additionally the thesis presents a normative account of deference, that the role of these tribunals entails permitting a measure of diversity as states implement international human rights standards. Deference in international human rights law then is the judicial practice of assigning weight to the respondent states’ reasoning in a case on the basis of three factors: democratic legitimacy, the common practice of states and expertise. This affects judicial reasoning by impacting the balance of reasons in the proportionality assessment. The account defended in this thesis dispels concerns that deference is a danger to human rights, whilst providing a theory that justifies the practice of the tribunals. The thesis thus provides the contours of a doctrine of deference in each of the three international human rights systems.
6
Nolan, Mark Andrew. "Construals of human rights law protecting subgroups as well as individual humans /." Connect to this title online, 2003. http://thesis.anu.edu.au/public/adt-ANU20050324.155005/.
Full text
7
Metcalfe, Eric William. "Are cultural rights human rights? : a cosmopolitan conception of cultural rights." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2000. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:c2002d1f-98de-4131-a758-58a8bb84d85d.
Full textAbstract:
The liberal conception of the state is marked by an insistence upon the equal civil and political rights of each inhabitant. Recently, though, a number of writers have argued that this emphasis on uniform rights ignores the fact that the populations of most states are culturally diverse, and that their inhabitants have significant interests qua members of particular cultures. They argue that liberals should recognize special, group-based cultural rights as a necessary part of a theory of justice in multicultural societies. In this thesis I examine the idea of special cultural rights. In the first part (Chapters 1 to 4), I begin by setting out some of the different conceptions of culture and multiculturalism that are involved in the debate over cultural rights. I then discuss three claims made by supporters of special cultural rights: (1) that having culture is an essential part of individual autonomy; (2) that people have morally significant interests qua members of particular cultures; and (3) that these interests are inadequately protected by existing liberal conceptions of human rights. Although I conclude that (1) is correct, I argue that both (2) and (3) are mistaken. Among other things, I suggest that the version of culture relied upon by supporters of special cultural rights is an implausible one and I outline what I take to be a more plausible, cosmopolitan conception of culture. In the second part (Chapters 5 to 9), I begin by looking at specific instances of cultural rights-claims, and analyzing the concept of cultural rights qua rights. I consider the practical and conceptual difficulties with special cultural rights at great length. But the core of my thesis is that our interest in culture lies in its contribution of worthwhile goals and options, and that this interest lies in culture generally rather than in particular cultures. Hence, adopting a special or group-based distribution of any right to culture would seem to be inconsistent with liberal egalitarian principles. If there are such things as cultural rights, I argue, they are general rather than special rights. I conclude by offering a very preliminary account of what a cosmopolitan conception of cultural rights might involve in the case of the right to free association and language rights.
8
Fairclough, Thomas. "The Human Rights Act 1998 in constitutional context : the common law, the rule of law, and human rights." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2019. https://www.repository.cam.ac.uk/handle/1810/285494.
Full textAbstract:
The Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) is seen as a landmark piece of constitutional legislation that brought about many legal and political changes in the United Kingdom's human rights architecture. Yet the HRA is vulnerable to repeal; successive governments have promised to repeal or otherwise alter the HRA. In this climate, the Supreme Court has instructed counsel to argue common law rights first, with the HRA there to supplement and fill the gap on the occasions where the common law does not go as far as the HRA. The logical conclusion of this is that the Supreme Court, or at least some Justices, think that the common law adequately protects rights to a level near, if not the same as, the HRA does; the results of arguing the common law will often be the same as those resulting from reliance on the HRA. The academic commentary regarding these judicial statements has been far from enthusiastic. The consensus is that common law rights do not go as far as the HRA in terms of their width, that the enforcement mechanisms lack rigour compared to s 3 HRA and the proportionality principle, and that they are vulnerable to legislative override. Therefore, a loss of the HRA would be a loss for the legal protection of rights. This thesis disputes the conclusion stated in the foregoing paragraph. It argues that one has to view the vectors against which one can measure the potency of common law rights through the lens of the rule of law. This principle, the controlling factor in the constitution, promises protection against arbitrary behaviour by state actors because it embodies the value of equality of concern. Once this is appreciated, an entirely new dimension of common law rights becomes apparent; the reach of rights, their rigour of protection, and their constitutional resilience are revealed to be much stronger than orthodoxy suggests.
9
Mishina, O. "Ecology and law: the human rights case." Thesis, Вид-во СумДУ, 2006. http://essuir.sumdu.edu.ua/handle/123456789/11698.
Full text
10
Sadeghi, Soraya <1995>. "Protecting Human Rights Defenders under International Law." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/17750.
Full textAbstract:
The main aim of this thesis is to analyse how international instruments and their corresponding mechanisms support and protect Human Rights Defenders and to which extent this support is useful. Human Rights Defenders have always faced difficulties due to their operate that is essential to promote and implement democracy and human rights. After a detailed introduction in which they are described the categories most at risk of HRDs, the first chapter is based on the crucial moment of the adoption of the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders and the consequent role of the UN Special Rapporteur. In the second chapter they are analysed the different regional mechanisms that the various human rights organizations in America, Africa and Europe have adopted to protect HRDs and how they have changed over time. Lastly, in the third chapter it has been made a comparison between the most influential cases about human rights defenders that have been submitted before the European Court of Human Rights and the Inter-America Court of Human Rights.
11
Al-Hamli, Ahmed Thani Juma. "Islam, democracy, and human rights : can universal human rights be applied in our relativistic world?" Thesis, University of Hull, 2006. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:5842.
Full textAbstract:
This study mainly focuses on the compatibility of the international human rights with the diverse cultural and religious values of our world, in particular, the Islamic Shari'ah, consisting of values that not only extend across different regions but even form an important factor of legitimacy for most Islamic states. The study will extensively discuss the international conception of human rights and whether such rights are universal in character and hence applicable to all societies irrespective of their local values, or whether their local values are to a certain degree inevitable to establish real universal human rights with full realization of their essence. It will raise some religious and cultural matters that could form obstacles to the full realization of human rights, such as the complexity of the implementation of human rights under Islamic Shari'ah. It will also refer to traditional values and principles of the British common law, in which Parliament is the sovereign body accorded unrestrained power, which seems to pose the same difficulty that Islam could cause in human rights implementation. The study will demonstrate that the cultural tension with human rights is not exclusive to a certain culture but it is a result of the variety of diverse traditions of different nations that fonn our relativistic world. The study will suggest that although some of the local values of certain societies may raise tension with the principles and values of the current international trend of human rights, this does not mean that these local principles and values must be changed to comply. Rather, it may more appropriately be suggested that this developing notion of human rights should be reconsidered to make universal rights more universal and not relative to a certain regional part of the world.
12
Weiß, Norman. "Stichwort: Der Menschenrechtsausschuß ((Human Rights Committee)." Universität Potsdam, 2002. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2011/5516/.
Full text
13
Engström, Amanda. "A Human Right to Die? : The Legality of Euthanasia under the European Convention on Human Rights." Thesis, Örebro universitet, Institutionen för juridik, psykologi och socialt arbete, 2020. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:oru:diva-86496.
Full text
14
Mayua, Jim Nzonguma. "Human rights and jus Cogens: Questioning the use of normative hierarchy theory in human rights law." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/4718.
Full textAbstract:
A Jus cogens is a hierarchically superior norm 'from which no derogation is permitted'. This peremptory norm suggests that there is a hierarchy among rules relating to international law. As such the recent trend of placing human rights norms in the catalogue of jus cogens has had a significant impact on both domestic and international law. For instance, in Barcelona Traction, Light and power Co, Ltd (Belgium v Spain), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), when making a distinction between the obligation of states towards the international community as whole and those arising vis-Ñ -vis another state, held that the former are obligation erga omnes in view of their importance
15
Kaspers, Birte. "Beiträge zu "gefährdeten Personengruppen" im Zeitraum von 1995 bis 2009 : eine Auswertung von Human Rights Quarterly, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights und The International Journal of Human Rights." Universität Potsdam, 2009. http://opus.kobv.de/ubp/volltexte/2009/4013/.
Full textAbstract:
I. Einleitung
II. Auswertung Human Rights Quarterly
III. Auswertung Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights
IV. Auswertung The International Journal of Human Rights
V. Zusammenfassende Auswertung
VI. Schlussanmerkung
16
Obokata, Tomoya. "Trafficking of human beings as a human rights violation : obligations and accountability under international human rights law." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.408594.
Full text
17
Moka-Mubelo, Willy. "Reconciling Law and Morality in Human Rights Discourse: Beyond the Habermasian Account of Human Rights." Thesis, Boston College, 2015. http://hdl.handle.net/2345/bc-ir:104877.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis advisor: David M. RasmussenIn this dissertation I argue for an approach that conceives human rights as both moral and legal rights. The merit of such an approach is its capacity to understand human rights more in terms of the kind of world free and reasonable beings would like to live in rather than simply in terms of what each individual is legally entitled to. While I acknowledge that every human being has the moral entitlement to be granted living conditions that are conducive to a dignified life, I maintain, at the same time, that the moral and legal aspects of human rights are complementary and should be given equal weight. The legal aspect compensates for the limitations of moral human rights the observance of which depends on the conscience of the individual, and the moral aspect tempers the mechanical and inhumane application of the law. Unlike the traditional or orthodox approach, which conceives human rights as rights that individuals have by virtue of their humanity, and the political or practical approach, which understands human rights as legal rights that are meant to limit the sovereignty of the state, the moral-legal approach reconciles law and morality in human rights discourse and underlines the importance of a legal framework that compensates for the deficiencies in the implementation of moral human rights. It not only challenges the exclusively negative approach to fundamental liberties but also emphasizes the necessity of an enforcement mechanism that helps those who are not morally motivated to refrain from violating the rights of others. Without the legal mechanism of enforcement, the understanding of human rights would be reduced to simply framing moral claims against injustices. Many traditional human rights theorists failed to reconcile the moral and legal aspects of human rights. That is why Jürgen Habermas, whose approach to human rights provides the guiding intuition of this dissertation, has been criticized for approaching human rights from a legal point of view, especially in Between Facts and Norms. Most of Habermas’s critics overlooked his goal in the project of reconstructing law. Habermas addresses the question of the legitimacy of modern law by finding good arguments for a law to be recognized as right and just. For him, modern law has two sources of legitimacy: human rights and popular sovereignty. He affirms their mutual presupposition in a system of rights within a constitutional democracy. In order to grasp Habermas’s moral considerations in his account of human rights, one has to go beyond Between Facts and Norms. That is why the relationship Habermas establishes between law and morality should constitute the starting point in understanding the moral dimension of human rights in his account of human rights. That relationship is clarified in the discussion on the interdependence between human rights and human dignity. Human dignity provides the ground from which human rights are interpreted and justified. Human dignity is the standpoint from which individuals can claim rights from one another on the basis of mutual respect. Because of human dignity, members of a political community can live as free and equal citizens. In order to achieve such a goal, there must be structures that facilitate social integration. Thus, the existence of a strong civil society that can stimulate discussion in the public sphere and promote a vigilant citizenry and respect for human rights becomes very important. The protection of human rights becomes a common and shared responsibility. Such a responsibility goes beyond the boundaries of nation-states and requires the establishment of a cosmopolitan human rights regime based on the conviction that all human beings are members of a community of fate and that they share common values which transcend the limits of their individual states. In a cosmopolitan human rights regime, people are protected as persons and not as citizens of a particular state. The realization of such a regime requires solidarity and the politics of compassion
Thesis (PhD) — Boston College, 2015
Submitted to: Boston College. Graduate School of Arts and Sciences
Discipline: Philosophy
18
Varju, Márton. "On divergence in European human rights laws : the European Convention on Human Rights and European community law: a claim of non-divergence." Thesis, University of Hull, 2008. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:993.
Full textAbstract:
The issue of divergence in human rights protection (adjudication) between the law of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) and European Community/Union (EC/EU) law has been in the centre of academic attention for decades. The position that there are instances of divergence and there is a risk of divergence between the two legal orders has gained authority in academic discourse despite the fact that its premises were subject to challenges on numerous occasions. The claim that human rights protection in EC law is divergent from that under the ECHR appears to suffer from certain shortcomings. First, it is not clear how the divergence claim addresses the question of incommensurability that unavoidably emerges in a comparison of judgments originating from different jurisdictions. Second, the divergence claim has largely eluded to address the quality of flexibility possessed by ECHR and EC human rights law. Both legal orders operate mechanisms of flexibility that enable a treatment of differing human rights solutions other than rejection. In reaction to these problems the present thesis advances the arguments of flexibility and similarity. The flexibility argument holds that the issue of divergence is largely neutralised by the ability of ECHR law (and to a lesser extent of EC law) to react to the problem of divergence flexibly. This entails that the human rights solutions of Community courts could often be accommodated within the flexible framework of ECHR law. The similarity argument provides that the style of human rights protection in ECHR and EC law is similar. The comparison of styles is based on a general system of analysis that aims to avoid the problem of incommensurability. The two arguments are not independent - the success of each argument depends on the availability of the other. The limits of flexibility are found in the requirement of similarity and the impreciseness of the similarity argument is corrected by the potentials inherent in the flexibility argument. On this basis, the relationship between ECHR and EC law could be described as a flexible status of non-divergence.
19
Tehrani, Maryam Moazezi Zadeh. "Women's rights in Islam and current discourse of international human rights law." Thesis, University of Hull, 2007. http://hydra.hull.ac.uk/resources/hull:6643.
Full textAbstract:
The international norm of non-discrimination on the basis of sex as reflected in the UN human rights instrument culminated in 1979 with the adoption of the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women. With the adoption of the Convention, the separate concepts of women's rights were recast in a global perspective, and supervisory machinery with terms of reference similar to those of existing human rights organs was provided for. Although the Convention is considered as the most important binding document for elimination of discrimination against women, it met with a large number of reservations by member states. The number of far reaching reservations entered to the Women's Convention has been the subject of a global debate and the Convention is seen as the most 'political' of all the human rights instruments. Muslim member states to the Convention have entered reservations to its substantive provisions based on Islamic Law and emphasise that the formulation and interpretation of these rights in Sharia is very different from the concept of human rights in international human rights instruments. Reservations of Muslim state parties to the substantive provisions of the Women's Convention and present gender discriminatory laws in Muslim states based on some jurists' interpretation of a few verses in the Quran and the existence of a few ahadith, including qawwamun (the superiority of male over female in marriage), divorce, guardianship and custody, women's testimony which is worth half that of a man in financial transactions; inheritance rights of women where women are entitled to half the share of a man in a comparable situation; polygamy and some issues in Islamic penal law which are undesirable from the perspective of women's human rights in international law have led to the belief that women in Islamic societies are second citizen and Islamic principles are an obstacle to eliminating discrimination against women. They also reinforce the view in the West that the concept of women's human rights in Islam is entirely irreconcilable with international human rights norms on the subject, such as those expressed in the Women's Convention. By studying the origin of the religion and Islamic sources, the present author, however, seriously doubts the validity of the Western view and Muslim parties' reservations to substantive provisions of the Convention, based solely on their interpretation of the Sharia. Contrary to the common perception, the principles of Islamic law do not consist of an immutable, unchanging set of norms, but have an inbuilt dynamism that is sensitive and flexible so that Islamic law can remain up-to-date and respond to the questions and demands of people at different times and places. This project, in the light of Islamic sources and interpretations of Islamic jurisprudence from both schools of thought, Sunni and Shi'a, is designed in four parts to discuss and explore the place of women's rights in Islam and the current discourse of women's human rights in modem international law in order to determine whether Islamic law is reconcilable with international women's human rights such as those expressed in the Women's Convention.
20
Baderin, Mashood A. "Modern Muslim states between Islamic law and international human rights law." Thesis, University of Nottingham, 2001. http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/10964/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the important question of whether or not Islamic law and international human rights are compatible and whether Muslim States can comply with international human rights law while they still adhere to Islamic law. The traditional arguments on the subject are examined and responded to from both international human rights and Islamic legal perspectives. The thesis formulates a synthesis between two extremes and argues that although there are some differences of scope and application, that does not create a general state of dissonance between Islamic law and international human rights law. It is argued that the differences would be easier to address if the concept of human rights were positively established from within the themes of Islamic law rather than imposing it as a concept alien to Islamic law. To avoid a simplistic generalisation of the arguments, each Article of the international bill of rights (ICCPR and ICESCR) and some relevant articles of the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women are analysed in the light of Islamic law. The thesis theoretically engages international human rights law in dialogue with Islamic law and then evaluates the human rights policy of modern Muslim States within the scope of that dialogue. The State Practice of six Muslim States is examined as case studies to establish the arguments of the thesis. The thesis concludes, inter alia, that it is possible to harmonise the differences between Islamic law and international human rights law through the adoption of the margin of appreciation doctrine by international human rights treaty bodies and the utilisation of the Islamic law doctrines of maqâsid al-sharî‘ah (overall objective of Sharî‘ah) and maslahah (welfare) by Muslim States in their interpretation and application of Islamic law respectively. It is asserted that Islamic law can serve as an important vehicle for the enforcement of international human rights law in the Muslim world and recommendations are advanced to that effect in the conclusion.
21
Eick, Christophe N. "Enforcing international human rights law in domestic courts." Thesis, McGill University, 1987. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=63973.
Full text
22
Anastasia, Federico <1994>. "Re-Framing Corruption under International Human Rights Law." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/16535.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis aims at studying the connection between corruption and human rights. By analyzing the complex issue of corruption and examining the current anti-corruption instruments, it investigates the added values that a human rights law conceptualization of corruption could provide to the current international anti-corruption agenda. The dissertation explores a threefold linkage between corruption and human rights. By exploring corruption’s roots, causes, and consequences, this thesis highlights the way in which corruption represents the negation of the idea of human rights. Therefore, it will be argued that corruption and human rights are conceptually linked. Progressively, the theoretical connection will be considered from a legal point of view. More specifically, the legal analysis aims to show how the various forms of corruption and the state’s tolerance of corrupt practices may violate the human rights contained in the existing international human rights treaties. Despite there is no shortage of attention to the issue of corruption, there is still the need to work on the effectiveness of the anti-corruption methods. Without criticizing the criminal law approach per se, a strategic link between corruption and human rights will be provided. Within this framework, the added values of the human rights integration will be outlined, and the human rights actors involved in the human rights fight against corruption will be presented.
23
McCall-Smith, Kasey Lowe. "Reservations to human rights treaties." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2012. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/6320.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis examines the default application of the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties reservation rules to reservations to human rights treaties. The contemporary practice of formulating reservations allows states to unilaterally modify their treaty obligations following the conclusion of negotiations. Though multilateral treaties address a broad spectrum of subjects and are negotiated using a variety of methods, all treaties are governed by the same residual reservation rules of the Vienna Convention when there is not a treaty-specific reservation regime in place. The Vienna Convention system is only engaged if a state seizes the opportunity to determine whether a reservation is valid pursuant to default rules or if a challenge regarding the validity of a reservation is brought before another competent mechanism of review, such as a dispute resolution mechanism. Even when applied, the Vienna Convention rules are ambiguous at best and have been criticised since their inception due to the high degree of flexibility in their application, especially in relation to human rights treaties. In light of the inherent flaws of the Vienna Convention reservation regime and the structural characteristics of human rights treaties, rarely will a reserving state be deprived of the benefit of the reservation even if it is determined to be invalid by another State Party. Though the consequences of an invalidity determination are more concrete when the decision is taken by a dispute resolution mechanism, such as a court, seldom are disputes over the validity of a reservation to a human rights treaty submitted to a competent mechanism. Using the core UN human rights treaties as a case study this research highlights that the past thirty years have revealed a practical impasse in treaty law when the default reservation rules are relied upon to regulate reservations to human rights treaties. Reservations of questionable validity gain the same status as valid reservations because the Vienna Convention rules do not address the consequence for a reservation determined to be invalid outwith the traditional inter se application of the reservation between the reserving and objecting states, which is not logical in the context of a human rights treaty. Against this background, this thesis examines whether the default reservation rules adequately govern reservations to human rights treaties. The conclusion affirms that the Vienna Convention reservation regime can regulate reservations to human rights treaties but only if there is a clearly defined final view on the validity of a reservation taken by an organ other than the state. Therefore, it is argued that treaty-specific supervisory mechanisms attached to each of the core UN human rights treaties should be invested with the competency to serve a determinative function with respect to evaluating reservations to human rights treaties in order to facilitate a stronger basis for the international human rights system.
24
Moyo, Khulekani. "Water as a human right under international human rights law : implications for the privatisation of water services." Thesis, Stellenbosch : Stellenbosch University, 2013. http://hdl.handle.net/10019.1/80062.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (LLD)--Stellenbosch University, 2013.Bibliography
ENGLISH ABSTRACT: The worsening scarcity of fresh water resources has led to an increasing number of people without sustainable access to safe water across the globe. Water privatisation has been presented as the panacea to addressing the global water crisis. Privatisation of water has heightened the impetus for the explicit recognition of water as a human right. This dissertation seeks to establish the legal status of the right to water under international human rights law. The dissertation further attempts to ascertain the scope and normative content of such a right. In order to answer these questions, this dissertation carries out a detailed analysis of the possible legal basis, scope and normative content of the right to water under international human rights law. The principal question that arises is how a State can ensure compliance with its human rights obligations in the event of involvement of non-State actors such as private corporations in the management and distribution of water services. This dissertation‘s main hypothesis is that although privatisation of water services does not relieve the State of its legal responsibility under international human rights law, such privatisation imposes certain obligations on private actors consistent with the right to water. The dissertation goes beyond articulating normative considerations and looks at implementation at the national level by highlighting good practices on the practical implementation of the right to water consistent with the normative standards imposed by the right. The dissertation‘s key contribution is its development of an accountability model to ensure that States and private actors involved in the provision of water services have clearly designated roles and responsibilities consistent with the human right to water. If properly implemented, the model has the potential to give greater specification to the normative commitments imposed by the right to water in privatisation scenarios.
AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Die verergerende skaarste van vars water bronne het aanleiding gegee tot die toename in die hoeveelheid mense sonder volhoubare toegang tot veilige water oor die hele aarde. Dit word aangevoer dat die privatisering van water die wondermiddel is om die globale water krisis aan te spreek. Die privatisering van water het aanleiding gegee tot 'n verskerpte aandrang om water uitdruklik te erken as 'n mensereg. Hierdie proefskrif poog om die regsstatus van die reg tot water te vestig binne die raamwerk van internasionale menseregte. Die proefskrif probeer verder om vas te stel wat die omvang en normatiewe inhoud van so 'n reg sal wees. Vervolgens voltrek hierdie proefskrif 'n uitvoerige analise van die moontlike regsbasis, omvang en normatiewe inhoud van die reg tot water binne die raamwerk van internasionale menseregte. Die vernaamste vraag wat opduik is hoe 'n Staat kan verseker dat sy menseregte verpligtinge nagekom word waar nie-Regeringsrolspelers soos korporasies betrokke is by die bestuur en distribusie van waterdienste. Die kern hipotese van hierdie proefskrif is dat alhoewel die privatisering van waterdienste nie die Staat verlig van sy regsverpligtinge in terme van internasionale menseregte nie, sodanige privatisering sekere verpligtinge aan privaatrolspelers voorskryf wat in lyn is met die reg op water. Hierdie proefskrif gaan verder as die artikulering van normatiewe oorwegings en kyk ook na die implementering op nasionale vlak deur goeie praktyke uit te lig met betrekking tot die prakiese implementering van die reg tot water wat konsekwent is met die normatiewe standaarde wat die reg voorskryf. Die kern bydrae van hierdie proefskrif is die ontwikkeling van 'n aanspreeklikheismodel wat versker dat Regerings en privaat rolspelers wat betrokke is by die voorsiening van waterdienste duidelik aangewysde funksies en verantwoordelikhede het wat in lyn is met die reg tot water. Indien hierdie model behoorlik implementeer word, het dit die potensiaal om grooter spesifikasie te gee aan die normatiewe verpligtinge wat deur die reg tot water voorgeskryf word in privatiserings scenarios.
25
Sharafeldin, Marwa. "Personal status law reform in Egypt : women's rights : NGOs navigating between Islamic law and human rights." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2013. http://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:9d389f66-f8f6-4c0a-8755-1f7d2186a1ba.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis explores the ways in which Islamic law and human rights interact within the work of women’s rights non-governmental organizations (NGOs) that advocate the reform of the Egyptian Personal Status Law (PSL) in the period between 2006 and 2010. The thesis shows the relevance of the human rights framework as well as the flexibility of Islamic legal discourse in the work of the NGOs. Drawing on both Islamic law and human rights enabled NGOs to develop a more gender-sensitive religious discourse, which supported their PSL reform demands. However the interaction between these two frameworks was largely affected by several important factors, which sometimes led NGOs to dilute some of their demands. These factors included the implications of the change in the form of Shari‘a as codified law under the modern nation-state; the Egyptian political context both internally and externally; the common local perception that human rights are a Western production and an extension of Western colonialism; the dominant religious but patriarchal discourse governing the PSL; the implications of activism through the NGO structure; and the personal religiosity of individual activists. The thesis explores NGOs’ PSL reform demands in depth bearing in mind these factors. It investigates NGOs’ discourse and shows its strengths and weaknesses. It shows that the interaction between Islamic law and human rights within NGOs’ work in this particular Egyptian context produced reform demands that were innovative and practically appealing on one hand, but epistemologically problematic in some instances, on another.
26
Owuor, Elijah. "Theory of International Law: Basic Human Rights Conception of the International Law." Digital Archive @ GSU, 2008. http://digitalarchive.gsu.edu/philosophy_hontheses/3.
Full textAbstract:
The incidents of human rights violations have increasingly captured the international attention. I think that part of the reasons for human rights violations is because of the foundational theories of the current international law. In this thesis project, I argue that basic human rights should be the moral foundation of the international law. I achieved my goal in several steps. In the first section, I introduced the thesis project; I also outline my objectives. In the second section, I briefly define human rights, basic human rights, and provided the scope of basic human rights. In the third section, I provided my argument that basic human rights should be the moral foundations of the international law; provide criterion of state legitimacy; I critiqued the United Nations in the context of my arguments. Finally, I concluded by formulating the international basic human rights law.
27
Jovanović, Marija. "Human trafficking, human rights and the right to be free from slavery, servitude and forced labour." Thesis, University of Oxford, 2016. https://ora.ox.ac.uk/objects/uuid:438dfa89-492c-4882-b882-8f21a0f60e9e.
Full textAbstract:
The thesis engages with a dynamic discourse on the human rights approach to human trafficking. Building on the traditional doctrine of human rights, the thesis demonstrates that human trafficking is not a human rights violation, save for a state involvement in it, either directly or through a failure to observe its positive obligations imposed by the existent human rights. In situations that do engage human rights law, the thesis defends an argument that conceptually, human trafficking falls within a domain of the right to be free from slavery, servitude and forced labour. This argument is grounded in both a doctrinal and a conceptual analysis. In particular, the thesis conducts a unique conceptual and legal analysis of Article 4 of the European Convention of Human Rights offering an original interpretation of the concept of exploitation in the context of practices associated with trafficking and 'modern slavery'. This type of inquiry is missing in the existent scholarship. The thesis also conducts a detailed analysis of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights on positive obligations to protect vulnerable individuals arising out of 'absolute' rights. In addition to providing a complete analysis and classification of these positive obligations, the thesis draws attention to the important difference between the scope of the right and the scope of state responsibility in situations of private infringements of 'absolute' rights. Accordingly, the thesis demonstrates that whereas the prohibition contained in these rights is absolute for the state, positive obligations in situations of their infringements by private individuals are of a limited scope. The analysis of the jurisprudence of the Strasbourg Court is supplemented by a comprehensive discussion of the obligations established in the trafficking-specific instruments. The thesis explains how victim protection provisions contained in these instruments may inform human rights obligations, yet, it demonstrates that these do not represent such obligations on their own. This analysis provides a roadmap for practitioners and activists when arguing cases before the Strasbourg Court and domestically. In addition to this practical dimension, the thesis intends to provide an important contribution to the scholarship on human rights law, and on human trafficking specifically.
28
Storey, Hugh Henry. "Human rights and problems of immigration law : a study of the European Convention on Human Rights." Thesis, University of Leeds, 1988. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.413083.
Full text
29
Gondwe, Mtendere. "International principles and methods employed by National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) as a means of promoting and protecting human rights, a case study of the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC)." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/20806.
Full textAbstract:
This study generally focuses on the important role that National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) play in promoting and protecting human rights at the domestic level, hence the need for NHRIs to be effective and efficient in the discharge of their mandate. One way of improving the effectiveness and efficiency of a NHRIs is by ensuring that it adheres to international principles and methods of promoting and protecting human rights as well as by adopting best practices from other NHRIs. The study therefore traces the evolution of NHRIs and their recognition at the international level. It also analyses the different forms in which NHRIs exist and discusses the recommended international principles and standards that act as core minimum in terms of a NHRI's mandate, methods of operation, composition and other guarantees of independence. Due to the fact that states have a wide discretion to devise appropriate means of applying the core minimum principles, this study also presents several best practices from different NHRIs in their implementation of the international principles and standards. Particular attention has been directed at the Malawi Human Rights Commission (MHRC) by assessing whether the MHRC adheres to the international principles and standards in its operations, and to consider whether it could advance human rights better by improving its working methods.
30
Blancas, Bustamante Carlos. "Democracy and Human Rights." IUS ET VERITAS, 2014. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/123518.
Full textAbstract:
Human rights and democracy are, today, indissoluble elements of the political reality. However, there are differences of origin and function between the two notions that they can, eventually, cause tensions and difficulties, especially when we try to attribute to the “majority principle” unlimited powers, including the determination and configuration, even pejorative, of the fundamental rights. this risk comes from adopting a purely “formal” or “procedural” conception of democracy, so it is necessary to affirm a “substantial” notion of it, in which fundamental rights are recognized. On the one hand, as a limit to the state power, whatever the source of legitimacy of it, and on the other hand, as indispensable ingredients for the free exercise of political rights on which democracy is based.Derechos Humanos y democracia son, hoy, elementos inseparables de la realidad política. sin embargo, entre ambas nociones existen diferencias de origen y de función las que, eventualmente pueden plantear tensiones y dificultades, sobre todo cuando se pretende atribuir al “principio de la mayoría” potestades ilimitadas, que incluyen la determinación y configuración, incluso peyorativa, de los derechos fundamentales. Este riesgo proviene de adoptar una concepción meramente “formal” o “procedimental” de la democracia, por lo que se hace necesario afirmar una noción “sustancial” de esta, en la cual se reconozca a los derechos fundamentales. Por un lado, como un límite al poder estatal, cualquiera que sea la fuente de legitimación de este, y, por otro lado, como ingredientes indispensables para el ejercicio libre de los derechos políticos en los quese sustenta la democracia.
31
Turner, Ian David. "Human rights, positive obligations and the development of a right to security." Thesis, University of Central Lancashire, 2016. http://clok.uclan.ac.uk/16597/.
Full textAbstract:
In this PhD by Published Work the author is advocating a right to security broadly grounded in ‘communitarian’ ideals. The ‘absolutist’ state theory of, say, Thomas Hobbes, to protect society from collapse, pays too little attention to genuine fears that the state can actually pose a threat to security; in giving the state significant powers of security, it can undermine the very values one is seeking to secure; and is there actual evidence that substantial gains in state power over the last fifteen years or so, since ‘9/11’, for example, have actually made nations more safe? But liberalism, at least the form suggested by, say, Ronald Dworkin, in being unprepared to accept a balance between rights and security, seemingly overlooks threats that undermine the very freedoms liberals like Dworkin wish to protect. And the liberal philosophy, at least its John Locke traditions, of absolute freedoms is too individualistic and attaches too little weight to responsibilities. Plotting a course, therefore, through these criticisms of state absolutism and liberalism one therefore ‘finds’ communitarianism as a philosophy to support a right to security. The author’s ‘communitarian’, right to security is based on an expansive interpretation of ‘positive’ duties of the state, to protect, say, the rights to life of individuals from violations by non-state actors such as suspected terrorists. The author is therefore not proposing an autonomous right to security; he is developing an existing one. And as the author still sees his right to security as largely a justiciable one enforceable before the courts, his approach is a more moderate aspect of communitarianism embracing some liberal ideas of constitutionalism such as judicial review.
32
Sidarous, Mona. "When professional rights conflict with human rights : legal and ethical issues." Thesis, McGill University, 1994. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=26220.
Full textAbstract:
My aim is to demonstrate that professionals perceive they have a right to refuse to provide their services and are currently acting accordingly. This thesis explores whether a professional right to refuse services exists; if so, the limits of this right; and whether a professional 'right' to refuse services ought to exist and in what circumstances. This requires analysis of whether refusals to provide professional services might be considered unethical conduct according to existing codes of ethics and moral theories, unprofessional conduct within the norms of professional regulatory and disciplinary bodies, or illegal conduct according to Canadian law, in particular, human rights law. The issues are examined primarily with reference to physicians who treat patients and some comparisons are made with physician clinical researchers and lawyers. The shift from a duty-based system of professional service to a rights-based system of professional privileges has led to conflicting goals of professional self-regulation, and some possible resolutions to this conflict are explored.
33
Nolan, Mark Andrew, and mark nolan@anu edu au. "Construals of Human Rights Law: Protecting Subgroups As Well As Individual Humans." The Australian National University. Faculty of Science, 2003. http://thesis.anu.edu.au./public/adt-ANU20050324.155005.
Full textAbstract:
This research develops the social psychological study of lay perception of human rights and of rights-based reactions to perceived injustice. The pioneering work by social representation theorists is reviewed. Of particular interest is the use of rights-based responses to perceived relative subgroup disadvantage. It is argued that these responses are shaped by the historical development of the legal concept of unique subgroup rights; rights asserted by a subgroup that cannot be asserted by outgroup members or by members of a broader collective that includes all subgroups.
The assertion of unique subgroup rights in contrast to individual rights was studied by presenting participants with scenarios suggestive of human rights violations. These included possible violations of privacy rights of indigenous Australians (Study 1), civil and political rights of indigenous Australians under mandatory sentencing schemes (Study 2), privacy rights of students in comparison to public servants (Study 3), refugee rights (Study 4), and reproductive rights of lesbians and single women in comparison to married women and women in de facto relationships (Study 5). The scenarios were based on real policy issues being debated in Australia at the time of data collection. Human rights activists participated in Studies 4 and 5. In Study 5, these activists participated via an online, web-based experiment. Both quantitative and qualitative data were collected.
A social identity theory perspective is used drawing on concepts from both social identity theory and self-categorization theory. The studies reveal a preference for an equality-driven construal of the purpose of human rights law (i.e. that all Australians be treated equally regardless of subgroup membership) in contrast to minority support for a vulnerable groups construal of the purpose of human rights (i.e. that the purpose of human rights law is to protect vulnerable subgroups within a broader collective).
Tajfelian social belief orientations of social mobility and social change are explicitly measured in Studies 3-5. Consistent with the social identity perspective, these ideological beliefs are conceptualised as background knowledge relevant to the subjective structuring of social reality (violation contexts) and to the process of motivated relative perception from the vantage point of the perceiver. There is some indication from these studies that social belief orientation may determine construals of the purpose of human rights. In Study 5 the observed preference for using inclusive human rights rhetoric in response to perceived subgroup injustice is explained as an identity-management strategy of social creativity. In Studies 4 and 5, explicit measurement of activist identification was also made in an attempt to further explain the apparently-dominant preference for an equality-driven construal of the purpose of human rights law and the preferred use of inclusive, individualised rights rhetoric in response to perceived subgroup injustice.
Activist identification explained some action preferences, but did not simply translate into preferences for using subgroup interest arguments. In Study 5, metastereotyping measures revealed that inclusive rights-based protest strategies were used in order to create positive impressions of social justice campaigners in the minds of both outgroup and ingroup audiences. Ideas for future social psychological research on human rights is discussed.
34
Burneo, Labrín José. "International Law on Human Rights contribution to constitutionalization of law after 1945." Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 2013. http://repositorio.pucp.edu.pe/index/handle/123456789/116271.
Full textAbstract:
This article base line bears on the relevance of the process– developed after 1945– of law’s constitutionalization, its foundations established and main characteristics. This process is framed by HumanRights fully implementation, such as rejection of impunity concerning serious human rights violations, respect to due process, the integrality and indivisibility of human rights, also respect to indigenous people and limits to state of emergency. Finally, through reviewing laws for compliance, the author highlights the importance of jurisdictional bodies for an effective fulfillment of constitutional and supranational rules signed by the States.El artículo toma como punto de partida la relevancia del proceso de constitucionalización del derecho desarrollado luego de 1945, los fundamentos que consagra y sus principales características. Este proceso se enmarca en lavigencia de los derechos humanos que se enarbolan, como el rechazo a la impunidad respecto de violaciones graves de derechos humanos, el respeto al debido proceso, la integralidad de los derechos humanos, el respeto a los pueblos indígenas y los límites del Estado de excepción. Finalmente, mediante el análisis del control de convencionalidad, el autor resalta la importancia de los órganos jurisdiccionales en el efectivo cumplimiento de las normas constitucionales y supranacionales suscritas por los Estados.
35
Owuor, Elijah Medego. "Theory of international law basic human rights conception of the international law /." restricted, 2008. http://etd.gsu.edu/theses/available/etd-05192008-125514/.
Full textAbstract:
Thesis (B.A. Honors)--Georgia State University, 2008.Title from file title page. Robert Sattelmeyer, Andrew Jason Cohen, committee members. Electronic text (34 p.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed October 26, 2008. Includes bibliographical references (p. 34).
36
Berggren, Isabelle. "Disappearing island states and human rights. Preservation of statehood and human rights in times of climate change." Thesis, Umeå universitet, Juridiska institutionen, 2019. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-158175.
Full text
37
Wintemute, Robert. "Sexual orientation discrimination and constitutional human rights law : the United States Constitution, the European Convention on Human Rights, and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms." Thesis, University of Oxford, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.334152.
Full text
38
Huang, Yingliang. "Reservations to multilateral human rights treaties." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/27374.
Full textAbstract:
Reservations to multilateral human rights treaties have become an important issue since the case of the Genocide Convention in 1951. Although the compatibility principle upheld by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) was codified in the 1969 Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (Vienna Convention), the current reservations mechanism is problematic and detrimental to human rights treaty-making.
I will argue that the logical relation between the two standards comprising the compatibility principle has been lost under the Vienna Convention and it should be reintroduced by a competent body.
For this purpose, I will analyze the characteristics of human rights treaties, clarify the permissibility of making reservations, go through the origin and development of the compatibility principle, and identify the problem of the current reservations mechanism, namely that the determination of the compatibility of reservations is left to individual States. The solution I will propose is that the ICJ should be conferred the competence to objectively determine the compatibility of reservations.
Key words. the compatibility principle; the objective determination of compatibility
39
LINGENFELTER, Kerttuli Kareniina. "When is human trafficking slavery or enslavement? : human trafficking at the intersection of human rights law and criminal law." Doctoral thesis, European University Institute, 2018. http://hdl.handle.net/1814/64684.
Full textAbstract:
Award date: 22 October 2018Supervisor: Professor Martin Scheinin
This thesis explores the international definitions of slavery, enslavement and human trafficking to determine if and when human trafficking is slavery. Using predominantly the legal method, the thesis argues that there is an overlap between the definitions, yet they are not synonymous. Furthermore, the principles of human rights law and criminal law are compared in the context of slavery and human trafficking. Although the systems can and do engage with each other, it is posited that in a criminal setting courts should be wary of relying on human rights jurisprudence to determine the substance of the criminal definition. This is because human rights are interpreted in an evolutive, teleological way, whereas criminal courts should be bound by the principle of legality. Human rights courts, on the other hand, could and should engage more with the contours of the definitions of human trafficking and slavery – not to determine criminal liability, but instead to produce a deeper, more nuanced understanding of the structures that render persons vulnerable to exploitation. In this way, the thesis asserts, a human rights approach could move beyond the current model, which is excessively oriented toward criminal investigation and punishment. Due to current challenges posed by conflict and post-conflict situations, the thesis ends by reflecting on the potential of human trafficking being prosecuted by the International Criminal Court as a crime against humanity. Although the possibility has found some support within academia, this thesis proposes that if and when human trafficking does amount to slavery and meets the other elements of crimes against humanity, it has and can be prosecuted. Some forms of human trafficking, as of all other acts constituting crimes against humanity, will, however, fall outside the scope of international criminal law.
40
Malila, Mumba. "The place of individuals? duties in international human rights law : perspectives from the African human rights system." Thesis, University of Pretoria, 2017. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/60063.
Full textAbstract:
Some worry has been expressed in human rights circles that the human rights archetype has for some time now, disproportionately preoccupied itself with the culture of rights and claims at the expense of individuals? duties and responsibilities. A claim is made that while rights are individualistic, self-seeking, unworldly, self-indulgent and anti-social, individual duties and responsibilities are collective, social, humane, nuanced and associated with correct traditional and social behaviour and human values. The language of rights has dominated the texts of bills of rights in constitutions, and international instruments, and many view this rhetoric as unproblematic. Others, however, consider the currency of that language as overlooking, with dire consequences to human society, the concept of duty as the missing link of human dignity. There have, accordingly, been calls for a renewed focus on individual duties and responsibilities in the human rights discourse. The question is whether focussing on individual responsibility is necessary to counterbalance what is viewed by some as a bias towards rights.
Efforts to raise international consciousness of what is regarded as the limitation of a purely rights-based approach to human rights has been spearheaded by, among others, faith based organisations. These have advocated not only a more visible recognition of individual duties and responsibilities generally, but an international declaration of human responsibilities as a ?common standard for all people and all nations.? The calls being made are premised on, first, a view that a device in the form of an international declaration ? a set of international rules ? should be developed to change the current human rights architecture. This code of ethical obligations is necessary to guide and change individual behaviour. Second, a belief that greater emphasis should be laid on individual duty responsibility to supplement existing international human rights norms and standards, and finally, that human rights principles alone are inadequate for modern societies to regulate themselves well.
With particular reference to perspectives from the African Charter based human rights system, this project interrogates these concerns regarding duties with a view to ascertaining whether there is justification in them. Using as a reference point the concept of duties in the African Charter and to a small extent that in the African Children's Charter, which represents the older
ii
and more established part of the African human rights system, the project concludes that although individuals? duties are important and deserve greater attention, there is no convincing case for the calls that are being made in this regard.Thesis (LLD)--University of Pretoria, 2017.
Centre for Human Rights
LLD
Unrestricted
41
Khoury, S. "(Transnational) Corporations and Human Rights: an exploration into the accomodation of capital in international human rights law." Doctoral thesis, Università degli Studi di Milano, 2014. http://hdl.handle.net/2434/239323.
Full textAbstract:
There is empirical evidence that corporations, often in collusion with states, are complicit in, if not instigators of, a variety of human rights violations. Despite this evidence, the international community of states has been unwilling or unable to respond to these violations in any adequate measure. At the same time, the discourse of human rights has become integral to state legitimacy in a post-Cold War society. An analysis of the legal structure of the corporation and its omnipresence in the global political economy raises questions about the overarching framework of an international human rights law that protects corporations in analogous ways to physical persons. The extension of rights to corporations reveals a human rights paradigm that holds private property and capitalist accumulation at the core of its value system. This thesis scrutinises the association between human rights and corporations and raises questions about whether human rights law can be used to challenge corporate power.
The thesis is an empirically based inquiry into the perspectives of judges from the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights on the potential for human rights law to respond to corporate harms. The thesis seeks to examine the role that human rights courts play in using existing mechanisms of human rights law in cases involving corporate violations. The data was gathered from a detailed analysis of case law from these regional human rights systems, as well as fifteen interviews with judges from the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights. The analysis reveals that the open-texture of the law and the use of international human rights courts in counter-hegemonic struggles is a strong indication of the possibility for alternative uses of human rights law. These alternative uses of law are illustrative of the potential to challenge the relative impunity afforded to corporations from within the very system that has been developed to protect them.
42
Ndayikengurukiye, Michel. "The international human rights law as a source of law in the Burundian judicial system." Diss., University of Pretoria, 2005. http://hdl.handle.net/2263/1154.
Full textAbstract:
"The enjoyment of all human rights by all persons is the ultimate horizon of democracy. It is generally admitted that democratic societies are less likely to violate human rights. The good human rights records of these societies can be justified, among others, by the promotion of a strong legal culture, which provides procedural avenues for allocating responsibility for human rights violations. Thus, the protection of human rights follows from the functions of law in society, and the nature of human rights claims. At the national level, human rights are protected by both domestic and international mechanisms. Therefore, the human rights claims should be based on violations of either domestic law or relevant provisions of operational international human rights instruments. However, most of the time this is not the case, especially in Africa. Many African states have ratified several international human rights instruments, but the record of the way the latter are applied in their respective judicial systems remains very poor. This study aims to analyse the case of Burundi, one of these state whose judicial system only rarely applies international human rights instruments in spite of the importance devoted to them by the Constitution. It must be understood that international human rights as a source of law will be referred to, in this study, both as a source of rights and as a source of interpretation of domestic human righs instruments such as the Bill of Rights. ... Chapter one will set out the content of the research, identify the problem and outline the methodology. Chapter two will focus on the status of international law in domestic legal systems. It will highlight the theories that have been used to determine the relationship between international and domestic law in general. Chapter three will analyse on basis of some samples of cases how the Burundian courts interpret and apply international human rights instruments. Chapte four discusses the role played by the Burundian lawyers in the enforcement of these instruments. Chapter five will draw [a] conclusion and recommendations." -- Introduction.Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005.
Prepared under the supervision of Professor Grace Patrick Tumwine-Mukubwa at the Faculty of Law, Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda
http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html
Centre for Human Rights
LLM
43
Malkani, Bharat. "The judicial use of non-domestic human rights law." Thesis, University of Bristol, 2009. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.520220.
Full text
44
Provost, Rene. "International human rights and humanitarian law : fusion or confusion?" Thesis, University of Oxford, 1998. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.285439.
Full text
45
Blake, C. K. "Whither solidarity? : international law, human rights and global poverty." Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2011. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.596713.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis looks at the engagement of international law with the issue of global poverty. It examines the legal discourses that have arisen in this context, and how they construct, narrate and consequently address the problem of impoverishment. It begins by examining the principle of ‘international co-operation’, which is argued represents the dominant paradigm within legal discourse on poverty. It concludes, however, that this paradigm is not only problematic, but may prove counter-productive in efforts to address poverty. In light of this conclusion, the thesis turns to examine nascent conceptual shifts within legal discourse that see a move from a focus on ‘co-operation’ towards a focus on ‘solidarity’ within the discourse on poverty. In particular, it examines suggestions that solidarity represents a substantive principle of international law, and that it offers a more transformative normative alternative to co-operation in response to poverty. The thesis therefore turns to analyse the principle of solidarity. It emerges, however, that rather than transformative, present readings of solidarity are largely re-iterative of the problems associated with the principle of co-operation. It is argued that if the notion of solidarity is to prove productive to international law, it must be re-thought and re-cast. The final chapter considers the possibilities for re-casting the concept of solidarity in international law. It suggests the writings of Karl Marx on solidarity may provide productive lines along which legal engagement with the notion of solidarity may be re-conceived. In so doing, it joins a growing body of legal scholarship which has begun to argue that the ideas of Marx have not exhausted themselves, and that a critical reading potentially offers insights and tools for international legal enquiry.
46
Aloisi, Rosa. "The Threats to Compliance with International Human Rights Law." Thesis, University of North Texas, 2011. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc103282/.
Full textAbstract:
In this project I investigate the factors shaping compliance with international human rights agreements and I provide a definition of compliance, which goes beyond “ratification.” I argue that compliance is a multistage process, built upon three different steps: ratification/accession, implementation, and what I call “compliant behavior.” As an alternative to the dominant structural and normative explanation of compliance, I suggest that the factors affecting compliance are not only endogenous to state characteristics, such as the democratic/non-democratic nature of governments, but also exogenous, such as the perceived level of threat to national security. I offer a twofold theory that looks at leaders’ behavior under conditions of stability and instability and I suggest that under certain circumstances that threaten and pressure government leaders, state compliance with international human rights law becomes more costly. I suggest that regardless of regime type, threats shape leaders’ behavior toward international law; states are faced with the choice to abide by international obligations, protecting specific human rights, and the choice to protect their national interests. I argue that when the costs associated with compliance increase, because leaders face threats to their power and government stability, threats become the predictor of non-compliant behavior regardless of the democratic or non-democratic nature of the regime.
47
Ozdan, Selman. "The human rights challenge to immunity in international law." Thesis, Queen's University Belfast, 2016. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.709867.
Full textAbstract:
The aim in this Thesis is to present a detailed analysis of the immunity versus impunity debate within the framework of a human rights-based challenge to immunity. There are two essential interests in international law: preserving the immunity of States and those who represent them, such as Heads of State and diplomatic agents; and protecting fundamental human rights which fall within the scope of peremptory norms of general international law. Several cases which are recently before international and national courts demonstrate that the protection of fundamental human rights is a significant challenge to the immunities. This Thesis focuses on the tension between the protection of fundamental human rights on the one hand, and the bestowal of immunity on the State and its representatives on the other. It examines the extent to which the tension affects the sovereign structure of the State, and seeks to ascertain how these immunities can be gradually eroded, if not fully abolished, in order to maintain full protection of fundamental human rights under international law. It argues that immunity should not equate to impunity when violations of fundamental human rights recognised as jus cogens norms are committed by States, Heads of State, or diplomatic agents. To make the case, this Thesis sets out the organic structures of the concepts of sovereignty and fundamental human rights. It then examines the human rights-based challenge to immunity in three instances: State immunity, Head of State immunity, and diplomatic immunity. This Thesis, in so doing, puts the notion of fundamental human rights at the centre of the immunity versus impunity debate; and, the transition from a State-centric system to a human-centric system under the microscope.
48
Hessler, Kristen M. "A theory of interpretation for international human rights law." Diss., The University of Arizona, 2001. http://hdl.handle.net/10150/279864.
Full textAbstract:
A complete theory of interpretation for human rights law must answer two kinds of questions. First: Who should interpret international human rights law? Second: What principles should guide the interpretation of human rights law? Individual governments frequently claim the right to interpret international law as it applies to them, but this claim is contested by many United Nations subgroups and by nongovernmental organizations like Amnesty International. I argue that international institutions are more likely to give a fair hearing to people's human rights than are their own governments. Accordingly, we can conclude as a general rule that international institutions should be assigned authority to interpret international human rights law. The general rule has an exception, however. Democratic states that protect basic freedoms of speech and assembly will promote and protect their own citizens' human rights better than undemocratic states. Moreover, free democratic states, by giving a voice to all citizens, can take advantage of local knowledge about particular human rights problems and solutions, and so are more likely than international institutions to interpret human rights law with a sensitivity to the human rights of all citizens and to the locally important human rights issues. Therefore, unlike other states, liberal democratic states should have the authority to interpret international human rights law as it applies within their borders. What principles should guide the interpretation of human rights law? The answer depends on whether we take a short- or long-term perspective. Currently, the institutions of international law are relatively ineffective when compared to most domestic legal systems. While this remains the case, a principle allowing interpreters to use their judgment about moral human rights in interpreting human rights law can be justified on the basis of the contribution this would make to global deliberation about the proper understanding of moral human rights. As human rights law develops more effective, less voluntaristic institutions, this principle of interpretation should be phased out.
49
Maiutto, Mirko <1992>. "Non-Human Animal Rights in International and EU Law." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2021. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/19548.
Full textAbstract:
In the last century animal welfare has started to receive increasing attention around the world. In order to meet the skyrocketing demand for animal products, the animal industry is mass-producing meat, dairy and eggs in intensive farms where animals live in terrible conditions before being slaughtered. Furthermore, scientific research has not moved away from experimenting on animals, and wild animals continue to be object of exploitation, an increasing number of wild species becoming endangered or even extinct. This work analyses the protection animals enjoy internationally, at the European Union level, and in some domestic constitutions and legislations, exploring how anthropocentrism and speciesism are reflected in legislations.
Today science tells us that at least many of the human-exploited animals are sentient beings who, just like people, can suffer, feel pain, and experience a vast variety of emotions. Many have a high level of intelligence, possess self-awareness, and are part of incredibly complex social structures made of family and friendship bonds not much different from those characterizing human societies. The philosophical case for giving animals inalienable rights to life, freedom, and freedom from torture will be presented, implying the need to stop exploiting animals all around the world at least when it comes to food production. Until this doesn’t happen, the law will continue to promote an injustice not very different from others such as racism and sexism.
50
Galip, Bugem. "The European human rights law with emphasis on the Cyprus question : land claims and human rights, arguments before the European Court of Human Rights." Thesis, University of Sussex, 2014. http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/id/eprint/51577/.
Full textAbstract:
This thesis presents a critical analysis of the property rights in terms of Article 1 of Protocol No. 1 (P1-1) of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) to the property conflict in Cyprus. The theme that runs through the paper is whether property disputes in Cyprus have had an impact on the established case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). Also addressed is the extent to which Cypriot property claims caused the Court to depart from its traditional approach concerning property rights under the ECHR and whether these cases before the Court have introduced a new aspect to the understanding and interpretation of the protection of property rights in the Convention system, specifically the application of the P1-1 to the Convention. The Court's approach, in its various precedents, in examining property rights within the remit of P1-1 will be compared with the property claims from Cyprus in order to determine the unique and significant character of the Cypriot property cases and to analyse their relationship with the right to property under P1-1 to the ECHR.