Nijhoff Law Specials – serie

After decades of striving to prevent international conflict, major armed conflicts in the 1990s have taken place within national boundaries. The aim of this book is to consider the root causes of these internal conflicts, and to develop long-term conflict prevention strategies from here.

The topical and thought-provoking articles in this volume have been contributed by leading authorities and discuss some of the key issues currently facing the human rights community. Many were originally circulated by the CCJO as its contribution to the vigorous debate at the World Conference Against Racism. The issues discussed include, among others, human rights and the Security Council, slavery, racism on the internet, and religion and human rights. The Consultative Council of Jewish Organizations (CCJO) was founded in 1946 by the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate, Rene Cassin, who was also its president for many years. As an NGO in consultative status with the United Nations, it has played an active role in the growth of international human rights, both by participating in UN activities, and by lending its weight to human rights campaigns worldwide. For more information see the website www.ccjo.org.

The problem of ensuring that women are at the heart of political decision-making is now very topical in Europe. This is because, despite all of the international agreements, the research, the recommendations and the untold other efforts, the participation of women in political bodies remains low in most European countries. European governance, in short, still fails to include 50 per cent of women in its political decision-making.Why do political leaders attach importance to this issue? The under-representation of women in national parliaments poses a problem in terms of both the practice and the theory of politics. In practical terms, the under-representation of women in political leadership is even more remarkable when one realizes that women have succeeded in gaining access to other sectors of society in many European countries. Moreover, equality between men and women is now a leading political principle all over Europe. Taking part in decision-making however, in politics as well as in the private sector, typically remains a male privilege.This book explains the high level of current concern for the under-representation of women in politics. It explores the reasons behind recent favourable attitudes towards sharing political power with women in the Netherlands, and in other European countries. It identifies the many obstacles and strategies and it points out future expectations about the representation of women in Europe. Under which circumstances can political players be influenced to change institutions and procedures in favour of newcomers to politics. The current ‘crisis of politics’ opens a window of opportunity for changing the underlying male-biased structures.

The US administration’s pursuit of the Al-Qaeda organisation and Taliban régime in Afghanistan, responsible for the September 11, 2001 international terrorist attacks, was supported by an international “coalition of the willing” and backed by the full legal authority of UN Security Council Resolutions. The US bid to follow this successful multilateral initiative with similar armed intervention against Saddam Hussein’s government failed to rally support in the Security Council. The US then proceeded to act unilaterally, and with British military support, to invade Iraq. The problems for contemporary international law and the UN Charter based World Order system posed by the conflicts within the Security Council and the assorted legal claims advanced, such as a revived doctrine of Humanitarian Intervention; régime change as a justification for intervention; Preemptive military strikes as an exercise in Self-defence; and Multilateralism versus Unilateralism in the exercise of the Peace and Security powers under the UN Charter, are canvassed in the present collection of legal opinions.

What are the Faroese and the Greenlanders? Are they peoples in their own right, indigenous peoples or Danish minorities? And what is their status under international law? Do they have the right to national self-determination? And if so, what does this right include? This volume describes the constitutional history of the Faroes and Greenland, it analyses the current international status of the two countries and compares it to countries in similar situations, and looks at how Denmark has administered the sovereignty of its dependencies. It thus sheds new light on a constitutional arrangement that by some is described as, democratic, creative and imaginative, and by others is deemed colonial. But the book also deals with the status of non-sovereign polities and the right to self-determination in general, as well as with the current attitude of the UN towards such matters. It thus offers insights which can be of value for other countries, struggling with the issue, as well as scholars working in this field.

One of the more promising developments in global efforts to uphold human rights over the past decade has been the growing role of national human rights institutions. A role for national institutions was foreseen by the United Nations Economic and Social Council as early as 1946 and since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 the Commission on Human Rights and the United Nations Secretariat have sought to promote the role of such institutions. This volume offers a wealth of information on the protection functions of existing national human rights institutions in a wide selection of countries, drawn from Asia, Africa, Europe, Latin America and Oceania. These essays together make clear the genuine striving by national human rights commissions to act for the protection of human rights in the countries they serve, and the variety of protection models that can and are being adopted, both in developed and developing countries.

This work brings together a number of papers written by experts, mostly senior and active international civil servants, but also retired staff, analyzing the measures taken in international organizations in order to obtain greater accountability. Codes of conduct have been introduced, as well as more detailed measures of control. This has also required review of due process and dispute resolution provisions.The main objective of these codes of conduct is to foster appropriate behaviour of staff, but, ideally, these codes should also be instrumental in avoiding disputes, since staff knew more clearly what is expected of them. This book is a reflection of exchanges of views and information between administrative lawyers and, to some extent, investigators/prosecutors to ensure that the organizations become more transparent, corruption free and respective of the highest standards. Accountability and transparency have now become the rule, and increasingly also the practice. Much is still to be done, however. Discussions are ongoing in many organizations. This work’s purpose is also to contribute to these discussions.In addition to the analytic and frank contributions, this work contains various documents of international organizations, reflecting the codes of conduct and charters of values now in place.

What are the prospects and means of achieving development through a democratic politics of socio-economic rights? Starting from the position that socio-economic rights are as legally and normatively valid as civil and political rights, this anthology explores the politics of acquiring and transforming socio-economic rights in South Africa. The book brings together an interdisciplinary group of leading scholars in an examination of the multifaceted politics of social and economic policy-making, rights-based political struggles and socio-economic rights litigations. The post-apartheid South African experience shows that there is no guarantee that democracy will eliminate poverty or reduce social inequality, but also that democratic institutions and politics may provide important means for asserting interests and rights in regard to development. Thus it is argued that democratic politics of socio-economic rights may democratise development while also developing democracy.

The five versions of the comprehensive settlement plan for Cyprus, which UN Secretary-General Annan tabled between 2002 and 2004, raised a variety of international law and European law questions. This book contains the first systematic analysis of the Annan plan, thereby providing an overview of the legal aspects of the Cyprus problem. It also discusses how the plan was intended to be accommodated in the European legal order. Did it comply with the fundamental principle of democracy, rule of law and human rights? Would a united Cyprus have been able to speak with one voice and to implement EU law properly?The Author, who has worked both for the European Commission and for the UN Special Advisor on Cyprus, presents a precise account of facts and thorough legal assessments. He also tackles current legal problems arising out of Cyprus’ membership in the EU and the suspension of the acquis communautaire in the northern part of Cyprus. He finally analyses how the question of recognition affects the relations between Cyprus and Turkey.The book is an ideal choice for practitioners and researchers because it combines first hand information on the most recent developments on Cyprus with legal evaluations from an international official trained in international and European law.

Central to the current development debate is the importance of human welfare in the context of group conflict. When considering ethnic, racial and religious conflict, this debate draws us toward a 'political economy' of conflict. Moreover, notions of an economic paradigm have become prominent when international organizations debate conflict prevention. In looking closer at the political economy of conflict, this publication argues the need to assimilate into our thinking distinct social and ethical economies of conflict prevention. A social economy of conflict prevention considers the interplay of economic with structural and cultural factors in conflict, explaining a much neglected category of conflict, i.e. hidden conflict. The ethical economy of conflict prevention considers implicit ethical statements development practitioners use. From these statements arise ethical paradoxes that influence the evolving economic paradigm, in such way as to contradict one of its intrinsic desires, namely, to restrict conflict prevention strategies to effective technical interventions. Eventually, such narrow focus on technical interventions could identify this evolving paradigm as an 'economical' paradigm. In contrast, a rethinking of the ethical economy of conflict prevention provides a useful tool for international organizations when implementing a human rights-based approach to development and long-term conflict prevention.

The book analyses the administrative system in the European Union with a focus on the efficiency and legitimacy of the administrative practices. The administrative system of the European Union is described as a hybrid between a traditional national and an international administration. In the analysis three distinct theoretical perspectives are used (a structural, a procedural and a cultural), thus ensuring that a broad variety of factors are included. Furthermore, in the analysis the administration is seen from the perspective of an individual Eurocrat, but, simultaneously, the overall institutional perspective is maintained by a focus on the effects of the special characteristics of the administrative practices on the efficiency and legitimacy of the administration.

Internationally operating nongovernmental organisations, NGOs, are increasingly involved in international politics and policy making. In many respects their involvement resembles activities and policies that, until recently, were typical of traditional national authorities. This book is about the reasons for which NGOs can and the reasons for which NGOs cannot be considered as rightful participants in international governance. It tries to deliver rationally defensible starting points for the discussion and the assessment of claims for the legitimacy of their organizations and activities. The book focuses on the question: What conditions must ideally be met for an organization to be called truthfully legitimate, be it or be it not as a matter of fact perceived as legitimate by the public? This does not mean that empirically descriptive questions are left aside. Practical feasibility is important even to a thoroughly normative conception of legitimacy. For that reason and for heuristic purposes, large parts of this book are dedicated to the ways in which NGOs and stakeholders perceive NGO legitimacy.

This volume comprises thirteen articles each written to provide an exposition and analysis of a specific topic drawn from the European Convention on Human Rights. Many of these topics are either explored for the first time or from a novel perspective. All the topics are examined and presented from a critical standpoint and some important judgments of the European Court of Human Rights are taken to task. Some of the essays have been previously published in a variety of legal periodicals, and have been reproduced in this volume in order to make them more widely accessible.

Nowadays we are fortunate enough to be experiencing a boom in human rights - an enormous increase of their importance in the international sphere at all levels (political, economic, social, legal and moral). For the first time the condition of the individual as “citizen,” and not just as “subject,” has gained importance. Individuals, and not only states, have now become the subjects of international law, as a result of the boom in humanitarian law and international criminal law. However, although there have been many battles won and goals met concerning human rights, the war against injustice continues and the fight has not ended. It is necessary to stay alert and to avoid a potentially paralyzing self-complacency. This collection focusses on topics that are particularly relevant for the present era. It examines issues such as multiculturalism, globalization, international criminal justice (specifically third and fourth generation rights) and, within this thematic framework, the problems that have come about as a result of the expanding reach of the Internet and of new biomedical advances. In addition, it explores the increasingly urgent challenge of how to respond to international terrorism, in view of worldwide events since September 11, 2001, and its resulting aftermath. Originally published in Spanish, this thought-provoking collection will be of interest to human rights scholars and practitioners alike.

Under international human rights law, states are required to exercise due diligence to prevent, investigate, punish and provide redress for acts of violence against women. Accordingly, the due diligence standard presents a way to measure whether a state has fulfilled its obligations to prevent and respond to violence against women. Despite its growing popularity as a tool for promoting greater state accountability for violence against women by non-state actors, the content and scope of due diligence obligations remain vague. Against the backdrop of contemporary issues that pose threats to women’s rights, the contributors to this volume examine how the due diligence standard and other strategies can be applied as useful mechanisms to combat violence against women in various cultures worldwide.

As the system of human rights special procedures goes forward to deal with the continuing and new challenges of human rights protection it is of great value to record and recall the considerable body of practice and precedents they have developed for the protection of human rights since the first special procedure was established in the mid 1960s. That is the particular merit of this path-breaking book. The author, who was one of the pioneers in the establishment and operation of the system of special procedures, tells in this book the story of the establishment, history, operations, successes and challenges of the special procedures through the lens of efforts for international protection. In the introduction he summarises their protection roles, which he sets out further in the substantive chapters. In the conclusion he provides an assessment of their protection roles. He notes that while they contribute greatly, the challenges of international protection are still many, and the author invites the international community to a higher level of protection.

In times of conflict, women have traditionally been excluded from protection of the law. This book analyzes the treatment of sex and gender crimes under international law by identifying various legal eras, from the inception of international criminal law until its most recent formulation, the Rome Statute. The author conducts her critical journey armed with insights about the development of the crime of rape in domestic law and feminist theories, and exposes gaps and silences in international law's treatment of sex and gender crimes. The author claims that the underlying stratum of sex crimes – the gender stratum – must be acknowledged. Hence, it is not sufficient to treat rape as another offense under existing traditional crime categories. It must also be anchored as a separate crime category that clearly establishes the boundaries of the legal norm, harmonizes different nations’ laws, and eradicates the remnants of patriarchy linked to this offense.

As domestic industrial relations and labor conditions have been seriously challenged by globalization, various international labor standards have been proposed to safeguard and promote labor rights. However, an important question remains: are these rules and standards enforceable and well enforced? Compliance and Compromise: The Jurisprudence of Gender Pay Equity examines the status of one of the core international labor standards—gender pay equity—that has been largely overlooked, and explores how domestic legislative and judicial systems respond to the core International Labor Organization Convention No. 100 on Equal Remuneration. It unravels under what circumstance legislative and judicial compliance occurs, with the novel application of the relatively new theory “transnational legal process” to explicate the phenomenon of “compliance”.

During the last decades of the 20th century, a consensus has emerged that the Dutch Code of Criminal Procedure (CCP), which had entered into force in 1926, had become dysfunctional in connection with both main objectives of criminal procedure. The research project ‘Strafvordering 2001’ aimed at answering the question how a CCP would look which meets contemporary needs and corresponds to state of the art doctrinal views, and is coherent in the sense that it offers a systematic criminal procedure approach. The Dutch government responded to the research findings by means of the introduction of several legislative acts. The contributions in this book discuss the question of whether the legislator has succeeded in improving the law of criminal procedure.

Freedom of expression – particularly freedom of speech – is, in most Western liberal democracies, a well accepted and long established, though contested constitutional right or principle. Whilst based in ethical, rights-based and political theories, such as those of justice, the good life, personal autonomy, self determination, and welfare, as well as arrangements over legitimate government, pluralism and its limits, democracy and the extent and role of the state, there is always a lack of agreement over what precisely freedom of expression entails and how it should be applied. For the purposes of this book we are concerned with freedom of expression and the media with regard to the current application of legal standards and self-regulation to journalistic practice.Justifications for freedom of expression do, in the end, inevitably involve the conduct of the media and it is this that concerns our authors. This book is concerned with these issues as they affect the contemporary media, the practice of journalism and why imposed constraints and the extent of the freedoms attached to freedom of expression are managed, and why they may or may not be ultimately regarded as legitimate or not legitimate. It is the practical matter of contemporary journalism and freedom of expression that concerns us. Consequently this is not a philosophical work so much as a work concerned with the way that freedom of expression is evoked and applied and those arguments that support or refute such evocation and application, focussing on areas of tension between freedom of expression and other considerations. In short, this is a book concerned with what the various authors regard as good practice as well as what they regard as problematic and why. Most of the chapters in this book assume a UK regulatory framework, which, influenced by the EU requirements, imposes a differentiated burden on the broadcast media by comparison with the press and, to some degree, content on the Internet.

This work outlines available resources and proposed standards for international NGO fact-finding missions:Chapter One presents an introduction to the issue of NGO fact-finding. Chapter Two discusses the problems caused by the lack of any generally-accepted guidelines for NGO fact-finding, in contrast with contexts where NGOs have achieved consensus. Chapter Three surveys proposed guidelines for human rights and humanitarian NGOs. In addition, this section examines United Nations fact-finding standards, as well as examples of internal fact-finding standards for major NGOs. Chapter Four analyzes the fact-finding standards used in five specific cases: the International Crisis Group (Kosovo, 1999), the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Conflict in Georgia (Georgia, 2008), United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights Mapping Exercise on the Democratic Republic of Congo (1993-2003), Conflict Analysis Resource Center/University London study on Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (Colombia, 1988-2004), and Human Rights Watch (Lebanon, 2006). The final chapter offers conclusions and recommendations.

For decades, Professor Michael Freeman has without doubt been one of the world's most infuential scholars in international children's rights. His scholarship has been at the forefront of the field and has helped shape many of the developments within it. This collection offers the reader a thought-provoking snapshot of some of his most seminal essays, written and/or published over the past 30 years. Together they highlight above all the interdisciplinary nature of the issues he discusses. Legal doctrinal questions that make the case for recognising that children have rights are of course discussed. But aspects of moral and political philosophy are dealt with as well, in addition to, among other other disciplines, history, theology, psychology and antropology.

The term “human rights” is relatively recent. It was first used in the late 18th century, in the West. However, many of the basic ideas behind that concept had long been current in various other cultures and civilizations. The book traces those ideas on a journey to some unexplored, or insufficiently explored, sources of what we now call human rights, in three stages: ancient China with Confucius and Mencius; the golden age of Islam with Avicenna, Averroes and Ibn Khaldun; and 16th century Spain with Las Casas and de Vitoria. The author’s conclusion is that human rights and the fundamental concepts of reason, justice and dignity which underlie them can be a powerful, leavening source of universal human unity.

Re-understanding the Child’s Right to Identity - On belonging, Responsiveness and Hope, by Ya'ir Ronen offers an innovative understanding of the right to identity aiming to transform its meaning and thus its protection. Drawing on sources from different disciplines, including law, theology, philosophy, psychology and social work, the author offers a vision of social and legal change in which law is a healing force. In it, policies and practice protect children's sense of belonging recognizing human interdependence. They dignify children's disempowered narratives through their responsiveness, protect children's need to be authentic beings and nourish the hope for change and growth in children at risk and their families

In Beyond Parliament Horman Chitonge offers a unique combination of the conceptual dimensions with the practical examples of human rights discourse deployed as an instrument for social change in the global south. He uses the right to water and the right to food to illustrate that human rights are never given on a silver platter; giving effect to human rights is always an outcome of a continuous struggle to protect human dignity and value. To implement this view of human rights, the book argues, requires going beyond the parliamentary politics of recognising and acknowledging human rights in statutes and bill of rights to the radical democratic politics of giving effect to the recognised rights, especially among the poor and marginalised.

The Arab Spring: New Patterns for Democracy and International Law explores a number of critical issues brought to the forefront of the international community as a result of the uprisings which began in the Middle East and North Africa in early 2011. Particularly prominent among these are issues concerning the right to democracy within international law, self-determination, recognition of newly installed governments, the use of force for humanitarian purposes, protection of human rights, and the prosecution of international crimes. This important volume brings together a multitude of fresh voices, and as events in the Arab world continue to unfold, is certain to make a valuable contribution to a meaningful understanding of the “Arab Spring” from a constitutional and international law perspective.

This book analyses the recent and on-going regime changes, their internal causes and the external factors that either stimulate or obstruct political reforms. Comparing today’s political reforms with the evolution of the political systems in the Western world, and especially with the sequencing of and congruence between the development of civil institutions and economic and political systems then and there, permits to reveal serious problems with the current attempts at regime change. A comparison of the processes started by Gorbachev in Russia and the Chinese reforms initiated by Deng Xiaoping, and the current situation in these countries and their respective positions in the world, highlights both the benefits and dangers of radical reforms. The second part of the book is devoted to the study of moral, legal and political aspects of various forms of external interference with the aim of influencing change.

The book is meant to elucidate the concept of justice and its dictates in the various fields of life as well as the implications of injustice. Human rights, the rule of law and democracy are the offspring of justice. The Judiciary is the agent of justice, the persona of justice, trusted to uphold justice in the ever-changing circumstances of life. Of old, justice was perceived as encompassing all virtues. It has a pananthropic character charting the way for symmetry in life and the ascent of man. The book has a lego-philosophical character of interest to every anthropological and societal discipline.

In Unity in Connectivity? Evolving Human Rights Mechanisms in the ASEAN Region, Vitit Muntarbhorn discusses developments concerning the growth of human rights institutions and processes in the regional space known as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Several countries have now set up national human rights commissions.At the regional level, the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights was established recently. This is complemented by a sectoral body dealing with women’s and children’s rights, and another body dealing with migrant workers. Vitit Muntarbhorn analyses these developments from the angle of key challenges facing the region, the need for more checks and balances, and prospects for more effective protection of human rights.This publication has been facilitated by the Ateneo Human Rights Centre of Ateneo de Manila University, the Philippines.