Application Of Human Rights Standards Research Articles

A paradigm shift in disaster management: Incorporating a human rights-based approach to disaster risk reduction.

Understanding disasters as socially constructed events represents a departure from current and historic ways in which disasters are characterized, requiring a focal shift in thinking from forces of nature toward social order. Changing societal reactions to evolving natural occurrences restores disasters within the social order, introducing law as an essential framework in approaching disasters as injustices as opposed to misfortunes. International attention is starting to shift strategies intended to reduce risks to natural or man-made hazards and increasing attention on methods toward minimizing their impact known as disaster risk reduction (DRR). DRR is "a policy aimed at preventing new and reducing existing disaster risk and managing residual risk, all of which contribute to strengthening resilience and therefore to the achievement of sustainable development." The development of normative frameworks to reinforce disaster governance is a significant component in enhancing disaster management systems. Disaster law is an emerging tool to regulate "governance, ethics, and decisions on the demands of a sustainable, inclusive, and healthy planet." International legal frameworks heavily influence disaster prevention and preparedness with an increased central focus on implementing International Human Rights Law in DRR practices. Legal structures protecting human rights in DRR initiatives positively obligate states to take proper and necessary actions to prevent harm from future disasters. The application of human rights standards fosters the paradigm shift from evaluation of the hazards impact toward assessments of states' negligence of risks. Interactions among the natural environment, socio-demographics, and the built environment are strong predictors for disaster losses, thus "the regulatory potential for avoiding disasters and reducing their consequence is obvious." Preventative action becomes a crucial element if the catalyst of the disaster event is failure to adequately prepare and social vulnerability. Disaster law encompasses participation, damage control, and local habitat management as mandatory conditions of governance, assigning criminal liability to public administrators' negligence toward disaster planning and/or enforcement. Disaster law produces a "sustainable, reliable, and cost-effective model for addressing disasters," empowering communities to participate in disaster management efforts, one of the strongest methods of building resilience and reducing risk to disasters.

Life of Congolese school children in refugee camp in Burundi: applicability of human rights standards and conventions relating to the status of refugees

Life of Congolese school children in refugee camp in Burundi: applicability of human rights standards and conventions relating to the status of refugees

Applicability of human rights standards in Turkish football arbitration: the contribution of the European Court of Human Rights

The sole governing body in the field of football, the Turkish Football Federation (TFF), performs official tasks assigned to it by the legislation and has been furnished with the opportunity to benefit from public privileges. The Arbitration Board of TFF is the compulsory and ultimate legal forum for disciplinary and administrative issues, and no appeal is allowed to court in accordance with Article 59 (3) of the Turkish Constitution and the relevant provisions of the Law No. 5894. However, constitutional law and human rights concerns are almost totally neglected in the field of Turkish football. TFF has rejected to apply human rights standards, and the Turkish Constitutional Court has approved TFF’s approach. That is why victims of alleged human rights violations have applied to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for the actions and decisions of TFF. ECtHR has very recently started to examine the disputes regarding football matters brought against Turkey and has invited the Turkish Government to provide its responses in eight applications pending before it. Possible outcomes of these pending cases are not yet known. Thus, this article seeks to analyze whether and under which circumstances TFF’s activities and decisions can be attributed to the Turkish State under the ECHR, and the applicability of fair trial standards to compulsory arbitration. The article argues that taking into account of TFF’s legal nature as a quasi-public authority and the existence of the compulsory arbitration as a sole legal remedy in football-related disputes, governmental human rights responsibility, is triggered under European Convention on Human Rights.

(Ne)pomirljivost kazne doživotnog zatvora i ljudskih prava

Since May 2019, Serbia has joined the majority of European countries which have the sentence of life imprisonment in their criminal justice systems. Despite the refusal of the competent authorities to hold a public hearing on the issue, the introduction of life imprisonment, excluding the possibility of conditional release of convicted persons for certain offenses punishable by this sentence, was met with noticeable interest and activism by representatives of the domestic and international professional public. Particular attention in the paper is devoted to human rights standards relating to life imprisonment, mainly stemming from the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights. The paper analyzes the possibility of application of human rights standards within the current criminal law legislation. At the end of the paper, the author points to possible de lege ferenda directions that could represent an alternative to life imprisonment, considering it a serious challenge for protection of the dignity of convicted persons.

The adaptability of international arbitration: Reforming the arbitration mechanism to provide effective remedy for business-related human rights abuses

This paper analyses the potential for international arbitration to provide effective remedy for business-related human rights abuses. Since the proliferation of international arbitration, the default arbitration mechanism as it stands has been contemplated by and large for the resolution of cross-border commercial disputes where the primary interests are efficiency and finality. However, there is evidence that human rights issues have emerged in international arbitration. Accordingly, if arbitration is to be used in such cases, the mechanism must be adapted in light of the particular issues that arise in the adjudication of human rights; the balance between transparency and confidentiality, reprisals against victims and human rights defenders, collective redress, financial assistance, the applicability of human rights standards. If proper procedures are in place to contemplate the particular interests involved in cases where the substantive claims involve human rights, the advantage of international arbitration is that it can provide direct access in a neutral forum for holding companies accountable where national jurisdictions are unavailable or difficult to access. This article begins by analysing the historical development of international arbitration so as to demonstrate a pattern of adaptability and flexibility vis-à-vis the subject matter of cross-border disputes. The article will then contemplate the potential of and concerns for international arbitration, putting forward specific recommendations for reforms of the international arbitration mechanism in cases where the substantive claims involve business-related human rights abuses.

On the Issue of Inadmissibility of Infringing the Right to a Fair Trial of Criminal Cases under the Guise of Protecting State Sovereignty

The author examines the issue of the prospects for the direct application of human rights standards in the regulation of criminal procedural activity. In this regard, the key attention is paid to the provisions of art. 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, as well as art. 6 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the right to a fair trial of criminal cases. It is assumed that only a fair and impartial court is able to ensure the progressive development of society, its stability and security of citizens. Based on the analysis of the main possible ways of further development of the criminal procedural legislation, one of which is related to the increase of formal requirements for criminal procedural activity, and the other - with increased attention to the natural-legal principles of the application of the law, preference is given to the second approach. Based on the analysis of the monuments of world jurisprudence, the study of the history of the formation of international human rights law, it is concluded that it is impossible to overcome the progressive movement towards the triumph of the humanitarian status of the person recognized by the international community. In this regard, the Constitutional Court of the Russian Federation, assessing the correctness of the European Court of Human Rights interpretation of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, should be guided by world standards. In addition, there is a need for widespread respect for the need to respect the right to a fair trial.

Responses to Salduz : Procedural Tradition, Change and the Need for Effective Defence

This article examines the responses of national courts to the ECtHR's decision in Salduz v Turkey that suspects be provided with access to a lawyer before they are first interrogated by the police. It argues that harmonious application of human rights standards in criminal proceedings should build upon common values underpinning the procedural traditions of member states. ECtHR success in gaining acceptance for the principle of access to a lawyer during police interrogation, anchoring it in the privilege against incrimination, is contrasted with resistance towards giving the defence any active role during criminal investigations. It is argued that this resistance can be overcome by an appeal to safeguards that have long dominated the trial process. As the investigation phase increasingly determines the outcome of criminal proceedings, standards of fairness traditionally reserved for the trial process should be applied also to this phase in order to provide suspects with an effective defence.

Reframing Relationships: Revisiting the Procedural Standards for Refugee Status Determination in Light of Recent Human Rights Treaty Body Jurisprudence

This article reassesses the question of whether international human rights law fixes procedural parameters for the determination of refugee status. Based on a detailed jurisprudential analysis, the study shows that Human Rights Treaty bodies of both universal and regional aspiration contribute positively to clarifying the minimum procedural standards applicable to this aspect of refugee protection. Drawing on recent groundbreaking decisions, the study finds general agreement among these transnational human rights bodies that human rights guarantees do regulate the process of refugee status determination. Nonetheless, it equally illustrates that each treaty body frames the applicability of human rights standards to refugee status determination in a different way. The article concludes that the tension between these two dynamics of the treaty body jurisprudence – convergence in result but divergence in approach – raises certain questions about our wider understanding of the relationship(s) between refugee law and human rights law.

Victims of ‘private’ crimes and application of human rights in interpersonal relations

International human rights law has been challenged because of its alleged inability to safeguard the rights of the most vulnerable victims of violence. Whereas in real life they are often marginalized and effectively left without adequate protection, this is not to be attributed to the absence of an appropriate normative framework but rather to the contempt, lack of enforcement and systemic neglect of their claims. This paper proposes to find a ?cure? inside international human rights law, by strengthening the mechanisms that permit a horizontal application of human rights standards in private relations. The paper is divided in four sections. The first section describes the problematic at hand, focusing in particular on violence against women and children. The three subsequent sections then analyze the avenues open to victims in order to claim a ?third-party? application of human rights treaties against non-state actors who have violated their fundamental rights.

Extent of Applicability of Human Rights Standards to Proceedings before the International Criminal Court: On Possible Reductive Factors

Today, it is not seriously challenged that human rights law applies to proceedings before the International Criminal Court. The exact boundaries of this statement, however, might be less clear. The present article argues that the extent of applicability of human rights law cannot be precisely described unless the specific nature of the Court and of international criminal justice in general is taken into consideration. More concretely, it will be demonstrated that the exact scope of applicability of human rights standards to the ICC setting can only be addressed by referring to inherent characteristics (both of the Court and of the international criminal system as a whole) that could possibly bear a reductive impact on that scope. It will be argued throughout the analysis that several of these specific features are indeed capable of reducing the level of protection, while on a closer look others do not display such influence.

The Applicability of Human Rights Standards to International Policing

International policing is an area of exponential growth for the United Nations and other international organizations such as the European Union. International police officers are tasked with a wide array of responsibilities, including police reform, training, monitoring and executive policing. This raises the question how human rights standards become applicable to international policing. The international human rights law applicable to international policing can be derived from legal sources specifically related to UN and non-UN peace operations and through general human rights law. From a legal perspective, the compliance with international human rights may be regarded as the final test when assessing the success or failure of international police operations.

Incorporating social rights in development: transnational corporations and the right to water

AbstractIn attempts to improve the efficiency of development efforts over the past few decades private sector participation in the delivery of basic services has been promoted to a varying extent. Roughly in tandem with this, there has been movement to increase the accountability of corporations, particularly transnational corporations (TNCs), for human rights violations. Rather than engaging directly in the legal debate about the applicability of human rights standards to corporate activity, this article essentially looks at the issue from the inside out through the collection of empirical evidence. By focusing on the emergent right to water as a case-study, it examines how TNCs engaged in water service delivery in the development context understand and use the language of rights. In doing so, it discusses how current engagement by the TNCs with human rights language may influence proposed corporate human rights accountability frameworks and current attempts to close the globalisation governance gap.

Sexual and reproductive rights at the United Nations: frustration or fulfilment?

Over the past 20 years, advocates have gained formal recognition for some rights in sexuality and reproduction and established the application of human rights standards to sexual and reproductive health issues more generally. However, careful reflection on the state of norm development across sexuality and reproduction as a field reveals fractures and stagnation in the development of standards, and a lack of synergy among advocates and between frameworks for similar rights. This paper seeks to stimulate a more careful accounting for these realities. It examines the formal processes and rules guiding standard-setting, in light of the different intellectual and ideological genealogies of sexual and reproductive rights. We use (homo)sexual orientation and abortion as case studies of current high-profile human rights standard-setting, with specific attention to the contemporary state of human rights law-making in the United Nations today. By placing these two issues in conjunction, we seek to make visible relationships between the vicious political debates in the UN on abortion and sexual orientation, and the multiple and sometimes divergent statements of independent experts and expert bodies in the UN human rights system on these and other sexual and reproductive rights issues. We offer no answers but seek to highlight the need for more investigation and self-reflection by advocates and scholars on how these forces operate and how to work with them.

Caught between Different Legal Pluralisms: Women Who Wear Islamic Dress as the Religious ‘Other’ in European Rights Discourses

Legal pluralism is a phenomenon defined differently by scholars researching European law and scholars researching issues concerning cultural and religious accommodation. Whereas European law scholars focus on possible theoretical tools for conflict resolution between intersecting European legal systems, scholars focusing on multiculturalism argue that cultural and religious legal pluralism conveys a dynamic relationship between official and unofficial law drawn out by migration and issues of accommodating a primarily Muslim diaspora in Europe. Yet, seemingly differently defined, these pluralisms have an equally important impact on the understanding of fundamental human rights in Europe. They both influence national law and shape the boundaries of rights, such as freedom of religion.Building upon established notions of legal pluralism, the paper provides a critical analysis of the application of human rights standards in European normative orders and argues that the rights of the religious ‘other’ are caught in an interplay of various types and forms of legal pluralism(s) in which issues of inclusion often remain secondary. It focuses upon the key example of women who wear a hijab (headscarf) or a jilbab (a long coat like garment which covers the body except the hands and face) and who were the central focus of European Court of Human Rights cases such as Dahab v Switzerland and Sęhin v Turkey, and of domestic cases, for example, R (on the application of Begum) v Headteacher and Governors of Denbigh High School. The paper re-orders and re-constructs certain forms of legal pluralism and also focuses on the relationships between them.

Applicability of Human Rights Standards to Private Corporations: An American Perspective

Applicability of Human Rights Standards to Private Corporations: An American Perspective

Applicability of Human Rights Standards to Private Corporations: An American Perspective

Applicability of Human Rights Standards to Private Corporations: An American Perspective

The Application of Human Rights Standards by German Courts to Asylum-Seekers, Refugees and other Migrants

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The Application of Human Rights Standards to Asylum Cases: The Dutch Example

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