Worst Human Rights Research Articles

Aspirational Rules

A long-standing puzzle in comparative constitutional law revolves around the negative correlation between the number of constitutional rights incorporated in constitutions and a country’s human rights situation. Is it only a correlation, driven by other sociological or historical factors? Is it that committing to more de jure rights hurts the protection of de facto human rights? Or is it that countries with worse human rights records are more likely to amend their constitutions to include more rights? This article discusses an experiment that examines the existence and direction of a causal effect between setting overly ambitious goals and achieving outcomes and the potential mechanisms underlying it. The main finding is that setting overly ambitious goals may not only be counterproductive in the domains in which such goals are set but may also have a negative spillover effect to other domains.

Will Business and Human Rights regulation help Rajasthan's bonded labourers who mine sandstone?

Some of the worst human rights conditions globally are found in Rajasthan’s sandstone quarries. This paper asks if state-based regulation in the economic-North advanced under the Business and Human Rights agenda: disclosure-based regimes, due diligence compliance regimes and trade-based regimes, could advance efforts to improve respect for human rights in this sector. It adopts fields of struggle lens and global value chain theoretical approaches to business power and governance to understand the challenging political and economic dynamics that entrench harm within sandstone quarrying in Rajasthan. This analysis suggests that company-based disclosure and due diligence regimes will struggle to ameliorate these dynamics whilst trade-based approaches hold some potential to generate meaningful change.

Social and Economic Perspective of Domestic Violence During Covid-19: A Comparative Study of Maldives, Malaysia and Pakistan

Domestic violence is a worldwide epidemic, and the UN lists it as the worst human rights violation before the Covid-19 outbreak. A large rise in domestic violence incidents occurred when governments adopted emergency lockdown measures due to a worldwide Covid-19 epidemic. The unprecedented rise in domestic violence cases under Covid-19 serves as a wake-up call for the states. This study aims to examine the reasons for the increase in domestic violence and the methods used by stakeholders to address the issue in South Asian and Far Eastern countries, specifically the Maldives, Pakistan, and Malaysia. This paper adopted the qualitative research method in collecting data. The statistics indicate an alarming surge in domestic violence cases during Covid-19, and clear links exist between Covid-19 and domestic violence, impacting the economic and social crisis. This study confirmes that the state interventions to deal with this social problem are inadequate. Domestic violence has been worsened by growing unemployment, financial stress, anxiety and lack of community services. Furthermore, states have significant difficulties in addressing such issues due to a lack of cooperation across government agencies and stakeholders. Finally, this research recommends policy initiatives and legislative reforms to decrease domestic violence during this crucial period.

Access to Remedy in the European Union in Case of Breaches of Human Rights at Sea by Private Actors

Abstract The aim of this article is to address the specific means of access to remedy that individuals have in the European Union (EU) in case of breaches of human rights at sea by private actors. Currently, the EU is one of the most important international fisheries actors as well as one of the greatest human rights defenders globally. The EU is home of many fisheries companies, whose activities are done both into the EU waters and in the waters beyond national jurisdiction of its States, and certainly have a direct impact on the promotion and protection of human rights. According to the International Labor Organization, some of the worst human rights violations occur on the EU’s board fishing vessels. Although states are mostly responsible for ensuring respect for human rights, the EU shares this responsibility with its Member States in cases of human rights affecting areas where it has competences.

The Neglected North Korean Crisis: Women's Rights

AbstractNorth Korea references gender equality in its socialist constitution, but the de facto social and legal circumstances that women face in the country are far below the de jure status they are purported to enjoy. North Korean women endure extremely low public health standards and pervasive harassment. Yet their growing market power and social influence are underestimated. Women account for the majority of North Korean border crossers, and their informal economic activities are supporting families while modernizing the economy. This essay examines the dangers of exploitation that North Korean women face and highlights the ethical and legal imperatives of supporting their roles in marketizing the economy and liberalizing the society in one of the worst human rights–violating states. Women are North Korea's most deserving recipients of international assistance and the country's most promising partners to the world.

Human Rights: What Does the Future Hold?

Abstract There is no shortage of bad human rights news around the world. Human rights are threatened in dictatorships to consolidated democracies. The rise of nationalist demagoguery within countries and the rise of China as a potential hegemon in the international system pose significant challenges for the realization of universal human rights. Concurrently, a new strain of human rights scholarship has emerged to challenge the progress made in human rights protection over the years and the moral foundation of that progress. The future of human rights at this moment in history is precarious, but three new books provide good speculation for what the future may hold. Human Rights Futures edited by Stephen Hopgood, Jack Snyder, and Leslie Vinjamuri; In Defense of Universal Human Rights by Rhoda Howard-Hassmann; and The Future of Human Rights by Allison Brysk are all reviewed in this essay. The three books revive longstanding debates in human rights scholarship but also point the way for different futures of human rights, some positive and some negative. Ultimately, for the human rights movement to sustain itself and build on its successes for the future, it will need to confront the challenges posed by the nationalist demagogues and the Chinese Communist Party. The human rights movement needs a “second wind,” which it can get if it reaffirms and reemphasizes its support for social and economic rights along with liberal democracy and international law.

Method Violence against women Family friends and neighbours other persons using the SPSS Method

Social ties among urban people are decreasing due to changing work patterns. Increased movement and develop ment of communication. In open spaces and surroundings green, in particular, provides opportunities for social interactions that help residents recognize themselves and build relationships. Trafficking of women and children is one of the worst hu man rights violations. But trafficking is child labour, bonded labour, child marriage, smuggling and trafficking and it is very difficult to estimate the extent of this phenomenon as it is closely related to prostitution. Elder abuse has become a matter of great concern in India in recent times. Today, elder abuse, mental and physical torture and Faced with misbehaviour such as family and society's indifference shame.

Rights, institutions, and Chinese investment abroad

ABSTRACT China has rapidly become one of the leading source countries for foreign direct investment (FDI), though many aspects of Chinese capital remain under examined. In this study we analyze the sociopolitical determinants of Chinese FDI, paying particular attention to the role of human rights and democracy. We hypothesize that Chinese capital is drawn to host countries with worse human rights conditions, given the lack of sensitivity that Chinese firms—particularly state-owned enterprises—have to potential “spotlighting” as well as the underdeveloped status of corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices. However, we posit that Chinese firms will be drawn to more democratic hosts due largely to experiential learning effects (negative experiences with autocratic hosts) and pragmatic advantages of investing in a state with democratic institutions. We test these hypotheses across 195 countries for the years 2005–2013, and find Chinese FDI to be negatively and significantly related to physical integrity rights and positively related to democratic institutions.

Business actors and land restitution in the Colombian transition from armed conflict

ABSTRACT In the field of business and human rights, it is recognised that some of the worst human rights violations related to business actors occur in conflict-affected countries. Yet, little research adresses the potential of domestic transitional justice instruments to provide victims with access to remedy. This article seeks to better understand the functioning of such instruments by presenting a case study of the land restitution mechanism in Colombia. This mechanism constitutes a far-reaching remedy framework for cases of land dispossession, in which business actors appropriated the land of forcibly displaced persons, including extensive legal assistance measures, shifts and reductions in the burden of proof and a binding due diligence obligation for investors. However, its implementation has been rather weak. Drawing on qualitative interviews with experts involved in land restitution proceedings against business actors, the article identifies the main obstacles to these proceedings and develops recommendations on how to improve transitional justice instruments so as to redress victims of business-related human rights violations in post-conflict settings.

Is Religion Really the Enemy of Human Rights? A Reply to Cingranelli and Kalmick

Scholars debate whether religious beliefs and practices promote or hinder human rights. In an article recently published in HRQ, Cingranelli and Kalmick present evidence suggesting that religion is an "enemy" of human rights. They conduct regression analyses showing that frequent religious service attendance and Muslim-majority status are associated with worse human rights practices. This reply challenges their core theoretical arguments and empirical findings. Our attempts to replicate their analyses produced little evidence that religion is detrimental to human rights. Additionally, our findings revealed that the negative Muslim-majority effect is largely localized to Middle Eastern countries.

Modern Slavery in Global Supply Chains: Can National Action Plans on Business and Human Rights Close the Governance Gap?

AbstractFollowing the 2011 endorsement of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs), states have begun to implement National Action Plans (NAPs) to operationalize the UNGPs. Using a case study approach and applying a conceptual framework for polycentric governance, this article aims to provide an early assessment of the effectiveness of NAPs adopted by the United Kingdom and the United States to combat one of the worst human rights abuses in global supply chains: modern slavery. This study demonstrates that both NAPs contain elements addressing the governance gaps surrounding modern slavery, such as enacting new laws, adapting existing regulations, strengthening multi-stakeholder mechanisms for business accountability, and promoting innovation. However, it is argued that the NAPs themselves were not the catalysts for the majority of these measures. This article concludes that states should optimize the five characteristics of polycentric governance outlined in this study to improve the relevance and effectiveness of NAPs as drivers of change.

Adjusted Ratification: Post-Commitment Actions to UN Human Rights Treaties

A rich literature examines human rights treaty commitment and compliance. A subset of this literature has begun to examine the international legal actions states make following treaty ratification. I argue that the ways that states legally engage with treaties following commitment to UN human rights treaties is much more nuanced and differentiated than scholars have thus far presented via Reservation, Understanding, and Declaration. I introduce a first descriptive analysis of what I term Post-Commitment Actions (PCAs) to UN human rights treaties and generate varying hypotheses of why different PCAs have different relationships with expected human rights practices. I conduct a preliminary statistical analysis of the effect of PCAs on human rights practices and find that they are varied and important. Some PCAs result in improved human rights, while others result in worse human rights. I conclude by calling for further future study into these treaty actions.

Reflections on BDS

Reflections on BDS

Human Rights Shaming and FDI: Effects of the UN Human Rights Commission and Council

Do public condemnations by the United Nations human rights bodies lead to foreign direct investment (FDI) loss for abusive regimes? The Human Rights Commission and later Council (UNHRCC) are internationally legitimized tools where member states shame repressive regimes for human rights violations in public resolutions. We argue that these resolutions can influence foreign investors in two main ways: (1) They signal that a state is an outcast, unable to secure alliances within the UN human rights bodies that protect it from being publicly shamed, with negative consequences for investment attractiveness (‘outcast’ effect). (2) They signal that a state is one of the most rogue, severe human rights violators because voting members of the UNHRCC may be aware of many human rights violations, but they pass resolutions only in the harshest cases (‘bottleneck’ effect). Any MNC associated with such a country risks severe reputational damage. Results from a panel data analysis of 165 countries (1977–2013) confirm that UNHRCC condemnations deter FDI. This effect is amplified by media reporting of human rights abuse, and stronger and more robust than a bad human rights record of a state itself. NGO shaming and milder UNHRCC sanctions (which do not reach resolution stage) have less strong effects, although the result on NGO shaming is to be seen with caution due to a reduced sample size.

Assessing the record of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in Latin America's rural conflict zones (1979–2016)

ABSTRACTAnalysing the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights highlights major problems of access to justice in rural Latin America. A majority of the cases ruled on by the Inter-American Court since its inception in 1979 concern violations of human rights in major urban centres. This despite the fact that the worst human rights violations committed in Latin America in recent decades have targeted rural populations. Under specific historical conditions, some rural victims and their advocates have successfully brought their cases to the Inter-American Court. Notably, most of the Colombian cases adjudicated by the court have concerned events in rural conflict zones. In the case of Peru, the focus has been almost exclusively on events in the capital city, Lima. The stark contrast between Colombia and Peru points to a broader trend. Further research must be carried out to determine why, how and with what effect the rural victims of state-sponsored violence have sought international justice remedies, where these efforts have succeeded, and where they have foundered. Human rights mobilisation at the local level determines where Inter-American Court cases originate. This article considers the geographic distribution of cases brought before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights as a function of the strength of advocacy networks connecting rural and urban areas, and beyond, in relation to Latin American histories of dictatorship, counterinsurgency, and the evolution of the inter-American human rights system itself.

R2P, Human Rights, and the Perils of a Bad Human Rights Intervention

This article evaluates the effects certain interventions, namely various types of third party peacekeeping missions, have had on the future human rights practices of countries experiencing civil conflict. I argue that peacekeeping with (a) an un mandate or (b) a strong civilian or humanitarian focus are the only types of missions that should cause gains in human rights performance; these missions are aligned with R2P goals. Using a cross-national sample of countries experiencing civil conflict from 1960 to 2013, I find much evidence that R2P-aligned peacekeeping missions can be a positive force for future human rights performance within countries that have experienced civil conflict, even after we account for the factors that led to the mission in the first place. Advocacy efforts in support of R2P must be careful to call for only interventions with un support and/or clear humanitarian objectives.

Judgement without justice: on the efficacy of the European human rights regime

ABSTRACTThe European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is widely regarded as the most important human rights court worldwide. This article investigates the extent to which the court addresses cases from countries with the worst human rights performance. Using a new data set on all ECtHR judgments from 1995–2012, the analysis suggests that the ECtHR does not deliver its judgments against members of the Council of Europe with the worst human rights records, but instead against more democratic and affluent states. The reason is that litigating in front of a supranational court requires capacities that vulnerable people are unlikely to possess, except when aided by transnational advocacy groups. However, more judgements are issued against countries that lack independent judiciaries, where cases are less likely to be resolved at the domestic level. While the ECtHR might not address the worst human rights crimes, it plays a subsidiary role in the European human rights protection system by compensating for weak domestic judiciaries. However, the court's inability to independently pursue litigation, together with the lack of capacity in some countries to bring cases forward, have hampered more effective protection of human rights for the most vulnerable in Europe.

Locked in Place: Young People's Immobilities and the Slovenian Erasure

The case of Slovenia's erased minority populations (Izbrisani) is cited as one of the worst human rights abuses in contemporary Europe. While engaging debates on the nation-state and neoliberalism, this article discusses the struggles of Izbrisani youth from 1992 to the present day through a consideration of the spatial effects of erasure, including trauma to families forced apart and young people locked in place. Theoretical insights are drawn from Agamben's ideas about bare life, Rancière's politicization of aesthetics, and Žižek's notion of radical ethical acts, which respectively provide lenses for understanding Izbrisani youth privations, awakenings, and transformations.

Corruption and Human Rights

It is a fact that states with a high corruption rate (or a high corruption perception) are at the same time those with a bad human rights situation. Beyond this coincidence, the paper seeks to identify a concrete legal relationship between corruption and deficient human rights protection. This seems relevant in practical terms, because the extant international norms against corruption have so far yielded only modest success; their implementation could be improved with the help of human rights arguments and instruments.This paper therefore discusses a dual question: Can corrupt behaviour be conceptualised as a human rights violation? Should corrupt behaviour be categorised and sanctioned as a human rights violation? My answer is that such a juridical reconstruction is plausible under specific conditions, especially for petty corruption, but that we should be aware of the risks of such reframing of the issue.

Working Paper 20: Corruption and human rights

It is a fact that states with a high corruption rate (or a high corruption perception) are at the same time those with a bad human rights situation. Beyond this coincidence, the paper seeks to identify a concrete legal relationship between corruption and deficient human rights protection. This seems relevant and practical terms, because the extant international norms against corruption have so far yielded only modest success; their implementation could be improved with the help of human rights arguments and instruments.
 This paper therefore discusses a dual question:
 
 Can corrupt behaviour be conceptualised as a human rights violation?
 Should corrupt behaviour be categorised and sanctioned as a human rights violation?
 
 The author's answer is that such a juridic reconstruction is plausible under specific conditions, especially for petty corruption, but that we should be aware of the risks of such reframing of the issue.