Development Of International Human Rights Research Articles

The Intersection of Immigration Law and Human Rights: Current Issues and Future Trends

The objective of this journal is to critically analyze the intersection between immigration laws and human rights, defined in the light of current issues and emerging trends. This provides the historical background of immigration laws and concurrent development of international human rights frameworks as arrangements that often had antagonist purposes. It is a discussion of pressing current issues, namely the world refugee crisis; detention and deportation being practiced vis-а-vis human rights; family unity based on immigration influence. The essay also explores international treaties on human rights-the 1951 Refugee Convention-and national legislation that various countries put into practice within their immigration laws. It does so through a number of case studies drawn from the United States, the European Union, and Australia, all of which show different ways to balance national interests with human rights obligations. The paper looks ahead toward future trends in immigration law, with policy recommendations aimed at more humane asylum procedures, stronger international cooperation, and inclusive immigration policies. The essay also addresses how technology, including artificial intelligence, digital surveillance, and blockchain, can be incorporated into future immigration policies and what could be the possible human rights implications of these. It concludes by calling for a shift toward an approach that is global in nature, based on cooperation and shared responsibility, and the infusion of human rights into immigration law. It is ultimately submitted that the essay, through a task of empathetic analysis, seeks to puzzle out such balance between immigration control and protection of human rights, as would afford a system that is both fair and just, and uphold the dignity and rights of all persons irrespective of migration status.

THE INFLUENCE AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF CONFUCIANISM TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

Confucianism requires individuals to take into account the fairness, justice, harmony and peaceful development of others and the whole society while developing themselves. Contemporary international law lacks this requirement of Confucianism. International law, dominated by western civilization, has neither proper regulation nor necessary condemnation toward some countries’ behaviors of neglecting morality and sacrificing the common interests of mankind when pursuing their own interests. In this regard, Confucianism can play a positive theoretical role in the proper development of contemporary international law for it to return to the direction of justice and morality. Besides, Confucianism itself has a theoretical and historical connection with international law and its natural law thoughts. It also has already made positive contributions to the sustainable development of international law, world peace and the development of international human rights. Thus, it is feasible for Confucianism to contribute to the improvement of contemporary international law. The idea of building a human community with a shared future is the modern interpretation of Confucianism, which can be more systematically used as the theoretical basis for improving contemporary international law, so as to ensure the unity of powers and responsibilities of all countries and to take into account the interests of other countries in their own development.

The human rights turn in climate change litigation and responsibilities of legal professionals

Climate change is already being felt around the world, impacting a range of human rights including ultimately the right to life. While a healthy environment is a pre-condition for the enjoyment of rights, the environment is not mentioned in the foundational human rights document – Universal Declaration of Human Rights – nor is it specifically protected in subsequent international human rights treaties. This artificial division is partially a function of the separate development of international human rights and environmental law in the last century, which today needs urgently to be bridged. Progress is slowly being made, such as the 2021 Resolution recognising the right to a healthy environment by the UN Human Rights Council and the various petitions being lodged before human rights bodies. This column discusses the (long overdue) recognition of the human rights/environment nexus and the subsequent human rights turn in climate change litigation. In light of the challenges still faced when addressing the impacts of climate change under human rights law, we engage in (self-)reflection on the professional responsibilities of judges/decision-makers, lawyers, and scholars as active participants in the development of the law as well as the struggle for climate justice. We urge these legal professionals to be aware of the power they have in shaping these developments, and discuss how their role can be performed responsibly.

„Human Rights With Chinese Characteristics“ – Ein Beitrag Chinas zur Weiterentwicklung internationaler Menschenrechte?

“Human Rights With Chinese Characteristics” – China’s Contribution to the Development of International Human Rights This paper analyses China’s voting behaviour, draft resolutions, and statements regarding human rights issues at the United Nations. First, the paper focuses on China’s position on respect for state sovereignty in human rights issues. Whereas Chinese criticism of “external interference” through country- specific resolutions of the Human Rights Council is well known, this paper adds to the scholarly discourse by evaluating China’s underlying rationale. In doing so, the paper identifies where Chinese behaviour is contradictory and explains China’s strategy of “mutually beneficial cooperation”. The second part of the paper is devoted to China’s insistence on substantiating the duties of the individual under international law. The EU fears that rights of the individual will be made dependent on the fulfilment of duties. The paper examines this accusation regarding its argumentative persuasiveness. The final section analyses Chinese drafted resolutions on the right to development. China’s prioritisation of economic development over political rights proves to be problematic. This article finds that political rights, such as freedom of expression and freedom of assembly, must be guaranteed regardless of a state’s economic development.

The right to education: What is happening for disabled students in New Zealand?

New Zealand is a country of 4.2 million people with a record of meeting and often exceeding human rights standards, and of contributing to the development of international human rights treaties and covenants (New Zealand Human Rights Commission 2010). Despite this, exclusion both from and within education is a reality for some children from minority groups, and in particular, disabled students (Kearney, 2011; MacArthur, 2009; New Zealand Human Rights Commission, 2010). This paper examines disabled students' right to education in New Zealand, highlighting barriers to the realization of this right. Results from a survey of parents of disabled students who had been excluded and/or marginalized from school are reported and discussed in light of national and international literature.

The new sovereigntism and transnational law: Legal utopianism, democratic scepticism and statist realism

Abstract:This article examines the contemporary debate about the spread of transnational law and its sovereigntist critiques. Sovereigntists argue that the rapid development of international and transnational treaties and the emergence of regional human rights courts such as the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) undermine sovereignty and thus pose a threat to democratic self-determination. I criticise the new sovereigntism and argue that transnational human rights strengthen rather than weaken democratic sovereignty, and name processes through which rights-norms are contextualised in polities ‘democratic iterations’. I develop the ‘authorship model of democratic legitimacy’ in order to show how constitutional rights and international human rights can be understood to be in harmony and dissonance with one another. The challenge is to think beyond the binarisms of the cosmopolitan versus the civic republican; democratic versus the international and transnational; democratic sovereignty versus human rights law. Distinguishing between state sovereignty and popular sovereignty enables us to do so. By constraining certain sovereign powers of the state, international human rights regimes and courts can enhance popular sovereignty in that they strengthen the rights of the marginalised and the excluded. The article also briefly touches upon the significance of the Alien Tort Statute in US courts from the standpoint of the development of international human rights norms and focuses onHirst v the United Kingdom, recently adjudicated by the ECtHR, to substantiate the distinction between state and popular sovereignty.

Brazilian Foreign Policy and International Human Rights Promotion: Existing Tensions and Future Prospects

Brazil is important for the present and future development of international human rights. Yet, any immediate expectations that the country will emerge as an active promoter of human rights internationally are likely to remain unfulfilled. Indeed, Brazil’s distinctiveness, both in terms of its domestic human rights record, and in terms of its historical relationship with the international human rights regime, means that the country is likely to impact on debates on the meaning and nature of human rights in the decades to come. From its membership in the so-called BRICS to its leadership role in the exclusive club of G20 countries, Brazil has indeed emerged as a pivotal player in global governance. There are also a host of domestic processes of change that have projected Brazil abroad. From Brazilian companies with mining interests in Africa, increased diplomatic activities and collaborations through various country constellations (IBSA, BRICS), through to its significant soft power projection, Brazil’s international profile is more varied and extensive than ever before.Much of the international interest in Brazil in recent years reflects a widespread view that the country matters for the outside world. The very active foreign policy agenda pursued by former president Lula da Silva raised Brazil’s international profile. And, although current president Dilma Rousseff has increasingly turned inward over the course of her administration the image of a ‘rising’ Brazil remains prevalent. It is of course not the first time that outside observers have had high expectations on Brazil. But what may be most striking in the current conjuncture is that these are increasingly matched by domestic expectations in Brazil that the country should take its rightful place in elite international fora. Whether these expectations are likely to be fulfilled is a matter of dispute. For many international observers, particularly in the financial press, the recent sluggish performance of the Brazilian economy raises significant doubts. For other even more hardnosed observers, Brazil’s limited military might, its hard power, seriously questions the capacity of Brazil to play any influential role on the global scene. Brazil remains a moderate military power, and will do so for the foreseeable future.Still, whether Brazil is actually rising – however one may measure it – is at least partly distinct from the international perceptions of and expectations on the country’s rise. It may not be quite as simple as this, but as long as these perceptions and expectations persist, Brazil will continue its ascent. Important questions remain unanswered however, regarding Brazil, the character, meaning and direction of its rise. In this short article the aim is to assess, on the one hand, the considerable hopes that many have invested in Brazil, but also, on the other hand, to illustrate the many uncertainties that accompany Brazil’s foreign policy in general and with regards to the promotion of human rights abroad in particular.

Human rights in a global ecumene

How should we understand the cultural politics that has surrounded the development of international human rights? Two perspectives frame contemporary debate. For ‘cultural particularists’, human rights are western artefacts; alien to other societies, and an inappropriate basis for international institutional development. For ‘negotiated universalists’, a widespread global consensus undergirds international human rights norms, with few states openly contesting their status as fundamental standards of political legitimacy. This article advances an alternative understanding, pursuing John Vincent's provocative, yet undeveloped, suggestion that while the notion of human rights has its origins in European culture, its spread internationally is best understood as the product of a ‘universal social process’. The international politics of individual/human rights is located within an evolving global ecumene, a field of dynamic cultural engagement, characterized over time by the development of multiple modernities. Within this field, individual/human rights have been at the heart of diverse forms of historically transformative contentious politics, not the least being the struggles for imperial reform and change waged by subject peoples of diverse cultural backgrounds; struggles that not only played a key role in the construction of the contemporary global system of sovereign states, but also transformed the idea of ‘human’ rights itself. In developing this alternative understanding, the article advances a different understanding of the relation between power and human rights, one in which rights are seen as neither simple expressions of, or vehicles for, western domination, nor robbed of all power-political content by simple notions of negotiation or consensus. The article concludes by considering, in a very preliminary fashion, the implications of this new account for normative theorizing about human rights. If a prima facie case exists for the normative justifiability of such rights, it lies first in their radical nature—in their role in historically transformative contentious politics—and second in their universalizability, in the fact that one cannot plausibly claim them for oneself while denying them to others.

The Development and Interpretation of International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law Rules and Principles through the Case-Law of the International Court of Justice

The contribution of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to the interpretation and development of international human rights and humanitarian law rules and principles is a topic of growing interest and importance. Claims of breaches of norms of both these branches of law have been raised in a considerable number of cases brought before the ICJ in the last two decades. By clarifying the complementary application of international human rights and humanitarian law and by awarding natural and legal persons a right to reparations vis-à-vis the State the ICJ has rendered a valuable contribution to a better protection of individual rights under the general framework of international law. This contribution of the Court is illustrated by focusing mainly on the advisory opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, and the Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo case. That not only for reasons of space constraints, but also because of the considerable leaps forward made through these cases.

Watching Over the Rights of Women

This article examines the implementation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) to critically consider its effectiveness as a bill of rights for women. After having discussed the need for such a convention for women it examines the vital role that non-governmental organisations (NGOs) play in the implementation of the Convention. As of March 2005, 180 countries – 90 per cent of the members of the United Nations – were party to this Convention. However, the document is one of the most highly reserved international human rights instruments and although many nations have ratified the Convention they have done so conditionally. Despite these reservations, women's NGOs have used CEDAW as a powerful tool to effect change. Yet, whilst CEDAW has been heralded as a significant step in the development of international human rights, women across the globe still suffer abuse because they are women. There is a need therefore to suggest ways forward in order to ensure the improvement of human rights for women.

Dynamics of International Human Rights in Japan

Starting with a preliminary evaluation of Canadian human rights practices, the author critically traces the development of international human rights ih Japan. While the country has been aflfcted favourably by the newly-emerging international human rights regime, judicial reluctance to acknowledge the relevance of human dignity leads the author to conclude that there is still a long way to go in achieving the desired situation. The article ends with a calI for the acceptance of treaty-based individual petition procedures, which in his view may effectively induce the judiciary to open up to the universal norms for the protection of human rights.

The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Prepares to Act Against Anti-Gypsy Violence

The Organization (Conference) on Security and Co-operation in Europe has just held a meeting in Budapest which was widely touted as a flop for its failure to achieve agreement on Bosnia. Its only reported action was to change its own name to “Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe.” But, tucked away in the small print of the final document (paragraphs 25-6), is a resolution to appoint within the Office for Development of International Human Rights (OCJIHR) “a contact point for Roma and Sinti (Gypsy) issues.” This will act as a clearing-house for information, facilitate contacts between state and international and non-governmental organizations, working closely with Gypsy organizations. What this will mean in practice is not yet clear; but those who have pushed for this development have a clear agenda.

Challenging patriarchal privelege through the development of international human rights

fundamental boundaries of patriarchal privelege have been preserved and perpetuated through the establishment of elaborate normative systems of gender-based oppression. These systems, flexible and responsive to diverse conditions, are fully operational across time and space, from the familial through the national and international levels. This article examines the issues of women's rights within the context of the struggle to conceptualize human rights. It reviews contemporary international efforts to establish human rights legislation and argues that the process has been seriously impeded by the patriarchal nature of the three generations of human rights. Although some sensitivity to issues of women's rights has been exhibited, the dismal conditions of women all over the world generally, and in Africa specifically, are due in large part to the disaggregation of women's rights from conceptualizations of human rights. It is argued that the demise of normative systems of gender-based oppression is dependent upon reconceptualizations that serve to merge women's rights with struggles to conceive of and implement human rights.