United Nations International Covenant Research Articles

Implementing the human right to science in the context of health-related data processing.

This paper contributes to the exploration of the potential application of duties related to the diligent anticipation of the (imminent) harms and (potential) benefits to humans that scientific innovation engenders to health-related contexts. In particular, it addresses the intersection between the human right to science and health-related data processing, which plays a key role in the production, translation and implementation of biomedical knowledge. The first part of the paper provides a brief recap of the interpretation of the right to science based on Art. 15 (1) (b) of the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (hereafter ICESCR or Covenant) and the resulting obligations for States in the context of health and related data processing. The second part of the paper defines the relevance of the ICESCR for EU Member States and the European Union. In the third part, theses are put forward on how the human right to science and the obligations under Art. 15 (1) (b) ICESCR influence the interpretation and application of the General Data Protection Regulation as secondary EU law. By examining the justifications for using the right to science to interpret EU data protection law and by providing interpretation and application guidance on the main data protection principles in the area of health-related data processing, taking this right into account, the aim is to shape the EU data governance framework to meet the requirements of this human right. In doing so, the paper aims to close the gaps in the interpretation and application of the main rules of EU data protection law. Such standardization in the health-related context can contribute to a coherent interpretation and application of existing rules by referring to this emerging human right. Against this background, the paper identifies governance measures that the EU legislator could take to guide the processing of health-related data in line with the requirements of the right to science.

International Perspectives on Jordan’s Legislation on Deprivation of Liberty Prior to Trial

Abstract The right to personal liberty is fundamental for individuals and societies based on the rule of law. The United Nations Universal Declaration on Human Rights and United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights broadly define rules limiting possible pre-trial detention and protecting against arbitrary detention. Since 1961 the Code of Criminal Procedure has regulated detention in Jordan and in 2017, there were comprehensive revisions of the Code on these matters. To better understand factors that shaped the scope of the Code revisions in 2017 and to question whether the Code of Criminal Procedure fully adheres to ICCPR international human rights norms, this paper will draw upon political and legal debates prior to 2017 and upon legislative amendments, legislative text and subsequent jurisprudence. In so doing, this paper will critically examine whether the Jordanian legislation respects the right of personal liberty.

International health and safety standards after Brexit

Brexit is seen by many in the UK government and the Conservative Party as an opportunity to further undermine workers’ rights and intensify the ‘race to the bottom’ under the guise of improving the UK’s global competitiveness. It looks very likely that workplace health and safety standards in particular will come under renewed attack. At the same time, the advent of new trade agreements with other states and trading blocs will mean that UK compliance with benchmark international standards on regulation generally, and worker health and safety in particular, will come under more intense scrutiny. The ILO is the single most important organisation charged with developing global legal standards for workplace rights. Historically, the UK government has deliberately avoided formal agreement with ILO health and safety standards. It has only ratified 6 of the 36 ‘up-to-date’ and interim health and safety Conventions and Protocols. This puts it on par with the following countries that have also ratified 6: Cameroon, Comoros,El Salvador, Guyana, Libya, Lithuania, Mauritius, Mozambique, North Macedonia, and Saudi Arabia. In a league table of EU states’ ratification of ILO health and safety Conventions and Protocols, the UK is 26th out of 28. Only Romania and Estonia have signed up to less. Despite this appalling record of non-ratification, the UK remains bound by both the European Social Charter and the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Those treaties use ILO health and safety Conventions as the primary source of their evolving standards. This means that ILO standards apply to the UK, albeit indirectly, even if it has not yet ratified the relevant ILO instruments.This will remain the case whether or not the UK continues to be bound by the EU treaties and regardless of the type of trade agreement agreed between the UK and the EU, or any another trading bloc or state.This article argues that the UK trade union movement must take the initiative in demanding that the UK complies with ILO standards. This means ratifying those Conventions and Protocols it is yet to sign up to and ensuring effective implementation of those that it has. UK government compliance with international law will not be achieved easily. Ultimately this is a goal that must be fought for through renewed trade union campaigns at a political level as well as at a workplace level.

Implementing OPCAT through prison monitoring: the relevance of rehabilitation

ABSTRACTThe purposes of imprisonment are always debated but it is expected that people leaving prison are changed such that they do not reoffend: that they are rehabilitated. Indeed the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights spells out rehabilitation as the ‘essential aim’ of imprisonment. Rehabilitation in the prison context may involve (for example) provision of education, training, work experience, addressing offending behaviours, and maintaining family contacts. Yet Australian prison statistics show that our prisons are not proving rehabilitative, and specifically are not preventing reoffending. Ratification of the Optional Protocol to the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (OPCAT) requires establishment of comprehensive monitoring frameworks to prevent ‘torture and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment’ in places of detention. This article examines the scope for the inclusion of rehabilitation in prison monitoring under OPCAT. It makes the argument that the rehabilitative orientation of a prison is linked to the risk of cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, and that prevention of such treatment requires attention to whether the prison is ‘rehabilitative’. It concludes that Australian jurisdictions should ensure the widest scope for OPCAT monitoring to support the rehabilitative goal of Australian prisons.

La colisión de derechos y su impacto en el acceso a medicamentos esenciales: desafíos para Suramérica

The collision between intellectual property rights and the right to health due to obligations assumed simultaneously –the WTO TRIPS Agreement and the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights– by the twelve countries of South America, has had a profound impact regarding their populations access to essential medicines. The paper reports this situation in the region, while placing it in the context of the debate on trade and human rights, which has been particularly strong since the beginning of this century in the field of public health. The need for South American countries to strengthen intraregional cooperation as well as the promotion of South-South cooperation in access to essential medicines, taking into account the prevalence of pharmaceutical patents held by private laboratories in the northern hemisphere, is underlined. The advances made in this direction by the South American Health Council of Unasur, together with its actions as a regional bloc at the WTO meetings, are promising steps that must be complemented by the development of joint drug production capabilities.

The World’s Oldest Democracy and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights at 70

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) turned seventy years old last year (2018). The Declaration’s original advocates asserted that the Declaration would be nonbinding. Subsequent international legislation, however, specifically the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, formalized the Declaration into international law, as did specific states’ ratifications of the International Covenant. This essay examines several Articles of the Universal Declaration and asks whether, domestically, the United Kingdom, which was one of the main advocates of the Universal Declaration, is living up to its obligations. I conclude that on several key Articles, the United Kingdom is not fulfilling its obligations with respect to domestic policies.

La colisión de derechos y su impacto en el acceso a medicamentos esenciales: desafíos para Suramérica

La colisión del derecho a la salud y del derecho de propiedad intelectual generada por las obligaciones que simultáneamente asumen los doce países de Suramérica en el marco del Pacto Internacional de Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales de la ONU, por una parte, y en el Acuerdo sobre los ADPIC de la OMC, por la otra, ha supuesto un profundo impacto en el acceso a medicamentos esenciales para sus poblaciones. Este trabajo da cuenta de esta situación en los países de la región, al tiempo que lo sitúa en el contexto del debate sobre el comercio y los derechos humanos que se desata con especial fuerza desde principios de este siglo en el ámbito de la salud pública. Se destaca la necesidad de los países de Suramérica de fortalecer la cooperación intrarregional y el impulso a acciones de cooperación Sur-Sur en materia de acceso a medicamentos esenciales, teniendo en cuenta el predominio de patentes farmacéuticas detentadas por laboratorios privados del hemisferio norte. Los avances en esta dirección del Consejo Suramericano de Salud de Unasur, unidos a sus actuaciones como bloque regional ante la OMS, constituyen pasos promisorios que deben ser complementados con el desarrollo de capacidades de producción conjunta de medicamentos.

The right to education as a fundamental human right

The right to education is a fundamental human right proclaimed by Articles 13 and 14 of the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (1966). Ratifying this document, state parties fully agree ‘that education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and the sense of its dignity, and shall strengthen the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms’. The right to education is considered as a fundamental human right in a series of other 20th century international documents, which guarantee and protect this right for everyone, irrespective of race, colour, religion, gender, social status, etc. This paper aims to respond to questions on the observance of this right and whether it has been limited. The research is based on international documents that regulate this specific category, as well as on the respective legislation and practice within educational institutions in the Republic of Macedonia.
 Keywords: Education, fundamental human rights, covenant, law.

Transnational Responses to Cyber Crimes Challenges in the 21st Century: An Appraisal of Existing Treaties, a Call for a General Multi-Lateral Treaty

Cybercrimes as its name suggests are committed in the world of internet and computers. The 21st century has experienced and is experiencing a tremendous geometric growth in the realm of information technology. These measures of development adversely birthed the corresponding measure of increase in cybercrimes. The world is transcending into a dispensation where a tomato seller will transact with a Point of Sale terminal (POS). The enigma posed by the threat to security of personal data and privacy in the online environment whether can be mitigated or eradicated by cyber laws will be duly addressed in this article. The responses of different jurisdictions to this menace are unparalleled and there has been a great development in cyber legislations across the world. The default page of articles, papers and news have been greatly centered on the cyber world and both developed and developing nations are eagle eyed on this catastrophic brouhaha, and have placed certain legislations in place to combat the threat of cyber criminals. It is however important to note that cybercrimes are transnational and ought to be given a transnational response. The upsurge of cybercrimes have not only necessitated national awakening within States but also the international, regional and sub-regional organizations are alert to put up measures in form of multilateral treaties for the purpose of ensuring that cybercrimes are covered within the ambit of the law. The right to privacy is acknowledged in different instruments of international treaties. Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 17 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights both state that, “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary interference with his privacy, family, home or correspondence, nor to attacks upon his honour and reputation. Everyone has the right to the protection of the law against such interference or attacks.” The concept and idea of rights to data protection and all have been implied in national and international laws. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission in Nigeria (EFCC) have been empowered by law to try matters that involve cybercrimes. The Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) is the body empowered by government to fight all forms of financial crimes including cybercrimes in Nigeria. The Cybercrimes (Prohibition, Prevention, etc.) Act 2015 also expressly provides for the cybercrimes related offences punishable under the Nigerian law but to what extent are the operations of these legislations? The establishment of the e-commerce industry has taken place as the wider digital value chain has expanded with the availability and efficiency of e-payments. E-commerce means the act of offering, buying, or providing goods and services via computer systems and telecommunications networks such as the Internet or any other network using electronic, optical or similar media for distance information exchange. Premised on this, Industry watchers have expressed the fear of electronic fraud thereby preferring a pay-on-delivery (PoD) style to bridge the lack of confidence in the system. Hence, greater security measures must be put in place by service providers and regulators altogether. Laws must also be duly passed to govern these. The introduction of the Bank Verification Number (BVN) idea in Nigeria banking sector has in a moment given rise to a number of internet frauds. Greater security measures are needed as people’s data and privacy can be accessed with ease across the world. This article will however discuss the measures put up by international, regional and sub-regional agreements so far in respect of cybercrimes, the need to update cyber laws and treaties to meet current challenges in the internet world.

A Human Rights-Based Approach to Poverty Reduction: The Role of the Right of Access to Medicine as an Element of the Right of Access to Health Care

A Human Rights-Based Approach to Poverty Reduction: The Role of the Right of Access to Medicine as an Element of the Right of Access to Health Care

KULTURA I ROZWÓJ JAKO PODSTAWOWE KATEGORIE ODNIESIENIA W TWORZĄCYM SIĘ PRAWIE LUDÓW TUBYLCZYCH

CULTURE AND DEVELOPMENT AS THE BASIC CATEGORIESOF REFERENCE IN THE EMERGING LAW OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES Summary In contemporary international relations indigenous peoples constitute particular ethnic communities waiting for a long time for the regulation of their status as subjects of international law. Paradoxically, decolonisation, which helped many colonial societies gain national rights, has not only left the issue of indigenous peoples in countries formerly colonised by the White Man unresolved but has also complicated their status. In practice former colonies such as the United States, Canada, Australia or New Zealand have not regulated the legal status of indigenous peoples, relegating them politically and economically to the margins of society. The rights of indigenous peoples as minority groups living in the former Soviet Union, who are not at all colonial peoples officially, have not been defined either. The category of indigenous peoples now extends to many ethnic groups living in nation-states, who are culturally and linguistically distinct with respect to the dominant segments of the national society. However, assigning the attributes of indigenous peoples to them in the strict sense of the term is questionable and is not dealt with in this article. This article traces the process which leads to indigenous peoples acquiring the status of a fully-fledged subject of international law. It describes attempts that have been made to interpret the rights of indigenous peoples on the grounds of the universal instruments of international law. The principal documents are the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Declaration on the Granting of Independence to Colonial Countries and Peoples (1960), the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (1966), the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966), and finally the Declaration on Principles of International Law Concerning Friendly Relations and Cooperation Among States in Accordance with the Charter of the United Nations (1992). Despite the progress made in granting indigenous peoples their rights with the adoption of the UN Declaration on Indigenous Rights (2007), it is still difficult to talk of full success, i.e. the recognition of the international identity and rights of indigenous peoples on a par with other sovereign nations.

PENETAPAN PIDANA MATI DALAM PERPEKTIF HUKUM ISLAM DAN INTERNATIONAL COVENANT ON CIVIL AND POLITICAL RIGHTS (ICCPR)

The death penalty is a polemic in the discourse of law and human rights in today's modern world. This is because there is a presumption that the death penalty was considered inhuman punishment. Therefore, the United Nations International Covenant megeluarkan on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) as a global treaty that restricts the execution of the country that still has the death penalty. It was considered a solution to keep kelansungan human life includes the right to life, freedom, and human beings have the right to determine his life. View as it affected the Islamic law that still impose the death penalty is deemed to violate human rights. Therefore, the author tries to find common ground between the ICCPR and the fundamental Islamic law. ICCPR and Islamic law possessed the same goal is to maintain public order, protect the whole of society and the state, and yet both of these elements possessed a different approach.

A Human Rights-Based Approach to Poverty Reduction: The Role of the Right of Access to Medicine as an Element of the Right of Access to Health Care

The prevention and treatment of infectious diseases remain among the greatest challenges faced by today's developing countries. The World Health Organisation estimates that about one-third of the world's population lacks access to essential medicine, a fact which, according to the United Nations, directly contradicts the fundamental principle of health as a human right. According to the World Summit for Social Development, poor health and illness are factors that contribute to poverty, while the adverse effects of illness ensure that the poor become poorer. A lack of access to health care, amongst other rights, (including access to medicines as an element thereof) aggravates poverty. The most important provision in international law relating to the right to health is article 12 of the United Nations International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Article 12(1) of this Covenant provides a broad formulation of the right to health in international law, while article 12(2) prescribes a non-exhaustive list of steps to be taken in pursuit of the highest attainable standard of health. Article 12(2), in particular, illustrates the role that adequate access to medication plays in the right of access to health care. The United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights has explicitly included the provision of essential drugs as a component of the right to health care, thereby emphasising the causal link between the lack of access to essential medicines and the non-fulfilment of the right of access to health care. As with all socio-economic rights, the resource implications of the realisation of the right to health has the result that states cannot be expected to immediately comply with its obligations in respect thereof. Instead, article 2(1) of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the General Comments of the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights place obligations on states to take deliberate, concrete and targeted steps towards expeditious and effective full realisation of the right to health, including access to medication. The measures taken to do so must, according to General Comment 3, embrace the concept of the minimum core obligation (the minimum core in relation to medicines being access to essential medicines, at the very least). In this article it is argued that adequate access to essential medicines, as an element of the right of access to health care, could contribute to the reduction of poverty. This is done by firstly discussing the human rights-based approach to poverty reduction, whereafter attention is turned to access to medicines as an element of the right to health, with specific focus on obligations in terms of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Finally, the role of access to medicines in reducing poverty is considered. The article concludes that poverty constitutes an infringement on human rights and will not be eradicated without the fulfilment of human rights, including the right to health. The adequate fulfilment of peoples' rights of adequate access to essential medicines will enable them to achieve a higher level of well-being, thereby reducing the level of poverty which they experience. Both the right of access to health care and to essential medicines – a crucial component thereof – thus have a significant role to play in a state's poverty reduction strategies.

Exploring International Legal Governance of Global Solar Fuels

This paper critically examines the role of international law in establishing the appropriate governance framework for enhanced global collaboration on solar fuels. It will particularly evaluate the right to enjoy the benefit of scientific progress and its applications (REBSPA) in article 15 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Consideration will also be given to the role of declaring natural and artificial photosynthesis 'common heritage of mankind' under a UNESCO Declaration and ultimately a United Nations Convention and the impact this might have in relation to intellectual monopoly privileges (IMPs) such as patents and their capacity to advance or hinder progress in the field. It also briefly considers the role that trade and investment law and the possibility of a global carbon price may have in shaping the solar fuels field.

Regulating religion in Post-Soviet Central Asia: Some remarks on Religious Association Law and 'official' Islamic institutions in Tajikistan

AbstractAlthough Tajikistan is a participating state of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and has acceded to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), religious associations are under increasingly scrutiny limiting the freedom of conscience. Tajikistan's government follows a similar policy as her Central Asian neighbors Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan. While a restrictive and contradictory religious association law limits the public space for religious associations, the government successively strengthens 'official' Islamic institutions and therefore directly interferes in internal religious affairs. Considering the diversity of Islamic beliefs in and practices in Central Asia and Tajikistan in particular, this policy could generate further friction among religious communities.

Reforms on the criminal compensation system of China

In reference to the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (hereinafter referred to “the Covenants”), the state compensation system of China in criminal justice shall be reformed as such: Compensation for a miscarriage of justice should not be determined by the results of first instance or second instance, but no guilty through retrial in the final trial upon finding of new evidences. If policemen, prosecutors and judiciaries take lawful measures, causing loss to the suspected due to arrest, detention or other enforcement in the criminal proceedings, the suspected should not get the state compensation for that even if he is decided no guilty in the final trial. If the suspected is cooped up illegally, he should get the state compensation even if being decided guilty finally. The measures of search and seizure should be included in coercive measures, hence differentiating the lawful search and seizure and the unlawful infringement of the property rights.

Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative Study, Advancing Human Rights

Protecting Human Rights: A Comparative Study, Advancing Human Rights. By Todd Landman. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press, 2005. 218p. 29.95 paper.Political scientists have finally begun to take international law seriously. Todd Landman's new book is an admirable example of this new trend. Situated at the intersection of international relations and comparative politics, it is a sustained study of the role of democratization, development, international socialization and international law on governments' human rights practices since the mid-1980s. It is a global quantitative study that comes to some very different conclusions from the existing literature in this genre. In contrast to the pathbreaking work of Cona Hathaway (“Do Human Rights Treaties Make a Difference?” Yale Law Journal 111 [8, 2002]: 101–99) and Linda Camp Keith (“The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Does It Make a Difference in Human Rights Behavior?” Journal of Peace Research 36 [no. 1, 1999]: 95–118), the key finding in Landman's study is that international treaty law has contributed to improvements in human rights behavior. How does he come to this unorthodox conclusion, and what does this mean for our understanding of international law and democratic development?

The United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights: Does It Make a Difference in Human Rights Behavior?

Formal acceptance of international agreements on human rights has progressed to the point where currently over three-quarters of the UN member states are parties to the International Covenant on Political and Civil Rights. In fact, becoming a party to this covenant seems to be concomitant with joining the UN. Of the newly independent states in Eastern Europe and in the region of the former Soviet Union, only Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Moldova, and Macedonia have not joined the treaty. This article tests empirically whether becoming a party to this international treaty (and its optional protocol) has an observable impact on the state party's actual behavior. The hypothesis is tested across 178 countries over an eighteen-year period (1976-93) and across four different measures of state human rights behavior. Initial bivariate analyses demonstrate some statistically significant differences between the behavior of states parties and the behavior of non-party states. However, this difference does not appear in the bivariate analysis that compares the states parties' behavior before becoming a party to the treaty with their behavior after becoming a party state. When the analysis progresses to more sophisticated multivariate analysis, in which factors known to affect human rights are controlled, the impact of the covenant and its optional protocol disappears altogether. Overall, this study suggests that it may be overly optimistic to expect that being a party to this international covenant will produce an observable direct impact.

United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Human Rights Committee: General Comment Adopted Under Article 40 on Issues Relating to Reservations Made Upon Ratification or Accession to the Covenant or the Optional Protocols, or in Relation to Declarations Under Article 41 of the Covenant

United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Human Rights Committee: General Comment Adopted Under Article 40 on Issues Relating to Reservations Made Upon Ratification or Accession to the Covenant or the Optional Protocols, or in Relation to Declarations Under Article 41 of the Covenant