Universal Rights Research Articles

After property? The Haitian Revolution, racial capitalism, and the foundation for a universal right to freedom from enslavement

ABSTRACT The articulation of a universal right to freedom from enslavement in the 1801 Constitution of Saint-Domingue [which would become Haiti] points both to the potential of the law to depict ambitious imaginations of rights as well as the limits of articulating a legal-juridical freedom under racial capitalism. After abolishing slavery, the same document outlines the conditions of forced labour through cultivatorship, characterised by the continuity of the plantation system. This paper argues that Haitian Revolutionary emancipation offers a site from which to critique and imagine beyond the proprietorial subject of rights. Racialised property relations are foundational to capitalism, allowing for the production of both surplus value and profit, as well as a subject legible to the state. If proprietorial selfhood only constitutes partial emancipation, then the foundation for a universal right to freedom from enslavement must be found outside the capitalist social and legal forms – after property. Each instance of insistence on abolition challenges the failure of the Enlightenment to substantiate universal rights. Ameliorating group-differentiated vulnerabilities to premature death is a radical political and philosophical stance: access to the means of life is the minimal condition of freedom.

Ethical And Socio-Cultural Dimensions Of Human Genome Editing – War Against Natural Order

Human genome editing is part of scientific and human efforts to tackle health challenges and to improve health and general well-being. The World Health Organisation describes human genome editing as a method for making specific changes to the DNA of a cell or organism. The modification of human DNA carries with it, contemporary realities and challenges of ethical concerns and regulation. Subjecting human beings to such delicate procedure calls for scrutiny and meticulous monitoring because of the possibility of mutations and other medical issues that could endanger public health and infringe human rights. The concept of human rights is inherent in human beings simply because of their humanity and these rights are inalienable. They are based on respect for the individual, who has the right to be treated with dignity and Governments are obliged to protect and uphold the human rights of their citizens. This paper therefore attempts to identify and consider ethical and socio-cultural dimension of human genome editing paying due attention to moral conflicts that may occur. In doing this, principle of Utilitarianism and Universality of Rights will guide the study. Utilitarianism, as propounded by Bentham, prioritises the welfare of the greatest happiness of the greatest number. Whilst recognising the possibility of human rights infringement and the fact that encouraging genome editing may seem like “playing God”, with the tendency of getting out of hand, where the overall good outweighs the projected “evil”, it should be permitted. The paper adopts the doctrinal and analytical legal research methodologies.

Court precedent as an international legal standard for the protection of personal rights, freedoms and interests

The article considers the issue of establishing a judicial precedent as an international legal standard for the protection of rights, freedoms and interests of a person.
 The concept of «personal rights» is proposed to be understood as a set of human rights and citizen’s rights and the basis of the construction of «personal rights» should be considered to be respect for human dignity which is the source of the rights and freedoms of a person.
 It has been found that the law and the state are the primary system of minimum means and guarantees of observance of human and citizen rights which can be used in the interests of the formation and development of the individual. At the same time the law acts as a means of ensuring the freedom of the individual as well as a means of reasonable and fair restriction of those who are not aligned with social needs and people’s ideas about the good and justice of the level of freedom and the scope of power.
 It has been proven that the international legal standards of the rights, freedoms and interests of a person are generally recognized provisions of international acts of a mandatory and recommendatory nature, as well as the principles of international law that establish the fundamental rights of a person. The content of the influence of international law on national law is that the basis of their interaction is determined primarily by constitutional means, since most state constitutions contain a significant number of provisions on basic human rights, which are defined by international acts. In addition, national legislation is subject not only to the provisions of international acts, but also to international courts and institutions whose main mission is to protect human rights, freedoms and interests.
 It was concluded that with the emergence of universal rights, freedoms and interests of the individual and related international systems of their protection, a new fundamental law is formed, which is based on judicial practice, which has its own rules of adoption and standards of application of court decisions, and court precedent is considered as international legal standard for the protection of the rights, freedoms and interests of a person.

Impartial third and disinterested judgment: Kojève and Arendt’s cosmopolitan phenomenologies of human rights as a response to Schmitt

This article proposes that Hannah Arendt and Alexandre Kojève’s responses to Carl Schmitt’s theory of sovereignty, when combined, provide a historical and normative basis for a cosmopolitan view on human rights. I argue that by systematically merging Kojève’s theory of the “disinterested and impartial third” and Arendt’s theory of “disinterested judgment,” legal institutions, economic redistribution, and intersubjective normativity can be combined to create a robust response to Schmitt’s theory of sovereignty. To demonstrate this, I examine their efforts to resolve the contradiction between universal rights and national sovereignty from a phenomenological standpoint. Arendt’s idea of the “common world” is analyzed, showing how it upholds the idea of a non-sovereign public realm as a normative source of human rights but fails to consider the institutional and economic factors required for their realization. I then explore Kojève’s theory of impartial international legal institutions and his critique of economic colonialism to confront these factors. Additionally, Arendt’s theory of disinterested judgment is shown to address the limitations of Kojève’s phenomenological view of disinterestedness. This convergence between Kojève and Arendt provides a comprehensive response to the practical challenges of Arendt’s theory, while also highlighting the importance of “world opinion” in transforming sovereignty.

The discourse of the right of access to water in the committees of the watersheds of the Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí rivers

This study questions whether the availability of water, despite being a fundamental condition for the survival and maintenance of human life, presents specificities in its management that end up disproportionately affecting those who, in some way, are linked to vulnerable, unprotected or disadvantaged social strata of society. Through content analysis of the reports and minutes of the meetings of the Technical Planning Chamber of the Piracicaba, Capivari and Jundiaí River Basin Committees, an attempt was made to assess the extent to which the population at risk of scarcity and social, territorial, political, or economic vulnerability can have their right of access to water guaranteed. It was verified that the reports analyzed do not mention the universal right of access to water, nor its implementation or the promotion of specific policies for this purpose. Based on the results of the analysis carried out, it is suggested that the collection of data and information relevant to the topic should be included in the discussion and highlighted in the proposal of policies and actions for strategic planning to ensure the comprehensiveness and expansion of access to water for a fraction of the population that has not yet been satisfactorily and adequately reached by this benefit.

A Courageous Muslim Voice: How Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan Saved Article 18 of the UDHR

This article focuses on an important debate during the drafting session of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights: the Pakistan-Saudi Arabia divide over the right to change one’s religion or belief. The debate’s outcome provides compelling evidence of how Muslim voices and Qur'anic arguments profoundly impacted the ultimate adoption of the Declaration’s Article 18 provision on freedom of religion or belief. Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan’s trailblazing contributions to the Declaration provide a hopeful lesson: the pursuit of protecting freedom of religion or belief for everyone depends, in large part, on empowering more courageous Muslim voices who can faithfully harmonize Islamic precepts with universal rights guarantees.

Transformations in Local Social Action in Portugal

The decentralization of social functions to municipalities, also known as municipal decentralization, triggered new contexts of practice in municipal social intervention. Municipalities are now dealing with more work and a focus on working in partnerships, which calls for greater dynamism of the local social action teams. This process has pushed the social workers to practices that alternate between mediation through the construction of access to a universal standard of social rights and the development of social intervention models with specific access to certain contexts and social groups. The objective of this paper is to envision new forms of standardization of social action within the framework of municipal decentralization, combining place-based perspectives with community and structural social work. What can we learn from social workers’ perspectives on the context of social functions in order to envision forms of place-based standardization of municipal social action? We seek to analyze the professional visions of local social action systems reform, discussing new contexts of practice; new place-based functions; and their correlation with political mediation for universal and intermunicipal social rights, instrumental dimensions of concrete work, and dimensions of value attributed to practicing social work. We organized the research according to the phenomenological paradigm, mobilizing the qualitative method and the multiple-case study. Based on evidence from the discourse of all professionals involved in the study, the findings indicate that the transformations of local social action systems, associated with the processes of social functions decentralization, imply greater comprehensiveness of social intervention, the ability to work in partnerships, and new place-based approach matrices, but they also present challenges for social workers in terms of multilevel governance that may favor the standardization of access to better social well-being between municipal territories.

A Comprehensive Look into Monitoring Disability Rights: A Case of Northern part of Cyprus by Disability Rights Monitoring Committee at Near East University

All individuals living together in society have equal rights. Users with disabilities maintain their existence in the community with all users and are included in the description of all individuals. However, although this issue has been accepted in various countries, the problems faced by individuals with special needs have not completely disappeared. In this context, studies are carried out by researchers in many countries to raise awareness of the existence and place of users with disabilities in society. This research study as an outcome of the workshop on disability monitoring sheds light to examine activities and scientific reflections of Near East University activities about disability rights on behalf of the Northern part of Cyprus. The workshop is held with the contributions of researchers from different disciplines. Thus, the universal rights of persons with disabilities are discussed from various perspectives. It gives insights on holistic perspective to the servi ces to all and provides valuable reflections to show the best practices within the local context setting an example to other countries.

PELATIHAN DAN PENDAMPINGAN MEDIA PEMBELAJARAN BAHASA ISYARAT DI SLB NEGERI 1 PALOPO

Education is a universal right, including for children with special characteristics such as deaf students at SLB Negeri 1 Palopo. To support their learning, the use of interactive learning media based on information and communication technology, such as Augmented Reality (AR), is an effective solution. This Community Service aims to implement AR as an interactive and effective sign language learning medium for deaf students. This Community Service involves the introduction of student learning activities in sign language learning and the development of AR-based learning media products. The product is a mobile application that can be accessed using an Android mobile device. The implementation of learning media is carried out through the introduction of application features to teachers and students, as well as direct trials involving parental participation. The use of AR technology in learning media is also considered to provide an interactive and interesting learning experience for students. The implementation of Augmented Reality as an interactive sign language learning media at SLB Negeri 1 Palopo provides positive benefits in the learning of deaf students. This AR learning media can improve students' understanding of sign language in a more interactive and fun way. It also shows the potential of using technology in expanding educational accessibility for students with special needs, such as students who are deaf.

Honouring the Religious Rights of the LGBTQ Persons: An Islamic Perspective

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ) is a term that is no longer unknown to the people of this country. Media reports about their movement keep the public informed about their developments locally and internationally. The behaviour and lifestyle of the LGBTQ persons are at odds, not only with the sharīʿah, but also with local laws, culture, and practices. Nevertheless, advocates of the LGBTQ movement are striving to obtain universal rights that they claimed to be the LGBTQ persons’ rights in social life. While the movement claims to protect the rights of LGBTQ persons, they have been found to deny the most fundamental right, namely religious freedom. This religious freedom allows them to undergo rehabilitation to live a dignified life. The denial of religious freedom coincides with the international movement to remove homosexuality from the International Classification of Diseases (ICD) by the World Health Organisation (WHO) in 1990. It also coincides with efforts to remove the term “gender disorder” from the list of mental disorders. At the national level, various initiatives are being taken by JAKIM, state religious authorities, and several non-governmental organisations to fulfil the rights of the LGBTQ persons to receive guidance through religious programmes. Nevertheless, these good efforts, in particular, Mukhayyam programmes, have been deliberately juxtaposed with Western conversion therapy practices. This article will focus on the importance of preserving the religious rights of LGBTQ persons and the challenges faced in implementing relevant religious programmes. This article highlights the importance of rehabilitation programmes such as Mukhayyam by providing a legal and ambigous phrase of the religious rights of the LGBTQ persons. The research finds that the continuation of rehabilitation programmes such as Mukhayyam needs to be protected to ensure that the LGBTQ persons will get a proper platform to seek religious guidance.

Shifting school environment policies: A Deleuzian problematisation of universal rights in Norwegian education

The learning environment of students is a fundamental part of school life, both socially and academically. The ambition to create a school serving the best interests of all children is explored by analysing key concepts encompassing students’ right to a healthy school environment, and examining how this discourse has unfolded over five decades in Norway. A conceptual analysis concerning the school environment, inspired by Deleuze and Guattari, is proposed and introduced as ‘regulative vector concepts’. The article examines key changes regarding students’ school environment, shifting from work environment to learning environment. As one consequence of the conceptual shifts, the individual rights of students have been ensured, such as through recent amendments in regulation. These concepts are understood as potential answers to already existing problems that policy and regulation attempt to encompass by producing new concepts, new policy and regulation.

Perceived treatment of respectful maternity care among pregnant women at healthcare facilities in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: A cross-sectional study

BackgroundMistreatment of women during childbirth is a global issue and a violation of fundamental human rights. Respectful maternity care has been affirmed as a universal right of childbearing women. However, little is known about the level of respect experienced by women in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA); which is undergoing key reforms in the scope of its healthcare provision. We explored the occurrence of respect perceived by women giving birth in the KSA and compared results between national healthcare sectors, as well as with previous international studies. MethodWe conducted a cross-sectional study using an online survey. The online questionnaire included demographic questions, a translation of the internationally validated Mother on Respect index (MORi) scale, which we adapted to investigate KSA women's experiences, and questions to further investigate women's experiences (e.g. respect of privacy). Women who gave birth within five years at a Saudi healthcare facility were recruited through social media using a snowballing approach. ResultsOverall, 586 participants were recruited, 54% of whom had been cared for in government hospitals, 65% were aged between 25 and 34, and almost 79% had a BSc or higher qualification. Overall, women's perception about respectful maternity care was positive, however, opinions varied between governmental and private sectors. Women cared for in the government sector reported significantly lower levels of respect compared to those cared for in the private sector (β = -.132, p = .001). The results also highlighted an issue of concern: one in five women (21.8%) reported having been physically abused. Our participants perceived their childbirth experiences to be less respectful compared to those in other high-income countries. ConclusionWomen birthing in the private sector reported a more respectful experience, which may be explained by the private sector being more consumer-focused. Women who gave birth in the KSA perceived their care to be less respectful than women giving birth in Canada and the USA. Beginning to understand what has provoked the occurrences of mistreatment in childbirth worldwide will inevitably contribute to the development of a solution. Respectful maternity care should be focused on providing women-centred care and quality of care which meets the WHO vision for women's and their families’ needs being fulfilled and respected.

El debido proceso en la fase de ejecución, de juicios ejecutivos en el Ecuador

The executive trial is a judicial procedure, determined and regulated within the General Organic Code of Procedures, which is used to enforce the collection of an obligation contracted through an executive title. The procedure is initiated with the filing of an executive lawsuit, which must be based on a valid executive title that proves the existence of the debt or obligation. The lawsuit must contain detailed information about the identity of the parties involved, the amount of the debt or obligation, the interest, payment terms, and other relevant details. If this process is not carried out with due process, it is considered a violation of the constitutional guarantees recognized as fundamental and universal rights, including the right to defense as the main guarantee. Justice operators are obliged to respect the rights of the procedural parties. Therefore, the objective of this work is to analyze the application of due process in the execution phase of executive trials, in which the defendant can prevent their assets from being seized and reach a payment agreement or settle the debt or obligation contracted.

Phenomenology and Human Rights

Abstract In this article, I present the phenomenological tradition as a new grounding for human rights as universal rights. The hypothesis defended is to conciliate Husserl’s phenomenological method, and Reinach’s a priori law in order to offer a new grounding to human rights. Combining Husserl and Reinach’s ideas, I propose to expand the comprehension of a priori. It would be present as eidos of each object, and I name it as material a priori; it also be present in the eidetic relations and I name it as formal a priori. Yet the object would have an essence, a necessary content, a material a priori, and necessary states of affairs, necessary relations and connections, a formal a priori. Reinach, in The A priori Foundations of the Civil Law, describes eidetic relations, such as the relation between promise, claim, and obligation. I propose three eidetic universalities to ground law; these are what I will call human rights. I also face a few difficulties presented by DuBois and De Vecchi derived from the amoral approach of a priori laws. Then, I highlight the difference between this proposition and Albert’s. Finally, I defend the proposition that a priori laws are beyond natural and positive laws.

Raising the living dead in postrevolutionary Haiti: Glory, salvation, and theopolitical sovereignty in the kingdom of Henry Christophe

ABSTRACT This essay deploys the notion of the political zombie as a lens through which to examine the symbolic, metaphysical, and spectacular dimensions of the Haitian kingdom of Henry Christophe. I argue that divine-right monarchy provided a political theology through which to dignify the contradictions of what I call “abolitionist sovereignty”: that is, the virtual re-enslavement of the people on the part of the state in the interests of preserving territorial sovereignty and the abolition of colonial slavery. Analyzing the king’s coronation liturgy in the context of the history of French colonialism and its revolutionary overturning, I reveal how the monarchy imagined the mutual superhumanity of the sovereign and the people through supernatural tropes of glory, salvation, and spiritual nobility. Moving past the illusions of the universalization of rights, Christophe promoted a program of spiritual, material, and economic regeneration in an elusive effort to raise the living dead of slavery.

IS THERE A TEMPLATE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS ACTIVISM? – A STUDY OF UGANDAN LGBT+ ORGANIZATIONS’ DIGITAL SPACES

Albeit criminalization against same-sex desires is a remnant of the British colonialization, the 2009 Anti-homosexuality Bill, catapulted Ugandan state-sponsored homophobia into the international spotlight. The ensuing battle over the Bill between on one hand, local and international human rights defenders including Northern development partners and transnational conservative and religious norm entrepreneurs in partnership with local religious and political elites, on the other; highlighted that domestic identity and sexual politics are no longer local affairs. Through a qualitative directed content analysis, the study explore to what degree six established Ugandan LGBT+ organizations engage with international norm entrepreneurs’ attempts to influence Ugandan social mores on non-heteronormative sexuality and non-conforming gender identities, in their self-controlled digital spaces - websites and Facebook- during January 2022. With few exceptions, digital spaces displayed a conspicuous uniform human rights advocacy rhetoric, where same-sex desires and gender identities are presented in essentialist terms as in LGBT+ and universal sexual rights, as opposed to sexual desires and gender identities as embedded and realized in a unique social contexts, that at least in the Ugandan context historically has include significant pluralism and multi-positionality. LGBT+ organizations’ did not discuss the impact of waves of international norm entrepreneurs’ attempts to define and influence the struggle for equal rights, and subsequent potential re-colonialization of Ugandan understandings of sexual desires outside the heteronormative model and non-conforming gender identities. The level of rhetorical uniformity could suggests the existence of a latent template for activism, which could be an unintended consequence of dependency on international funding.

‘Powerless, poor and needy?’: Reproducing colonial discourses of gender and Muslim women through educational interventions by I-NGOs in Afghanistan

International development initiatives in the Global-South are often shaped by Western and Eurocentric constructions of gender, female agency and empowerment embedded in popular narratives of universal rights and white mainstream feminist ideals. Through a qualitative desk-study and documentary-analysis, this paper explores the cases of two I-NGOs: Canadian Women for Women of Afghanistan (CW4WA) and Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) to unravel how colonial discourses of gender and educational development, and homogenous and pathological notions of Muslim women are mobilised in Afghanistan to deliver various political agendas and reproduce patriarchal relations, as well as wider Global South/North divisions and entrenched inequalities. We engage with epistemic shifts. We argue that I-NGOs educational interventions take bottom-up approaches informed by local knowledges and contexts and decolonised notions of gender, power and participation, which promote and sustain a more socially just and transformative education in the developing world. We also argue that epistemic shifts are required informed by post-colonial and critical realism approaches to gender and development, both in terms of research/theory and policy formulation.

Impact of Chinese IPR In the ICT Sector – Assignations, Licensing and Protection

The world has entered the era of universal Intellectual Property Rights (IPR): everyone is a creator of knowledge production and their intellectual property. In recent years, China has placed greater emphasis on intellectual property: the burgeoning cultural industry has brought the concept of intellectual property to the forefront of people's minds, especially in information and communication technologies, which are closely linked to everyday life. We will start by understanding the history of Intellectual Property Rights in China. Once the basics are understood, the authors will detail Chinese patent law, its coverage, and case evaluation primary. The third part describes the three main sources of IPR disputes. In the fourth part, the authors present systematic recommendations for improving the quality of China's IPR system from an ICT perspective.

Methodological guidelines for the calculation of a Water-Energy-Food nexus index for seafood products

Indicators from life cycle assessment methodologies (i.e., footprints) have emerged as useful tools for identifying and communicating the environmental impacts of a system thanks to they are accessible and intuitive and easy to understand to non-expert public. However, the focus on a single environmental problem is one of their main drawbacks. From this idea arises the concept of Water-Energy-Food (WEF) nexus, with the aim of raising awareness of the connections between the universal rights to water supply, energy security and food provision. Regarding the latter, the fisheries sector stands out as a fundamental pillar in the fight against malnutrition. In this sense, the European project “blue growth” aims to ensure that the development of the marine sector is not linked to the degradation of its ecosystems. However, although producers and authorities are willing to communicate the sustainability of products, there is still no standard methodology for reporting it. With the purpose of remedying this current situation, this paper aims to provide technical guidance to calculate a single WEF nexus index for ecolabelling seafood products in the European framework (Atlantic area). Therefore, through this, it is expected to create a useful communication channel between producers and consumers through an easy-to-read ecolabel. Nonetheless, certain aspects, such as the footprints selected or the calculation procedures selected have to be reconsidered to refine the methodology proposed, apart from broadening the approach to other food sectors with the aim that the proposed eco-certification can be present in major supply and retail chains.

Perceptions of the Feminist Movement and Women’s Rights in the Context of Universal Rights vs Cultural & Religious Norms in African Societies

Abstract Purpose – The disposition of contemporary African societies suggest that women are coerced into dependent and exploitative power relations in the name of culture, tradition, and religion. This study aims to evaluate the historical evolution and influence of the feminist agenda and how it has been received in African cultural and political circles. Given that patriarchy systems in African communities are deeply entrenched, this study aims to assess the viability of the feminist agenda in challenging those male-dominated spaces that have contributed to the slow pace of women’s emancipation. Most intriguingly is the view that gender inequality in contemporary Africa was born out of colonialism. Design/Method of Enquiry – Data were collected through scripts and media recorded interviews of experts who are specialised in the African study fields of history, anthropology, sociology, spirituality, and political science. Much of the literature was gathered from secondary information which drew from academic journals, scholarly books, and online publications. Findings – The findings suggest that feminism and universal rights in African polities are often viewed with misgivings as a contemporary phenomenon; a product of colonial legacies infused with neo-imperial impulses. Broadly, this perception runs deep in the African psyche across the continent. This widespread view is premised on the idea that pre-colonial Africa did not have problems of gender equality. The study suggests that the tension between feminism (and universal rights) on the one hand, and culture, on the other hand, can best be resolved through the prism of cross-cultural universals -a theory that seeks to find a common ground between these juxtaposes. Originality/Value – The study contributes of the literature by pushing the envelope of human rights awareness in contemporary Africa beyond cultural and religious discourses. The study brings to the fore, increased societal awareness that the fight for human rights in contemporary Africa is not necessarily a battle between Western and cultural values, but rather, about a fight for or against a human rights disposition. Most significantly, the study advances the argument that the holistic growth of a polity is dependent on all stake holders actively and freely participating in polity governance based on their ability and effort, and not based on gender or on any other consideration. Discriminatory practices against women or against any marginalised persons not only robs them of their ability to fulfil their potential as individuals, but in fact takes back all of society.