Human rights 220 results

This research aims at determining criteria for regulation of freedom of expression exercised on the internet, allowing a “fair balance” between that freedom and other competing interests. It will hopefully benefit lawyers and courts which have to deal with an increasing number of cases involving online speech. It can also assist legislators when they consider adopting or amending legislation regulating online speech, potentially preventing the adoption of legislation contrary to Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Internet service and content providers may also find interesting to see the part dealing with the distribution of liabilities amongst the participants to online communication.

Human rights tend to focus on the relationship between individual and state: the individual is rights-holder, the state is duty-holder. Children’s rights bring a third player much more in the picture, namely parents. In this volume, child-rearing responsibilities are examined in the light of children’s rights and (other) human rights. All contributions focus in particular on the proposal to introduce an upbringing (or parenting) pledge.

The loss of one’s house is often one of the most dramatic personal consequences of armed conflict. In fragile post-conflict societies such a loss does not only cause a flow of refugees and other displaced persons, but it can also be a source of renewed conflict. Restitution of housing could help to solve these problems and thus help to attain peace and to rebuild the rule of law. This study focuses on the legal aspects of restitution.

The European Convention on Human Rights and the case law of the European Court of Human Rights are of increasing importance in the area of social security. This book provides a practical guide to the social security issues which have been considered by the Court of Human Rights and to give an overview of how these have been analysed by the Court. In addition, some examples are given as to how the provisions of the Convention have been interpreted by a range of national courts

The emancipation of the young child and the rehabilitation and emancipation of the deprived, exploited, abused and neglected child remain in a legal shadow land. This book intends to explore this shadow land. It introduces the concepts of the Trias pedagogica and Transism in order to shed light on the obligations and responsibilities of states and other actors in the empowerment of children, caregivers and communities.

This study evaluates how human rights reform was implemented within the Costa Rican police. It explores the following questions; is there a relationship between the implementation of formal human rights law and changes within the social systems in which law enforcement officials operate? Which socio-political and institutional factors relate to the implementation of human rights within the national police system and the urban police units? Are police officers of the Public Force in San José increasingly stimulated to comply with the norms, standards and values that human rights portray?

Despite the tragic death toll, massive displacement, alleged genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, the Sudanese conflicts have neither featured in the legal literature nor been mentioned in the practice of international Tribunals. This book aims to rectify this by focusing on the ‘Sudan’s armed conflicts’ as a case study.

When discussing the Netherlands’ international human rights policies, the first aspects to come to mind are usually those related to how it addresses and reacts to concrete human rights violations by other countries. In fact, there sometimes appears to be a tendency for public opinion to identify a government’s human rights policy with its attempts to pursue human rights issues in its relations with other states. An important element of the Netherlands’ human rights policy that does not generally generate widespread public attention concerns the further development of regional and global human rights systems.The present study thoroughly investigates the Netherlands’ policies towards the creation of international human rights norms and accompanying supervisory procedures from the late 1970s to 2006. It analyses the Dutch position in negotiations on a number of instruments that deal with the freedom from torture, economic and social rights, children’s rights and minority rights. It examines whether the Netherlands was in favour of the creation of further human rights standards and more intrusive supervisory mechanisms, and what arguments and interests determined its position. Attention in this respect is also paid to the role and influence of NGOs, parliament, and different bureaucratic institutions. On the basis of the case studies and an appraisal of the influence of different interests and actors, a general evaluation of the Netherlands’ policies is made. Generally speaking, the Netherlands has a favourable international reputation in the field of human rights, and for a long time domestically, the idea has existed that the Netherlands had a special role to fulfil in the world. Was the Netherlands really acting as a ‘guiding’ human rights country, as many would seem to presume? Or should its policies rather be characterized as the result of a pragmatic adaptation to domestic and international circumstances?

International human rights law and many domestic legal systems provide for the protection of economic and social rights, such as the right to health, housing, food and labour-related rights.

This study investigates the so-called “thematic approach” as a method available to the United Nations Commission on Human Rights to take cognizance of and to react upon violations of human rights worldwide.

In this book, State responsibility for violations of citizens’ rights is assumed, based on human rights standards and case law, also of human rights bodies.

This study assesses the supranational criminal prosecution of sexual violence, notably whether supranational criminal law and procedure are adequate from the perspective of victims of sexual violence.

This study is based on the following questions: Which jurisdiction can and should be exercised for the prosecution of individuals responsible for gross and serious violations of human rights? And especially, in this regard, what is the role of universal jurisdiction?

The growing influence of globalisation, the marked increase in world trade and the perceived necessity of improving their competitiveness in the world trade arena has led countries to reduce State intervention in the economy in order to allow the free market to operate. The privatisation of State provided services and functions and of State owned enterprises fits within such a strategy. Debates on the effects of privatisation have been on-going for decades.

Article 4(1) UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) deals with temporary special (affirmative action) measures aimed at accelerating de facto equality between men and women.

Since the 1950s, the Netherlands has seen a steady growth of non- governmental organisations (NGOs) devoted to the cause of human rights. In the ensuing decades they proliferated and expanded their leverage. At the same time, human rights attained a more secure position on the foreign policy agenda of the Dutch government. Against this background the question arises, to what extent foreign policy¬-making in the field of human rights is determined by the activities of NGOs.

In this book, the author comes to the conclusion that “eventually freedom of thought, conscience and religion or belief may be the best instrument against a world governed by sheer materialistic forces: it is now more than ever relevant to protect and encourage further development of Man’s conscience”.

This book discusses the common ground between the protection of freedom of expression in English law and under the ECHR against the background of the incorporation of the ECHR into English law in the Human Rights Act 1998.

Many states feel an obligation not only to respect human rights themselves, but also to pursue human rights issues in their relations with other states. Human rights are very much on the international political agenda. Little is known, however, about how much one state can influence another state to improve its human rights record, and which factors make such influence attempts more or less effective.