Abstract
Accessing asylum in Europe: Extraterritorial Border Controls and Refugee Limits under EU Law / Violeta Moreno Lax. Oxford University Press, 2017. ISBN: 0-19-870100-4
Europe is currently experiencing a “refugee crisis”, demonstrated by millions of displaced people unseen since World War II. This book examines the interface between the EU’s response to irregular flows, in particular the main extraterritorial border and migration controls taken by the Member States, and the rights asylum seekers acquire from EU law. “Remote control” techniques, such as the imposition of visas, fines on carriers transporting unsatisfactorily documented third-country nationals, and interception at sea are investigated in detail in a bid to assess the impact these measures have on access to asylum in the EU. The book also thoroughly analyses the rights recognised by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights to persons in need of international protection, inclusive of the principle of non-refoulement, the right to leave any country including one’s own, the right to asylum, and the right to remedies and effective judicial protection. The fundamental focus of the book is the relationship between the aforementioned border and migration controls and the rights of asylum seekers and, most importantly, how these rights (should) limit the scope of such measures and the ways in which they are implemented. The ultimate goal is to conclude whether the current series of extraterritorial mechanisms of pre-entry vetting is compatible in EU law with the EU rights of forced migrants.
The Accountability of Armed Groups under Human Rights Law / Katharine Fortin. Oxford University Press, 2017. ISBN: 0-19-253606-0
Today the majority of the armed conflicts around the world are fought between States and armed groups, rather than between States. This changed conflict landscape creates an imperative to clarify the obligations of armed groups under international law. While it is generally accepted that armed groups are bound by international humanitarian law, the question of whether they are also bound by human rights law is controversial. This book brings significant new understanding to the question of whether and when armed groups might be bound by human rights law. Its conclusions will benefit international law academics, legal practitioners, and political scientists and anthropologists working on issues related to rebel governance and civil wars. This book addresses the debate on this topic by employing a theoretical, historical, and comparative analysis that spans international humanitarian law, international criminal law, and international human rights law. Embedding these different perspectives in public international law, this book brings several key points of clarification to the legal framework. Firstly, the book draws upon social science literature on armed conflict to present a new viewpoint on the role that human rights law plays vis-à-vis international humanitarian law in non-international armed conflicts. Secondly, the book sheds light on the circumstances in which armed groups acquire obligations under human rights law. It brings illumination to these topics by combining historical and comparative research on belligerency, insurgency, and international humanitarian law with a theoretical analysis of legal personality under international law. In the final part of the book, the author tests the four most utilised theories of how armed groups are bound by human rights law, examining whether armed groups can be bound by virtue of (i) treaty law (ii) control of territory (iii) international criminal law and (iv) customary international law. In the book’s conclusions, the author presents final remarks that are designed to provide concrete guidance on how the issue of armed groups and human rights law can be dealt with more thoroughly in practice.
Children’s Rights in a Digital Environment and European Union Law / Jasmin Auer. Wolf Legal Publishers, 2017. ISBN: 94-6240-315-5
Being online has become part of the daily routine for the most of us, particularly for young people. Children are growing up in a fast-paced technological environment, in which the new Information and Communications Technologies (ICTs) such as smartphones or tablets provide limitless internet access and with that a limitless communication. The internet changes the way children interact, communicate, play and learn and in this context, it offers a broad range of opportunities. However, given that the dissemination of personal data as well as of violent or illegal content has been facilitated, the online environment also entails new risks to which children are exposed. With the increasing children’s internet use, the anxiety that children are particularly vulnerable to those risks grows and raises questions about how policy makers, the public and parents may effectively protect children online by balancing opportunities and risks.
The aim of this book is to analyse the current legal framework with regard to the protection of the children’s rights in a digital environment. It examines which legal provisions apply to the risks a child may encounter when using the internet and in particular, which instruments have been implemented to prevent child pornography, grooming and the violations of personal data protection rights. It is intended to give an overview of the existing legal instruments on an international and a European Union level, with focus on the European Union legislation and the recent developments in the case law of the European Court of Justice.
Human Rights and Dynamic Humanism / Winston Nagan, John Cartner and Robert Munro. Brill, 2016. ISBN: 90-04-20265-X
This book emphasizes a forgotten aspect of human rights, i.e. to establish that human rights captures its meaning from human activism and advocacy. It explores factors which drive the advocacy of human rights integrating religious values reflected in human rights law. The book explores human rights activism in the history of ideas and the contributions of Celtic culture. It develops the framework for understanding the human rights struggle and the advocacy functions which drive it, exploring the critical role of emotion in the form of sentiment, either positive or negative, that promotes or prevents human rights violations. The negative sentiment chapter explores the major forms of human rights violations. Positive sentiment explores the role of affect, empathy and human solidarity in the promotion of the culture of human rights. Further chapters explore affect, gender, and sexual orientation, human rights and socio-economic justice, human rights and revolution, transitional justice, indigenous human rights, nuclear weapons and intellectual property.
Implementing Article 12 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child: Participation, Power and Attitudes / Rebecca Thorburn Stern. Brill Nijhoff, 2017. ISBN: 90-04-21054-7
In Participation, Power and Attitudes: Implementing Article 12 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, Rebecca Thorburn Stern analyses how CRC state parties describe their implementation of Article 12 on respect for the child’s views. The focus of the study is on if, and how, references to traditional attitudes are used by state parties to explain their actions and inactions when implementing this key right and principle. It is shown that ‘traditional attitudes’ are employed less as justification of poor implementation than as a way of allocating responsibility to the population rather than to the state party, and that references to tradition remain a mainly non-Western phenomenon, thus also overlooking the impact of traditional attitudes in Western societies.
Judicial Dialogue on Human Rights: The Practice of International Criminal Tribunals / Paolo Lobba and Triestino Mariniello (eds.). Brill, 2017. ISBN: 90-04-31374-5
Judicial Dialogue on Human Rights offers a critical legal perspective on the manner in which international criminal tribunals select, (re-)interpret and apply the principles and standards formulated by the European Court of Human Rights. A part of the book is devoted to testing the assumption that the current practice of cross-referencing, though widespread, is incoherent in method and erratic in substance. Notable illustrations analysed in the book include the nullum crimen principle, prohibition of torture, hearsay evidence and victims’ rights. Another section of the book seeks to devise a methodologically sound ‘grammar’ of judicial dialogue, focussing on how and when human rights concepts may be transferred into the context of international criminal justice.
Migration on the Move: Essays on the Dynamics of Migration / Carolus Grütters, Sandra Mantu and Paul Minderhoud (eds.). Brill, 2017. ISBN: 90-04-33045-3
Migration on the Move examines the dynamics of migration and asylum law over the past two decades and highlights profound changes that have taken place in these fields as a result of growing EU competences to deal with migration and asylum questions. The book maps the transformation of the migration field by focusing on three interrelated issues: the effects of Europeanization and the shifting power relations that it implies; placing Europe’s laws and policies in a global migration context, and critically examining to whom ‘project’ Europe belongs. The contributors offer a multidisciplinary analysis of key aspects of the migration and refugee crisis and their implications for policies, principles of law, and the treatment of people in Europe today.
Negotiating Cultural Rights: Issues at Stake, Challenges and Recommendations / Lucky Belder and Helle Porsdam (eds.). Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 1-78643-541-1
The various reports on cultural rights by UN Special Rapporteur Faridah Shaheed have provided a new universal standard for topics ranging from cultural diversity, cultural heritage, the right to artistic freedom and the effects of today’s intellectual property regimes. This book’s team of international contributors reflects upon the many aspects of cultural rights discussed in Faridah Shaheed’s reports and discusses how cultural rights support cultural diversity, foster intercultural dialogue and contribute to inclusive social, economic and political development. Drawing from a range of disciplines, the contributing authors explore the meaning and position of cultural rights and the implications these may have for international relations, the international legal order and cross-cultural understanding, while also offering recommendations for the future. Key topics discussed include the link between culture and science, gender and human rights, rights to artistic freedom, the importance of historical narratives and the impact of advertising and marketing on the enjoyment of cultural rights. This worthwhile contribution to the current cultural rights debate will be of interest to academics and students teaching and studying in the fields of culture, heritage and human rights as well as policymakers who are working within cultural rights related issues.
Protecting Human Rights in the 21st Century / Aidan Hehir and Robert Murray (eds.). Routledge, 2017. ISBN: 1-138-21893-6
With the global economic collapse, the rise of the BRICS, the post-intervention chaos in Libya, the migration crisis in Europe, and the regional conflagration sparked by the conflict in Syria, the need to protect human rights has arguably never been greater. In light of the precipitous decline in global respect for human rights and the eruption or escalation of intra-state crises across the world, this book asks ‘what is the future of human rights protection?’. Seeking to avoid both denial and fatalism, this book thus aims to: examine the principles at the very foundation of the debate on human rights; diagnose the causes of the decline of liberal internationalism so as to offer guiding lessons for future initiatives; identify those practices and developments that can, and should, be preserved in the new era; question the parameters of the contemporary debate and advance perspectives that aim to identify the contours of future ideas and practices that may offer a way forward.
This book will be of much interest to students of humanitarian intervention, R2P, international organisations, human rights and security studies.
Religious and Ideological Rights in Education: Judicial Perspectives from 32 Legal Systems / Pablo Meix Cerceda and Jan de Groof (eds.). Wolf Legal Publishers, 2017. ISBN: 94-6240-406-2
This book seeks to provide a panorama of the issues arising from pluralism in the education system and of judicial responses to them around the globe. In it, thirty-four authors representing many different legal cultures have selected and commented the most significant judicial decisions in each of the jurisdictions analysed. The topics addressed include religious and cultural symbols; faith-based, religious, and citizenship education; freedom of teaching and scientific freedom; homeschooling; authorization, funding and other matters concerning denominational and private schools, among other legal disputes. The reader will easily sense many different ideological orientations throughout the book’s thirty-seven chapters, which is only the result of pluralism itself and of scientific freedom. Nevertheless, the editors believe that all of the authors have inherently favoured the desire to understand the challenges of pluralism and to convey knowledge that is relevant for a public debate rather than defending their own particular point of view. Indeed, facilitating debate might be considered to be the best achievement of a publication of this kind.
The book is divided into six parts. The introductory part features a chapter by the editors concerning the implementation and justiciability of the right to education, and a second chapter by Prof. Charles L. Glenn providing an in-depth historical essay on the importance of debates over religion and education. The five remaining parts reflect a geographical division: Part II includes two chapters on international human rights bodies (the European Court of Human Rights and the United Nations Human Rights Committee); parts III to VI group national courts’ decisions by region: Europe, the Americas, Africa, and lastly Asia and Australia.
Research Handbook on EU Law and Human Rights / Sionaidh Douglas Scott and Nicholas Hatzis (eds.). Edward Elgar Publishing, 2017. ISBN: 1-78254-639-1
The place of human rights in EU law has been a central issue in contemporary debates about the character of the European Union as a political organisation. This comprehensive and timely Handbook explores the principles underlying the development of fundamental rights norms and the way such norms operate in the case law of the Court of Justice. Leading scholars in the field discuss both the effect of rights on substantive areas of EU law and the role of EU institutions in protecting them.
Third-party Interventions Before the European Court of Human Rights / Nicole Bürli. Intersentia, 2017. ISBN: 1-78068-461-4
Third-Party Interventions before the European Court of Human Rights is the first comprehensive and empirical study on third-party interventions before an international court. Analysing all cases between 1979 and 2016 to which an intervention was made the book explores their potential influence on the reasoning and decision-making of the Court. It further argues that there are three different types of intervention playing different roles in the administration of justice: amicus curiae interventions by organisations with a virtual interest in the case which strengthen the Court’s legitimacy in its democratic environment; member state interventions reinforcing state sovereignty; and actual third-party interventions by individuals who are involved in the facts of a case and who are protecting their own legal interests. As a consequence, the book makes a plea for applying distinct admissibility criteria to the different type of interventions as well as a more transparent procedure when accepting and denying interventions.
Women’s Human Rights and Migration: Sex-Selective Abortion Laws in the United States and India / Sital Kalantry. University of Pennsylvania Press, 2017. ISBN: 0-8122-4933-X
Some of the most hotly contested international women’s rights issues today arise from the movement of peoples from one country to another and the practices they purportedly bring with them. In Women’s Human Rights and Migration, Sital Kalantry focuses on immigrants of Asian descent living in the United States who are believed to abort female fetuses because they do not want a female child. While sex-selective abortion is a human rights concern in India, should we, for that reason, assume that the practice undermines women’s equality in the United States? Although some pro-choice feminists believe that these prohibitions on sex-selective abortion promote women’s equality, other feminists fiercely oppose such laws, characterizing them as a Trojan horse in the larger pursuit to overturn the reproductive rights guaranteed by Roe v. Wade. Nearly half of state legislatures in the United States have proposed laws restricting sex-selective abortion since 2009 and nine have adopted them.
Kalantry argues that traditional feminist legal theories and international human rights law fail to provide adequate guidance in examining the human rights implications of the reproductive practices of immigrant women, evidenced by the fact that both supporters and opponents ground their claims in women’s equality. She advocates instead for a context-based approach that is open to the possibility that sex-selective abortion practices will have significantly different human rights implications when they emerge in different national contexts. The product of extensive empirical and interdisciplinary research, Kalantry’s book investigates the actual occurrence of sex-selective abortion among Asian Americans, the social and cultural contexts in which women in the United States and India practice sex-selective abortion, and the consequences of the laws in each country for women’s equality. Women’s Human Rights and Migration develops a transnational feminist legal approach to examining and legislating contested acts that result from migration.
The World’s Stateless: Children / Laura van Waas. Wolf Legal Publishers, 2017. ISBN: 94-6240-365-1
International law protects the right of every child to acquire a nationality. Yet, childhood statelessness pervades all regions of the world. At least a third of the 15 million people who face life without a nationality today, are children. And, every ten minutes, another child is born stateless.
The disconnect between the recognition of nationality as a fundamental child right and the reality of childhood statelessness presents a massive challenge, but also opens up a wealth of opportunities. Childhood statelessness is entirely preventable. It is never in a child’s best interests to be stateless, nor is it ever a child’s “fault” if they are left without nationality. We are proud to devote this edition of our flagship report, The World’s Stateless 2017, to exploring the urgency of and opportunities for addressing childhood statelessness. Over 50 experts and organisations have contributed material – essays, interviews, photographs and more. Collectively, they deal with a multitude of different dimensions of childhood statelessness, with chapters exploring the right to a nationality, challenges in the context of migration and displacement, the significance of the Sustainable Development Agenda, the mechanics of safeguards against statelessness for children, and litigation, legal assistance and other forms of mobilisation as strategies to tackle childhood statelessness. As with every edition of The World’s Stateless, this publication also offers a more general overview of the state of statelessness globally in 2017.
The Institute on Statelessness and Inclusion is an independent non-profit organisation, committed to ending statelessness and disenfranchisement through the promotion of human rights, participation and inclusion.