Abstract
Citizenship and Constitutional Law / Jo Shaw. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2018. ISBN: 1783471069
The papers collected in this volume highlight the complex dynamic relationship between citizenship – as membership status – and the constitutional law which provides the cornerstone of all polities. It shows the many different ways in which we must use constitutional law in order fully to understand how one becomes a citizen, and what the meaning of citizenship is. Edited by a leading authority in the field, this volume contains the key works which cover national, transnational and international aspects of the topic, and the book provides a particular focus on how constitutional law constructs and upholds the range of citizenship rights.
The Constitutional Structure of Europe’s Area of ‘Freedom, Security and Justice’ and the Right to Justification / Ester Herlin Karnell and Ester Herlin-Karnell. Hart Publishing, 2019. ISBN: 1509912495
This book explores the implications of freedom as a non-domination-oriented view for understanding EU security regulation and its constitutional implications. At a time when the European borders are under pressure and with the refugee and migration crisis, which escalated in 2015, the idea of exploring a constitutional theory for the ‘Area of Freedom, Security and Justice’ (AFSJ) might seem to be a utopian project. This appears especially true in the light of the increased threat of terrorism in Europe (and on a global scale) and where the expanding EU security agenda is often advanced through the administrative law path, in contrast to the constitutional trajectory. Add to this the prolonged financial crisis, which continues to cast a long shadow on the future development of EU integration, and which suggests that Europe needs to ‘re-invent itself’ beyond the sphere of economics. Therefore, it is precisely because of the current uncertainties regarding the progress of the EU and the constitutional law project that a constitutional take on the AFSJ is of particular importance. The book investigates the meaning of non-domination and the idea of justice and justification in the area of EU security regulation. In doing so, it focuses on the development of an AFSJ, what it means, and why it represents a fascinating example of contemporary constitutional law with interacting layers of security regulation, human rights law and transnational legal theory at its core.
Contesting Human Rights / Alison Brysk. Edward Elgar Publishing, 2019. ISBN: 1788972856
Illustrated with case studies from across the globe, Contesting Human Rights provides an innovative approach to human rights, and examines the barriers and changing pathways to the full realisation of these rights. Presenting a thorough proposal for the reframing of human rights, the volume suggests that new opportunities at, and below, the State level, and creative pathways of global governance can help reconstruct human rights in the face of modern challenges.
Ethno-Cultural Diversity and Human Rights / Gaetano Pentassuglia. Brill, 2018. ISBN: 9004328777
What is the role of ethno-cultural groups in human rights discourse? Under international human rights law, standards are unclear and ambivalent, while traditional analyses have often failed to elucidate and unpack the conceptual, legal, and policy complexities involved. In Ethno-Cultural Diversity and Human Rights, prominent experts chart new territory by addressing contested dimensions of the field. They include the impact of collective interests on rights discourse and nation-building, international law’s responses to group demands for decision-making authority, and concerns for immigration, intersectionality, and peacebuilding. Drawing from diverse scholarship in international law, legal and moral philosophy, and political science, this volume will be essential reading for scholars and practitioners of human rights, diversity, and conflict management.
From Transitional to Transformative Justice / Paul Gready. Cambridge University Press, 2019. ISBN: 1107160936
Transitional justice has become the principle lens used by countries emerging from conflict and authoritarian rule to address the legacies of violence and serious human rights abuses. However, as transitional justice practice becomes more institutionalized with support from NGOs and funding from Western donors, questions have been raised about the long-term effectiveness of transitional justice mechanisms. Core elements of the paradigm have been subjected to sustained critique, yet there is much less commentary that goes beyond critique to set out, in a comprehensive fashion, what an alternative approach might look like. This volume discusses one such alternative, transformative justice, and positions this quest in the wider context of ongoing fall-out from the 2008 global economic and political crisis, as well as the failure of social justice advocates to respond with imagination and ambition. Drawing on diverse perspectives, contributors illustrate the wide-ranging purchase of transformative justice at both conceptual and empirical levels.
Gender and the Law of the Sea / Irini Papanicolopulu. Brill, 2019. ISBN: 9004375163
In Gender and the Law of the Sea a distinguished group of Law of the Sea and feminist scholars critically engages with one of the oldest fields of international law. While the Law of the Sea has been traditionally portrayed as a technical, gender-neutral set of rules, of concern to States rather than humans, authors in this volume persuasively argue that critical feminist perspectives are needed to question the underlying assumptions of ostensibly gender-neutral norms. Coming at a time when the presence of women at sea is increasing, the volume forcefully and successfully argues that legal rules are relevant to ensure gender equality and the empowerment of women at sea, in an effort to render law for the oceans more inclusive.
The Horizontal Effect of Fundamental Rights in the European Union / Eleni Frantziou. Oxford University Press, 2019. ISBN: 0198837151
This book analyses the horizontal effect of fundamental rights in the European Union, from a constitutional perspective. It advances two main arguments: First, it argues that the horizontal effect of fundamental rights (i.e. their application to disputes between private parties) cannot be usefully discussed based on the existing EU horizontality doctrine, which associates horizontality with the exercise of horizontal direct effect only. That doctrine is characterised by a series of overly technical rules as to how the latter may be produced and has a case-specific nature that lacks overall constitutional coherence. Secondly, the book argues that a substantive theory of horizontality is required in EU law and sketches its main parameters. In the fundamental rights context, horizontal effect has organisational implications for society, which go beyond specific intersubjective disputes. It is argued that its determination requires an explicit recognition of the public character of certain private platforms of will formation (e.g. the workplace) and a discussion of the role of fundamental rights therein. At the same time, a constitutionally adequate model of horizontality involves an acknowledgment of the supranational character of EU adjudication: the determination of horizontal applicability of a fundamental right within a type of private authority relationship falls upon the Court of Justice, but the precise manifestation of horizontal effect (e.g. direct, indirect or State-mediated effect) rests with national courts.
The Internal Protection Alternative in Refugee Law: Treaty Basis and Scope of Application under the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and Its 1967 Protocol / Jessica Schultz. Brill, 2019. ISBN: 9004361960
Under what circumstances can a State refuse refugee status to a person whose risk of persecution exists in only part of her country of origin? This book is the first monograph to examine the treaty basis and criteria for the ‘internal protection alternative’ (IPA), an exception to refugee status increasingly invoked by State parties to the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol. Through a critical analysis of the relationship between refugee law and related fields, Schultz finds that the legal scope for IPA practice is narrower than is commonly claimed. Since persons subject to an IPA analysis have a well-founded fear of persecution within their countries of origin, any limit on their right to refugee status must involve a careful balancing of the impact of continued displacement against the State’s interest in preserving its restricted protection resources. She argues that the doctrine of implied limits in human rights law can provide analytic structure to the IPA concept and reduce the risk of overly broad application.
International Human Rights of Children / Ursula Kilkelly. Springer Singapore, 2019. ISBN: 9811041830
This book explores the meaning and implementation of international children’s rights law, as laid down in the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and related international and regional human rights instruments. It considers the application of international children’s rights at the national level and addresses key procedural and institutional matters concerning children’s rights implementation, including monitoring, complaints mechanisms, effective remedies, advocacy and international agenda-setting. The book breaks new ground by analysing a wide range of international children’s rights issues from a legal perspective. It incorporates a comparative perspective on children’s rights law at the international, regional and domestic level and contains information on evidence-based strategies towards the implementation and enforcement of international children’s rights law. The book is targeted at academics, legal and other professionals, and advanced students. It analyses children’s rights law in the following areas: implementation and enforcement; advocacy and standard setting; complaints and remedies; the child and the family; adoption; alternative care; protection from violence; civil rights of the child; economic, social and cultural rights; education; health; migration and refugees; children and the justice system; children with disabilities; deprivation of liberty; children’s rights and digital technologies; war and disaster; sustainable development goals and further contemporary issues.
New Critical Spaces in Transitional Justice: Gender, Art, and Memory / Arnaud Kurze. Indiana University Press, 2019. ISBN: 0253039932
Since the 1980s, transitional justice mechanisms have been increasingly applied to account for mass atrocities and grave human rights violations throughout the world. Over time, post-conflict justice practices have expanded across continents and State borders and have fueled the creation of new ideas that go beyond traditional notions of amnesty, retribution, and reconciliation. Gathering work from contributors in international law, political science, sociology, and history, New Critical Spaces in Transitional Justice addresses issues of space and time in transitional justice studies. It explains new trends in responses to post-conflict and post-authoritarian nations and offers original empirical research to help define the field for the future.
The Reparative Effects of Human Rights Trials / Rosario Layu´s. Routledge, 2018. ISBN: 1138079049
Justice in domestic courts is one of the most prominent aims of victims seeking to obtain accountability for human rights violations. It is, however, also one of the most difficult to achieve. In many Latin American countries, as well as elsewhere, activists have put human rights prosecutions forward as a fundamental means to end impunity, build democracy, strengthen the rule of law and address victims’ rights. But there is still little knowledge about what actually happens when these judicial mechanisms are effectively put to work. Can prosecutions of mass human rights violations contribute to overcome the effects of State violence and impunity? Can trials enable meaningful reparative changes for victims in their local contexts? Analysing the human rights trials in Argentina established to prosecute those responsible for human rights violations during the military dictatorship, this book addresses how and why domestic prosecutions can operate as a means for reparation and contribute to dealing with the damage caused by crimes against humanity. Based on a series of interviews conducted with victims participating in these prosecutions, as well as with lawyers, prosecutors, judges and other relevant actors in five provinces of Argentina, this book will be of considerable interest to those studying and working in the interdisciplinary field of transitional justice and human rights. The PhD thesis on which this book was based was awarded with the 2016 Doctoral Studies Award of the Philipps University of Marburg in Germany.
The Statute of the International Court of Justice / Andreas Zimmermann. Oxford University Press,2019. ISBN: 0198814895
This landmark publication in the field of international law delivers expert assessment of new developments in the important work of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from a team of renowned editors and commentators. The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and plays a central role in both the peaceful settlement of international disputes and the development of international law. This comprehensive Commentary on the Statute of the International Court of Justice, now in its third edition, analyses in detail not only the Statute of the Court itself but also the related provisions of the United Nations Charter as well as the relevant provisions of the Court’s Rules of Procedure.
The UN Convention on the Rights of the Child / John Tobin. Oxford University Press, 2019. ISBN: 0198262655
The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child is the most extensive and widely ratified international human rights treaty. This Commentary offers a comprehensive analysis of each of the substantive provisions in the Convention and its Optional Protocols on Children and Armed Conflict, and the Sale of Children, Child Prostitution and Pornography.
It provides a detailed insight into the drafting history of these instruments, the scope and nature of the rights accorded to children, and the obligations imposed on States to secure the implementation of these rights. In doing so, it draws on the work of the Committee on the Rights of the Child, international, regional, and domestic courts, academic and interdisciplinary scholarly analyses. It is of relevance to anyone working on matters affecting children including government officials, policy makers, judicial officers, lawyers, educators, social workers, health professionals, academics, aid and humanitarian workers, and members of civil society.