Abstract
Fassbender B and Traisbach K, The limits of human rights (Oxford University Press 2020). ISBN 9780191863479
What are the limits of human rights, and what do these limits mean? This volume engages critically and constructively with this question to provide a distinct contribution to the contemporary discussion on human rights. Fassbender and Traisbach, along with a group of leading experts in the field, examine the issue from multiple disciplinary perspectives, analysing the limits of our current discourse of human rights. It does so in an original way, and without attempting to deconstruct, or deny, human rights. Each contribution is supplemented by an engaging comment which furthers this important discussion. This combination of perspectives paves the way for further thought for scholars, practitioners, students, and the wider public. Ultimately, this volume provides an exceptionally rich spectrum of viewpoints and arguments across disciplines to offer fresh insights into human rights and its limitations.
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Froehlich A and Tăiatu CM, Space in support of human rights (Studies in space policy; v. 23, Springer 2020). ISBN 9783030354268
This book stems from the worrying scale and intensity of conflicts, humanitarian crises, and human rights violations around the world, which can be seen in a wide range of global hotspots including Venezuela, Yemen, Syria, Myanmar, Sudan, Eritrea, and numerous others. These developments are also relevant for Europe, given the large-scale migrations they can produce. In order to effectively respond to them, it has become imperative to analyse ways in which space data and technologies can be used to uphold human rights and monitor violations. Various international tribunals, such as the International Court of Justice (ICJ) and the International Criminal Court (ICC), are increasingly relying on satellite data and especially images when considering human rights violations cases. This use of space-related technologies represents a trend that promises to continue as the range and accuracy of space-derived data improves. Further, satellite data has important legal implications because it allows the fulfilment of international obligations to be monitored, and offers a powerful tool for dispute resolution. Accordingly, this book examines the use of satellite images for cases concerning human rights violations, since the multitude of humanitarian crises worldwide demonstrate that it is of the utmost importance to analyse how space law, policies and space-related applications could further support the implementation and monitoring of the observance of human rights, thus contributing to enhanced security and sustainable development. A range of relevant areas, such as migration, refugees (including settlements and whether they are adequately supplied with basic necessities), water distribution and quality, housing and settlement monitoring are crucial aspects addressed in this book. In closing, the use of satellite data for legal purposes is not without its fair share of problems and concerns, which are also considered to guide the evolution of this emerging field.
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Klocker CA, Collective punishment and human rights law: Addressing gaps in international law (Routledge research in human rights law, Routledge 2020). ISBN 9780429318986
This book analyses collective punishment in the context of human rights law from a New Legal Realist perspective. Collective punishment is a concept deriving from the law of armed conflict. It describes the punishment of a group for an act allegedly committed by one of its members and is prohibited in times of armed conflict. Although the imposition of collective punishment has been witnessed in situations outside armed conflict as well, human rights instruments do not explicitly address collective punishment. Consequently, there is a genuine gap in the protection of affected groups in situations outside of or short of armed conflict. Supported by two case studies on collective punishment in the Occupied Palestinian Territories and in Chechnya, the book examines potential options to close this gap in human rights law in a way contributing to the empowerment of affected groups. This analysis centres on the European Convention on Human Rights due to its relevance to the situation in Chechnya. By questioning whether human rights instruments can encompass a prohibition of collective punishment, the book contributes to the broader academic debate on rights held by collectivities in general and on collective human rights in particular.
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Mallory C, Human Rights Imperialists: The Extraterritorial Application of the European Convention on Human Rights (Bloomsbury Publishing Plc 2020). ISBN 9781509914746
To what extent do a state’s obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights apply beyond its territorial borders? Are soldiers deployed on overseas operations bound by the human rights commitments of their home state? What about other agents, like the police or diplomatic and consular services? If a state’s obligations do apply abroad, are they to be upheld in full or should they be tailored to the situation at hand? Few topics have posed more of a challenge for the European Court of Human Rights than this issue of the Convention’s extraterritorial application. This book provides a novel understanding on why this is by looking at the behaviour of those principally tasked with interpreting the treaty: the Strasbourg Court, state parties, and national courts. It offers a theory for how these communities operate: what motivates, constrains and ultimately shapes their interpretive practices. Through a detailed analysis of the jurisprudence, with a particular focus on British authorities and judges during and after the Iraq War (2003), the book provides an explanation of how the interpretation of extraterritorial obligations has developed over time and how these obligations are currently understood. Some have argued that it is imperialistic to apply the Convention extraterritorially. If this is the case, the focus of this book is on those ‘imperialists’ who have interpreted European human rights law to extend beyond a state’s borders, as it is with them that any lasting solution to the challenge will be found.
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McCann G, Ó hAdhmaill F and Sachs A, I nternational human rights, social policy and global development: Critical perspectives (Policy Press 2020). ISBN 9781447349228
With international human rights under challenge, this book represents a comprehensive critique that adds a social policy perspective to recent political and legalistic analysis. Expert contributors draw on local and global examples to review constructs of universal rights and their impact on social policy and human welfare. With thorough analysis of their strengths, weaknesses and enforcement, it sets out their role in domestic and geopolitical affairs. Including a forward by Albie Sachs, this book presents an honest appraisal of both the concepts of international human rights and their realities and will engage those with an interest in social policy, ethics, politics and international relations.
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Mitsilegas V, Moreno-Lax V and Vavoula N, Securitising asylum flows: Deflection, criminalisation and challenges for human rights (Immigration and Asylum Law and Policy in Europe Ser. Brill Nijhoff 2020). ISBN 9789004396814
Since the past few years, the considerable influx of refugees to the EU has led to a profound reconceptualisation of its immigration control strategy, with emphasis on the co-option of new partners, such as the private sector or third countries, and the prevention of movement through extraterritorial controls. The externalisation of immigration control has also been increasingly linked with the securitisation and criminalisation of asylum, particularly in the form of tackling human smuggling to which those in need usually resort to. This edited volume that comprises of contributions by both legal scholars and practitioners, provides a multi-faceted overview of these legal responses and examines their implications from a human rights and rule of law perspective.
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Pincock K, Betts A and Easton-Calabria EE, The global governed?: Refugees as providers of protection and assistance (Cambridge asylum and migration studies, Cambridge University Press 2020). ISBN 9781108848831
At no time in modern history have so many people been on the move as at present. Migration facilitates critical social, economic, and humanitarian linkages. But it may also challenge prevailing notions of bounded political communities, of security, and of international law. The political and legal systems that regulate the transborder movement of persons were largely devised in the mid-twentieth century, and are showing their strains. New challenges have arisen for policymakers, advocates, and decision-makers that require the adaptation and evolution of traditional models to meet emerging imperatives. Edited by a world leader in refugee law, this new series aims to be a forum for innovative writing on all aspects of the transnational movement of people. It publishes single or coauthored works that may be legal, political, or cross-disciplinary in nature, and will be essential reading for anyone looking to understand one of the most important issues of the twenty-first century.
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Qian X, Water services disputes in international arbitration: Reconsidering the nexus of investment protection, environment, and human rights (Kluwer Law International 2020). ISBN 9403522038
Water Services Disputes in International Arbitration is a well-timed book which focuses on an economic area of substantial importance for the society as a whole—governance of water. Water is not only a vital human need but also extremely precious and valuable. It is a finite resource having “economic value,” facing tremendously increasing demands and challenges, and considerable legal issues (at both theoretical and empirical levels). The legal consequences of the multifaceted nature of water and sanitation services are investigated in this book. In this respect, it concentrates on an analysis of the international law (law in norms in the form of international treaties and their interpretation by international arbitral tribunals that have developed a case law over the years) which applies to cross-border (or foreign) investment made in water and sanitation services.
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Queiroz BM, Illegally staying in the EU: an analysis of illegality in EU migration law (Modern studies in European law, Hart Publishing 2018). ISBN 9781509912865
Principally, this book comprises a conceptual analysis of the illegality of a third-country national’s stay by examining the boundaries of the overarching concept of illegality at the EU level. Having found that the holistic conceptualisation of illegality, constructed through a combination of sources (both EU and national law) falls short of adequacy, the book moves on to consider situations that fall outside the traditional binary of legal and illegal under EU law. The cases of unlawfully staying EU citizens and of non-removable illegally staying third-country nationals are examples of groups of migrants who are categorised as atypical. By looking at these two examples the book reveals not only the fragmentation of legal statuses in EU migration law but also the more general ill-fitting and unsatisfactory categorisation of migrants. The potential conflation of illegality with criminality as a result of the way EU databases regulate the legal regime of illegality of a migrant’s stay is the first trend identified by the book. Subsequently, the book considers the functions of accessing legality (both instrumental and corrective). In doing so it draws out another trend evident in the EU illegality regime: a two-tier regime which discriminates on the basis of wealth and the instrumentalisation of access to legality by Member States for mostly their own purposes. Finally, the book proposes a corrective rationale for the regulation of illegality through access to legality and provides a number of normative suggestions as a way of remedying current deficiencies that arise out of the present supranational framing of illegality.
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Ramcharan BG, A history of the UN human rights programme and secretariat (International studies in human rights, 0924-4751; volume 132, Brill Nijhoff 2020). ISBN 9789004356504
This volumes constitutes a valuable and unique history of the United Nations human rights programme and its secretariat. It offers interpretations of the history of the programme and its secretariat against the background of historical currents such as the Cold War, colonialism and decolonisation, and covers the seminal period during which the programme moved decisively towards human rights fact-finding and the denunciation of violations of human rights, which took place in the latter part of the 1970s and the 1980s. The author was a central player in this period, having served as the Special Assistant to three Directors of the Human Rights Division, and so provides historical materials that only he is aware of, having been at the heart of the action. He also provides snapshots of United Nations human rights leaders from the beginning of the United Nations, all of whom he knew personally, and writes about the contributions of NGOs and NGO leaders who served the cause of human rights with fortitude and determination.
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Sajó A and Uitz R, Critical essays on human rights criticism (Issues in constitutional law; 10, Eleven international publishing 2020). ISBN 9789054545262
Decades of talk of the human rights revolution has triggered impatience and disappointment with a once cherished idea(l). Lately the backlash has received momentum from populist and illiberal political movements. Essays in this volume offer theoretical perspectives and practical insights on developments in Europe, the Americas and South Africa. Authors show how instruments, institutions and practices of human rights protection are used to undermine liberties. The picture includes strategic illiberal politcal actors as well as the (sometimes unwitting) contributions of human rights defenders, national and regional courts. This volume calls for a much needed conversation on the future of human rights among scholars and practitioners of human rights. It also invites students of populist and illiberal governments to join the debate.
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Saul B and Akande D, The Oxford guide to international humanitarian law (Oxford University Press 2020). ISBN 9780192597489
International humanitarian law is the law that governs the conduct of participants during armed conflict. This branch of law aims to regulate the means and methods of warfare as well as to provide protections to those who do not, or who no longer, take part in the hostilities. It is one of the oldest branches of international law and one of enduring relevance today. The Oxford Guide to International Humanitarian Law provides a practical yet sophisticated overview of this important area of law. Written by a stellar line up of contributors, drawn from those who not only have extensive practical experience but who are also regarded as leading scholars of the subject, the text offers a comprehensive and authoritative exposition of the field. The Guide provides professionals and advanced students with information and analysis of sufficient depth to enable them to perform their tasks with understanding and confidence. Each chapter illuminates how the law applies in practice, but does not shy away from the important conceptual issues that underpin how the law has developed. It will serve as a first port of call and a regular reference work for those interested in international humanitarian law.
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Spiro PJ, Citizenship What Everyone Needs to Know (What Everyone Needs to Know Ser. Oxford University Press 2019). ISBN 9780190917319
Almost everyone has citizenship, and yet it has emerged as one of the most hotly contested issues of contemporary politics. Even as cosmopolitan elites and human rights advocates aspire to some notion of “global citizenship,” populism and nativism have re-ignited the importance of national citizenship. Either way, the meaning of citizenship is changing. Citizenship once represented solidarities among individuals committed to mutual support and sacrifice, but as it is decoupled from national community on the ground, it is becoming more a badge of privilege than a marker of equality. Intense policy disagreement about whether to extend birthright citizenship to the children of unauthorized immigrants opens a window on other citizenship-related developments. At the same time that citizenship is harder to get for some, for others it is literally available for purchase. The exploding incidence of dual citizenship, meanwhile, is moving us away from a world in which states jealously demanded exclusive affiliation, to one in which individuals can construct and maintain formal multinational identities. Citizenship does not mean the same thing to everyone, nor have states approached citizenship policy in lockstep. Rather, global trends point to a new era for citizenship as an institution.
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Varady T, Human rights in the 21st century (Eleven International Publ. 2020). ISBN 9789462369931
This is a collection of papers that were initially presented at the international conference, which was organized from 9th to 10th November 2018 by the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA) and Faculty of Law, University of Belgrade. The conference was organized on the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Besides the introductory address, by Ben Ferencz, one of the prosecutors at the Nuremberg Trials, this volume gathers internationally renowned scholars and practitioners who deal with diverging issues from the international human rights law and politics. The volume opens with a selection of contributions broadly falling under the heading – general theoretical issues. It is followed by a handful of articles focusing on the minority rights protection in the 21st century. Third part of the book is devoted to a pertinent problem of accountability of corporations for human rights violations. The closing part of the book is dedicated to environment and bioethics as human rights issues. This volume would be of interest to both human rights scholars and practitioners as well as to those generally interested in public international law issues.
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Vidmar J, European populism and human rights (International studies in human rights; volume 30, Brill Nijhoff 2020). ISBN 9789004416017
This volume focuses on the recent challenge posed by right-wing populism to democratic consolidation in Europe and particularly explores the legal dimensions of this challenge. Part One attempts to define political populism and explains why it poses a challenge to democratic political order in Europe. Part Two examines the theoretical underpinnings of the populist challenge to human rights and democracy in Europe. Part Three applies this theory to concrete examples and considers case studies including an old EU Member State, two newer EU Member States and a non-EU Member State party to the ECHR. The aim is to examin the consequences of the present populist challenge in Europe that has been marked with excessively nationalist policies in some states party to the ECHR. It is explored how the Convention rights have been undermined, but also what the limitations are of the ECHR acting as a safety-net for democratic consolidation in Europe.