Abstract

Bhuta Nehal (ed), Human Rights in Transition (Oxford University Press 2024)
At a time of intense polarisation about the value of human rights, this edited volume brings together leading scholars in international law and international human rights to reflect upon the present, the recent and distant past, and the future of human rights.
Human Rights in Transition combines rich theoretical reflections with practice-informed observations about human rights and their potential futures. The book eschews the polarised and one-sided approach which can too easily dominate either side of the debate. Instead, drawing on deep learning and a range of engagements with human rights institutions, the authors develop a prognosis for contours of human rights law and politics, and its impacts, in the current conjuncture.
The book charts new ways to consider human rights in the concrete areas of specific rights such as social and economic rights, institutional settings (the EU and the UN treaty bodies), and agendas, namely feminism and climate change. The results are a very rich set of essays which delve deeply into specific topics in human rights law and practice, and work outwards from a rigorous analysis of the past and present, to an argument about how to think about the future.
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Chang Wen-Chen and others (eds), Gender, Sexuality and Constitutionalism in Asia (Hart Publishing 2024)
This book analyses the equal citizenship claims of women and sexual and gender diverse people across several Asian jurisdictions. The volume examines the rich diversity of constitutional responses to sex, gender and sexuality in the region from a comparative perspective. Leading comparative constitutional law scholars identify ‘opportunity structures’ to explain the uneven advancement of gender equality through constitutional litigation and consider a combination of variables which shape the diverging trajectories of the jurisdictions in this study.
The authors also embed the relevant constitutional and legal developments in their historical, political and social contexts. This deep contextual understanding of the relationship between sex, gender, sexuality and constitutionalism greatly enriches the analysis. The case studies reflect a variety of constitutional structures, institutional designs and contextual dynamics which may advance or impede developments with respect to sex, gender and sexuality. As a whole, the chapters further an understanding of the constitutional domain as a fruitful site for advancing gender equality and the rights of sexual and gender diverse people.
The jurisdictions covered represent all Asian sub-regions including: East Asia (Japan, Taiwan, Hong Kong and South Korea), South East Asia (Malaysia, Singapore, Philippines and Indonesia), and South Asia (India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka). The introductory framework chapter situates these insights from the region within the broader global context of the evolution of gender constitutionalism.
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Crawford Emily and Pert Alison, International Humanitarian Law (3rd edn, Cambridge University Press 2024)
The law that regulates armed conflicts is one of the oldest branches of international law, and yet continues to be one of the most dynamic areas of law today. This book provides an accessible, scholarly, and up-to-date examination of international humanitarian law, offering a comprehensive and logical discussion and analysis of the law. The book contains detailed examples, extracts from relevant cases, useful discussion questions, and a recommended reading list for every chapter. Emerging trends in theory and practice of international humanitarian law are also explored, allowing for readers to build on their knowledge, and grapple with some of the biggest challenges facing the law of armed conflict in the twenty-first century.
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Enyew Endalew Lijalem, Indigenous Peoples, Marine Space and Resources, and International Law: The Interaction Between International Human Rights Law and the Law of the Sea (Routledge 2024)
Examining the rights of indigenous peoples relating to marine space and marine resources both in international human rights law and the law of the sea, the book provides an in-depth critical analysis of the existing legal framework, whilst identifying the gaps, and possible further mechanisms, for recognizing the rights of indigenous peoples to marine space. The book addresses three main issues: 1) the extent to which international law recognizes and protects the rights of indigenous peoples in relation to marine space and marine resources; 2) if and how the law of the sea and international human rights law pertaining to the rights of indigenous peoples to marine space and marine resources interact; 3) whether and to what extent the law of the sea regime limits the capacity of coastal States to recognize and implement the rights of indigenous peoples relating to marine space and resources. In response, and in a context where indigenous marine rights are under increasing threat, the book develops an important critical theoretical and methodological approach which moves beyond the current doctrinal focus of much existing work in this area.
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Forde Andrew, European Human Rights Grey Zones: The Council of Europe and Areas of Conflict (Cambridge University Press 2024)
Forde examines the effectiveness of the human rights system of the Council of Europe (CoE) in conflict-affected regions and advances a novel approach to understanding how the European Convention on Human Rights can better serve the 10 + million rights-holders living in so-called human rights ‘grey zones’. Building on the premise that nowhere in Europe should be deprived of access to Europe's human rights architecture, Forde argues that areas of conflict give rise to a collective public order imperative on Member States to seek maximal effectiveness of the CoE human rights system. Despite Kosovo's sui generis status, much of the CoE's experience of engagement with Kosovo could inspire more proactive efforts in relation to other areas of conflict. This book advocates a judicious engagement of the CoE's unique assets and acquis in affected regions based on the collective responsibility of Member States and the normative will of the Secretary General.
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Felix Fouchard, The Standard of Review Before the International Court of Justice: Between Principle and Pragmatism (Bloomsbury Publishing 2024)
This book examines how the International Court of Justice (ICJ) reviews State behaviour through the prism of the standard of review. It develops a novel rationale to support the ICJ s application of deferential standards of review as a judicial avoidance technique, based on strategic considerations. It then goes on to empirically assess all 31 decisions of the Court in which the standard of review was at issue, showing how the Court determines that standard, and answering the question of whether it varies its review intensity strategically. As a result, the book's original contribution is two-fold: establishing a new rationale for judicial deference (that can be applied to all international courts and tribunals); and providing the first comprehensive, empirical analysis of the ICJ s standards of review. It will be beneficial to all scholars of the Court and those interested in judicial strategy.
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Ippolito Francesca, Children’s Environmental Rights under International and EU Law: The Changing Face of Fundamental Rights in Pursuit of Ecocentrism (TMC Asser Press; Springer 2023)
This book intends to address the problem of the environmental rights of the child, which are not identical to the ones of adults whose environmental rights have been appraised from a general point of view. In the absence of any international law instrument explicitly granting a child the right to a clean environment, drawing on an extensive and original analysis of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the practice of its monitoring body, this book undertakes an assessment of the extent to which these challenges may be overcome through a greater engagement between international law on the rights of the child and international environmental law. The result is the first comprehensive study on the manner in which these two mutually reinforcing legal regimes can interact to strengthen the protection of children's environmental human rights at stake in the increased strategic environmental and climate litigations at both the national and international level.
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Kiel Hannah, Arms Transfers to Non-State Actors: The Erosion of Norms in International Law (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024)
This insightful book analyses the issue of norm erosion in international law by examining arms transfers to non-state actors. Balancing empirical research with legal theory, the author dissects recent case studies, tracing individual changes in norms against a background of systemic transformation.
Arms Transfers to Non-State Actors follows changes in the prohibition of arms transfers to non-state actors since the pivotal International Court of Justice''s Nicaragua ruling in 1986. Hannah Kiel critically discusses the legal developments through relevant case studies, including Abkhazia, Bosnia, Congo, Eastern Ukraine, Kosovo, Libya, Northern Iraq, South Ossetia, Syria and Yemen. Adopting a customary law perspective while also placing the narratives of states in the context of international structural changes, Kiel emphasises the interplay between state practice and the strengthening of a human rights-based paradigm. Kiel ultimately shows that changes in norms at the individual level indicate a larger transformation in the international order, and while the arming of non-state actors remains formally illegal, the prohibition of this practice is informally eroding.
Interdisciplinary in scope, this book provides valuable insights for scholars and researchers of public international law, human rights, international humanitarian law, and international relations. It is also of great benefit to human rights lawyers, policymakers, and diplomats.
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Klarsfeld Alain and others (eds), Encyclopedia of Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (Edward Elgar Publishing 2024)
Providing comprehensive coverage of the field of diversity, equality, equity and inclusion (DEI), this timely Encyclopedia addresses significant developments in diversity management. Between them, the 78 entries cover interdisciplinary, theoretical, mainstream and critical approaches to construct a complete picture of this crucial approach to business practice. With contributions from leading and emerging international experts, the Encyclopedia of Equality, Equity, Diversity and Inclusion explores previously overlooked topics such as class and microaggression alongside ever-evolving concepts including affirmative action and employment equity. Growing concerns like continued workplace prejudice and indirect and systemic discrimination are addressed in order to detail the contemporary importance of DEI. This volume will be a vital resource for academics and students focusing on diversity in business, international management and human resources. Due to its practical implications, it will also benefit practitioners and managers seeking to better understand diversity and management.”
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Ramcharan Bertran G., New Dimensions in the International Protection of Human Rights and the Need for a New Human Rights Diplomacy (Brill | Nijhoff 2024)
The twenty-first century is seeing a battle of ideas between different conceptions of governance: people-centred and party-centred. At the same time, scientific and technological developments are posing new challenges for human rights. This book identifies new dimensions in the international protection of human rights and makes the case for a new human rights diplomacy focusing on enlarging the area of common ground among governments and enhancing national human rights protection systems.
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Sassòli Marco, International Humanitarian Law: Rules, Controversies, and Solutions to Problems Arising in Warfare (2nd edn, Edward Elgar Publishing 2024)
In this thoroughly updated second edition of what has quickly become the definitive text in the field of international humanitarian law (IHL), leading expert Marco Sassòli evaluates the application of IHL, the way in which hostilities should be conducted against an adversary, and the pertinence of traditional distinctions, such as that between international and non-international armed conflicts or civilians and combatants.
Drawing on the author's practical experience to provide unique and invaluable insights, the second edition discusses the rules protecting certain categories of persons, including prisoners of war, as well as governing different types of conduct of hostilities and the difficulties in determining whether a destruction was unlawful. Significantly, the edition takes the armed conflict between Russia and Ukraine into account, discussing what remains of neutrality, defending the strict separation between the prohibition of aggression and the humanitarian rules to be respected by both sides, which must however be nuanced in the field of naval warfare. New sections explore IHL in relation to persons with disabilities, sieges and humanitarian corridors, the role of the media, IHL in outer space, and the concept of meaningful human control over lethal autonomous weapons systems.
Structured in a clear and accessible manner, this new edition is essential reading for all students and scholars of international humanitarian law, as well as those in human rights, and public international law. For military practitioners and NGO lawyers, as well as those working in intergovernmental organizations, this is simply a must-have resource.
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Shala Nita, Guarantees of Non-Repetition in International Human Rights Law and Transitional Justice: Building Peace after Conflict (Routledge 2024)
This book examines the understudied, yet increasingly applied, concept of Guarantees of Non-Repetition under international human rights law and transitional justice.
Guarantees of Non-Repetition (GNRs) are measures taken to ensure that human rights abuses do not recur. They are especially crucial in post-war contexts marked by severe and systematic violations. However, although they are increasingly invoked, GNRs are not well understood, and they have so far received only limited theoretical and practical analysis. Tracing their development to the influence of international human rights law, this book considers what GNRs are, how and why they have come about, and how GNRs are implemented. Through an explication of the history, law and jurisprudence of GNR's - in regional mechanisms in Latin America, Europe, and Asia, as well as in international bodies - the book maintains the increasing importance, and as yet unfulfilled potential, of this legal obligation in transitional justice settings.
This first book to analyse the development of GNRs and their application will appeal to scholars in the areas of law and transitional justice, public policy, and socio-legal studies, as well as lawyers and policy-makers working in post-conflict situations.
