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The article provides information on the development of standards in the Article 4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights Derogation provision, provided for the Committee of Experts. The development of these standards with practical recommendations for implementation under Article 4 of the Covenant will further the larger process of providing international scrutiny to bear on states of emergency, with the purpose of protecting individuals against abuse of state power. The recommendations are designed to give an accurate content to the limited privilege of derogation contained in Article 4 of the Covenant as well as to propose improvements for its implementation by the national and international authorities.

This paper addresses the less researched topic of internal displacement as a human rights issue and analyzes the extent that the transnationalization of human rights issues and the pressures from regional organizations affected the rights of ethnic minorities, particularly internally displaced ethnic groups. In order to shed light on how much state sovereignty on sensitive internal matters can be challenged by regional organizations, the paper examines Turkey's efforts to join the European Community (through membership in the Council of Europe and the European Union) in light of its policies toward its internally displaced Kurdish population. Although the analysis focuses on internal displacement as an issue within this field, it also studies general human rights problems, such as minority rights, cultural rights, and representation of minorities, within the context of Turkey's Kurdish Question. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper demonstrates why human rights measurement is important, how human rights have been measured to date, and how such measures can be improved in the future. Through focusing primarily but not exclusively on the measurement of civil and political rights, the paper argues that human rights can be measured in principle, in practice, and as outcomes of government policy. Such measures include the coding of formal legal documents, events-based, standards-based, and survey-based data, as well as aggregate indicators that serve as indirect measures of rights protection. The paper concludes by stressing the need for continued provision of high quality information at the lowest level of aggregation, sharing information and developing an ethos of replication, and long term investment in data collection efforts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Despite being at the forefront of the development of human rights law, minority rights as a sui generis discourse has slipped away from the forefront of the international human rights regime. This has occurred despite the continued salience of questions concerning identity in international law and politics. This paper argues that the closing down of space at international level has meant that further developments protecting individuals irrespective of their identity, are more likely to come at national level, and suggests theaters, theories, and models in various states, where minorities are currently negotiating policies that are worth considering and replicating elsewhere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recognition of the need to protect the rights and interests of the vulnerable and disadvantaged has been a recurrent theme in the work of the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR). This article reviews the work of the CESCR to ascertain whether the Committee has had a clear-cut framework or criteria to determine which individuals or groups should be considered vulnerable and disadvantaged and what measures are required to protect their human rights. The first section reviews the Committee’s reporting guidelines. The second analyzes the treatment of vulnerability in the Committee’s general comments and statements. The third evaluates how the CESCR has approached the subject of vulnerability in its concluding comments for state party reports reviewed between 1997 and 2009. The fourth concludes that despite the importance the CESCR accords to the subject of vulnerability, it does not offer a clear-cut conception or definition of vulnerability or related terminology. Nor does it provide criteria for identifying which individuals or groups qualify as vulnerable or disadvantaged in general or in specific contexts. Moreover, the CESCR is often vague about what protecting and improving the status of the vulnerable and disadvantaged entails. Therefore the paper recommends that the CESCR address vulnerability in a more conceptually robust and integrated fashion through issuing a general comment or a statement on the topic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores the impact of judicial interpretation on legal system change. An analysis of constitutional rights cases and 178 semi-structured interviews with judges, lawyers, and activists shows that judges created opportunities for mobilization for social rights by changing understandings about and uses of pre-existing institutional arrangements, through the contingent exercise of judicial agency. While Colombian judges pointed to interconnectedness of rights, South African judges focused on human dignity. These choices spurred the massive, yet unforeseen, expansion of the tutela procedure in Colombia and precipitated policy-oriented judicial decision-making and "meaningful engagement" in South African constitutional rights litigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyzes recent efforts by India's Dalits (Untouchables) to transform centuries-old caste-based discrimination into an international human rights issue. Comparing early failures and later successes in international activism, the article demonstrates that the Dalits have achieved limited but important advances among transnational NGOs, international organizations, and foreign governments since the late 1990s. What explains these successes—and what lessons does the Dalit experience hold for other groups seeking to transform domestic grievances into internationally recognized human rights issues? The article makes two primary arguments. First, organizational changes among Dalit activists played a major role in these successes, most importantly the formation of a unified Dalit network within India and the subsequent creation of a transnational solidarity network. Second, rhetorical changes played a key role, as Dalits moved from their long-standing focus on caste-based discrimination to a broader framing within the more internationally acceptable terminology of discrimination based on "work and descent." The article concludes by discussing broader implications for international human rights activism by other aggrieved groups. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents an account of the field on human rights indicators for civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights. There are two ways in which human rights serve to inform debates about development, poverty, governance, and other related concerns. The first is based on simple international legitimacy: human rights provide a legitimate normative basis for declaring a certain set of conditions immoral. If human rights indicators refer to tools for measuring human rights, then any discussion must be predicated on the basics of what, in fact, is to be measured. The international treaties are drafted and acceded to by governments and are geared primarily towards the actions of governments: At their base they consist of governments assuming certain legal duties with regard to individuals or groups. Thus, human rights treaties serve primarily to create rights for people and duties for governments. The misconception about human rights is that the existence of poverty is identical to proof that economic, social and cultural rights are being violated, or that the absence of poverty is proof that economic, social and cultural rights are being respected.

The article evaluates the definition and justification between minority and indigenous rights in Europe. Over the last decade, the concept of "indigenous people" has acquired considerable normative power in international practice. In 1982 the United Nations established a Working Group on Indigenous Populations, which in 1993 adopted a remarkably ambitious Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous peoples have been actively involved in these standard-setting activities, and have established themselves as a significant presence on the international stage. However, there is no general agreement on the definition of "indigenous people" that is on who should benefit from the rights framework which is being established nor is there an agreement on a process by which such a definition could be developed. At about the same time that the international community began focusing seriously on the needs of indigenous peoples, the end of the Cold War revived interest in minority rights. There is no international body for minorities comparable to the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous Populations, and both international and regional standards remain comparatively weak.

The article discusses the development of the Nordic report which focuses on issues related to human rights situation in selected developing countries in Norway. It states that human rights and economic assistance were given much attention with the establishment of white papers focusing on human rights by the Norwegian official development assistance (ODA). The Nordic report provides information on civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights as well as developments in individual rights situation. The human rights reports also play a significant role in the establishment of foreign policy by parliamentarians. Furthermore, the various features contained in the report are discussed.

Regressive regimes are on the rise, implementing laws and policies designed to have a chilling effect on their opposition. They focus much of their ire on women and immigrants, creating fear-based narratives to justify militarizing the interior, fortifying the border, reducing civil liberties in the name of national security, and, less overtly, perpetuating patriarchal systems of power. Controlling women and immigrants is central to nativist political agendas. The focus on immigrants and women is purposeful, designed to provide the latitude that the Constitution and international law may grant to political leaders allegedly operating within the arenas of sovereign authority and foreign affairs. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Fundamental rights often are seen to promise much: relief from grinding poverty, decent education, and non-discrimination. Yet, there is a stark difference between these ideals and the reality facing many across the world. This starting point provides a basis for exploring the nature of fundamental rights that, it is argued, are best understood as moral ideals that create the pressure for legal institutionalization. This article explores the wide-ranging implications of this conception of rights, both for the structure of rights adjudication and for the nature of the interventions--judicial or otherwise--necessary to address major challenges to the realization of socioeconomic, civil and political rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Citizens United and Hobby Lobby decisions of the US Supreme Court stoked the longstanding controversy over the court's doctrine that corporations are persons entitled to certain constitutional rights on the same basis as citizens. It is less widely noted that, in some fields of international economic law, firms are increasingly considered not just legal persons but bearers of human rights. This article critically examines the incipient arrogation of human rights discourse in the context of international investment arbitration, where the claims of firms are often articulated and adjudicated with language and standards borrowed from human rights law. This development, which the article describes as the dehumanization of human rights, is part of a larger process whereby international economic institutions accord legal recognition and certain protections to private economic actors. The article traces the important implications of business corporations being considered as bearers of human rights for determining the proper scope and purpose of international human rights norms, and for conceptualizing their relationship to constitutional democracy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Recent efforts by Western economic powers to bring labor standards under the authority of the World Trade Organization (WTO) have been opposed by the global South. Prior research has produced conflicting evidence on whether curtailment of labor rights promotes or hinders rapid economic development. This article presents a summary of the relevant policy debates, especially those at the WTO. I also summarize opposing theories that posit restriction of labor rights as either promoting or hindering rapid development. After a review of prior quantitative studies, I present my own novel approach to testing theories of labor rights and development. My conclusion summarizes the implications of the test results for the policy debates and presents a model that could serve to advance the WTO social clause agenda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Although the right to minority language instruction is widely recognized as a linguistic human right, it has not simultaneously been recognized and implemented in China. This article aims to analyze a Chinese dilemma: how to maintain economic growth while protecting minority rights in general and linguistic rights in particular. By examining the evolution of bilingualism as national language policy, the article shows that China's policy orientation has actually derailed from its original track and, to some extent, breached the constitutional principle of equal protection. Further, it scrutinizes and compares the claims upheld by different stakeholders and asserts that the government's GDP-driven attitude and interventionist approach to language policy is detrimental to minorities' linguistic rights and to national solidarity. It concludes that linguistic pluralism and cultural diversity should be cherished and promoted in policy and law making in multinational China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Much research on the effects of international human rights institutions (IHRIs) is fixated on whether IHRIs have--"on balance" or "systematically"--generated domestic effect. This essay highlights the path-dependent and conditional nature of domestic effects of IHRIs that the current scholarship has either willfully ignored or proven unable to take seriously. It focuses on causal mechanisms by which IHRIs, as codification of rights and as treaty organizations, impact domestic human rights practice by empowering domestic human rights stakeholders and thereby indirectly influencing states' human rights practice. The essay sheds further light on the conditions under which IHRIs empower domestic stakeholders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes a research strategy to construct national human rights indicators and indices and uses this strategy for the assessment of human rights observance in the Republic of Korea during the period 1990 to 2007. To ensure reliability, the proposed indicators are derived from the Concluding Observations issued by the committees of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). The analysis of the constructed composite indices reveals a dramatic trend of a country's human rights improvements and setbacks over time. The article maintains that the proposed strategy is easily replicable by countries seeking to systematically assess and subsequently improve their human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What can geography as a discipline contribute towards a better understanding of human rights issues? Based on an analysis of three maps, selected from a larger set of thirty-two generated from data abstracted from 720 Amnesty International Freedom Writers Letters, this study finds that the number and frequency of human rights abuses over the past twenty years has remained stable at best. A set of ten confounding factors are indentified to explain this lack of progress towards improving worldwide human rights. This article concludes that geographers and human rights scholars could profit in their work by collaborating and consulting with one another's research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article contests the argument that Daniel J. Whelan and Jack Donnelly put forth in the November 2007 issue of the Human Rights Quarterly, thus joining the debate about the truth or myth of Western opposition to economic and social rights. Their statement that Western states considered these rights as equal to civil and political rights in importance is challenged through analysis of the Netherlands policies and attitudes towards the economic and social rights. Their view that the West has strongly and consistently supported economic and social rights is displaced by a picture of a gradual process in which economic and social rights became increasingly accepted as a full-fledged category of human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International human rights networks have publicized the exigencies of human rights violations in North Korea and have mobilized international and domestic laws as part of their respective movements to pressure North Korea on human rights. This article asks how effective these attempts at legal mobilization have been. While leveraging law has found success in other parts of the world for human rights improvement, this article argues that legal mobilization has had very limited impact in North Korea due to larger political impediments such as denuclearization priorities, ideological polarization between human rights groups, and North Korea's own counter-discourse to human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The CIRI Human Rights Data Project provides information about government respect for a broad array of human rights in nearly every country in the world. Covering twenty-six years, fifteen separate human rights practices, and 195 countries, it is one of the largest human rights data sets in the world. This essay provides an overview of the CIRI project and our response to some critiques of the CIRI physical integrity rights index. Compared to the Political Terror Scale (PTS), the CIRI physical integrity rights index is focused on government human rights practices, can be disaggregated, is more transparent in its construction, and is more replicable because of the transparency of our coding rules. Furthermore, unlike the PTS, the unidimensionality of the CIRI index has been demonstrated empirically. For these reasons, the CIRI index is a more valid index of physical integrity rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article was inspired by claims made by a number of participants at the Fifth Workshop on an ASEAN Regional Mechanism on Human Rights in Kuala Lumpur (2006) that because all ASEAN states were party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women, they shared common legal obligations and so the path was clear for moving forward with the Hanoi Action Plan's Commission on Women and Children. At that time, it was not clear that ASEAN would go any further than this commission. This article is therefore an examination of the law on reservations, but one that has at its core an examination of ASEAN states' reservations to the six main human rights treaties in light of Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties. Analysis is situated in the on-going debate about reservations to human rights treaties, as well as assessment of the significance and impact of the ASEAN reservations in themselves, in relation to other state parties, on the proposed Commission on Women and Children, and on international law generally. Since this article was written, ASEAN adopted a new Charter for the organization, which, in Article 14, allows for the creation of a human rights body, to operate in accordance with terms of reference yet to be decided by the Foreign Ministers of ASEAN. The Commission on Women and Children has yet to be established. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

How resilient is the human rights norm in the counter-terrorist era? This question is explored through examining the record of two of the UN Security Council's counter-terrorist committees. The article argues that, initially, the procedures of these two committees damaged human rights protections, an outcome criticized by UN officials, human rights NGOs, and certain, mainly middle-power, states. Using the UN as a platform, they made the argument that a failure to ensure that anti-terrorist measures were in accordance with human rights standards would be counter-productive. As a result, Committee procedures have evolved and now give greater attention to the human rights consequences of counter-terrorist action. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using the so called Common Understanding among UN agencies as a starting point for what is characteristic of human rights based approaches to development cooperation, the author discusses what the approach implies in the area of HIV/AIDS and food security. First, it is considered what it means that human rights are to be goals and guiding principles in development efforts. Second, the issue of human rights-based situation analysis as the basis for identifying priorities and action is raised. Third, the meaning of developing the capacities of rights-holders to claim and realize their human rights and of duty-bearers to meet their obligations is elaborated upon. Field research carried out by CARE International in Malawi is analyzed in order to put these questions into a practical context. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The separation of human rights into two distinct sets remains the underlying paradigm of most legal thinking produced on the subject of economic, social, and cultural rights. From this perspective international law appears as a static, rigid system of watertight legal compartments: even when acknowledging some interrelatedness, the compartments remain the rule nevertheless. This article is written from a perspective that takes a different view. Artificial separations are just that: artificial. Rights in real life are interwoven and each, in its own right, pose challenges to the legal mind, to provide a remedy. Justiciability is no longer a matter of perfectly dissecting and distinguishing the inseparable but of finding the key relations between apparently separate notions. Remedies can take "a myriad of forms." By looking into the practice of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights through the analysis of its case law, this article first provides a theoretical point of departure under general international law for understanding economic, social, and cultural rights as primary rules. It then analyses the current jurisprudence of the Court in its integrated approach to rights. It finally goes on to analyze the different manners in which this organ has been providing remedies for violations of these primary rules. From the implementation of interim measures in favor of HIV patients (right to health) to the development of doctrinal notions of the right to life including the right to a "dignified and decent existence" to its substantive approach to the interpretation of human rights under the American Convention, this article argues that the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights—paradoxically coming from a poverty-stricken region—is contributing to a new era of effectively dealing with violations of economic, social, and cultural rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The people of Burma/Myanmar have suffered for two generations under military dictatorships. Their economy, legal and social orders, cultural diversity, and political freedoms have all steadily declined during that time. The country's human rights record is considered by many to be one of the worst worldwide. In the West, responses have ranged from diplomatic condemnation, to the imposition of economic sanctions, and to the withdrawal of aid and international cooperation. Countries in the region, on the other hand, have been typically less robust, more accepting of assertions of sovereign rights and concerned to promote engagement and dialogue rather than isolation and punishment. Neither approach appears to have had any discernable impact on the attitude of Myanmar's military government or on the plight of its people. Aung San Suu Kyi remains under house arrest, her pro-democracy party banned, and its members persecuted; the rule of law is non existent, and the once flourishing economy is in terminal decline. New strategies to break the impasse are now being contemplated in both the West (more conditional engagement) and the East (more strident conditionality). This article analyzes a controversial Australian human rights initiative that ran in Myanmar from 2000 to 2003, which might be considered a forerunner to these new "third way" approaches. The article describes the objectives, nature, composition and implementation of the program; it assesses its advantages and disadvantages, its risks and potential, and explores some of the criticisms and praise the program engendered. It also provides a detailed backdrop against which one might draw some tentative lessons in terms of the protection and promotion of human rights in both the specific context of Myanmar, and also, by implication, in the global community's approach to intransigent, pariah states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years the UN Commission on Human Rights has been widely and severely castigated for its failures to live up to the vision of being a genuine protector of victims of human rights abuses and instead becoming a shield for the violators. This article provides an assessment of these criticisms of the Commission by exploring its historical beginnings, its notable achievements, and its manifest shortcomings, and then analyzes how these and other factors came into play when the membership of the United Nations decided to replace the Commission with the new Human Rights Council. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article critically examines and develops an important approach in the international human rights community to the moral justification of an absolute proscription of torture, or, alternatively put, to the cogency of a non-derogative right not to be tortured. This approach involves elements of moral intuitionism, a minimal natural law position, and consequentialist arguments that ought—taken together or independently—to be convincing to all people of good will, regardless of their cultural location. The essay deploys sources from international human rights, comparative and philosophical ethics, and empirical and NGO studies about the intrinsic nature and pervasive deleterious effects of torture practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Human rights as an international political project are closely tied to claims of universality. Attacks on the universality of human rights, however, are also widespread. And some versions of universalism are indeed theoretically indefensible, politically pernicious, or both. This essay explores the senses in which human rights can (and cannot) be said to be universal, the senses in which they are (and are not) relative, and argues for the "relative universality" of internationally recognized human rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We aim to complement the work of legal scholars by investigating the effects of constitutional provisions for states of emergency, on the respect for personal (or physical) integrity rights, in instances in which governments are confronted with domestic crises. Our findings show that such constitutional provisions have an important impact on governments' propensities to abuse such rights. However, these impacts are not always what one might expect, and indeed, our findings suggest that following the recommendations of lawyers groups may actually have a damaging effect on human rights in many instances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on human rights issues relating to social and economic development in Bangladesh. Support for human rights in Bangladesh has intensified for two main reasons: First, for the expansion of human rights issues in a society that has faced a series of crisis, and second, for the gradual emergence of a powerful and effective civil society and non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The Constitution of Bangladesh is based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. It pledges eighteen fundamental civil and political rights. Democratic norms and civil liberties have been difficult to establish in Bangladesh due to frequent military intervention into state affairs. Since the late 1970s, NGOs have steadily acquired increasingly prominent roles in the nation's development process. NGO activities have had a significant impact on poverty alleviation. The growth of NGOs, including women activists, environmentalists, action researchers, and the media, has tremendously helped to raise awareness about the impact of economic disparity, social oppression, and environmental exploitation of human beings.

The article compares the human rights policies of China and the United States. In China, public service is esteemed and the government is seen as the custodian of public interest. While in the United States, the traditional preoccupation has been with oppression. The state is perceived more as a potential threat to individual liberty and as a deadweight hindering the efficient operation of the market. China tends to define positive rights as the fulfillment of basic human needs such as food, shelter, education, health care, and employment. Human rights tend to be defined by the U.S. citizens in terms of negative rights. Negative rights are defined as restraints against the state to prevent the infringement of individual liberties. The Chinese are apt to see the U.S. attempts to reform China more as an act of cultural hegemony and political domination than as a genuine campaign to promote human dignity. They point to United States' own record of domestic inequality, racial discrimination, support for right-wing authoritarians and failure to comply with international norms.

This article challenges the notion that a vertical relationship between state and its subject is the only sphere in which states have obligations in as far as they pertain to international human rights law. The topic of transnational human rights obligations for states has not been widely explored. By transnational obligations, it refers to the possibility that states may have obligations relating to the human rights effects of their external activities, such as trade, development cooperation, participation in international organizations, and security activities. Most work of human rights institutions focuses on the national or internal obligations that states have and how states that have ratified the various human rights instruments implement these provisions within their national borders. International human rights law is part of the general regime of international law. International human rights law is different from other areas of international law because the implementation of the provisions of these treaties, or the norms of customary international law in this field, commonly is done domestically. Thus, there is a vertical relationship between a state and its subjects, rather than a horizontal relationship among states.

This article examines the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights as it relates to, and possibly impinges on, minority groups. The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms contains no minority rights provision akin to Article 27 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Therefore, there is no direct way for members of minority groups to claim minority rights at the Court, although the Court has held that member states are under an obligation to uphold "international standards in the field of the protection of human and minority rights." In 1993, the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in Recommendation 1201, did propose a new protocol to the European Convention providing for minority rights. The Heads of State and Government meeting of the Council of Europe at its Vienna Summit in October 1993 rejected recommendation 1201. The Council of Europe did pioneer the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities in 1995, but it contains no complaint mechanism for individuals or groups.

This article focuses on the rights of minorities in Brazil. The Brazilian law determined that indigenous peoples' material and personal rights be placed under the protection of the "Justice of Orphans." When, in 1916, the Brazilian Civil Code was approved, it included "Indians" among those considered "relatively incapable" to exercise their rights. The 1973 Indigenous Peoples' Statute issued during the most repressive period of the military regime that governed the country between 1964 and 1984, further extended the scope of the state's tutelage over indigenous peoples. Brazil's transition to democratic normality in the mid-1980s and the promulgation of the 1988 Constitution promised a new era in the relationship between the Brazilian state, Brazilian society, and Brazilian indigenous peoples. Indigenous peoples' rights during the period of military rule in Brazil were constrained by several factors. The condition of being "Indian" was a temporary attribute, the assimilation into Brazilian society was the goal and the tutelage of the state the means toward that inevitable goal.

The article examines the relationship between cultural diversity and respect for human rights. According to the authors, a few empirical studies have researched the linkages between diversity and human rights related variables. However, each of these studies focuses on a single dependent variable that measures only a single dimension of human rights. Most social scientific studies have, to this point, searched primarily or exclusively for linear relationships. The reasons for this are twofold. In the absence of deductive theory, assuming a linear relationship is frequently thought to be as reasonable a starting point as any. A related, but perhaps even more important reason is that the statistical method used most by social scientists, Ordinary Least Squares Regression, tests for linear relationships. The results that arose from a study conducted by the authors seemed to indicate that it is possible that several types of human rights, most notably political rights, can be achieved in a heterogeneous society.

This focuses on the views on human rights approach to development as a stream of thinking within the development and human rights context. Economic, social, and cultural rights are often classified as second-generation rights, while political rights and civil liberties are considered as rights of the first generation. Many have understood this not as a mere categorization but as a ranking which puts economic, social, and cultural rights after political rights. Thus, the so-called second-generation rights have led a kind of shadow life until the late 1980s. A precondition of the success of a human rights approach to development is its integration into the monitoring mechanism of human rights committees and human rights non-governmental organizations. In addition to this institutional level, the dialogue between human rights and development activists should follow the demands of such an approach and thus mutually strengthen their lobbying activities. The realization of human rights becomes the aim of development policy and thus human rights are the benchmark by which to evaluate the outcome of such policies. Based on human rights, all duty-bearers become legally accountable for their development efforts.

The article reinterprets the problem of internal conflicts and civil wars in Africa, from the perspective of citizenship and rights. The central argument is that although the genealogy and dimensions of conflicts and civil wars in Africa are quite complex and varied; underlying most of these conflicts, especially those that erupted within the last decade, is the issue of citizenship and rights. The construction and nature of the state in Africa, which is rooted in the colonial pedigree, tend toward the institutionalization of ethnic entitlements, rights, and privileges, which create differentiated and unequal status of citizenship. This tendency deindividualizes citizenship and makes it more of a group phenomenon. Rather than the state providing a common bond for the people through the tie of citizenship, with equal rights, privileges, and obligations, both in precepts and practice, people's loyalties are bifurcated. The result is usually tension and contradictions in the public sphere as claims of marginalization, exclusion, and domination among individuals and groups are rife. The consequence is mostly conflicts and civil wars in Africa.

The article analyzes the conflict between liberal and nonliberal normative systems that underpins debate about gay rights and the right of gays to form a family. As the new century begins, it is useful to reflect on which social groups are still unprotected by the international human rights regime. An obvious candidate is gays and lesbians. If everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration of Human Rights, without distinction of any kind, such as race, color, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status, then it is incumbent upon activists and scholars interested in protecting the rights of gays and lesbians to show that they occupy a status analogous to that of other social groups who suffer discrimination. Gays and lesbians are a more difficult social group to protect than other weak social groups such as women or children, because they are perceived in many cultures as innately dishonorable. Women and children who fill their prescribed social roles and perform their prescribed duties can be honored and respected. Gays, by asserting a deviant identity that defies social norms and common morality, are undeserving of honor and respect.

This article examines criticism of English thinker Jeremy Bentham towards the 1789 French Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen in the essay "Anarchical Fallacies." Bentham's essay has a curious history. Apparently written sometime in 1796, it became available in English only in 1834, two years after Bentham's death, when his collected works were published in London. In light of Bentham's scathing criticisms of the French "Declaration," one naturally wonders what he would have had to say today were he in a position to evaluate the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights. Bentham's argument in "Anarchical Fallacies" can be divided into two parts of very unequal importance and length. By far the greater part of his attention is devoted to destructive criticism of the French "Declaration," and by implication to a criticism of almost any possible doctrine of human rights. It is this critical portion of his essay that presumably prompted adoption of "Anarchical Fallacies" as the title for the whole.

The article comments on the Johannesburg Principles on National Security, Freedom of Expression and Access to Information, which were adopted on October 1, 1995 by a group of experts, in Johannesburg, South Africa. The Principles, it is opined, are based on international and regional law and standards relating to the protection of human rights, evolving state practice, and general principles of law. With regard to the first principle, relating to national security, freedom of expression, and access to information, the author opines that the freedom of expression and access to information are indispensable to the protection of all other human rights as well as to a democratic society governed by the rule of law. A logical corollary of the fundamental relationship between democratic society, human rights, and freedom of expression is that restrictions on freedom of expression weaken the foundations of a democratic society. Johannesburg Principle 2(a) discusses protection of the existence of a country rather than a nation. It is opined that the Principles do not use the term because of the too frequent abuse by governments of their authority to defend the nation to justify themselves.

The article presents highlights on the debate on the substance of indigenous peoples' rights in light of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous People from 1995 to 2004. The General Assembly emphasized the commitment of member states to promote and protect the rights of indigenous people in its declaration on the occasion of the 50th anniversary of the United Nations. Indigenous people have always enjoyed unrestricted access to meetings of the Working Group of Indigenous Population (WGIP), a subsidiary of the United Nation Commission on Human Rights Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. Draft Declaration prepared at these sessions truly reflects the values, beliefs and aspirations of the people's concerned. Latin American states identified the amelioration of poverty, affirmative action, and cultural integrity as the goals of the Declaration whereas United States said that the sole function of the instrument should be to fight discrimination based on indigenous origin and guarantee full equality before the law. All governments opposed the recognition of indigenous peoples' right to veto any legislative or administrative measures, which may affect them. States also expressed reservations about provisions of the WGIP draft Declaration regarding cultural and intellectual property rights.

The article identifies East Asian criticisms of traditional Western approaches to human rights. The article distinguishes among three sorts of arguments for a culturally sensitive approach to human rights: the argument that situation-specific justification for the temporary curtailment of particular human rights can only be countered following the acquisition of substantial local knowledge; the argument that East Asian cultural traditions may well provide the resources to justify and increase local commitment to values and practices that in the West are typically realized through a human rights regime; and the argument that distinctive East Asian conceptions of vital human interests may justify some political practices that differ to some extent from human rights regimes typically endorsed in Western countries. The East Asian conceptions of vital human interests might differ from the human rights standards typically endorsed by US liberal theorists, Western governments, and international human rights documents formulated without substantial input from East Asia. The position that every society need not settle on exactly the same balance between the claims of individual freedom and the human need for a decent common life when these two concerns come into conflict with one another is not particularly controversial in East Asia. However, many otherwise progressive liberal voices in the West still seem compelled by a tradition of universalistic moral reasoning that proposes one final solution to the question of the ideal polity, yet paradoxically draws only on the moral aspirations and political practices found in Western societies. If the ultimate aim is an international order based on universally accepted human rights, the West needs to recognize that human rights have been in constant evolution and should welcome the possibility of a positive East Asian contribution to this process.

The article discusses an image of a person in the human rights concept with which all cultures may identify. The article follows the conceptual route and expounds on the notion of "person" that lies behind the human rights concept found in the history and contemporary scope of human rights documents. The image of the person presented in the article provides an intellectual framework that could be used to overcome tensions between the universality of human rights claims and the particularity of their conceptualization in various cultures all over the world. An intellectual framework, regardless of its strengths or weaknesses, cannot replace political and legal efforts to effectuate human rights protection. The ideas of political and legal discussions of human rights issues are presented in the article. The study would be illustrated by reference to the German Federal Constitutional Court's usage of exact "image of the person" in the context of the German Constitution. The article presents the historical development and legal endorsement of human rights. Human rights aim at securing a self-determinate, meaningful, and responsible way of leading one's life for every human being. Self-determination means a person's ability to have goals and to develop, pursue, and defend his or her own life plan. The self-determinate formula serves as the common denominator between different cultures as a universal normative ideal within the various cultures.

This article presents an analysis on the effect of multinational corporations, on human rights in the third world. This study seeks to establish what effect multinational corporations have on human rights in the third world. Two theories of multinational corporations and human rights, the engines of development thesis and the Hymer thesis, serve as a point of departure. Using two different indicators of direct foreign investment to measure the presence of multinational corporations, this study finds them to be positively associated with political rights and civil liberties as well as with economic and social rights in the third world. This result supports the engines of development school. This study does not find any empirical evidence to support the Hymer thesis. Prior theoretical and quantitative analyses of human rights in the third world have focused on economic development and governmental policy as causal factors. Some of the variables that these studies have analyzed include: civil and political rights ranked on an ordinal scale; the physical quality of life index as an indicator of socioeconomic rights; levels of government spending for education, the military, and welfare; urbanization; and ethnic or cultural diversity.

The article examines the United Nation's Human Rights Committee's role in reforming the reporting procedure under Article 40 of the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (CCPR). The system unquestionably has its built-in limitations: the initial step rests with the states, who must first ratify or accede to a legally binding instrument; the system continually requires at least some level of voluntary cooperation by states; and there are no effective sanctions for noncompliance with the obligations States parties have accepted. The CCPR entered into force on 23 March 1976 after the deposit of the thirty-fifth instrument of ratification. The Human Rights Committee, established under Article 28 CCPR, started its activities in 1977. As of July 1995, 130 states had accepted the standards laid down in this instrument. In addition to substantive standards, through their act of ratification or accession states have committed themselves to submit reports on the measures they have adopted which give effect to the rights recognized and on the progress made in the enjoyment of those rights. These reports shall be transmitted to the Committee for consideration; the reports shall indicate factors and difficulties, if any, affecting the implementation of the Covenant.

The article examines the implications of the provision of land rights to Aboriginal people in Australia. The most important and contentious political situation in Australia today involves Aboriginal land rights. During the early years of British settlement, Aborigines were considered a problem because of unsocial acts such as spearing cattle and sheep as well as direct confrontations with white settlers. As a result of the civil rights movements of the 1960s, the view that Aboriginal culture should persist rather than disintegrate became popular, and led to the policy of self-determination for Aborigines. The subject of Aboriginal land rights has been an important political issue in Australia almost from the beginning of British settlement. Aborigines view land as a religious phenomenon and believe that the relationship between themselves and the land originated with the Dreaming. They view rights to land as originating with the design of the world rather than with alienable legal title.

The article focuses on the issue of interdependence and indivisibility among all types of human rights viz. Civil and political rights, social economic rights, and cultural rights. This study deals with two problematic areas in the field of human rights: Effective mechanism and socioeconomic rights. It argues for the creation of a separate human rights commission to address questions relating to the realization of socioeconomic rights. National or domestic mechanisms for protecting and promoting human rights can take many forms. Among them are the courts, ombudsmen, and human rights commissions. The article discusses how courts, ombudsmen, and human rights commissions can help to provide a remedy when a right is violated and also develop these rights. Three major factors have hampered the realization of socioeconomic rights: (1) the ambiguous nature of these rights; (2) the lawyer-based approach to human rights protection; and (3) the lack of institutions concerned with socioeconomic rights. This study proposes a model that will go some way towards overcoming these obstacles.

The article evaluates South Africa's 1993 Constitution and the Bill of Rights in the context of international human rights norms. The article provides a brief exposition of the framework in which the interim Constitution is to be interpreted. Also, it evaluates the Bill of rights in the light of international human rights norms. This evaluation of the interim Constitution focuses on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and on the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The Bill of Rights entrenched in the interim Constitution incorporates most of the universally recognized civil and political rights, and at least one of the more controversial second and third-generation rights contained in the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural rights. It was concluded that practical aspects for the enforcement of Bill of Rights provisions must be devised by the Judiciary and by the Legislature. Despite some criticisms on the interim Constitution, it is considered as a progressive instrument for social change.

The article examines how international law addresses problems in the protection of minorities. It considers the problem of how to reconcile the demand for the provision of special rights for members of minority groups with respect to the rights of others, that is, with the principles on nondiscrimination and equality under the law. Also, it considers the problem of how to reconcile special arrangements for minority groups with respect to the individual human rights of members of the minority. Furthermore, it considers problem of how to reconcile such arrangements with respect to the rights of minorities within the minority. The article suggests that minority rights should be treated as a conceptual diversion. The issues at stake are essentially those of equality under the law, nondiscrimination (direct or indirect), and respect for substantive human rights, read either independently or together. Demarcation disputes would remain to be resolved by the reasonable and objective justification test.