scholarly journals Licensed to kill: The United Kingdom's arms export licensing process

2008 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Anna Stavrianakis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Export Control ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Regional Stability ◽  
Export Policy ◽  
Arms Trade ◽  
Arms Export ◽  
The Relationship

The article addresses the U.K. government's arms export licensing process to try to account for the discrepancy between its rhetoric of responsibility and practice of ongoing controversial exports. It describes the government's licensing process and demonstrate how this process fails to prevent exports to states engaged in internal repression, human rights violations, or regional stability. It then sets out six reasons for this failure: The vague wording of arms export guidelines; the framing of arms export policy; the limited use (from a control perspective) of a case-by-case approach; the weak role of pro-control departments within government; pre-licensing mechanisms that facilitate exports and a lack of prior parliamentary scrutiny, which means the government's policy can only be examined retrospectively; and the wider context of the relationship between arms companies and the U.K. state. It is concluded that the government's export control guidelines do not restrict the arms trade in any meaningful way but, rather, serve predominantly a legitimating function.

scholarly journals Can positive obligations of States serve as a remedy for human rights violations committed by juristic persons?

2018 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 45-60
Author(s):  
Pavel Ondrejek
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Major Change ◽  
Case Law ◽  
The State ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Legal Doctrine ◽  
Role Of The State ◽  
The Relationship

Abstract: Positive obligations of States to protect and implement human rights are considered a part of various effects of human rights in legislations. In this article, it is argued that a crucial problem arises from the inconsistent practice of addressing violations of human rights committed by juristic persons together with a lack of underlying general theory of liability for human rights violations committed by private entities. Without a major change in the legal doctrine and case-law, we will need to remain focused on the role of the State as a guarantor of human rights, rather than on the imposition of human rights obligations on private-law entities. In this article, it is argued that the nature of the relationship between a juristic person and the State is not the only relevant aspect, as we should also examine the activity of the juristic person in question.Keywords: Positive obligations of States. Juristic persons. State-juristic person nexus. Fundamental rights. Horizontal effect.Resumo: Obrigações estatais positivas de proteger e de implementar direitos humanos são parte dos vários efeitos dos direitos humanos nas legislações nacionais. Neste artigo, argumenta-se que um problema crucial decorre da prática de abordar violações de direitos humanos cometidas por pessoas jurídicas sem uma teoria geral da responsabilidade por violações de direitos humanos cometidas por entidades privadas. Sem uma mudança importante na doutrina e na jurisprudência será preciso permanecer olhando apenas para o papel do Estado como garantidor de direitos humanos. Neste artigo argumenta-se que a natureza da relação entre uma pessoa jurídica e o Estado não é o único aspecto relevante. É preciso examinar também a atividade da pessoa jurídica em questão.Palavras-chave: Obrigações positivas dos Estados. Pessoas jurídicas.

The Foreign Arms Sales Policy of the Carter Administration

1979 ◽  
Vol 4 (4) ◽  
pp. 527-556
Author(s):  
Nicole Ball ◽  
Milton Leitenberg
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Third World ◽  
Carter Administration ◽  
Export Control ◽  
Arms Sales ◽  
Arms Trade ◽  
The Us ◽  
The World ◽  
Arms Export ◽  
The Third World

This paper makes the point that the Carter Administration is continuing the US policy of spreading militarization round the world, particularly in the Third World. During the Nixon and Ford Administrations, arms sales and transfers came to be used routinely as the quid pro quo in diplomacy. As a Presidential candidate, Carter pledged to reduce US involvement in the conventional arms trade. Nonetheless, within a year of his enunciating his ‘arms sales restraint’ policy in May 1977, the Administration proposed an end to the arms ban on Turkey, approved the sale of AWACs to Iran and 200 warplanes to the Mid-East, as well as a myriad of less controversial weapons deals. The dollar ceiling on arms sales, has been frequently circumvented. Despite the legislation requiring the cessation of military sales, loans and grants to countries in which there is a ‘consistent pattern of gross violations of internationally recognized human rights’, the Carter Administration continues to supply arms to many of the worst human rights offenders. And despite the Arms Export Control Act of 1976, the Administration has failed to act. It is extremely unlikely that any significant change will occur in the world arms trade despite President Carter's pronouncements against the ‘spiralling arms traffic’.

Impact of Covid-19 on the mental health needs of asylum seekers in Australia

2021 ◽  
pp. 103985622110054
Author(s):  
Sarah Mares ◽  
Kym Jenkins ◽  
Susan Lutton ◽  
Louise Newman AM
Keyword(s):  
Mental Health ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Isolation ◽  
Asylum Seekers ◽  
Health Needs ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Mental Health Needs

Objective: This paper highlights the significant mental health vulnerabilities of people who have sought asylum in Australia and their additional adversities as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic. Conclusions: Australia’s policies in relation to asylum seekers result in multiple human rights violations and add significantly to mental health vulnerabilities. Despite a majority being identified as refugees, people spend years in personal and administrative limbo and are denied resettlement in Australia. Social isolation and other restrictions associated with Covid-19 and recent reductions in welfare and housing support compound their difficulties. The clinical challenges in working with people impacted by these circumstances and the role of psychiatrists and the RANZCP in advocacy are identified.

Balancing of Values and the Value of Balancing (Part One)

2021 ◽  
pp. 13-24
Author(s):  
Gadis A. Gadzhiev ◽  
◽  
Elena A. Voinikanis ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Critical Issue ◽  
Specific Mode ◽  
Constitutional Order ◽  
Basic Law ◽  
The Relationship

The article discusses the specific mode of existence of values – balancing or op­timization when it comes to deontological values. The authors using examples of values such as the principles of law and human rights, the rules of balancing are analyzed, which, according to G. Hart's classification, are secondary norms. The critical issue for the legal balancing procedure is the relationship between legal reality and values as such. Are the constitutional and legal values set by the Basic Law (Constitution), or do they objectively exist in society as a general (pre-constitutional) order of values? Should the Basic Law be confined to its own text and remain value-neutral in this sense? Are legal values purely deonto­logical, or can they be related to utilitarian goals and interests? The second part of the article explores the value of balancing as one of the methods for resolving the most complex legal conflicts. The well-known dispute between J. Habermas and R. Alexy about the admissibility of balancing of human rights demonstrates how complex and philosophically rich the legal balancing procedure is. Based on Luhmann’s concept of the cognitive openness of law, at the end of the article, the authors substantiate their own position on the role of values in modern justice.

The role of international human rights organisations in the context of the conflict in Eastern Ukraine

2021 ◽  
Vol 28 (1) ◽  
pp. 24-31
Author(s):  
Nina I. Karpachova
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Current Status ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Quantitative And Qualitative Research ◽  
Human Rights Organizations ◽  
High Commissioner ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
International Human

The task of this paper is to study the role of international human rights organizations in response to the conflict taking place in eastern Ukraine. The study is based on recent reports from the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the OSCE on Ukraine. The relevance of the stated topic is determined by the situation with human rights violations in the armed conflict in Ukraine and the significant role of international human rights organizations, making active efforts to resolve it. The purpose of this study is to determine the main aspects of the role that international organizations play in resolving this range of issues. This will help to identify potential opportunities to tackle the problem with human rights violations in the Ukrainian territories. The study combines quantitative and qualitative research of the entire spectrum of issues brought into the subject. The main results obtained are: analysis of the role and place of international human rights organizations in assessing the situation with the conflict in the Ukrainian territories and obtaining statistical information on the current status of human rights violations in these territories. The value of this paper lies in obtaining practical recommendations for finding ways to peacefully resolve the conflict in the East of Ukraine and implementing comprehensive measures to create conditions for the protection of human rights in this region

scholarly journals Narrating Human Rights in the Philippines

2019 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ma. Rhea Gretchen Arevalo Abuso
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Social Institution ◽  
The Philippines ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Martial Law ◽  
National Elections ◽  
The Social ◽  
National Leaders ◽  
Depth Interviews

The 2016 national elections in the Philippines have been regarded as the most revealing and consequential democratic practice to the human rights situation in the country for two reasons. First, the overwhelming election of Rodrigo Duterte to the presidency was because of his campaign promise to rid the country of drugs and criminality within “3 to 6 months” through bloody and violent means. Second, the son and namesake of the late dictator Ferdinand Marcos, whose authoritarian regime in the 1970’s was responsible for countless human rights violations, narrowly lost his vice-presidential bid by a mere 270,000 votes. These turns of events beg the question: how could Filipinos, who experienced a bloody and violent regime at the hands of a dictator, choose to elect national leaders widely associated with human rights violations? This paper addresses this question through the use of in-depth interviews with Filipino college students in key cities in the Philippines in order to describe the Marcos regime from the perspective of the generation that did not experience the period. The research aimed to understand how memories of past human rights violations are formed and shaped, how these memories are crucial to the improvement of the human rights situation in society, and how to ensure that mistakes of the past are not repeated. The study found that widespread revisionist notions about the Marcos regime can be attributed to the absence of meaningful martial law and human rights education in the country.  However, the study also found that young Filipinos regard the social institution of education as the most trustworthy bearer of information on human rights and violent regimes. This highlights the crucial role of schools and educators in promoting human rights in society.

The gypsy’s lot: myth and reality

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Jago
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal System ◽  
Lived Experiences ◽  
European Court ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Uk ◽  
The Relationship

This chapter focuses on the lived experiences of gypsies (collectively referred to as gypsies rather than Roma or travellers). The author argues that the relationship between the legal system and the specific lifestyle of this group is itself causing many tensions which cannot be separated from the long-held myths about gypsies. Jago shows how the standing of gypsies in the UK legal system has, in turn, become the object of various myths. He demonstrates how judgements by the European Court of Human Rights in favour of gypsy claims created in many an image of the law being always on the side of the gypsy. A perception which Jago demonstrates is far from true. After addressing the nature and role of myths in general the author illustrates the tension between positive, romanticised myths about the freedom of gypsy lifestyle and three derogatory myths, namely gypsies as "child-snatchers", as thieves and as "land grabbers". Jago illustrates that these myths are linked to deep-rooted beliefs around property and its ownership.

3. Human Rights in International Relations

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tim Dunne ◽  
Marianne Hanson
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Relations ◽  
Two Dimensions ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Human Rights Abuses ◽  
International Responsibility ◽  
Duty To Protect ◽  
Theoretical Issues

This chapter examines the role of human rights in international relations. It first considers the theoretical issues and context that are relevant to the link between human rights and the discipline of international relations, focusing on such concepts as realism, liberalism, and constructivism. It then explores key controversies over human rights as understood in international relations as a field of study: one is the question of state sovereignty; another is the mismatch between the importance attached to human rights at the declaratory level and the prevalence of human rights abuses in reality. The chapter also discusses two dimensions of international responsibility: the duty to protect their citizens that is incumbent on all states in light of their obligations under the various human rights covenants; and the duty of states to act as humanitarian rescuers in instances where a state is collapsing or a regime is committing gross human rights violations.

The Politics of Human Rights Diplomacy

2020 ◽  
pp. 097359842094343
Author(s):  
Anupama Ghosal ◽  
Sreeja Pal
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
United Nations ◽  
National Security ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Precise Formulation ◽  
The United Nations ◽  
The Relationship

The issue of Human Rights features as a prominent agenda of the United Nations and its related international organizations. However, when it comes to precise formulation of a country’s foreign policy in bilateral or multilateral forums, the issues of trade and national security find priority over pressing human rights violations occurring within the countries engaged in the diplomatic dialogue. An often-employed reason behind such an approach is the need to respect sovereignty and non-interference of a country in diplomacy. This article aims at analysing the potential which diplomacy holds to pressurize recalcitrant regimes to respect human rights. In doing so, the article tries to explore the ambit of Human Rights Diplomacy and the relationship between agenda of politics and human rights.

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