scholarly journals Elections in Times of the COVID-19 Pandemic: An International Human Rights Perspective with a Specific Focus on Vulnerable Groups

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (2-3) ◽  
pp. 62
Author(s):  
Christina Binder ◽  
Adam Drnovsky
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Specific Focus ◽  
International Human

scholarly journals COVID-19 School Closures and the Principles of Proportionality and Balancing

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Willem van Aardt
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Special Needs ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
School Closures ◽  
Vulnerable Children ◽  
International Human

Abstract Even though COVID-19 has an extremely low crude mortality rate among children, drastic measures to combat the disease significantly infringed the fundamental human rights of millions of children to education and protection. This article examines whether COVID-19-related school closures and the suspension of necessary measures of protection for special needs and vulnerable children were justifiable derogations from covenant obligations and international human rights law. The researcher assessed relevant treaty and covenant obligations of state parties and affirms what international human rights law determines regarding the justifiable limitation of human rights. The article centers on whether the regulations to combat the COVID-19 pandemic are inter alia legitimate, adequate, necessary and proportionate stricto sensu. It argues that the limitation of fundamental human rights must achieve benefits that are proportional to the cost of the limitation, and that the infringement will not be considered proportional if there are less restrictive but equally effective means to achieve the same purpose. Ultimately, it highlights that education and the necessary measures of protection for all children – but specifically those children with special needs and children belonging to vulnerable groups – should be one of the highest priorities in any national strategy to reopen society.

Africa's National Human Rights Institutions and the Responsibility to Protect

2010 ◽  
Vol 2 (4) ◽  
pp. 458-478
Author(s):  
Webster Zambara
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
National Human ◽  
Micro Level ◽  
International Human ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
National Human Rights Institutions ◽  
The Cold War

AbstractThe essay argues that one of the greatest shifts in the international humanitarian order heralded by the end of the Cold War has been the concept of holding state sovereignty accountable to an international human rights standard. It argues that while the concept of R2P has generally focused on humanitarian intervention at a macro level, the period since the 1990s has also witnessed an increase of micro-level institutions, in the form of National Human Rights Institutions (NHRIs) that can advance R2P, including 31 such institutions in Africa. NHRIs can potentially bolster R2P and foster peace in countries in which they operate. The general popularity of R2P as an international standard is contrasted with the great suspicion with which it is regarded by a number of governments—particularly in Africa, where sovereignty is guarded with passion as a result of the anticolonial struggles that gave birth to national independence on the continent. The author further argues that NHRIs—when properly institutionalised and functioning optimally—can play an important role in protecting the rights of vulnerable groups, and have the potential to help countries attain international human rights norms and standards without unduly threatening their sovereign independence. The essay examines the role of NHRIs in the four cases of Sierra Leone, Uganda, Tanzania and South Africa, and assesses the establishment and operation of African NHRIs using measures formulated by the internationally agreed Paris Principles of 1993.

7 The Emergence of International Human Rights Law (1969)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Pace John P
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Migrant Workers ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Basic Principles ◽  
Persons With Disabilities ◽  
Treaty Body ◽  
International Human

This chapter addresses the emergence of International Human Rights Law. International Human Rights Law consists of international norms set out in instruments adopted over the years. These consist of binding instruments, which carry obligations (such as ‘covenant’, ‘convention’ and ‘protocol’) and non-binding instruments (such as ‘declaration’, ‘guiding principles’, ‘basic principles’ and ‘standard minimum rules’, also described as ‘soft’ law). They are all related, directly or indirectly, to the rights in the International Bill of Human Rights, which may be considered as the substantive canopy of International Human Rights Law. As the International Bill of Human Rights was reaching completion in the mid-1960s, a process developed that complemented the International Bill with conventions on specific rights, protecting (vulnerable) groups, such as the child, women, persons with disabilities and migrant workers, and conventions protecting against the violation of specific rights, such as freedom from racial discrimination, freedom from torture and from involuntary disappearance. The conventions which envisage a system by which an expert body (treaty body) monitors the implementation by States Parties of their treaty obligations came to be referred to as ‘core’ conventions. The chapter also looks at non-core conventions, as well as declarations and other norms.

scholarly journals International Protection of Human Rights and the Activity of Transnational Corporations.

2020 ◽  
pp. 54-65
Author(s):  
A. A. Sinyavskiy
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Legal Status ◽  
Transnational Corporations ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
Business Activity ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Business And Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Effective Remedy

INTRODUCTION. This study analyzes available remedies for victims who have suffered harm from business activity of transnational corporations. The goal of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of available remedies for the protection human rights of individuals from adverse impacts of the business activity of TNCs. To achieve the goal, it is necessary to fulfill the following tasks: to consider the obligations of TNCs in modern international law, the role of states in the protecting human rights against the business activities of TNCs, examine the content of the right to an effective remedy, and characterize the existing remedies for the individuals.MATERIALS AND METHODS. During the research the latest theoretical studies of leading Western scholars was analyzed, as well as the regulatory documents, recommendations and reports of the human rights treaty bodies, international human rights treaties and extensive court practice of the ECHR. For this study formal logical, general scientifi , comparative legal and private scientific methods has been applied. RESEARCH RESULTS. In recent years, the importance of soft law in the field of international business and human rights has been increasingly strengthened. The UN Guiding principles on Business and Human Rights have become the basis for a draft legally binding instrument to regulate, in international human rights law, the activities of transnational corporations. It should be noted that the latest innovations in the draft related to the introduction of environmental rehabilitation as one of the mandatory forms of redress. Indeed, when considering mass violations of human rights by transnational corporations, we oft n encounter with serious damage to the environment, as a result of which environmental rights are violated. Increasing cases of such violations have led to the need to improve international and domestic remedies.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS. The study concluded that a remedy would be effective if it would be affordable, acceptable, adequate and timely. An effective remedy against the activities of TNCs should provide an adequate compensation or the leveling of the damage caused and bring TNCs to account for human rights violations in order to ensure such compensation. In turn, access to remedies consists of two interrelated elements: the existence of a grievance mechanism that provides a redress for business-related damage and the availability to the mechanism by aff cted persons. Access to remedies should be provided without discrimination on any of the prohibited grounds and should take into account the situation of vulnerable groups. The approach to the calculation of compensation or the choice of remedy should be individualized, taking into account the social and legal status of the victim.

scholarly journals The Consequences of Corona Virus on Human Rights System: تداعيات فيروس كورونا على منظومة حقوق الإنسان

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (8) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maya Hasan Malla Khater
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Fundamental Rights ◽  
Vulnerable Groups ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Protection Of Human Rights ◽  
International Human ◽  
Fundamental Rights And Freedoms ◽  
The Right

The outbreak of the New Corona Epidemic has been leading governments around the world to adopt strategies to limit its spread and to counter it. Some of the measures taken have affected a number of fundamental rights and freedoms, which are guaranteed according to the international human rights law, and not just intended the right of life and the right of effective health care. In fact, many other rights were affected intentionally or unintentionally. This study seeks to highlight on states practices and responses related to fighting against the Corona Crisis, its impact on human rights in general, and the rights of the most vulnerable groups in particular, by using the descriptive and analytical method. One of the most important results of this research is that the protection of human rights while combating this Epidemic can't be considered as a secondary issue. It is necessary for these government measures to be consistent with the rules and provisions of the International Human Rights Law. 

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