scholarly journals Obesity as a Covered Disability Under Employment Discrimination Law: An Analysis of Canadian Approaches

2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (3) ◽  
pp. 620-649
Author(s):  
Harris L. Zwerling
Keyword(s):  
British Columbia ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
North America ◽  
Employment Discrimination ◽  
People With Disabilities ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Central Thesis ◽  
Per Se ◽  
Antidiscrimination Laws

Since the passage of the first anti-discrimination laws in North America, the number of groups or classes protected has slowly expanded. People with disabilities are one of the more recent groups to be covered by such laws. No Canadian human rights statute includes the obese or overweight as a separate designated group. British Columbia is the only jurisdiction in which obesity per se has been found to be a covered disability. All other Canadian jurisdictions that have explicitly addressed the issue require claimants to prove that their obesity is a disabling condition and has an underlying involuntary medical cause. This paper examines the treatment of the obese under the antidiscrimination laws of the Canadian federal and provincial jurisdictions, focusing primarily upon the laws of Ontario. Its central thesis is that despite the reticence of various human rights agencies, there is ample legal basis for including obesity as a covered disability under human rights law.

Part IX International Environmental Law in National/Regional Courts, Ch.65 North America

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Affolder Natasha
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
North America ◽  
International Law ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
The United States ◽  
Private International Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Indigenous Law

This chapter assesses international environmental law in the courts of North America. In particular, it explores the minimal engagement of US, Canadian, and Mexican courts with international environmental law. Environmental law cases in Canada, Mexico, and the United States are not immune to international law and international norms. However, international environmental lawyers may be forced to look to some unlikely and unusual places to find international environmental law's normative influence. Environmental law cases in North America seem poised to engage most significantly with international law not in the ‘bright lights’ but rather on the side-lines, where environmental law norms interface with climate law, private international law, Indigenous law, and human rights law.

Jungle justice: passing sentence on the equality of belligerents in non-international armed conflict

2007 ◽  
Vol 89 (867) ◽  
pp. 655-690 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Somer
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Armed Conflict ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
State Party ◽  
Special Challenge ◽  
Armed Opposition Groups ◽  
Anomalous Relationship

AbstractA special challenge posed by the international humanitarian law (IHL) principle of equality of belligerents in the context of non-international armed conflict is the capacity of armed opposition groups to pass sentences on individuals for acts related to the hostilities. Today this situation is conflated by the concurrent application of international human rights and criminal law. The fair trial provisions of IHL can incorporate their human rights equivalents either qua human rights law or by analogy, recognizing that human rights law does not account for the anomalous relationship between a state and non-state party. It is argued that the preferred solution is the latter. This would put greater focus on the actual fairness of insurgent courts rather than on their legal basis. Moreover, it would be consistent with the equality of belligerents principle, a vital condition to encourage IHL compliance by armed opposition groups.

Nuremberg 50 Years Later: The Restitution of Jewish Property and Norwegian Justice

1998 ◽  
Vol 67 (3) ◽  
pp. 275-287 ◽  
Author(s):  
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Human Life ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
State Responsibility ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
Seven Principles ◽  
International Human

AbstractNorway, under the Nazi rule of Vidkun Quisling, was one of the first of the Occupied Countries to enact a Nuremberg-type Race Law, delegitimizing and disenfranchising Norwegian Jewry. From 24 till 26 November 1942, the arrest and deportation of Norwegian Jewry to Nazi death camps took place, followed by the systematic plundering of their property by Norwegian authorities. The latter was based on an Act of 26 October 1942, ordering all property of any kind belonging to a Jew to be confiscated and taken over by the Norwegian State treasury. After the War, a Reparations Board was established, but failed to properly indemnify most of the Norwegian Jewry claimants for the plundering of their property. This paper sets out what the legal basis is for ``restitution'' for these Nuremberg crimes committed by Norwegian authorities under the Nazi rule of Vidkun Quisling. The author identifies seven principles on which state responsibility for war crimes and the ensuing restitution are based. The author concludes that the obligation of restitution is not only the redress of a historical wrong, but one clearly anchored in international human rights law – and the inherent dignity and worth of every human life.

How are Armed Groups Bound by International Humanitarian Law?

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Katharine Fortin
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Armed Groups ◽  
International Human Rights ◽  
The Third ◽  
Per Se

Chapter 7 conducts a detailed analysis of the main theories of how armed groups are bound by international humanitarian law including: (i) the third parties theory; (ii) the legislative jurisdiction theory; (iii) the effectiveness theory; and (iv) theories relying upon control of territory. In conducting a critical analysis of these theories, the chapter’s purpose is to demonstrate how armed groups can be bound by international law per se. It concludes by considering what this analysis tells us about the circumstances that are necessary for armed groups to be bound by (i) human rights treaty law; and (ii) customary international human rights law.

Binding the United Nations to Customary (Human Rights) Law

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (2) ◽  
pp. 379-417
Author(s):  
Noëlle Quénivet
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Organizations ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Basis ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
Legal Personality ◽  
The United Nations

Whilst most legal scholarship focuses on the responsibility of the United Nations for human rights violations few studies have ascertained the legal basis of the primary rules leading to such responsibility. This article fills this gap by reviewing the theories used to bind the UN to customary human rights law: (1) the UN has inherited its member states’ obligations, (2) participation in the formation of customary human rights law implies being bound by it, (3) the UN is bound by international law because it has legal personality and (4) as the UN is embedded in international law it must comply with its norms. Such theories are further tested against the backdrop of international organizations’ theories. The article draws the conclusion that (1) should be rejected, (2) is not yet legally sound and (3)-(4), despite their flaws, are more persuasive. Ultimately, recourse must be had to general international law.

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