scholarly journals Constituent Power, the Rights of Nature, and Universal Jurisdiction

2014 ◽  
Vol 60 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-172 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joel Colón-Ríos
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Environmental Conditions ◽  
International Community ◽  
Universal Jurisdiction ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Constituent Power ◽  
The Right

This article provides a justification for the exercise of universal jurisdiction in cases of serious environmental damage. This justification rests in important ways on the theory of constituent power. The theory of constituent power has an intergenerational component that requires the protection of the environmental conditions that allow future generations to engage in constitution-making episodes. This article maintains that, by virtue of the connections between constituent power, the right to self-determination, and state sovereignty, the justification for the exercise of universal jurisdiction for serious environmental damage is at least as compelling as the justification for its exercise with respect to egregious human rights infringements. In those scenarios, courts exercising universal jurisdiction would be acting to protect the ability of present and future peoples to participate in the constitution and reconstitution of the states that make up the international community. Such a jurisdiction would rest on the authority of humanity as a whole rather than on that of any state or people.

19. Indigenous Peoples’ Human Rights

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul Havemann
Keyword(s):  
Climate Change ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
Group Rights ◽  
Indigenous Group ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

This chapter examines issues surrounding the human rights of Indigenous peoples. The conceptual framework for this chapter is informed by three broad, interrelated, and interdependent types of human rights: the right to existence, the right to self-determination, and individual human rights. After describing who Indigenous peoples are according to international law, the chapter considers the centuries of ambivalence about the recognition of Indigenous peoples. It then discusses the United Nations's establishment of a regime for Indigenous group rights and presents a case study of the impact of climate change on Indigenous peoples. It concludes with a reflection on the possibility of accommodating Indigenous peoples' self-determination with state sovereignty.

Initiative Center for the Decolonization of Estonia

1995 ◽  
Vol 23 (1) ◽  
pp. 227-229 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
International Community ◽  
Second World War ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
World War ◽  
Universal Human Rights ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Second World

In the twentieth century, and particularly under the influence of the Second World War, the international community, in the interests of normal relations, has considered it necessary to agree on certain fundamental principles, such as the observance of universal human rights, the right of nations to self-determination, the equality of the rights of big and small nations, impermissibility of aggression, and liberation from the yoke of colonialism. These principles are written in international conventions, the UN charter and several of its resolutions, and recognized by the majority of states.

The Right of Secession in Public International Law

1983 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 24-78 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daniel Turp
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
United Nations ◽  
International Law ◽  
International Community ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Public International Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
United Nations Charter ◽  
Right Of Self Determination

SummaryIn light of the numerous secessionist claims witnessed by the international community, it is of great interest to ascertain if international law provides for a right of secessionist self-determination. An analysis of treaty provisions encompassing the right of self-determination of peoples, namely the United Nations Charter and the Human Rights Covenants, suggests that the latter treaties consecrate an authentic right to secede. Such a right appears to be unhindered by any customary norm which would prohibit secession as a means of implementation of the right of self-determination of peoples, seeing that the practice of States is clearly divided on the issue of secession. It is submitted, however, that there is a need for more detached criteria with respect to the right of secession, its beneficiaries and its conditions of exercise and, consequently, for an acknowledgement, to the benefit of the international community as a whole, of the legitimacy of national affirmations and secessionist claims.

Self-Determination Through Autonomy or Independence? – On the Current and Future Position of New Caledonia

ICL Journal ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 15 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-105
Author(s):  
Markku Suksi
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
New Caledonia ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
The Self ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
Normative Framework ◽  
European Court ◽  
Determination Process ◽  
The Right

Abstract New Caledonia is a colonial territory of France. Since the adoption of the Nouméa Accord in 1998, a period of transition towards the exercise of self-determination has been going on. New Caledonia is currently a strong autonomy, well entrenched in the legal order of France from 1999 on. The legislative powers have been distributed between the Congress of New Caledonia and the Parliament of France on the basis of a double enumeration of legislative powers, an arrangement that has given New Caledonia control over many material fields of self-determination. At the same time as this autonomy has been well embedded in the constitutional fabric of France. The Nouméa Accord was constitutionalized in the provisions of the Constitution of France and also in an Institutional Act. This normative framework created a multi-layered electorate that has presented several challenges to the autonomy arrangement and the procedure of self-determination, but the European Court of Human Rights and the UN Human Rights Committee have resolved the issues regarding the right to vote in manners that take into account the local circumstances and the fact that the aim of the legislation is to facilitate the self-determination of the colonized people, the indigenous Kanak people. The self-determination process consists potentially of a series of referendums, the first of which was held in 2018 and the second one in 2020. In both referendums, those entitled to vote returned a No-vote to the question of ‘Do you want New Caledonia to attain full sovereignty and become independent?’ A third referendum is to be expected before October 2022, and if that one also results in a no to independence, a further process of negotiations starts, with the potential of a fourth referendum that will decide the mode of self-determination New Caledonia will opt for, independence or autonomy.

scholarly journals Blasphemy Law as a Structural Violence: A Challenge for Maintaining Sustainable Peace

2021 ◽  
Vol 0 (0) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cekli Setya Pratiwi ◽  
Sidik Sunaryo
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Structural Violence ◽  
International Community ◽  
Peace Studies ◽  
International Human Rights Law ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Legal Standards ◽  
Muslim Countries ◽  
Sustainable Peace ◽  
The Right

Abstract Blasphemy law (BL) has become a central issue for the international community in various parts of the world in the last three decades. In almost every case involving the BL, especially in Muslim countries, such as Pakistan, Malaysia, and Indonesia, they are always responded with violence or threats of attack that cause many victims, loss of homes, damage to places of worship, evictions, stigma of being heretical, severe punishments, or extra-judicial killings. When international human rights law (IHLR) and declaration of the right to peace are adopted by the international community, at the same time, the number of violence related to the application of BL continues to increase. This paper aims to examine the ambiguity of the concept of the BL in Pakistan, Indonesia, and Malaysia, and how its lead to the weak of enforcement that creates social injustice and inequality. Then, referring to Galtung’s theory of structural violence and other experts of peace studies, this paper argues that blasphemy law should be included as a form of structural violence. Therefore its challenges these States to reform their BL in which its provisions accommodate the state’s neutrality and content high legal standards. Thus, through guarantee the fully enjoyment of human rights for everyone may support the States to achieve sustainable peace.

scholarly journals Evolving Legal Protections for Indigenous Peoples in Africa: Some Post-UNDRIP Reflections

2018 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 339-365
Author(s):  
Derek Inman ◽  
Dorothée Cambou ◽  
Stefaan Smis
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Informed Consent ◽  
Indigenous Peoples ◽  
Regional Level ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
African Continent ◽  
African Context ◽  
United Nations Declaration ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Right

Prior to the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) many African states held a unified and seemingly hostile position towards the UNDRIP exemplified by the concerns outlined in the African Group's Draft Aide Memoire. In order to gain a better understanding of the protections offered to indigenous peoples on the African continent, it is necessary to examine the concerns raised in the aforementioned Draft Aide Memoire and highlight how these concerns have been addressed at the regional level, effectively changing how the human rights norms contained within the UNDRIP are seen, understood and interpreted in the African context. The purpose of this article is to do just that: to examine in particular how the issue of defining indigenous peoples has been tackled on the African continent, how the right to self-determination has unfolded for indigenous peoples in Africa and how indigenous peoples' right to free, prior and informed consent has been interpreted at the regional level.

scholarly journals THE POSSIBILITY OF THE RIGHT TO RELIGION EMERGING AS A JUS COGENS NORM (PART 2)

Obiter ◽  
2016 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
David Abrahams ◽  
Tayla Dye
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
International Community ◽  
Previous Article ◽  
Republic Of Korea ◽  
Human Rights Violations ◽  
Jus Cogens ◽  
The Right ◽  
Near Future

This article follows a previous article published in Obiter Vol 2 of 2016. In that article the concept of jus cogens and its role in the international community, together with the nature of the right to religion, were discussed. In Part Two, the seriousness of such human rights violations needs to be appreciated by the international community at large. To this end, the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea will serve as a case study, examining the extent of the DPRK’s compliance of its obligations vis-à-vis the right to religion. This should ultimately lead to an understanding as to why the right to religion emerging as a jus cogens norm will not solve the problem of enforcement, and even if it could, due to the uncertainty surrounding the formation of jus cogens it is unlikely that other human rights will be added to the list in the near future.

scholarly journals GREEN CONSTITUTION INDONESIA (DISKURSUS PARADIGMATIK PEMBANGUNAN BERKELANJUTAN)

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 127
Author(s):  
Lucas Prabowo
Keyword(s):  
Environmental Protection ◽  
Environmental Law ◽  
Future Generations ◽  
Environmental Damage ◽  
Severe Damage ◽  
International Environmental Law ◽  
Hard Law ◽  
The Right ◽  
International Conventions ◽  
Good Environment

Efforts to meet the economic needs of humans has resulted in severe damage to the ecosystem. Being aware that there is damage to natural resources and ecosystem are getting worse, various efforts underway to hold international conventions in the field of environmental protection has resulted in agreements, both of which are binding (hard law) and non-binding (soft law). Participating countries adopted the convention rules agrred up on into their legaislation, and even to strengthen the protection and enforcement of laws relating to environmental protection and the right to a good environment for the present dan future generations, environmental norms are then contained in the constitution including the Indonesian constitution, namely the post-UUD 1945 amandement. Keywords: environmental damage, international environmental law damage, intergerational equity, sustainable development, and constitution.

Regional Hegemony: Domination and Resistance in the Horn of Africa

1993 ◽  
Vol 31 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-276 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ruth Iyob
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
Status Quo ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
State Sovereignty ◽  
African Unity ◽  
Horn Of Africa ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
European Colonialism ◽  
The Right ◽  
Right Of Self Determination

Contested territories and challenges to state sovereignty have become almost the norm in post-colonial Africa. The nexus of many of these conflicts resides in a status quo which gives primacy to territorial integrity over the right of peoples to self-determination. The comparative advantage thus accorded to sovereign states has resulted in a disequilibrium that legitimated the violation of both regionally and internationally sanctioned rules enshrined in the Organisation of African Unity (O.A.U.) and the United Nations (U.N.). Thus a normative bias in favour of the imperative of stability and order was justified by reference to the fragility of the newly independent régimes. In the process, the right of self-determination was narrowly interpreted to refer solely to those African peoples waging liberation struggles against European colonialism or white rule.

scholarly journals Declaration as Disavowal: The Politics of Race and Empire in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights

2018 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 57-81 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emma Stone Mackinnon
Keyword(s):  
Eighteenth Century ◽  
Human Rights ◽  
Racial Politics ◽  
Universal Declaration ◽  
Self Determination ◽  
The World ◽  
Imperial Politics ◽  
Racial Domination ◽  
Politics Of Race ◽  
The Right

This article argues that the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), by claiming certain inheritances from eighteenth-century American and French rights declarations, simultaneously disavowed others, reshaping the genre of the rights declaration in ways amenable to forms of imperial and racial domination. I begin by considering the rights declaration as genre, arguing that later participants can both inherit and disavow aspects of what came before. Then, drawing on original archival research, I consider the drafting of the UDHR, using as an entry point the reception of the NAACP’s Appeal to the World petition, edited by W.E.B. DuBois. I reconstruct conversations within the drafting committee about the right to petition, self-determination, and the right to rebellion, and the separation of the Declaration from the rights covenants, to illustrate the allegiances between US racial politics and French imperial politics, and their legacies for our contemporary conceptions of human rights.

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