Effective Strategies for Protecting Human Rights


Book Description

This title was first published in 2001: This book brings together the experiences of a diverse range of leading human rights advocates and activists to demonstrate strategies for protecting human rights. The volume identifies strategic problems and approaches and offers a range of strategies that hold promise for sanctioning human rights offenders and for inhibiting the behaviour of those who might otherwise engage in such activities. The contributors include, inter alia, Noam Chomsky, Justice Richard Goldstone of the Constitutional Court of South Africa who served as Chief Prosecutor of the UN War Crimes Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and David Rawson, United States Ambassador to Rwanda during the tragic genocide. Those who work in the disparate field of human rights increasingly understand the need to see the system strategically rather than piecemeal. This volume captures their insights and looks at both private and public actors, including the uses and limitations of international fora to prosecute violations. The focus is expanded to include private actions because political issues too often interfere with enforcement of human rights laws - allowing violators to hide behind the unwillingness of national governments to take action.




The Moral Responsibility of Firms


Book Description

This book examines whether firms as organizations can be considered morally responsible for their actions. This question has profound practical implications as well as theoretical significance, not least when we are today so frequently confronted with misconduct in business.




Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights


Book Description

"This publication contains the 'Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: Implementing the United Nations Protect, Respect and Remedy Framework', which were developed by the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises. The Special Representative annexed the Guiding Principles to his final report to the Human Rights Council (A/HRC/17/31), which also includes an introduction to the Guiding Principles and an overview of the process that led to their development. The Human Rights Council endorsed the Guiding Principles in its resolution 17/4 of 16 June 2011."--P. iv.




From Rights to Remedies


Book Description

From Rights to Remedies examines the mechanisms of how international human rights decisions are implemented at the national level. It analyzes the strategies and structuresincluding the executive branch, legislatures, and domestic courtsthat can promote or thwart implementation.




The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in the 21st Century


Book Description

The Global Citizenship Commission was convened, under the leadership of former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and the auspices of NYU’s Global Institute for Advanced Study, to re-examine the spirit and stirring words of The Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The result – this volume – offers a 21st-century commentary on the original document, furthering the work of human rights and illuminating the ideal of global citizenship. What does it mean for each of us to be members of a global community? Since 1948, the Declaration has stood as a beacon and a standard for a better world. Yet the work of making its ideals real is far from over. Hideous and systemic human rights abuses continue to be perpetrated at an alarming rate around the world. Too many people, particularly those in power, are hostile to human rights or indifferent to their claims. Meanwhile, our global interdependence deepens. Bringing together world leaders and thinkers in the fields of politics, ethics, and philosophy, the Commission set out to develop a common understanding of the meaning of global citizenship – one that arises from basic human rights and empowers every individual in the world. This landmark report affirms the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and seeks to renew the 1948 enterprise, and the very ideal of the human family, for our day and generation.




Educating for Peace and Human Rights


Book Description

Over the past five decades, both peace education and human rights education have emerged distinctly and separately as global fields of scholarship and practice. Promoted through multiple efforts (the United Nations, civil society, grassroots educators), both of these fields consider content, processes, and educational structures that seek to dismantle various forms of violence, as well as move towards cultures of peace, justice and human rights. Educating for Peace and Human Rights Education introduces students and educators to the challenges and possibilities of implementing peace and human rights education in diverse global sites. The book untangles the core concepts that define both fields, unpacking their histories and conceptual foundations, and presents models and key research findings to help consider their intersections, convergences, and divergences. Including an annotated bibliography, the book sets forth a comprehensive research agenda, allowing emerging and seasoned scholars the opportunity to situate their research in conversation with the global fields of peace and human rights education.




Protecting Human Rights Defenders at Risk


Book Description

This book assesses the construction, operation and effects of the international protection regime for human rights defenders, which has evolved significantly over the last twenty years in response to the risks people face as they promote and protect human rights. Drawing upon the experiences of human rights defenders who continue to persevere in their activism in Indonesia, Egypt, Kenya, Mexico and Colombia, this edited collection examines the ways in which formal protection mechanisms by state and civil society actors intersect with self-protection measures and informal protection initiatives by families and friends. It highlights that protection practices are most effective when they are designed to address the specific risks that human rights defenders face (which are gendered and intersectional); reflect how defenders understand ‘risk’, ‘security’ and ‘protection’; and are appropriate for the dynamic sociopolitical and legal contexts in which defenders operate. This book proposes ways in which the protection of human rights defenders at risk should be reimagined and practised. This book will be a thought-provoking guide for students and scholars of politics, international relations, law and human rights, as well as to practitioners engaged in the protection of human rights defenders at risk.




The Human Right to Health (Norton Global Ethics Series)


Book Description

“A broad-ranging, insightful analysis of the complex practical and ethical issues involved in global health.”—Kirkus Reviews Few topics in human rights have inspired as much debate as the right to health. Proponents would enshrine it as a fundamental right on a par with freedom of speech and freedom from torture. Detractors suggest that the movement constitutes an impractical over-reach. Jonathan Wolff cuts through the ideological stalemate to explore both views. In an accessible, persuasive voice, he explores the philosophical underpinnings of the idea of a human right, assesses whether health meets those criteria, and identifies the political and cultural realities we face in attempts to improve the health of citizens in wildly different regions. Wolff ultimately finds that there is a path forward for proponents of the right to health, but to succeed they must embrace certain intellectual and practical changes. The Human Right to Health is a powerful and important contribution to the discourse on global health.




Making Human Rights a Reality


Book Description

In the last six decades, one of the most striking developments in international law is the emergence of a massive body of legal norms and procedures aimed at protecting human rights. In many countries, though, there is little relationship between international law and the actual protection of human rights on the ground. Making Human Rights a Reality takes a fresh look at why it's been so hard for international law to have much impact in parts of the world where human rights are most at risk. Emilie Hafner-Burton argues that more progress is possible if human rights promoters work strategically with the group of states that have dedicated resources to human rights protection. These human rights "stewards" can focus their resources on places where the tangible benefits to human rights are greatest. Success will require setting priorities as well as engaging local stakeholders such as nongovernmental organizations and national human rights institutions. To date, promoters of international human rights law have relied too heavily on setting universal goals and procedures and not enough on assessing what actually works and setting priorities. Hafner-Burton illustrates how, with a different strategy, human rights stewards can make international law more effective and also safeguard human rights for more of the world population.




Compasito


Book Description

Living among other people, in their families and communities, children become aware from a very early age of questions related to justice, and they search for the meaning of the world. By fostering an understanding of human rights, shaping opinion and developing attitudes, human rights education strongly supports this natural interest and learning process. This is what human rights education is about and this is what ’Compasito manual on human rights education for children' is for.’Compasito' is a starting point for educators, teachers and trainers who are ready to deal with human rights education with children of 7-13 years. The book covers the key concepts of human rights and children's rights, and provides substantial theoretical background to 13 key human rights issues, such as democracy, citizenship, gender equality, environment, media, poverty, and violence.The 42 practical activities serve to engage and motivate children to recognise human rights issues in their own environment. They help children to develop critical thinking, responsibility and a sense of justice, and help them learn how to take action to contribute to the betterment of their school or community. The manual also gives practical tips on how it can be used in various formal and non-formal educational settings.