Promoting and Protecting Minority Rights


Book Description

"The present guide offers information related to norms and mechanisms developed to protect the rights of persons belonging to national, ethnic, religious or linguistic minorities. It includes detailed information about procedures and forums in which minority issues may be raised to minorities and by also covering selected specialized agencies and regional mechanisms, the present Guide complements information contained in Working with the United Nations Human Rights Programme: A Handbook for Civil Society"--Introduction.




Minority Rights: A Guide to United Nations Procedures and Institutions


Book Description

This guide explains how the United Nations (UN) works. It aims to demystify the UN’s human rights mechanisms, procedures and institutions. It shows how minorities and minority-based nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) can use the UN and its different bodies to promote respect for minority rights. It offers practice advice, case studies and step-by-step guidance to working with the UN; showing, for example, how NGOs can provide information to the UN, how they can pursue cases and lobby for their issues, and where the best entry points are within the UN’s institutions and monitoring mechanisms. While this guide is aimed at minority-based NGOs, and NGOs working to promote human rights, it will be of interest to anyone wishing to learn more about the UN.




The United Nations Rule of Law Indicators


Book Description

"Building and strengthening the 'rule of law' in developing nations, particularly countries in transition or emerging from a period of armed conflict, has become a central focus of the work of the United Nations. As a result, there is a growing demand throughout the United Nations system to better understand the delivery of justice in conflict and post-conflict situations and the impact of developments in this area. The United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO) and the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in cooperation with other United Nations departments, agencies, funds and programmes, have developed an instrument to monitor changes in the performance and fundamental characteristics of criminal justice institutions in conflict and post-conflict situations. The instrument consists of a set of indicators, the United Nations Rule of Law indicators. This guide describes how to implement this instrument and measure these indicators"--P. v.




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.




Implementation Handbook for the Convention on the Rights of the Child


Book Description

"The Handbook aims to be a practical tool for implementation, explaining and illustrating the implications of each article of the Convention on the Rights of the Child and of the two Optional Protocols adopted in 2000 as well as their interconnections."--P. xvii.




Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Guide for Minorities and Indigenous Peoples


Book Description

In recent years, increased attention has been given to economic, social and cultural (ESC) rights internationally and, to a certain degree, domestically. However not enough has been done to consider fully and systematically the economic, social and cultural rights of minorities and indigenous peoples. This guide aims to bridge this gap. It provides an overview of ESC rights and how these can be applied to minorities and indigenous peoples. Aimed at minority and indigenous activists and those working with them, each chapter has been written by an expert on a particular right, who provides practical information and advice about the best ways to advocate for securing ESC rights. The chapters cover the rights to food and water, housing, health, education, labour and culture and describe the legal standards, enforcement mechanisms, and guidelines for successful civil society advocacy.




Human Rights Monitoring


Book Description

Monitoring is a crucial mechanism to secure and improve implementation of human rights. Field officers and other human rights defenders are key agents in monitoring, and thus contribute to securing human rights in practice. This manual is meant to provide information on basic monitoring techniques and to give a focused overview of current human rights law and practice in selected areas of importance for most practitioners working with human rights monitoring. It contains checklists for monitors, as well as references to key literature, handbooks and web resources for further information. It also includes annotated lists of instrument provisions relevant to each theme. The manual is intended for people of various backgrounds, including field officers and activists with no specific legal training.




Minority Rights


Book Description

This Guide outlines the procedures currently available for the promotion and protection of the rights of minorities within the human rights mechanisms of the United Nations. The Guide was prepared as a tool for training courses on minority rights. It has been piloted on two courses in Geneva and Budapest organized for representatives from minority communities and those working with minorities. One of the authors participated in both courses. The Guide will be used on future training courses for minorities and for government officials by Minority Rights Group International and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. In addition to its role as course material, the guide also provides a work of reference which will be of interest to all those concerned about minority rights.




The Right to Self-determination


Book Description




On Cultural Rights: The Equality of Nations and the Minority Legal Tradition


Book Description

This work addresses the question: how has the evolution of a legal regime within the United Nations and regional organisations influenced state behaviour regarding recognition of minority groups? The author assesses the implications of this regime for political theorists’ account of multiculturalism. This research bridges a gap between normative questions in political theory on multiculturalism and the international law on minorities. It does so by means of case studies of legal challenges involving two groups, namely, the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, and the Roma peoples in Europe. The author concludes by discussing the normative implications of the minority regime for helping to resolve conflicts that arise out of state treatment of minority groups.