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11. License to Be Yourself

Publication Date:
05-2014
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
When trans people’s passports, driver licenses, and national ID cards, do not reflect their gender identity, it can exclude them from fundamental aspects of daily life—like receiving health care, schooling, housing, or a bank account. And it can prevent trans people from exercising basic liberties like the right to vote or freedom of movement. The vast majority of trans people around the world cannot obtain official documents under their appropriate name and sex that match their gender identity. Where this is possible, trans people often face highly restrictive laws or regulations for changing name and sex that violate human rights obligations. These restrictions may involve excluding trans people who are married or have children, or require compulsory medical diagnoses or proceedures, including those that result in sterilization. License to Be Yourself documents some of the world’s most progressive and rights-based laws and policies that enable trans people to change their gender identity on official documents. It shares strategies that activists have successfully used in a variety of global and legal contexts, and features case studies from Argentina, Australia, Hong Kong, Kenya, Ukraine, and the United States. This report is a resource for activists working on human rights issues for trans people, local communities examining best laws and policies, and policymakers seeking to uphold the rights of trans people.
Topic:
Gender Issues, Human Rights, LGBT+, Sexuality, Identity, Legal Sector, and Transgender
Political Geography:
Global Focus

12. How the EU Can Safeguard Its “Fundamental Values”: Two Ideas

Publication Date:
07-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
This paper outlines two initiatives that could be taken up by the EU institutions to improve compliance with fundamental rights, democracy and the rule of law by EU Member States. These measures would not require the introduction of new legislation or amendment of the EU treaties. Rather, they could be put into effect within a short time-frame through informal changes in internal policy by the institutions and inter-institutional agreements.
Topic:
Human Rights, Treaties and Agreements, European Union, Democracy, Civil Rights, and Institutions
Political Geography:
Europe

13. How to Monitor the Rule of Law, Democracy, and Fundamental Rights in the EU

Publication Date:
08-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
There is a risk that no concrete steps will emerge from consultations and discussions in the European Commission and Council on how to protect the EU’s fundamental values within its member states. The European Commission could take two initiatives to improve compliance with fundamental rights, democracy, and the rule of law by its member states. Namely, to reintroduce country-monitoring and develop a fundamental rights litigation strategy. These measures would not require the introduction of new legislation or amendment of the EU treaties. Rather, they could be put into effect within a short timeframe through informal changes in internal policy by the institutions and inter-institutional agreements. This policy brief explores the legal and practical feasibility of these two initiatives with the goal of informing EU member state diplomats and Commission officials during their ongoing discussions on how best to protect fundamental rights in Europe.
Topic:
Diplomacy, Human Rights, European Union, Democracy, and Rule of Law
Political Geography:
Europe

14. Position Paper: Bringing migrant detention into line with human rights standards

Author:
Costanza Hermanin
Publication Date:
06-2013
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
On the occasion of the 2013 review of the implementation of the Return Directive, this position paper encourages the European Commission to consider whether to adopt updated guidelines. It urges member states to consider adopting legislation to bring procedural safeguards and minimum conditions in line with human rights standards whenever detention is used during the return process.
Topic:
Human Rights, Migration, Law, European Union, Legislation, Migrant Workers, and Political Rights
Political Geography:
Europe

15. EU Relations with Azerbaijan: More for Less?

Author:
Jacqueline Hale
Publication Date:
05-2012
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The EU’s rhetoric on comprehensive engagement and a multidimensional Neighbourhood Policy has failed to result in pressure to improve human rights in Azerbaijan. Instead, energy security has regularly trumped human rights concerns as the EU has privileged a narrower set of priorities than those agreed in the joint Action Plan. The expansion of energy cooperation, far from improving governance and transmitting European norms, has resulted in even less willingness to raise these concerns in Baku. EU policymakers, believing that they lack leverage in the face of hydrocarbon-rich Azerbaijan and insecure about the attractiveness of what the EU has to offer, have not attached conditions to the relationship. Against the background of the Arab Spring and the recent Neighbourhood Policy review, this paper discusses the EU's potential leverage, concluding that a robust EU policy that incorporated human rights would deliver better results. It is time for the EU to link its expectations for political reform to policy consequences.
Topic:
Human Rights, Regional Cooperation, Democracy, and Trade Policy
Political Geography:
Europe and Azerbaijan

16. EU Policy Towards the Eastern Neighbours: A New Wave of Improvement

Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The Open Society Foundations have local offices in all of the Eastern Partnership countries except for Belarus, and many thematic programs working on human rights and governance. We believe that the EU's engagement, with a toolbox largely drawn from the enlargement policy, is the best framework for promoting political reform in these countries, particularly when it is coupled with clearly articulated conditionality. This short assessment by the Open Society Foundations sets out the main lessons learned from our experience in the region and give ideas on how to enhance the EU’s efforts to strengthen prosperity, stability and security in its neighbourhood.
Topic:
Human Rights, Regional Cooperation, International Security, Governance, Reform, European Union, and Regional Economy
Political Geography:
Europe

17. How Could a European Endowment for Democracy Add Value?

Publication Date:
09-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The European Union has asked for proposals from the Commission and High Representative to establish a European Endowment for Democracy (EED). Various options are being discussed in Brussels; from potential recipients, to geographic scope, to thematic focus. The debate surrounding the EED provides an opportunity for EU support to civil society to become more extensive and flexible than allowed under current funding rules. The possible creation of a Convention or new agency, and/or the reform of the financial regulation affecting current funding instruments (in particular the European Instrument for Democracy and Human Rights), deserve support if they offer less burdensome mechanisms for non-governmental actors to access and manage EU funds. This discussion paper explores the potential added value of the EED in relation to the actors and scope of activities currently supported by the EU, and how it would add value to existing modalities of support to civil society. The most valuable outcome of this debate, regardless of whether an EED is established, would be if EU support became more responsive to the needs of the actors working in support of human rights and democracy.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, European Union, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Europe

18. EU-AU Relations: The Partnership on Democratic Governance and Human Rights of the Joint Africa-EU Strategy

Publication Date:
07-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The Joint Africa-EU Strategy (JAES), now in its second three-year Action Plan, has the potential to enhance the Africa-EU strategic partnership but has yet to deliver. The Open Society Institute-Brussels has taken stock of JAES progress in the policy area of democracy and human rights. This paper presents two main conclusions: significant involvement of civil society in the process is still hampered by the overlap of several institutional cultures and structural limitations; and the encounter of two distinct continental approaches to issues of democracy and human rights requires long-term commitment and adaptation on all sides if there is to be real progress. The strategy is in hibernation and the intended paradigm shift—to fundamentally alter European and African relations—has not really taken place. This paper develops a series of recommendations to address this inertia. These include a more political rather than technocratic approach to the partnership; improvements of information flows, outreach and transparency; independent assessments and monitoring of action plans; and closer attention to donor accountability.
Topic:
Civil Society, Human Rights, International Cooperation, Governance, Partnerships, and Democracy
Political Geography:
Europe and Africa

19. Government Accountability for Torture and Ill-Treatment in Health Settings

Publication Date:
05-2011
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
The absolute prohibition under human rights law of all forms of torture and cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment is commonly applied to prisons and pretrial detention centers. However this prohibition also applies to places such as schools, hospitals, orphanages, and social care institutions—places where coercion, power dynamics, and practices occurring outside the purview of law or justice systems can contribute to the infliction of unjustified and severe pain and suffering on marginalized people. This briefing paper focuses on torture and ill-treatment in health settings, including hospitals, clinics, hospices, people’s homes, or anywhere health care is delivered. It focuses on government accountability for placing health providers and patients in unacceptable situations whereby torture and ill-treatment is neither documented, prevented, punished, nor redressed. People who are perceived as “deviant” by authorities, who pose a “nuisance” to health providers, who lack the power to complain or assert their rights, or who are associated with stigmatized or criminalized behaviors may be especially at risk of torture in health care.
Topic:
Health, Human Rights, International Law, Torture, Law, Health Care Policy, and Marginalization
Political Geography:
Global Focus

20. Treatment or Torture? Applying International Human Rights Standards to Drug Detention Centers

Publication Date:
06-2011
Content Type:
Special Report
Institution:
Open Society Foundations
Abstract:
People identified as drug users in many countries are confined to abusive locked detention centers for months or even years. Such detention centers are supposedly mandated to treat and "rehabilitate" drug users, but the "treatment" they receive in some cases amounts to torture or other cruel, inhuman, and degrading punishment. In Treatment or Torture? Applying International Human Rights Standards to Drug Detention Centers, legal experts review common forms of abuse in drug detention centers and show how these practices in many cases are in violation of basic human rights treaties widely ratified by most nations worldwide. International health and drug-control agencies—including the UN Office on Drugs and Crime, UNAIDS, and the World Health Organization—all endorse comprehensive, evidence-based drug dependence treatment services. Yet drug detention centers rarely provide treatment that meets these standards. Depending on the country, so-called rehabilitation consists of a regime of military drills, forced labor, psychological and moral re-education, and shackling, caning, and beating. Treatment or Torture? comes in advance of the International Day against Drug Abuse and Illicit Trafficking and the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture—both on June 26, 2011. The report was published by the Campaign to Stop Torture in Health Care, a coalition led by the Open Society Foundations, and featured legal analysis by Human Rights Watch, Harm Reduction International, and the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network.
Topic:
Health, Human Rights, International Law, War on Drugs, Health Care Policy, Criminal Justice, Drugs, and Public Health
Political Geography:
Global Focus