Search

Begin New Search Topic Human Rights Political Geography Europe

171. North Caucasus Weekly - - Volume IX, Issue 48

Publication Date:
12-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
North Caucasus Weekly (formerly Chechnya Weekly), The Jamestown Foundation
Abstract:
IN THIS ISSUE: Rights Activists: Religious Repression Feeds Dagestan's Insurgency New Ingush Rights Council Flooded with Complaints Spain Agrees toExtradite Former Rebel Commander Briefs Chechen Interior Minister Tries to Play Down the InsurgencyBy Mairbek Vatchagaev New Tensions Surface in Ossetian-Ingush RelationsBy Valery Dzutsev.
Topic:
Security, Ethnic Conflict, and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, and Asia

172. What Future for the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice? Recommendations on EU Migration and Borders Policies in a Globalising World

Author:
Didier Bigo, Sergio Carrera, and Elspeth Guild
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The European Interest: Succeeding in the Age of Globalisation, COM(2007) 581 final, Brussels 3.10.2007, which states: “The EU is already working on many of the policy elements needed to equip it to take on the challenge of globalization with confidence…in the coming months, the Commission will be putting new ideas on the table to address these key challenges…Review of internal policies is already under way, aiming to reshape Europe to face gloablisation and give it the right platform to look beyond its borders.” Further the Communication identifies “Migration in a Globalized World” as one of the key political objectives and states: “In a Europe with no internal borders, the changing demands of an ageing society and a labour market in constant evolution have challenged established assumptions about immigration… a new global approach is needed so that migration strikes the right balance between the risk of labour market shortages, economic impacts, negative social consequences, integration policies and external policy objectives”. Information about the current financial Framework Programme on Solidarity and the Management of Migration Flows for the period 2007- 2013 and about the four Funds comprising it (European Refugee Fund, External Borders Fund, the European Return Fund and the European Integration Fund) can be found at See the original European Commission's proposal in the Communication on a framework programme on Solidarity and the Management of Migration Flows for the period.
Topic:
Human Rights, Migration, Immigration, and Law
Political Geography:
Europe and Brussels

173. The French Presidency's European Pact on Immigration and Asylum: Intergovernmentalism vs Europeanisation? Security vs Rights?

Author:
Sergio Carrera and Elspeth Guild
Publication Date:
09-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
well before the French Presidency took over the European Council in July 2008, it was well known that immigration was going to constitute one of its central priorities. The French enthusiasm coincided with an increasing interest by Barroso's Commission in this domain. The French government and the European Commission started to fine-tune their respective strategies and 'the way forward' through a series of informal meetings. This materialised in the presentation of two policy outputs: First, a Commission Communication on a Common Immigration Policy for Europe and another on a Policy Plan on Asylum; and second, various drafts of the French Presidency's European Pact on Immigration and Asylum, the latest of which appeared on September 3rd. This Policy Brief refers to all previous drafts offered up for public comment so far.
Topic:
Human Rights and Immigration
Political Geography:
Europe

174. Ten Issues and Recommendations for the European Parliament Elections on Freedom, Security and Justice

Author:
Sergio Carrera, Elspeth Guild, and Kees Groenendijk
Publication Date:
10-2008
Content Type:
Policy Brief
Institution:
Centre for European Policy Studies
Abstract:
The European Parliament (EP) elections will take place on 4-7 June 2009. The various political parties of the EU are now beginning to focus on their programmes for the upcoming campaign. Many areas of EU policy will be critical during these elections and the themes will vary substantially from one member state to another in an EU of 27 countries. Still, the issues that have become part of EU law over the past five years through the exercise of Treaty powers in the Area of Freedom, Security and Justice (AFSJ) will need to be addressed all across the Union. These policies lay at the heart of every person's interest and concern as they have deep implications for his or her degree of liberty and security.
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, and Governance
Political Geography:
Europe

175. Inventing Human Rights: A History

Author:
Bronwyn Leebaw
Publication Date:
03-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Institution:
Carnegie Council
Abstract:
In the second half of the eighteenth century, epistolary novels became popular in France and England, people began listening to the opera in silence rather than walking around to converse with friends, and efforts were made to prevent theater-goers in Paris from disrupting performances by coordinating their coughing and farting. For Lynn Hunt, these changes in the daily lives of Europeans are intrinsically related to the development of universal human rights. In this rich and beautifully written work, Hunt argues that human rights rely upon our ability to empathize with strangers. The changing habits and experiences of late-eighteenth-century Europe fostered new understandings of individuality and empathy, which would support the expansion of rights.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
Europe, Paris, France, and England

176. Import, Export, and Regional Consent in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

Author:
Gerald L. Neuman
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights has elaborated a significant body of human rights jurisprudence through interpretation of regional human rights conventions and the adaptation of European and global precedents and global soft law. The Inter-American Court has also aspired to influence outside its region by offering innovative interpretations of human rights and by identifying norms as jus cogens. The Court's methodology in recent years has appeared to give insufficient consideration to the consent of the regional community of states as a factor in the evolutive interpretation of a human rights treaty. The article illustrates and criticizes that trend, and contends that greater attention to indicia of regional consent could improve the acceptance and effectiveness of the inter-American human rights system.
Topic:
Human Rights
Political Geography:
America and Europe

177. Redesigning the European Court of Human Rights: Embeddedness as a Deep Structural Principle of the European Human Rights Regime

Author:
Laurence R. Helfer
Publication Date:
02-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is the crown jewel of the world's most advanced international system for protecting civil and political liberties. In recent years, however, the ECtHR has become a victim of its own success. The Court now faces a docket crisis of massive proportions, the consequence of the growing number of states subject to its jurisdiction, its favourable public reputation, its expansive interpretations of individual liberties, a distrust of domestic judiciaries in some countries, and entrenched human rights problems in others. In response to this growing backlog of individual complaints, the Council of Europe has, over the last five years, considered numerous proposals to restructure the European human rights regime and redesign the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). This article argues that these proposals should be understood not as ministerial changes in supranational judicial procedure, nor as resolving a debate over whether the ECtHR should strive for individual or constitutional justice, but rather as raising more fundamental questions concerning the Court's future identity. In particular, the article argues for recognition of 'embeddedness' in national legal systems as a deep structural principle of the ECHR, a principle that functions as a necessary counterpoint to the subsidiary doctrine that has animated the Convention since its founding. Embeddedness does not substitute ECtHR rulings for the decisions of national parliaments or domestic courts. Rather, it requires the Council of Europe and the Court to bolster the mechanisms for governments to remedy human rights violations at home, obviating the need for individuals to seek supranational relief and restoring countries to a position in which the ECtHR's deference to national decision-makers is appropriate.
Topic:
Government and Human Rights
Political Geography:
Europe

178. Attribution of Conduct in Peace Operations: The 'Ultimate Authority and Control' Test

Author:
Kjetil Mujezinovic Larsen
Publication Date:
06-2008
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
The article addresses the issue of whether conduct in international peace operations is attributable to the troop contributing states or to the United Nations, taking the European Court of Human Rights' admissibility decision in the Behrami and Saramati cases as a point of reference. The Court concluded that conduct by UNMIK and KFOR troops in Kosovo is attributable to the United Nations. The article examines the content of the 'ultimate authority and control' test that is applied by the Court, and argues that the Court should have taken a different approach. The Court's test is in the author's view difficult to reconcile with the International Law Commission's work on the responsibility of international organizations, with United Nations practice on responsibility for unlawful conduct in peace operations, and with the Court's own jurisprudence concerning attribution of conduct to the state. The author argues further that the Court's arguments are incomplete even if the Court's approach were to be considered correct. The article concludes by expressing concern that the Court's decision, when seen in connection with previous case law, in practice renders the European Convention on Human Rights irrelevant in international peace operations.
Topic:
Human Rights, International Organization, and United Nations
Political Geography:
Europe

179. Violations of Human Rights during Military Operations in Chechnya

Author:
Federico Sperotto
Publication Date:
02-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
The case-law of the European Court of Human Rights concerning violations of human rights law during armed conflict has been extended after the first decisions on cases arose from violations, committed during the war in Chechnya between 1999 and 2000. In the words of the Court, at that time the situation called for exceptional measures, in order to regain control over the Republic and suppress an illegal armed insurgency. The Court has been ready to admit those measures, including the deployment of army units equipped with heavy combat weapons, military aviation and artillery, were necessary to counter the aggressiveness of the separatists, but in such a way as to avoid or minimize, to the greatest extent possible, damage to civilians. This brief paper focuses on the means and methods employed. It aims firstly at illustrating the core of the Court's decisions, in order to identify the key aspects of the protection granted by the system of the European Convention in situations requiring the use of military force. Then it clarifies the approach of the Court to the law of armed conflict.
Topic:
Human Rights and Human Welfare
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya

180. Law in Times of War: the Case of Chechnya

Author:
Federico Sperotto
Publication Date:
08-2007
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
In October 1999 “the second Chechen war” broke out. In December the Russian federal army started an operation to take control of Grozny. During the confrontation between the Federal forces and the Chechen separatists, serious human rights violations occurred. Several cases concerning violations of fundamental rights, in and around the city, have been brought before the European Court of Human Rights against Russia. The lawsuits concerned in particular physical integrity issues. This study provides some insights on the jurisprudence of the European Court on Human Rights in order to ascertain the adequacy of the mechanism of protection provided by the European Convention of 1950 in situations of armed conflict.
Topic:
Human Rights, Human Welfare, and War
Political Geography:
Russia, Europe, Asia, and Chechnya