Comparative Human Rights

Courts in different jurisdictions face similar human rights questions. Does the death penalty breach human rights? Does freedom of speech include racist speech? Is there a right to health? This book uses the prism of comparative law to examine the fascinating ways in which these difficult questions are decided. On the one hand, the shared language of human rights suggests that there should be similar solutions to comparable problems. On the other hand, there are important differences. Constitutional texts are worded differently; courts have differing relationships with the legislature; and there are divergences in socio-economic development, politics, and history. Nevertheless, there is a growing transnational conversation between courts, with cases in one jurisdiction being cited in others. Part I sets out the cross-cutting themes which shape the ways judges respond to challenging human rights issues. It examines when it is legitimate to refer to foreign materials; how universality and cultural relativity are balanced in human rights law; the appropriate role of courts in adjudicating human rights in a democracy; and the principles judges use to interpret human rights texts. The book is unusual in transcending the distinction between socio-economic rights and civil and political rights. Part II applies these cross-cutting themes to comparing human rights law in the US, UK, South Africa, Canada, and India. Its focus is on seven particularly challenging issues: the death penalty, abortion, housing, health, speech, education and religion, with the aim of inspiring further comparative examination of other pressing human rights issues.

In terms of the South African Constitution of 1996 there is a general need for an introduction to comparative law and one that covers what is technically known as applied comparative law; more particularly applied comparative law that involves a study of the bills of rights in other countries.

Ours has been called a global "age of rights," an era in which respect for human rights is considered the highest aspiration of the international democratic community. Since the United Nation's 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a wide variety of protections—civil, political, economic, social, and cultural—have been given legal validation as countries ratify treaties, participate in intergovernmental organizations, and establish human rights tribunals and truth and reconciliation commissions. Yet notable human rights failures have marred the post-Declaration era, including ongoing state violence toward citizens, the selectivity of humanitarian intervention (evidenced by the international community's failure to respond in Rwanda), and recent legislation in advanced democracies that trades some rights for protection against the threat of terrorism. How are we to reconcile the language of rights with the reality? Do we live in an age of rights after all? In Protecting Human Rights, Todd Landman provides a unique quantitative analysis of the marked gap between the principle and practice of human rights. Applying theories and methods from the fields of international law, international relations, and comparative politics, Landman examines data from 193 countries over 25 years (1976-2000) to assess the growth of the international human rights regime, the effect of law on actual protection, and global variation in human rights norms. Landman contends that human rights foreign policy remains based more on geo-strategic interest than moral internationalism. He argues that the influence human rights ideals have begun to have on states cannot be separated from the broader impact of socioeconomic changes that swept the globe in the late twentieth century. Landman concludes that international law alone will not suffice to fully protect human rights—it must be accompanied by democratic government, effective conflict resolution, and just economic systems.

Do anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions affect human rights? Should fundamental rights constrain climate policies? Scientific evidence demonstrates that anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions contribute to increasing atmospheric temperatures, soon passing the compromising threshold of 2° C. Consequences such as Typhoon Haiyan prove that climate alteration has the potential to significantly impair basic human needs. Although the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and human rights regulatory regimes have so far proceeded separately, awareness is arising about their reciprocal implications. Based on tripartite fundamental obligations, this volume explores the relationship between climate change and interdependent human rights, through the lens of an international and comparative perspective. Along the lines of the metaphor of the ‘wall’, the research ultimately investigates the possibility of overcoming the divide between universal rights and climate change, and underlying barriers. This book aims to be a useful resource not only for practitioners, policymakers, academics, and students in international, comparative, environmental law and politics and human rights, but also for the wider public.

Human rights is a central concept in political science, yet it is still poorly understood. This book reviews the literature on human rights and takes into account the different perceptions, asking if human rights can be measured and whether countries can be ranked on the basis of their performance.

Women's International and Comparative Human Rights is a collection of materials that provide information and insight into the complex issues of international human rights and the laws and customs that specifically impact women in countries all over the world. These materials include: excerpted cases, statutes, treaties, newspaper articles, law review articles, books, U.N. treaty organs and committee reports, and cases emanating from regional and international tribunals. By applying an interdisciplinary approach, Professor Tiefenbrun looks into the history of the global human rights movement, the structure of the United Nations and its human rights system, and the relationship of international law to the development of international human rights laws that relate specifically to women. The book examines women's civil, political, social, economic, and cultural rights, women's human rights in armed conflict; women's fundamental right to manifest their religion; their right to be free from slavery and sex trafficking; the rights of women with disabilities; and the right of women to be free from institutionalized female infanticide, sex selection abortion, child soldiering, sexual violence and torture. The Appendix contains the major international human rights treaties protecting women and children. This book is a useful and convenient book for courses in international human rights, women and the law, and women's international human rights. "Tiefenbrun (Thomas Jefferson School of Law) successfully guides readers through the volume and presents a very complex subject in a clear manner. This important work argues that the human rights needs of women are not and should not be assumed to be identical to those of men. The author not only provides evidence but also places it in theoretical frameworks, such as feminist theory. Case study comparisons of laws in different countries meld the facts and theories and act as helpful examples. ...This book is an especially useful introduction to the limits of current international and domestic human rights laws for the protection of women." -- CHOICE Magazine, L. E. Lyons, Northwestern University

This volume analyses the legal grounds, premises and extent of pecuniary compensation for violations of human rights in national legal systems. The scope of comparison includes liability regimes in general and in detail, the correlation between pecuniary remedies available under international law and under domestic law, and special (alternative) compensation systems. All sources of human rights violations are embraced, including historical injustices and systematical and gross violations. The book is a collection of nineteen contributions written by public international law, international human rights and private law experts, covering fifteen European jurisdictions (including Central and Eastern Europe), the United States, Israel and EU law. The contributions, initially prepared for the 19th International Congress of Comparative law in Vienna (2014), present the latest developments in legislation, scholarship and case-law concerning domestic causes of action in cases of human rights abuses. The book concludes with a comparative report which assesses the developments in tort law and public liability law, the role of the constitutionalisation of the right to damages as well as the court practice related to the process of enforcement of human rights through monetary remedies. This country-by-country comparison allows to consider whether the value of protection of human rights as expressed in international treaties, ius cogens and in national constitutional laws justifies the conclusion that the interests at stake should enjoy protection under the existing civil liability rules, or that a new cause of action, or even a whole new set of rules, should be created in national systems.

Human Rights in Asia considers how human rights are viewed and implemented in Asia. It covers not just civil and political rights, but also social, economic and cultural rights. This study discusses the problems arising from the fact that ideas of human rights have evolved in Western liberal democracies and examines how far such values are compatible with Asian values and applicable in Asian contexts. Core chapters on France and the USA provide a benchmark on how human rights have emerged and how they are applied and implemented in a civil law and a common law jurisdiction. These are then followed by twelve chapters on the major countries of East Asia plus India, each of which follows a common template to consider the context of the legal system in each country, black letter law, legal discussions and debates and key current issues concerning human rights in each jurisdiction.