Group Rights And Discrimination In International Law

Group hatred, disregard for the collective aspirations of religious, ethnic or cultural minorities, genocide, ethnic cleansing, apartheid, and anti-Semitism have been at the roots of the greatest tragedies of our time and are a source of internal and international conflict. This volume studies this wide range of problems from the perspective of modern human rights law, with special emphasis on racism and religious intolerance. Also dealt with are measures adopted, or to be taken, for the protection of specific groups, including indigenous populations and migrant workers, as well as the present situation regarding the conventions against genodice, discrimination in education and labour, and the steps and declarations for the strenghtening of group identity and their advancement. Special areas such as slavery, affirmative action, and modern models to preserve the collective personality are also discussed, including protective penal measures.

The Concept of Group Rights in International Law offers a critical appraisal of the concept of group rights in international law on the basis of an extensive survey of existing group rights in contemporary international law. Among some of its findings is the observation that an ideological way of arguing about this legal category is widespread among scholars as well as practitioners; it sees this ideological framing as one of the main reasons why international law has so far been very reluctant to provide group rights and to call them by their name. Accordingly, the book re-evaluates the concept based on the experience with existing group rights in international law and pleads for a more pragmatic approach. Despite limitations with the concept, the overall thesis is that there is a role for group rights as a pragmatic tool allowing for a principled approach to substate groups through international law. Such an approach could turn group rights into an arguably minor, but nevertheless, highly relevant legal category of international law.

The role of education.

History of discrimination and equal opportunity under international law - discusses replacement of minority group protection by human rights; covers racial discrimination, sex discrimination, language discrimination and religious discrimination; examines role of UN and specialized agencies, role of ILO and ILO Conventions, judicial decisions, etc.

This book, the first in the series of publications on minority issues, provides a critical overview of the protection of minority groups in international law. Topics covered include: the definition of a minority, concepts of state sovereignty and self-determination; the historical context to international human rights law; the legal frameworks developed by the UN, the Council of Europe, the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and the EU; as well as examples of legal approaches adopted by individual European countries to address the protection of minorities.

This volume on international law relating to ethnic minorities will be beneficial to lawyers interested in minority rights, lawyers working in various international organizations, and human rights groups. Areas covered include the principle of non-discrimination and the UN's Article 27.

The discussion of group rights, while always a part of the human rights discourse, has been gaining importance in the past decade. This discussion, which remains fundamental to a full realisation by the international community of its international human rights goals, requires careful analysis and empirical research. The present volume offers a great deal of material for both. It makes a strong case in favour of a multidisciplinary approach to human rights and explores the origins and social, anthropological and legal/political dimensions of human rights and internationally recognised group rights. It explores legal issues such as the reservations to international treaties and methodological questions, including the question of deliberative processes which allow seemingly absolute requirements of human rights to be reconciled with culturally sensitive norms prevailing within various groups. The discussion continues by looking at specific contexts, including the situations of women, school communities, ethnic and linguistic minorities, migrant communities and impoverished groups. The final part of the volume examines the 'state of play' of human rights and group rights in international law, in international relations and in the context of internationally sponsored development policies. Here the authors offer a meticulous and critical presentation of the legal regulation of human rights and group rights and point to numerous weaknesses which continue to exist and which call for additional work by legal thinkers and practitioners.