International Human Rights Norms In The Nordic And Baltic Countries

The book is a comparative study in the status of international human rights norms in the domestic law of all the Nordic countries and the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. An amazingly rapid development towards direct applicability of international human rights treaties has taken place in recent years in all the countries in question. This book provides in-depth analysis of the situation in the eight countries. Each country-specific chapter is followed by a document section. Depending on the country in question the documents include constitutional texts, incorporation enactments of human rights, treaties, court rulings etc. The English translations of the Constitutions of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are given in full. The book includes a Foreword by Dr. Ole Espersen, the Council of the Baltic Sea States Commissioner on Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, including the Rights of Persons belonging to Minorities.

The book is a comparative study in the status of international human rights norms in the domestic law of all the Nordic countries and the three Baltic states: Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. An amazingly rapid development towards direct applicability of international human rights treaties has taken place in recent years in all the countries in question. This book provides in-depth analysis of the situation in the eight countries. Each country-specific chapter is followed by a document section. Depending on the country in question the documents include constitutional texts, incorporation enactments of human rights, treaties, court rulings etc. The English translations of the Constitutions of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania are given in full. The book includes a Foreword by Dr. Ole Espersen, the Council of the Baltic Sea States Commissioner on Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, including the Rights of Persons belonging to Minorities.

This book explores the history of Nordic human rights politics and practices from the 1930s to present day. The authors use previously unexplored archival materials to bring to light how a broad range of Nordic actors have engaged with international human rights globally and at a European level and how these norms have been taken up and interpreted in the region. Do the Nordic countries warrant the label ‘global good Samaritans’ in human rights promotion? Is the Nordic welfare state a close to perfect realisation of human rights norms? Or do Nordic international and domestic human rights policies constitute a peculiar ‘Nordic human rights paradox’ where norms are supported internationally while not being implemented at home? Are the ideals of the national welfare state and universal human rights compatible? In this book, the authors take issue with previous scholarship and argue for the need for careful historical investigations into how a broad range of Nordic actors have contributed to creating international human rights. This history is much more varied than what was previously assumed. The lack of prior interest in the region means there are several promising avenues for historical investigations of both the Nordic countries in human rights history and the role of human rights in the history of the region. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal, Nordic Journal of Human Rights.

Every state in the world has undertaken human rights obligations on the basis of UN treaties. Today's challenge is to enhance the effectiveness of procedures and institutions established to promote the accountability of governments. The six treaty bodies that monitor and evaluate state policies and practices play a vital role, but the whole system has been stretched almost to breaking point. It is under-funded, many governments fail to report or do so very late or superficially, there is a growing backlog of individual complaints, broad reservations have been lodged by many states, and the expertise of committee members has been questioned. This volume contains detailed analyses of the strengths and weaknesses of the system, written by leading participants in the work of the treaty bodies. Their recommendations provide a blueprint for far-reaching reform of a system of major importance for the future of international efforts to protect human rights.

Blaskif.

This book analyses the Nordic constitutional systems of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden in a comparative context. It has two main aims: first to fill a gap in the literature by providing an accessible English language account of the Nordic constitutions, and second to provide a comparative analysis of them, revealing their similarities and differences within their political, historical and cultural contexts. In this respect, the book challenges the assumption that the Nordic countries form a homogeneous constitutional system due to their cultural and historical affinities, a view not necessarily supported by a close comparative examination. A key issue is EU membership –where the Nordic countries have made different choices at different times – and the book will show how this has affected the individual countries and whether a divide between EU member states (Denmark, Finland and Sweden) and non-members (Iceland and Norway) has appeared. Another key issue is how the ECHR has impacted the Nordic constitutional systems and whether the convention draws the Nordic systems closer to each other. The book represents a first of its kind in the English language, and will provide constitutional scholars with a valuable comparative resource on the Nordic region.

This dictionary has more than 1000 cross-referenced entries on terminology, conventions, treaties, intergovernmental organizations in the United Nations family or regional bodies, and the constantly expanding universe of non-governmental organizations, as well as some of the pioneers and defenders of human rights.