Vulnerable And Marginalised Groups And Human Rights

This insightful volume addresses human rights from the perspective of those groups whose rights are especially vulnerable to abuse, with particular reference to stateless or internally-displaced persons, linguistic, cultural and sexual minorities and disabled people. Professor Weissbrodt and Professor Rumsey have brought together a comprehensive selection which elucidates the problems common to all vulnerable groups and provides a deeper understanding of their situation. In their original introduction the editors discuss the question of protecting group rights in international law and provide an authoritative overview of the issues raised. The volume will be an invaluable reference source for scholars and practitioners interested in human rights law and will also appeal to scholars in the fields of philosophy, human rights theory and disability studies.

The protection of vulnerable groups varies under international human rights law. Depending on the group at stake, protection may be more or less advanced. In some cases, the international community has deemed it necessary to adopt conventions providing for the rights of certain vulnerable groups and establishing mechanisms to verify State compliance. Other groups have not been the focus of States’ standard-setting endeavours, but their protection still falls within the scope of human rights treaties of general application and the mandate of their respective monitoring bodies. This book takes an innovative approach to the investigation of the international legal protection of vulnerable groups. Rather than examining the situation of a number of vulnerable groups and applicable international or regional conventions, this book reviews the overall scope of the protection of vulnerable groups under International Human Rights Law. This book conceptualizes the protection of vulnerable groups as an underlying and essential component of International Human Rights Law through a systematic and comprehensive analysis of international human rights law instruments and relevant practice of international and regional human rights monitoring bodies. The book illuminates how human rights monitoring bodies foster protection of vulnerable groups and their members at the domestic level, and underscores and assesses vulnerability paradigms these bodies have elaborated. The book also puts forward a legal definition of vulnerable groups. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of international human rights law.

This volume covers topics related to human rights issues and problems of people who are overwhelmed by hostile situations around them and are subsequently rendered vulnerable. The situations of vulnerability discussed in this book are related to suffering caused by the moral, family, social, economic or political conditions in which the people, and the groups they belong to, live. Readers are guided through a discussion about rights, as an instrument through which civil society and the 'Rule of Law' try to curb or even eliminate the suffering of these people. The aim of such efforts is to restore the situation of vulnerable people to a level of normality. Human Rights Issues and Vulnerable Groups presents a discussion of issues surrounding several kinds of vulnerable groups: minorities, children, gender groups, persons with disabilities, migrants, cultural groups, displaced persons, victims of terrorism, linguistic groups, poor people, people in prison and sexual minorities. The book is a detailed reference for graduates and scholars in law, political science, sociology and social psychology. The volume is also recommended for working professionals who operate with human rights groups and general readers (non-experts) who want to understand the discourse about human rights in a holistic (moral, legal, social, economic, and political) framework.

Vulnerability has traditionally been conceived as a dichotomised status, where an individual by reason of a personal characteristic is classified as vulnerable or not. However, vulnerability is not static, and most, if not all, people are vulnerable at some time in their lives. Similarly, marginality is a social construct linked to power and control. Marginalised populations are relegated to the perimeters of power by legal and political structures and limited access to resources. Neither are fixed or essential categories. This book draws on international research and scholarship related to these constructs, exploring vulnerability and marginality as they intersect with power and privilege. This exploration is undertaken through the lenses of intimacy and sexuality to consider vulnerability and marginality in the most personal of ways. This includes examining these concepts in relation to a range of professions, including social work, psychology, nursing, and allied health. A strong emphasis on the fluidity and complexity of vulnerability and marginality across cultures and at different times makes this a unique contribution to scholarship in this field. This is essential reading for students and researchers involved with social work, social policy, sociology, and gender and sexuality studies.

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Now in its fourth edition, this well-respected textbook blends the theory of human rights with its context, debates and practice.