International Human Rights in Context Law, Politics, Morals: Text and Materials

by Steiner, Henry J.; Alston, Philip

• ISBN13: 9780198254263
• ISBN10: 0198254261
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 1996-02-29
• Publisher: Oxford University Press

Summary

International Human Rights in Context presents diverse materials consisting of extensive authors' text and questions; sharply edited primary materials ranging from intergovernmental or NGO reports to treaties, resolutions and decisions; and excerpts from secondary readings in law and legal theory, as well as other pertinent fields such as international relations, moral and political theory, and anthropology. The book introduces students to those organizing concepts and topics of public international law that are vital to understanding human rights issues. It stresses throughout the relationships among human rights norms, processes and institutions, as well as relationships between international and internal orders. The topics include civil and political rights, economic and social rights, intergovernmental and non-governmental institutions, universal and regional regimes, human rights and foreign policy, democratization, women's rights, self determination and autonomy regimes, individual criminal responsibility, and development. The book's broad themes include universalism and cultural relativism, rights or duties as organizing conceptions, the relevance of the private-public distinction, and transformed conceptions of statehood and sovereignty.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements	xxxi
PART A. INTRODUCTORY NOTIONS	1	(22)
1. Global Snashopts	3	(20)
PART B. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT AND NORMATIVE FRAMEWORK OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS	23	(306)
2. International Law Concepts and Doctrinal Background Relevant to the Human Rights Movement	26	(91)
A. Basic Concepts and Processes	26	(33)
B. Historical Antecedents to Contemporary Human Rights	59	(58)
3. Evolution and Norms of the Universal Human Rights System	117	(49)
A. Foundations of the System	118	(14)
B. The Continuting Role of Custom and the Significance of UN Resolutions	132	(16)
C. Human Rights Challenge to Conceptions of Sovereignty and Domestic Jurisdiction	148	(18)
4. What Are Rights, are Everywhere, and Everywhere the Same?: Cultural Relativism	166	(90)
A. The Notion of `Rights': Origins and Relation to `Duties'	167	(25)
B. Universalism and Cultural Relativism	192	(34)
C. Contempopary Debate between the west and some Asian States	226	(14)
D. Illustration: The Debate over Female Circumcision	240	(16)
5. Economic and Social Rights	256	(73)
A. Overview and Historical Background	256	(11)
B. The Challenge of Economic and Social Rights	267	(7)
C. An Obligations-based Approach	274	(13)
D. The Relevance of Resource Constraints	287	(11)
E. The Question of Justiciability	298	(13)
F. Developments by States of a Programmatic Approach	311	(5)
G. International Supervision by the ICESCR Committee: Case Study of Housing	316	(7)
H. International Enforcement: Identifying Violators	323	(6)
PART C. HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTIONS AND PROCESSES	329	(378)
6. The Need for Institutions: Introductory Ideas	331	(16)
7. Intergovernmental Enforcement of Human Rights Norms: The UN System	347	(109)
A. Development of the UN Human Rights System	347	(17)
B. The Waning Obstacle of Domestic Jurisdiction	364	(10)
C. The UN Commission's Main Procedures for Responding to Violations	374	(74)
1. The 1503 Procedure: Pros and Cons of Confidentiality	376	(12)
2. The 1235 Procedure: Processes and Participants	388	(32)
a. The Process and its Outcomes	388	(3)
b. The Quest for Fact-finding Guidelines	391	(1)
c. Case Studies of Fact-fin ding under the 1235 Procedure	402	(18)
3. The Evolution of Techniques for Promoting Compliance: `Thematic' mechanisms and Beyond	420	(28)
D. Overview and Evaluation	448	(8)
8. The Role of Non-Governmental Organizations	456	(44)
A. NGOs: Diversity in Character and Work	457	(14)
B. INGOs and the United Nations	471	(29)
9. Treaty Organs: The ICCPR Human Rights Committee	500	(63)
A. Powers, Functions, and Performance of the ICCPR Committee	501	(35)
1. Introduction	501	(4)
2. State Reporting	505	(17)
3. General Comments	522	(13)
4. Individual Communications	535	(17)
5. Evaluations	552	(11)
10. Regional Arrangements	563	(144)
A. Comparison of Universal and Regional Systems	563	(8)
B. The European Convention System: The Paramount Role of the Court	571	(69)
1. Introduction	571	(3)
2. The Broad European Institutional Context	574	(6)
3. Other Human Rights Conventions Adopted by the Council of Europe	580	(3)
4. The European Convention's Implementation Machinery: Article 25 Individual Petitions	583	(3)
5. Responses of States to Findings of Violations	586	(4)
6. Reforming the Convention System	590	(4)
7. The Inter-State Procedure; Article 24	594	(4)
8. The European Court in Action: Some Illustrative Cases	598	(42)
C. The Inter-American System: Promoting Democracy	640	(49)
1. Background and Protected Rights	640	(4)
2. Institutional Arrangements	644	(6)
3. The Court in Action	650	(8)
4. Democratic Government in the Inter-American System	658	(31)
a. Background in Theory and in State Practice	658	(18)
b. The Commission, Political Participation and Democracy	676	(13)
D. The African System: Rights and Duties	689	(18)
PART D. STATES AS PROTECTORS AND ENFORCERS OF HUMAN RIGHTS	707	(178)
11. Interpenetration of International and National Systems: Internal Protection of Human Rights by States	709	(102)
A. The Spread of State Constitutions in the Liberal Model	710	(15)
B. Human Rights Treaties within States' Legal and Political Orders	725	(54)
1. Basic Notions: Illustrations from Different States	726	(24)
2. Ratification by the United States of the ICCPR	750	(29)
C. Judical Enforcement of Customary Norms: The Alien Tort Statute	779	(32)
2. Enforcement by States against Violator States	811	(74)
A. National Interest and Human Rights	812	(6)
B. Human Rights Conditionality for U.S. Security and Development Assistance	818	(27)
C. Case Study: Most Favored Nation Treatment and the People's Republic of China	845	(17)
D. Comparison: The European Community (Union)	862	(8)
E. Codes of Conduct for Foreign Operations of U.S. Business Firms	870	(15)
PART E. AN ILLUSTRATIVE STUDY	885	(84)
13. Women's Rights	887	(82)
A. Background to CEDAW: Socio-economic Context	888	(14)
B. CEDAW: Provision and Committee	902	(22)
C. Present Proposals	924	(7)
D. Violence against Women by the State and in the Home	931	(14)
E. The Public-Private Divide: Discrimination and Violence by Non-Governmental Actors	945	(16)
F. Participation of Women in Political Institutions and Life	961	(8)
PART F. CURRENT TOPICS	969	(178)
14. Self-Determination and Autonomy Regimes	971	(50)
A. Self-Derterminations: Some History and Commentary	972	(14)
B. Autonomy Regimes	986	(35)
1. Ethnic Minorities	987	(19)
2. Indigenous Peoples	1006	(15)
15. International Crimes and Criminal Tribunals	1021	(89)
A. Univeral Jurisdiction and International Crimes	1021	(19)
B. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia	1040	(39)
C. Proposals for a Permanent International Criminal Court	1079	(5)
D. Punishment, Amnesty, Truth Commissions	1084	(26)
16 Development and Human Rights	1110	(37)
A. The Right to Development as a Human Right	1112	(15)
B. The Interdependence of the Two Sets of Rights	1127	(5)
C. Is There an Obligation to Assist?	1132	(8)
D. The Spread of the Market Economy and Globalization Consequences	1140	(7)
Annex on Documents	1147	(82)
Annex on Citations	1229	(6)
Annex on Bibliography	1235	(6)
Index	1241