In the past ten years or so, mobile phone and Internet technologies have been instrumental in nearly every instance where people have gathered to demand political reform. With the help of ‘new social media’ applications, like Facebook and Twitter, Internet and mobile phone users can conduct real-time exchanges with millions of people across the globe. Following the Introduction, this Article begins, in Part II, with a discussion of how these tools were used by protesters around the world in 2011. Part III discusses how the same tools were used by governments, both democratic and authoritarian, to respond to the violence and mayhem during that year. In Part IV, I turn to a discussion of the relevant policy concerns, first in the American, then the Canadian, legal contexts. It is significant that Canada is the first country to complete an extensive investigation into Facebook’s privacy practices. As a result, Facebook users across the world now enjoy stronger privacy protections for their personal information, in terms of how it is collected, used and disclosed. In conclusion, in Part V, I note that this case has important implications for other online social networking sites, even those based in other countries, which are collecting and using the personal information of Canadians in a way that does not comport with Canadian privacy laws.
{"title":"The New Social Media Paradox: A Symbol of Self-Determination or a Boon for Big Brother?","authors":"Sara M. Smyth","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2122939","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2122939","url":null,"abstract":"In the past ten years or so, mobile phone and Internet technologies have been instrumental in nearly every instance where people have gathered to demand political reform. With the help of ‘new social media’ applications, like Facebook and Twitter, Internet and mobile phone users can conduct real-time exchanges with millions of people across the globe. Following the Introduction, this Article begins, in Part II, with a discussion of how these tools were used by protesters around the world in 2011. Part III discusses how the same tools were used by governments, both democratic and authoritarian, to respond to the violence and mayhem during that year. In Part IV, I turn to a discussion of the relevant policy concerns, first in the American, then the Canadian, legal contexts. It is significant that Canada is the first country to complete an extensive investigation into Facebook’s privacy practices. As a result, Facebook users across the world now enjoy stronger privacy protections for their personal information, in terms of how it is collected, used and disclosed. In conclusion, in Part V, I note that this case has important implications for other online social networking sites, even those based in other countries, which are collecting and using the personal information of Canadians in a way that does not comport with Canadian privacy laws.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-08-02","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"133238213","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
This essay uses genetically modified crops as a springboard for examining the role ascribed to technology by the international institutional framework for responding to food insecurity. It argues that that food insecurity is a problem rooted in political will formation, rather than in the mechanics of food production. From this starting point, the chapter examines the failure of various global initiatives to end hunger, highlighting how these initiatives emphasized new technologies for increasing food production while giving short shrift to the thorny structural problems associated with hunger.
{"title":"Food, Hunger and Technology","authors":"Rebecca M. Bratspies","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2118749","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2118749","url":null,"abstract":"This essay uses genetically modified crops as a springboard for examining the role ascribed to technology by the international institutional framework for responding to food insecurity. It argues that that food insecurity is a problem rooted in political will formation, rather than in the mechanics of food production. From this starting point, the chapter examines the failure of various global initiatives to end hunger, highlighting how these initiatives emphasized new technologies for increasing food production while giving short shrift to the thorny structural problems associated with hunger.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-07-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"131830932","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In both the developing and the developed world, a rising demand for brides has led to an increase in marriage migration. As those who migrate for international marriages seek better lives, they become targets for criminal groups engaged in human trafficking. Unfortunately, international law on human trafficking, created as a floor for coordinated action, has become a ceiling; its silence on forced marriage has resulted in little movement on the international or domestic levels to tackle this growing new crime. As a result, marriage migrants, and even some who migrate for labor, are left at the mercy of commercial marriage traffickers. Drawing from work conducted at the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking, this article uncovers the new phenomenon of commercial marriage trafficking, the conceptual gaps in international law that impede effective responses, and how those gaps can be successfully addressed. The article first introduces the definition of human trafficking under international law, discussing the crime in the context of marriage migration. Failures of international law to address exploitation in this specific context are then exposed and discussed. A new legal definition addressing the real-world realities of commercial marriage trafficking is introduced, turning the focus of scrutiny to the key point of exploitation, the act of marriage itself. The definition is examined through examples from real-world cases, with effective strategies for integrating the definition into existing international law discussed. Finally, key steps that states can immediately take to fight commercial marriage trafficking are drawn from existing international laws on marriage.
{"title":"Commercial Marriage Trafficking: Uncovering a Growing New Form of Transnational Human Trafficking, and Shaping International Law to Respond","authors":"D. Maclean","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2122859","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2122859","url":null,"abstract":"In both the developing and the developed world, a rising demand for brides has led to an increase in marriage migration. As those who migrate for international marriages seek better lives, they become targets for criminal groups engaged in human trafficking. Unfortunately, international law on human trafficking, created as a floor for coordinated action, has become a ceiling; its silence on forced marriage has resulted in little movement on the international or domestic levels to tackle this growing new crime. As a result, marriage migrants, and even some who migrate for labor, are left at the mercy of commercial marriage traffickers. Drawing from work conducted at the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Human Trafficking, this article uncovers the new phenomenon of commercial marriage trafficking, the conceptual gaps in international law that impede effective responses, and how those gaps can be successfully addressed. The article first introduces the definition of human trafficking under international law, discussing the crime in the context of marriage migration. Failures of international law to address exploitation in this specific context are then exposed and discussed. A new legal definition addressing the real-world realities of commercial marriage trafficking is introduced, turning the focus of scrutiny to the key point of exploitation, the act of marriage itself. The definition is examined through examples from real-world cases, with effective strategies for integrating the definition into existing international law discussed. Finally, key steps that states can immediately take to fight commercial marriage trafficking are drawn from existing international laws on marriage.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-07-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132879154","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A global coalition of civil society and academics recently launched the Joint Action and Learning Initiative on National and Global Responsibilities for Health (JALI), which is developing a post-Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework for global health. The Framework Convention proposes establishing fair terms of international co-operation, with agreed-upon mutually binding obligations to create enduring health system capacities, meet basic survival needs, and reduce unconscionable inequalities in global health. States that bear a disproportionate burden of disease have the least capacity to do anything about it. The richer states are deeply resistant to expending the political capital and economic resources. When they do act, it is often more out of narrow self-interest or humanitarian instinct than a full sense of ethical or legal obligation. The result is a spiralling deterioration of health in the poorest regions, with manifest global consequences and systemic effects on trade, international relations, and security.
{"title":"Global Health Justice: A Perspective from the Global South on a Framework Convention on Global Health","authors":"Lawrence O. Gostin, A. Dhai","doi":"10.7196/SAJBL.203","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.7196/SAJBL.203","url":null,"abstract":"A global coalition of civil society and academics recently launched the Joint Action and Learning Initiative on National and Global Responsibilities for Health (JALI), which is developing a post-Millennium Development Goal (MDG) framework for global health. The Framework Convention proposes establishing fair terms of international co-operation, with agreed-upon mutually binding obligations to create enduring health system capacities, meet basic survival needs, and reduce unconscionable inequalities in global health. States that bear a disproportionate burden of disease have the least capacity to do anything about it. The richer states are deeply resistant to expending the political capital and economic resources. When they do act, it is often more out of narrow self-interest or humanitarian instinct than a full sense of ethical or legal obligation. The result is a spiralling deterioration of health in the poorest regions, with manifest global consequences and systemic effects on trade, international relations, and security.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-06-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132817837","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The WTO is often considered to be a mercantilist organization based on principles that ignore human rights and trade and human rights are generally considered to be completely distinct with no effect on one another. These misapprehensions often lead to confusion and many people see the relationship between human rights standards and the WTO principles to be conflictual instead of mutually supportive. This paper aims to change these conceptions and to show how trade policy-makers and human rights defenders can actually work together. It looks at the context in which the GATT, and later the WTO, emerged; analyses the organization’s objectives and principles and it finds that the WTO is based on a human right pedestal. It then identifies and describes the human rights which are often affected by trade policies and it shows how the WTO implements mechanisms to reduce the negative impacts. The paper goes on to argue that human rights defenders should look beyond the word "trade" and try to understand the WTO’s principles and objectives and that trade policy-makers, especially those in developing countries, should always try to identify the effects of any policy that they adopt on human rights before implementation. The paper concludes that the WTO looks bad because governments lack good faith and do not respect their commitments.
{"title":"Looking Beyond the Word 'Trade': A Closer Look at the Human Rights and WTO Relationship","authors":"Henri Joel Nkuepo","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.2035626","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.2035626","url":null,"abstract":"The WTO is often considered to be a mercantilist organization based on principles that ignore human rights and trade and human rights are generally considered to be completely distinct with no effect on one another. These misapprehensions often lead to confusion and many people see the relationship between human rights standards and the WTO principles to be conflictual instead of mutually supportive. This paper aims to change these conceptions and to show how trade policy-makers and human rights defenders can actually work together. It looks at the context in which the GATT, and later the WTO, emerged; analyses the organization’s objectives and principles and it finds that the WTO is based on a human right pedestal. It then identifies and describes the human rights which are often affected by trade policies and it shows how the WTO implements mechanisms to reduce the negative impacts. The paper goes on to argue that human rights defenders should look beyond the word \"trade\" and try to understand the WTO’s principles and objectives and that trade policy-makers, especially those in developing countries, should always try to identify the effects of any policy that they adopt on human rights before implementation. The paper concludes that the WTO looks bad because governments lack good faith and do not respect their commitments.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-04-06","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126016569","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The paper addresses national and international investment guarantee schemes proving political risk insurances as one element of international investment law. The paper proposes to frame the analysis of investment guarantees and poverty reduction in a human rights context. The normative basis for such a framework can be found in the international and potential extraterritorial dimension of economic and social human rights, in particular the right to an adequate standard of living. It is argued that states and international organisations offering investment guarantees are bound by these human rights and have positive obligations to support foreign investment which helps to reduce poverty and to refuse guarantees to projects which would contribute to or increase the risk of poverty. The contribution assesses the practice of different national investment guarantee agencies and of MIGA on a preliminary basis to establish if and how the respective states and international organisations fulfil these obligations.
{"title":"Investment Guarantees and International Obligations to Reduce Poverty: A Human Rights Perspective","authors":"Markus Krajewski","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1981747","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1981747","url":null,"abstract":"The paper addresses national and international investment guarantee schemes proving political risk insurances as one element of international investment law. The paper proposes to frame the analysis of investment guarantees and poverty reduction in a human rights context. The normative basis for such a framework can be found in the international and potential extraterritorial dimension of economic and social human rights, in particular the right to an adequate standard of living. It is argued that states and international organisations offering investment guarantees are bound by these human rights and have positive obligations to support foreign investment which helps to reduce poverty and to refuse guarantees to projects which would contribute to or increase the risk of poverty. The contribution assesses the practice of different national investment guarantee agencies and of MIGA on a preliminary basis to establish if and how the respective states and international organisations fulfil these obligations.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"123536597","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2012-01-01DOI: 10.1163/9789004225794_005
Fiona Haines, K. Macdonald, Samantha Balaton-Chrimes
This chapter is to understand why and under what conditions this loss or watering down is likely to arise, and how regulatory standards for business and human rights might be designed to enable the responsibility to respect principle to be applied in context-sensitive ways, without losing regulatory force. The complex and politically contested reasons why overarching regulatory principles can get "lost in translation" when applied in practice have important implications for understanding how the corporate responsibility to respect can be meaningfully implemented across widely varying regulatory contexts. Translation of business responsibilities from principle to practice involves at least two steps. The first step is from internationally recognised human rights to guidelines or standards detailing corresponding business responsibilities. The second is the translation of the principles as found in the guidelines into everyday practice. Keywords:business responsibilities; context-sensitive standards; regulatory principles; translation
{"title":"Contextualising the Business Responsibility to Respect: How Much Is Lost in Translation","authors":"Fiona Haines, K. Macdonald, Samantha Balaton-Chrimes","doi":"10.1163/9789004225794_005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004225794_005","url":null,"abstract":"This chapter is to understand why and under what conditions this loss or watering down is likely to arise, and how regulatory standards for business and human rights might be designed to enable the responsibility to respect principle to be applied in context-sensitive ways, without losing regulatory force. The complex and politically contested reasons why overarching regulatory principles can get \"lost in translation\" when applied in practice have important implications for understanding how the corporate responsibility to respect can be meaningfully implemented across widely varying regulatory contexts. Translation of business responsibilities from principle to practice involves at least two steps. The first step is from internationally recognised human rights to guidelines or standards detailing corresponding business responsibilities. The second is the translation of the principles as found in the guidelines into everyday practice. Keywords:business responsibilities; context-sensitive standards; regulatory principles; translation","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2012-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"124781388","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2011-10-05DOI: 10.4337/9781849804905.00016
Philip S. Yu
The Global Governance of HIV/AIDS explores the implications of high international intellectual property standards for access to essential medicines in developing countries. With a focus on HIV/AIDS governance, the volume provides a timely analysis of the international legal and political landscape, the relationship between human rights and intellectual property, and emerging issues in global health policy. It concludes with concrete strategies on how to improve access to HIV/AIDS medicines.
{"title":"The Global Governance of HIV/AIDS and the Rugged Road Ahead: An Epilogue","authors":"Philip S. Yu","doi":"10.4337/9781849804905.00016","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.4337/9781849804905.00016","url":null,"abstract":"The Global Governance of HIV/AIDS explores the implications of high international intellectual property standards for access to essential medicines in developing countries. With a focus on HIV/AIDS governance, the volume provides a timely analysis of the international legal and political landscape, the relationship between human rights and intellectual property, and emerging issues in global health policy. It concludes with concrete strategies on how to improve access to HIV/AIDS medicines.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-10-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"126417881","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Housing, as shelter, is one of the basic needs of human kind. It is a financial investments and a significant component of the local, regional and national economy. Given the quintessential relevance of housing to the overall development of mankind the question is post here whether there is a right to adequate housing in the citizen to warrant a demand by the citizen from the State to fulfill this right; and whether there should be such a right?It is conceded that housing is a prerequisite to optimal utility of man and the state. Unfortunately, right to housing does not enjoy the same ranking with civil and political rights for obvious reasons enunciated in the paper. Notwithstanding, it is desirable for the State to create an enabling environment for the individual realization of this right because of its ripple and multiplier effect on the wealth and health of the State.
{"title":"Fundamental Right to Property and Right to Housing in Nigeria: A Discourse","authors":"Akintunde Otubu","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1909048","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1909048","url":null,"abstract":"Housing, as shelter, is one of the basic needs of human kind. It is a financial investments and a significant component of the local, regional and national economy. Given the quintessential relevance of housing to the overall development of mankind the question is post here whether there is a right to adequate housing in the citizen to warrant a demand by the citizen from the State to fulfill this right; and whether there should be such a right?It is conceded that housing is a prerequisite to optimal utility of man and the state. Unfortunately, right to housing does not enjoy the same ranking with civil and political rights for obvious reasons enunciated in the paper. Notwithstanding, it is desirable for the State to create an enabling environment for the individual realization of this right because of its ripple and multiplier effect on the wealth and health of the State.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-08-12","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"115691916","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
A consistent body of literature has focused in recent years on the potentialities for market mechanisms to improve the enforcement of international human rights law against the breaches committed by private military and security companies (“PMSCs”) employed by sovereign entities. Yet, of all the avenues known by the law of contract to increase the degree of compliance with international law, none is ever included in the contracts between PMSCs and their major sovereign customers. This paper gives an account of this reluctancy on the part of the States, based on a survey of the contracts concluded by the U.S. administration during the first stage of the Iraq occupation and the comparative analysis of public and private organizations. In contrast to domestic outsourcing, the provision of military force takes place in conditions of high bilateral dependency, social embeddedness, specific contractual hazards, that taken together deter from traditional methods of contract enforcement (litigation and arbitration) and emphasize mechanisms based on reputational mechanisms and hierarchy. These limitations should be attentively considered in shaping the role of contract standardization into a comprehensive regulatory strategy at national and international levels.
{"title":"The Privatization of Military and Security Services and the Limits of Contract: Lessons from the US","authors":"Valentina Calderai","doi":"10.2139/SSRN.1887688","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.2139/SSRN.1887688","url":null,"abstract":"A consistent body of literature has focused in recent years on the potentialities for market mechanisms to improve the enforcement of international human rights law against the breaches committed by private military and security companies (“PMSCs”) employed by sovereign entities. Yet, of all the avenues known by the law of contract to increase the degree of compliance with international law, none is ever included in the contracts between PMSCs and their major sovereign customers. This paper gives an account of this reluctancy on the part of the States, based on a survey of the contracts concluded by the U.S. administration during the first stage of the Iraq occupation and the comparative analysis of public and private organizations. In contrast to domestic outsourcing, the provision of military force takes place in conditions of high bilateral dependency, social embeddedness, specific contractual hazards, that taken together deter from traditional methods of contract enforcement (litigation and arbitration) and emphasize mechanisms based on reputational mechanisms and hierarchy. These limitations should be attentively considered in shaping the role of contract standardization into a comprehensive regulatory strategy at national and international levels.","PeriodicalId":106035,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights & the Global Economy eJournal","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2011-07-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"116271480","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
京公网安备 11010802042870号
京ICP备2023020795号-1
扫码关注我们
求助内容：
应助结果提醒方式：