Legal mobilization is a contested topic. There is little consensus among scholars regarding what legal mobilization is, let alone how it functions, particularly in relation to the separation or balance of powers doctrine, the latter which concerns the formal mandates of public actors and their interactions in relation to rule of law as a form of governance. We argue that the use of law by civic actors to advance social change should be distinguished from the use of law by states and other powerful actors to subvert the rule of law or to suppress critical voices. Thus, in distinguishing legal mobilization from lawfare, we argue that legal mobilization as a legitimate form of counterpower to lawfare has emerged as a viable and important component of governance. Pragmatically speaking, the illegitimate use of law by authoritarian regimes and corporations, the existence of corruption and both substantive and procedural limitations of formal rule of law mechanisms to deliver impartial justice have forced legal advocates to think creatively. In this paper, after conceptualizing legal mobilization and lawfare as opposing uses of law, we analyse the potential of legal mobilization as counterpower in relation to the trias politica doctrine, drawing on a case study of mobilizing Sinti, Roma and Traveller rights in The Netherlands to analyse how law is used to resist lawfare and pursue social justice.
{"title":"O Lungo Drom: Legal Mobilization as Counterpower","authors":"Jeff Handmaker, S. Taekema","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac053","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac053","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Legal mobilization is a contested topic. There is little consensus among scholars regarding what legal mobilization is, let alone how it functions, particularly in relation to the separation or balance of powers doctrine, the latter which concerns the formal mandates of public actors and their interactions in relation to rule of law as a form of governance.\u0000 We argue that the use of law by civic actors to advance social change should be distinguished from the use of law by states and other powerful actors to subvert the rule of law or to suppress critical voices. Thus, in distinguishing legal mobilization from lawfare, we argue that legal mobilization as a legitimate form of counterpower to lawfare has emerged as a viable and important component of governance. Pragmatically speaking, the illegitimate use of law by authoritarian regimes and corporations, the existence of corruption and both substantive and procedural limitations of formal rule of law mechanisms to deliver impartial justice have forced legal advocates to think creatively. In this paper, after conceptualizing legal mobilization and lawfare as opposing uses of law, we analyse the potential of legal mobilization as counterpower in relation to the trias politica doctrine, drawing on a case study of mobilizing Sinti, Roma and Traveller rights in The Netherlands to analyse how law is used to resist lawfare and pursue social justice.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-23","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44908512","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}
Social protection measures have emerged as critical interventions to tackle child labour. However, the effectiveness of divergent models of social protection for preventing child labour is undertheorized by academic scholars, and the specific links between child labour and social protection policy generally are underexplored. To advance knowledge in this field, first, this article develops a conceptual framework to analyse evolving discourses relating to the design of social protection measures adopted by the World Bank (WB) and International Labour Organization (ILO). The analysis distinguishes between minimalist ‘safety-net and market-centred’ approaches to social protection (associated with the WB), and more fulsome ‘human rights-based’ interventions (associated with the ILO). The implications of these diverse models of social protection and their impact on children in economic exploitation are analysed. Second, the article engages in an innovative analysis of available empirical studies to measure the effectiveness in practice of different models of social protection. The article argues that interventions that are explicitly linked to broader socio-economic rights and align with a ‘human rights-based’ approach give rise to the most effective results. In contrast, interventions that adopt a ‘safety-net and market-centred’ approach can result in mixed outcomes, and/or increases in child labour. A further finding from the analysis reveals that the gendered burden of social reproduction work is a structural issue that cuts across all of the different social protection interventions and plays a crucial role in their varying outcomes. The article concludes with recommendations for policy makers that have implications for the design of ‘child-friendly’ social protection.
{"title":"Exploring the Role of Social Protection Interventions in Preventing Child Labour: Reinforcing the Case for a Human Rights-Based Model of Intervention","authors":"Róisín Hennessy","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac064","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac064","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Social protection measures have emerged as critical interventions to tackle child labour. However, the effectiveness of divergent models of social protection for preventing child labour is undertheorized by academic scholars, and the specific links between child labour and social protection policy generally are underexplored. To advance knowledge in this field, first, this article develops a conceptual framework to analyse evolving discourses relating to the design of social protection measures adopted by the World Bank (WB) and International Labour Organization (ILO). The analysis distinguishes between minimalist ‘safety-net and market-centred’ approaches to social protection (associated with the WB), and more fulsome ‘human rights-based’ interventions (associated with the ILO). The implications of these diverse models of social protection and their impact on children in economic exploitation are analysed. Second, the article engages in an innovative analysis of available empirical studies to measure the effectiveness in practice of different models of social protection. The article argues that interventions that are explicitly linked to broader socio-economic rights and align with a ‘human rights-based’ approach give rise to the most effective results. In contrast, interventions that adopt a ‘safety-net and market-centred’ approach can result in mixed outcomes, and/or increases in child labour. A further finding from the analysis reveals that the gendered burden of social reproduction work is a structural issue that cuts across all of the different social protection interventions and plays a crucial role in their varying outcomes. The article concludes with recommendations for policy makers that have implications for the design of ‘child-friendly’ social protection.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-17","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44015909","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}
Human Rights Education (HRE) has been recognized by scholars as crucial and critical for the construction of a universal culture of human rights. This recognition stems from the fact that HRE enables the building of capacity and responsiveness of professionals in terms of shaping their skills through the acquisition of the requisite knowledge, attitude, skills and practices of international human rights standards that relate to their work. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, this article explores police officers’ knowledge and practice of international human rights standards that relate to policing from a conveniently selected 48 groups of police officers from eight randomly selected regions out of the 16 regions of Ghana. The findings revealed that, although HRE constitutes part of the Ghana Police Service training curriculum, a large number of the officer-participants indicate inadequate understanding and practice of these relevant Human Rights Standards. Prudent HRE-oriented policies concerning Ghana police training are recommended.
{"title":"Understanding and Practices of Human Rights Standards Relating to Policing: A Case of Ghana Police Officers","authors":"Harrison Golo","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac065","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac065","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Human Rights Education (HRE) has been recognized by scholars as crucial and critical for the construction of a universal culture of human rights. This recognition stems from the fact that HRE enables the building of capacity and responsiveness of professionals in terms of shaping their skills through the acquisition of the requisite knowledge, attitude, skills and practices of international human rights standards that relate to their work. Drawing on in-depth interviews and focus group discussions, this article explores police officers’ knowledge and practice of international human rights standards that relate to policing from a conveniently selected 48 groups of police officers from eight randomly selected regions out of the 16 regions of Ghana. The findings revealed that, although HRE constitutes part of the Ghana Police Service training curriculum, a large number of the officer-participants indicate inadequate understanding and practice of these relevant Human Rights Standards. Prudent HRE-oriented policies concerning Ghana police training are recommended.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41392684","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 article examines the main controversies throughout the negotiation of a regional binding instrument to fight racism that led to the approval of the ‘Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance’ in 2013. In order to identify the regimes of racism denial that shaped the process, the article explores the major controversies in terms of language, concepts, and the need for a more targeted binding treaty on racism, focusing on the leading role of Brazil. The analysis considers the links between scales; from the regional debate to States’ national discourse and practices, within the context of global efforts to advance standards to fight racism, particularly those established at the third World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, in Durban. By reviewing country reports, drafts of the convention, and analysing interviews with some participants of the debates at the Organization of the American States (OAS), this study assesses how the different strategies deployed served to perpetuate regimes of denial of racism, strongly present in the official discourse and challenged in the building of a binding instrument to fight racism in the Americas. Analysis revealed the deep challenges associated with combating racism as a systemic form of oppression historically linked to the region’s colonial past and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. Finally, consensus was only reached by moving away from the ‘Durban language’, showing how disputed concepts and remedies highlight that racism remains a politically sensitive issue in the region.
{"title":"Building the Inter-American Convention against Racism: between Antiracist Pride and Racism Denial","authors":"Luana Xavier Pinto Coelho","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac066","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac066","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article examines the main controversies throughout the negotiation of a regional binding instrument to fight racism that led to the approval of the ‘Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination, and Related Forms of Intolerance’ in 2013. In order to identify the regimes of racism denial that shaped the process, the article explores the major controversies in terms of language, concepts, and the need for a more targeted binding treaty on racism, focusing on the leading role of Brazil. The analysis considers the links between scales; from the regional debate to States’ national discourse and practices, within the context of global efforts to advance standards to fight racism, particularly those established at the third World Conference against Racism, Racial Discrimination, in Durban. By reviewing country reports, drafts of the convention, and analysing interviews with some participants of the debates at the Organization of the American States (OAS), this study assesses how the different strategies deployed served to perpetuate regimes of denial of racism, strongly present in the official discourse and challenged in the building of a binding instrument to fight racism in the Americas. Analysis revealed the deep challenges associated with combating racism as a systemic form of oppression historically linked to the region’s colonial past and legacy of the transatlantic slave trade. Finally, consensus was only reached by moving away from the ‘Durban language’, showing how disputed concepts and remedies highlight that racism remains a politically sensitive issue in the region.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47325579","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}
Abstract This policy note calls for the recognition of long COVID as a children’s rights issue in the UK. While children have been affected by school closures and lockdown restrictions throughout the pandemic, the relatively low rates of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths among children have led to their de-prioritization in efforts to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Yet infection rates are extremely high among children in the UK, particularly secondary school students, and early studies suggest that many are not recovering for up to a year after infection. Prolonged illness following infection, ‘long COVID’, has implications for children’s rights to education, health, and a private and family life, among others. By extension, children have a right to have their best interests taken into consideration in policy-making processes relating to long COVID. The policy note thus argues that we must recognize the significance of long COVID in children and, upon this basis, call upon the State to address its human rights implications.
{"title":"Long COVID and children’s rights","authors":"Vivek Bhatt","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac047","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac047","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This policy note calls for the recognition of long COVID as a children’s rights issue in the UK. While children have been affected by school closures and lockdown restrictions throughout the pandemic, the relatively low rates of COVID-related hospitalizations and deaths among children have led to their de-prioritization in efforts to reduce the spread of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Yet infection rates are extremely high among children in the UK, particularly secondary school students, and early studies suggest that many are not recovering for up to a year after infection. Prolonged illness following infection, ‘long COVID’, has implications for children’s rights to education, health, and a private and family life, among others. By extension, children have a right to have their best interests taken into consideration in policy-making processes relating to long COVID. The policy note thus argues that we must recognize the significance of long COVID in children and, upon this basis, call upon the State to address its human rights implications.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":"5 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134977604","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 article analyses the elusive search to restrict immunities for foreign officials accused of international crimes as a form of strategic litigation. It emphasizes how litigation ‘constitutes’ legal reality beyond particular victories. Problematizing ‘success’ in litigation makes it possible to pay attention to unintended effects and even perverse outcomes of certain strategic routes. A proper understanding of success as more than victory is then used to assess three routes that have been used to try and limit, circumvent or oppose functional immunities of former officials. These routes are found not to be of even value for human rights, independently of their legal validity or their odds of success: the idea that international crimes are not committed as part of state functions trivializes the ‘public’ character of most international crimes; the argument that the jus cogens norm that prohibits international crimes trumps immunities either constantly needs to be finessed or sets up too dramatic a showdown; the idea that immunities offend human rights finds some favour as the one that is closest to the heart of human rights, although its tendency to symbolically sanctify the right to prosecutions could also have problematic ripple effects. Offered as a contribution to thinking through the rights implications of litigation, the article insists on the responsibility of human rights lawyers in creating legal worlds of their own making.
{"title":"Immunities of Foreign Officials for International Crimes: The Dilemmas of Strategic Litigation","authors":"Frédéric Mégret","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac067","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac067","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 This article analyses the elusive search to restrict immunities for foreign officials accused of international crimes as a form of strategic litigation. It emphasizes how litigation ‘constitutes’ legal reality beyond particular victories. Problematizing ‘success’ in litigation makes it possible to pay attention to unintended effects and even perverse outcomes of certain strategic routes. A proper understanding of success as more than victory is then used to assess three routes that have been used to try and limit, circumvent or oppose functional immunities of former officials. These routes are found not to be of even value for human rights, independently of their legal validity or their odds of success: the idea that international crimes are not committed as part of state functions trivializes the ‘public’ character of most international crimes; the argument that the jus cogens norm that prohibits international crimes trumps immunities either constantly needs to be finessed or sets up too dramatic a showdown; the idea that immunities offend human rights finds some favour as the one that is closest to the heart of human rights, although its tendency to symbolically sanctify the right to prosecutions could also have problematic ripple effects. Offered as a contribution to thinking through the rights implications of litigation, the article insists on the responsibility of human rights lawyers in creating legal worlds of their own making.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2023-02-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43786697","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}
Abstract This article addresses family reunification in France (réunification familiale) as an essential right of refugees and a clear legal entitlement under domestic law. It proceeds with a reality-check on access to the designated visa for families and support professionals and discusses potential grounds for future advocacy on the matter. Available data, reports and complementary feedback gained from several practitioners in the field suggest hurdles stand in both law and practice, at odds with international standards and guidance. Strengthening information, physical and financial access to the procedure and ensuring due diligence, flexibility and transparency when examining applications arguably remain on the agenda for reform. Further adjustments to both administrative and judicial options for appeal and legal aid rules could also upgrade guarantees for families, with greater chances for an effective remedy in a timeframe compatible with the stakes. Filling standing gaps in data, research and evaluation would seem equally essential for an evidence-based debate, and in calling for a proactive reunification policy that acts on its potential as a pathway towards international protection. Ultimately, while a reminder of the multiple dimensions to investigate if one is concerned with effective access to reunification beyond its legal consecration as a right, the ‘French case’ certainly illustrates the need for advocates in this field to keep widening strategies and tools, besides litigation.
{"title":"Straightforward? Family Reunification for Refugees in France: Aligning Legal Standards, Institutional Practices and Procedural Guarantees","authors":"Antoine P G Meyer","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac042","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac042","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article addresses family reunification in France (réunification familiale) as an essential right of refugees and a clear legal entitlement under domestic law. It proceeds with a reality-check on access to the designated visa for families and support professionals and discusses potential grounds for future advocacy on the matter. Available data, reports and complementary feedback gained from several practitioners in the field suggest hurdles stand in both law and practice, at odds with international standards and guidance. Strengthening information, physical and financial access to the procedure and ensuring due diligence, flexibility and transparency when examining applications arguably remain on the agenda for reform. Further adjustments to both administrative and judicial options for appeal and legal aid rules could also upgrade guarantees for families, with greater chances for an effective remedy in a timeframe compatible with the stakes. Filling standing gaps in data, research and evaluation would seem equally essential for an evidence-based debate, and in calling for a proactive reunification policy that acts on its potential as a pathway towards international protection. Ultimately, while a reminder of the multiple dimensions to investigate if one is concerned with effective access to reunification beyond its legal consecration as a right, the ‘French case’ certainly illustrates the need for advocates in this field to keep widening strategies and tools, besides litigation.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":"28 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-10","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"136266993","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}
Abstract This article explores the indicators and targets identified in the Canadian Indicator Framework, a localization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the country of Canada. Applying a critical theoretical lens and a human rights approach, the authors explore each of the ‘ambitions’ proposed by the federal government and assess their suitability in meeting the magnitude of transformative change that will be necessary to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In considering each of the Canadian ambitions proposed to realize Sustainable Development Goals 1 to 17, and the framework as a whole, the authors conclude that a business-as-usual stance has been applied. Many of the Canadian ambitions have ‘no specific target’ identified, offering no baseline measures or concrete standards from which to benchmark and monitor progress. The ones that do are not tremendously transformative, leading to a framework that does not present a dramatic departure from existing policy and practice arrangements. The character of the Canadian ambitions to the Sustainable Development Goals are revealed, not as concrete change strategies, but as mere aspirations, albeit more for the status quo than for transformational action. To translate the Canadian ambitions into actions, human rights must be infused into the Canadian Indicator Framework, and these must be substantive, de facto, rights—rights that people can actually claim, and hold state actors accountable to.
{"title":"Ambitious for change? A critical appraisal of the Canadian indicator framework of the sustainable development goals","authors":"Tracy Smith-Carrier, Jacqueline On","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac049","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac049","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article explores the indicators and targets identified in the Canadian Indicator Framework, a localization of the UN Sustainable Development Goals for the country of Canada. Applying a critical theoretical lens and a human rights approach, the authors explore each of the ‘ambitions’ proposed by the federal government and assess their suitability in meeting the magnitude of transformative change that will be necessary to meet the goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In considering each of the Canadian ambitions proposed to realize Sustainable Development Goals 1 to 17, and the framework as a whole, the authors conclude that a business-as-usual stance has been applied. Many of the Canadian ambitions have ‘no specific target’ identified, offering no baseline measures or concrete standards from which to benchmark and monitor progress. The ones that do are not tremendously transformative, leading to a framework that does not present a dramatic departure from existing policy and practice arrangements. The character of the Canadian ambitions to the Sustainable Development Goals are revealed, not as concrete change strategies, but as mere aspirations, albeit more for the status quo than for transformational action. To translate the Canadian ambitions into actions, human rights must be infused into the Canadian Indicator Framework, and these must be substantive, de facto, rights—rights that people can actually claim, and hold state actors accountable to.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":"32 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134902890","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}
Abstract This article will present the case of Argentina and the conditions, struggles and social actors that made the establishment of the world’s first successful truth commission possible after the most recent dictatorship, in power between 1976 and 1983. This study is aimed at not only acknowledging the work of civil society organizations, who pressure powerholders to be responsive to victims’ concerns, but to argue that victims’ organizations were the ones who took a leading role in the truth commissions/achieving justice or human rights. The article will also show that victims’ organizations have worked to reach their goals by engaging with the state from a proactive and empowered position that pushed the process forward over government resistance. Through this in-depth case study, the article aims to transform the question from what shall be done in terms of truth commissions to who shall do it. The assumption is that the leading role of victims’ organizations in engaging with the state through participatory democracy can foster truth-seeking mechanisms beyond the limits of realpolitik.
{"title":"Exploring the World’s First Successful Truth Commission: Argentina’s CONADEP and the Role of Victims in Truth-Seeking","authors":"Valeria Vegh Weis","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac060","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac060","url":null,"abstract":"Abstract This article will present the case of Argentina and the conditions, struggles and social actors that made the establishment of the world’s first successful truth commission possible after the most recent dictatorship, in power between 1976 and 1983. This study is aimed at not only acknowledging the work of civil society organizations, who pressure powerholders to be responsive to victims’ concerns, but to argue that victims’ organizations were the ones who took a leading role in the truth commissions/achieving justice or human rights. The article will also show that victims’ organizations have worked to reach their goals by engaging with the state from a proactive and empowered position that pushed the process forward over government resistance. Through this in-depth case study, the article aims to transform the question from what shall be done in terms of truth commissions to who shall do it. The assumption is that the leading role of victims’ organizations in engaging with the state through participatory democracy can foster truth-seeking mechanisms beyond the limits of realpolitik.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":"27 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2023-01-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"135405871","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}
Health rights of prisoners has long been a neglected political issue in Africa, where over one million people are detained, and almost half of whom are in pre-trial detention. African prisons constitute high-risk environments for communicable disease transmission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health literature on African prison responses focused on preparedness as it related to testing capacity, quarantine practices and personal protective measures to mitigate disease spread. This article combines the right to health as narrowly defined by a prisoner’s right to access non-discriminatory equivalent health care, with a broader focus on assessing normative standards of detention. A comparative legal realist assessment of prison operations in South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe during COVID-19 state disaster measures is presented, focusing on the environmental determinants of health (ventilation, minimum floor space, water, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition) in prisons. It reveals the inherent tensions in ensuring a balance between respecting the fundamental rights of people living and working in prisons, ensuring adequate environmental health standards and mitigating disease during public health emergencies. Despite insufficient government resourcing and inadequate coverage of COVID-19 responses, few severe outbreaks were reported. This could be due to lack of testing, reporting or other factors (asymptomatic infection, acquired immunity). Prison congestion and unrest however affected prisoners and staff fearful of hazardous living and occupational health conditions. COVID-19 as public health emergency amplifies the need to address systemic deficits in infrastructure, resourcing and efficiency of criminal justice systems. Policy level and pragmatic recommendations for enhanced human rights practice are outlined.
{"title":"Using COVID-19 to Address Environmental Threats to Health and Leverage for Prison Reform in South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe","authors":"Marie Claire Van Hout","doi":"10.1093/jhuman/huac050","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/jhuman/huac050","url":null,"abstract":"Health rights of prisoners has long been a neglected political issue in Africa, where over one million people are detained, and almost half of whom are in pre-trial detention. African prisons constitute high-risk environments for communicable disease transmission. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the public health literature on African prison responses focused on preparedness as it related to testing capacity, quarantine practices and personal protective measures to mitigate disease spread. This article combines the right to health as narrowly defined by a prisoner’s right to access non-discriminatory equivalent health care, with a broader focus on assessing normative standards of detention. A comparative legal realist assessment of prison operations in South Africa, Malawi and Zimbabwe during COVID-19 state disaster measures is presented, focusing on the environmental determinants of health (ventilation, minimum floor space, water, sanitation, hygiene and nutrition) in prisons. It reveals the inherent tensions in ensuring a balance between respecting the fundamental rights of people living and working in prisons, ensuring adequate environmental health standards and mitigating disease during public health emergencies. Despite insufficient government resourcing and inadequate coverage of COVID-19 responses, few severe outbreaks were reported. This could be due to lack of testing, reporting or other factors (asymptomatic infection, acquired immunity). Prison congestion and unrest however affected prisoners and staff fearful of hazardous living and occupational health conditions. COVID-19 as public health emergency amplifies the need to address systemic deficits in infrastructure, resourcing and efficiency of criminal justice systems. Policy level and pragmatic recommendations for enhanced human rights practice are outlined.","PeriodicalId":45407,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Rights Practice","volume":"55 3","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.0,"publicationDate":"2022-12-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"138503258","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}
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