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This chapter advocates a process called “triage” for resource allocation that requires investing more heavily in areas where the evidence indicates that human rights promotion is most likely to work. It argues that the universality of human rights norms, which are the bedrock of the international human rights legal system and the core idea of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, is not a tenable guide for the most effective implementation of human rights norms. It explains why human rights is a matter of national interest and how assessments of leverage impact human rights. It shows how triage can help stewards in the area of international legal reform and concludes by outlining steps that could transform the process through which government stewards work to protect human rights and increase the returns on international promotion efforts for human rights protection.

This chapter examines the provision of future protection of human rights through institutions. It considers the mechanisms for entrenching rights, such as bills of rights; measures aimed at providing social and economic justice; mechanisms for rights enforcement; and reform of the criminal apparatus, including policing. The chapter notes that the relative ease with which these issues can be negotiated, because of their ‘win-win’ potential, obscures the way in which the self-determination debate tends to re-emerge at the point at which they are implemented. It analyzes the relationship between the formulation of group rights through self-determination and individual rights protections.

This chapter examines whether a stewardship strategy is good for international law. To date, most discussions of human rights promotion strategies are strongly rooted in the belief that the process must be universal and the rights indivisible. While universalism is attractive because it involves everyone, it is also a liability. It can lead to fraud and defiance, and it obscures the fact that allocating finite resources to alleviate suffering requires choices. The chapter explains how international law and state power can work in tandem to promote and protect human rights. It argues that putting the two together—anchored on a clear strategy of triage and active localization efforts by stewards—can make the aspirations of human rights protection more of a reality.

This chapter reviews the action of the Council of Europe in the field of trafficking in persons. The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (ECHR) adopted by the Council of Europe in 1950 does not explicitly mention trafficking in persons, although its Article 4 does deal with slavery, servitude, and forced labour. Therefore, as recently demonstrated in Siliadin v France, the protection of trafficking victims can be achieved through the implementation of this ECHR provision. Furthermore, the recent adoption of the European Convention on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings can be considered as a major step in the fight against the phenomenon, and there is no doubt that this instrument is the most advanced international convention dealing with this phenomenon. The chapter concludes by analysing the activities of the Council of Europe in the field of trafficking in human organs and tissues.

This chapter considers the growing relevance of prosecution in international law and outlines this historical development. With the increased emphasis on criminal matters, a critical question of contemporary international law concerns to which extend criminal prosecution is a necessary element of human rights protection. This issue is of high practical relevance considering the proclamation of amnesties, large scale impunity, and frequent flaws in criminal proceedings worldwide. The chapter looks at these phenomena and specifies the relevant legal issues. It also describes the methodology and course of analysis of the book.

This chapter discusses human rights protection in Japan. Topics covered include the development of human rights law, the Constitution, restrictions on human rights, freedom of expression, access to information, equal treatment, freedom of religion, due process of law, rights of suspects and defendants, economic rights, the role of the Supreme Court, and international treaties and human rights.

This chapter presents the main goal of this study which is to establish the scope of the amendments on the human rights laws and the resulting procedural system in enhancing the protection of the rights of defendants. It clarifies the general scope of human rights protection before international criminal courts and highlights problems which may cause infringements of the rights of individuals, thereby putting in jeopardy the principle of ‘fair trial’. It suggests possible means of addressing such problems within the international criminal justice system. It discusses the extension of the notion of fair trial to international criminal proceedings. This chapter also presents the types of relationship existing between human rights monitoring systems and international criminal courts. It examines up to what extent these accusatorial and inquisitorial elements in international criminal procedure impose upon the rights of individuals.

One of the most important contributions of the international legal doctrine along the last six decades has been the rescue of the individual as subject of the law of nations. Such contribution is of historical significance. The individual's presence and participation has been growing in the international legal order. The international legal personality of individuals has been asserted before organs of international supervision of his rights, and his international legal capacity has consolidated before international legal tribunals (e.g., European and Inter-American Courts) of human rights. The individuals’ legal subjectivity is beyond question in contemporary international law.

This chapter explores a contemporary debate in relation to the safeguarding of certain human rights and the controversy between the State and non-state actors, i.e., corporate organizations. It starts with a general overview of the human rights responsibilities of corporations and of the laws from which such claims can be derived. It then focuses on economic, social, and cultural rights. To make the analysis more concrete, special attention is paid to two important rights: the right to health and the right to water. A set of obligations to ‘respect, protect, and fulfil’ is defined in relation to both rights. Given the powerful position that corporations increasingly possess, it is argued that they carry an additional responsibility under human rights law, in particular when it comes to responsibilities in the areas of health, social welfare, and the environment.

This chapter explores the concepts and practices of democracy that accommodate rights protection and promotion. It discusses that the impact on the power relations between the institutions of government when human rights protection is formally introduced into democratic systems causes tension. It explains that because of the corrupting nature of absolute power, the separation of powers doctrine dictates the dispersal of power between the different arms of government. It adds that the separation of powers is tempered by the need for checks and balances, which requires mixed government. It explains that an exploration of the actual sharing of power under modern human rights instruments is instructive in allaying this anti-democratic critique. It employs international human rights instruments, as well as the British Human Rights Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to ground the theoretical discussion.

This chapter concludes that human rights protection before international court is, to a large extent, satisfactorily ensured. It discusses that the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials cannot be said to be fair trials in modern terms. It notes that criminal procedure is a method of establishment of judicial truth, which is never absolute. Its correct determination lies upon full respect for the rules laid down for the establishment of guilt innocence. The chapter also offers some suggestions for improving human rights protection in international criminal proceedings.

The safeguard and preservation of the integrity of international jurisdiction are of the utmost importance for assuring the access of individuals to international justice. In recent years, both the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights have put limits to State voluntarism and thereby safeguarded the integrity of the respective international mechanisms of human rights protection, duly preserved, to the benefit of the alleged victims.The direct access of individuals to international justice is also manifested in provisional measures of protection, in so far as the preventive dimension is concerned. It further encompasses, in proceedings on contentious cases, the safeguard of the guarantees of the due process of law.

This chapter addresses the use of the WTO waiver as an instrument for reconciling human rights protection with the international law of the world trade system. The specific context of the waiver for the Kimberley Process Scheme is used. After a short introduction to the diamond trading system, the first section continues with informational background on several of the wars in Africa in which diamond trading by rebel militias has been prevalent and detrimental to the civilian population. The second section describes the Kimberley Process Scheme for the Certification of Rough Diamonds. The third section addresses the trade and human rights problem and the Kimberley Process's ‘solution’ of securing a waiver of Participants' WTO obligations.

This chapter explains how the Colonial Office formalized its policy towards bills of rights in its overseas territories as an official policy in 1962. It traces the application of this policy throughout the British overseas territories to the present dates and, the current status of all territories' bills of rights is set out in an appendix. The chapter also examines the subsequent history of the colonial bills of rights.

This chapter considers the protection of freedom against today's combination of national governments and international organizations. It does so in the context of the needs associated with balancing security with freedom. The chapter begins with a description of the traditional regime—a regime in which the protection of intrinsic human rights in any one nation is of only limited legal concern to other nations, and there is a special legal arrangement for war and international affairs. It then discusses the ways in which that regime is now obsolete; the protection of intrinsic rights in the international criminal law context; and the role of international diplomacy in protecting these rights. In many of the areas involved, there is need for new balances between security and human rights concerns. Although the text attempts to define such balances, what is most important at this point is to initiate debate on the wisest ways in which to make the balances. The chapter concludes by defining priorities for the most important current tasks for strengthening the protection of rights in the security arena.

This chapter presents some concluding thoughts from the author. It argues that while international economic arrangements favour developed states that influence their substance and direction, ongoing deprivation adversely affects the 2.7 billion people concentrated in developing countries. According to the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (CESCR), the existence of world poverty reflects a ‘massive and systemic breach’ of international human rights law. The fulfilment of these rights through the observance of corresponding legal obligations of international cooperation would signal the beginning of the end of poverty.

This chapter examines the role played by the international human rights protection system and its mutual interactions with countries and societies of the Arab region. The United Nations human rights system has grown considerably over the past six decadess, and with it the demands for human rights protection and their respect around the world, including in the Arab region. The revolts that first hit the region in 2011 brought into sharp focus the interdependence of development, democracy, and human rights, first articulated in the outcome document of the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993. This chapter first provides an overview of the UN normative framework of human rights before discussing how Arab states engaged with this framework and how the UN bodies and processes have dealt with rights issues in the region. It also reviews Arab civil society's interactions with and usage of the UN human rights system.

The principal mechanism for the protection of freedom of religion in Europe stems from Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights. This provision not only protects the right to freedom of thought, conscience, and religion but also provides strong safeguards against interference with the manifestation of religious beliefs (while allowing for certain limitations as imposed by domestic authorities). Nonetheless, this chapter asserts that the supervisory body of the European Convention on Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, has failed to adequately protect this right, particularly in cases where the manifestation of the religious belief concerned is Islam. It begins with a brief outline of the current state of religion in Europe and provides an overview of the Article 9 jurisprudence. It then turns to the question of Islam and the European Court of Human Rights, and assesses the court’s attitude thereto.

This chapter argues that one should not exaggerate the autonomy of the international regime on the protection of human rights. Indeed, the case law of human rights courts shows that there are three different ways of dealing with questions of international law. First, there are actually cases of departure from the common rules of international law, a solution which is, and remains, completely limited to the field of human rights law. Secondly, there are cases of normal application of international law as it is. Lastly, there are cases where the interpretation of international law given by the courts has had an influence on it, contributing to its evolution. These three categories of cases are illustrated by a number of examples.