Academic literature on the topic 'Human rights Human rights Human rights Human rights Abuse of rights'

This study is the first systematic global analysis of the impact of law on human rights, analyzing the impact of twenty-three constitution provisions and an international covenant on three measures of human rights behavior, over the period of 1976-1996. Three sets of constitutional provisions are analyzed, including 1) ten provisions for individual freedoms and due process rights, 2) nine provisions for elements of judicial independence and 3) four provisions that outline procedures for states of emergency. Additionally, the impact of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights on actual human rights behavior is analyzed. Each of these areas of law are evaluated individually, in multiple models in which different elements vary. For example, some models control for democracy with different measures, others divide the data into the Cold War and post-Cold War eras, and some test constitutional indices. Finally, all provisions are simultaneously analyzed in integrated models. Provisions for fair and public trials are consistently shown to decrease the probability of abuse. An index of four freedoms (speech, religion, association, and assembly) decreases the probability of abuse somewhat consistently. Three of the provisions for judicial independence are most consistent in reducing the probability of abuse: the provisions for exclusive judicial authority, for the finality of judges' decisions, and banning exceptional courts. Two of four states of emergency provisions decrease abuse as international lawyers have argued: the provisions for legislative declaration of the emergency and the ban against dissolving the legislature during an emergency. However, two of the provisions are shown to hurt human rights practices: the duration and the derogation provisions. The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights does not demonstrate a statistically significant impact. While the performance of the constitutional provisions is less than legal scholars would hope, their combined impact over time are shown to be quite large, relative to the impacts of other factors shown to affect human rights abuse.

The study aimed at getting a grass root opinion on poverty and why Ghana is still poor after 50 years of independence in spite of her richness in natural resources, second largest producer of cocoa in the word and appreciable stable political environment. The opinions of the ordinary people in the Bia district and their observed living conditions was analysed in line with theoretical basis of the study and previous studies to justify the stance that poverty should be considered as an abuse of human rights. It was concluded based on position of informants and previous data available that though many factors have been raised by previous scholars as the cause of poverty, the actions and inactions of both internal and external power-holders is the main source of poverty in Ghana. It was proposed that for poverty to be reduced in a sustainable way there should be strong civil society groups and active citizens through civic education to hold power-holders accountable. Until the actions and inactions of power-holders which have subjected many Ghanaians into intergenerational poverty are seen as human rights abuse, the rights of many Ghanaians would be constantly abused. This will eventually defeat the promotion of human rights culture in Ghana.

This study develops three models of human rights determinants with the inclusion an untested variable, women in parliaments. The research is conducted on pooled cross-sectional time-series data from 130 countries between 1978 and 1996. For the purpose of analysis the Prais-Winsten Regression method with Panel Corrected Standard Errors was used. The women in power variable is hypothesized to be significantly, positively correlated with a state's propensity toward respect for human rights and is operationalized as percentage of women in parliaments. Three models incorporating as control variables previously identified correlates of human rights abuse were utilized to asses the impact of percentages of women in parliaments on two individual subsets of human rights: personal integrity rights and socio-economic rights. Two models were designed to measure the subset of rights categorized as personal integrity rights using two separate measures: State Department Scores and Amnesty International Scores. Model number three utilized the Physical Quality of Life Index to measure levels of socio-economic rights. Statistical significance was demonstrated by the women in parliament variable in all three models.

This legal note analyzes the legal issues raised when suing corporations in the United States federal courts under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). Part I discusses the elements needed to bring a claim under ATS and the history behind the statute. Part II describes the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2013 decision in Kiobel and what it represents. This section also covers why holding corporations accountable is important, focusing on globalization, the corporation’s power, and their role; and discusses the importance of seeking remedies for human rights victims. Part III examines whether ATS is still viable for suing corporations for human rights abuses after Kiobel and the possible alternatives available for holding corporations accountable including: regional human rights courts, naming and shaming, or suing in domestic courts where the violations occur.

"Whereas victims of ordinary crimes such as theft, robbery, assault or murder find it easier to obtain redress, victims of the most serious violatons such as war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity receive less attention insofar as their redress is concerned. Apart from some exceptional cases where victims of serious human rights abuses had their right to redress vindicated, there has not been an effective and comprehensive way of redressing victims of gross human rights violations. In Africa for instance, victims' redress in post-Apartheid South Africa and post-genocide Rwanda have been problematic. Thus, it is meaningful investigating how effectively the victims' right to reparation can be implemented in case of gross and systematic human rights violations. Preliminary to the above interrogation are questions such as: what are gross and systematic human rights violations? What are international standards regarding redress for the victims of such abuses? The case studies of Sierra Leone and the DRC will be closely analysed as an empirical foundation for these questions. ... This study consists of five chapters. Chapter one draws the context in which the study emerges. It provides the foundation and the structure of the dissertation. Chapter two outlines the legal framework that is relevant for answering the questions raised by this study. It explores international human rights standards regarding reparation of vicitms of gross and systematic violations. Chapter three analyses the implementation of victims' reparation in the context of Sierra Leone. It confronts Sierra Leonean responses to war victims with international standards on victims' reparation. Chapter four analyses victims' situation in the post-conflict Democratic Republic of Congo and draws lessons from the Sierra Leonean experience. Chapter five sums up findings of the study." -- Introduction.<br>Prepared under the supervision of Professor Alejandro Lorite Escorihuela at the Department of Law, American University in Cairo, Egypt<br>Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2006.<br>http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html<br>Centre for Human Rights<br>LLM

Corporations and other business enterprises often operate in countries affected by conflict or repressive regimes and commit human rights violations and crimes under international law, either as the main perpetrator or as accomplices by aiding and abetting government forces. In transitional justice contexts, the trials, truth commissions, and reparations typically included within the set of remedy mechanisms have focused primarily on abuses by state authorities’ or by non-state actors directly connected to the state, such as paramilitary groups or death squads. Innovative uses of transitional justice mechanisms across the world, however, have started to address, even if still only in a marginal way, corporate accountability for human rights abuses and crimes under international law and have attempted to provide redress for victims. This research analyses this development. This research provides an original contribution to the field on business and human rights and the little-researched link with transitional justice by assessing how remedies for corporate human rights abuses and crimes under international law can be achieved in transitional justice contexts. To answer this question this research first analyses how different mechanisms (judicial processes at the international and domestic level, truthseeking initiatives, and reparations programmes) have dealt, or failed to deal, with remedy for victims of corporate human rights abuses. It then examines their outcomes, the results those processes have achieved and the obstacles they have faced. The research takes a victim-oriented approach by analysing the tools, instruments and institutions available for victims (the bearers of rights) in transitional justice contexts (i.e. in countries emerging from conflict or authoritarian regimes) to remedy violations when those are committed by corporations.