Deeply rooted in liberal philosophy of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, fundamental rights have been traditionally conceived as prohibitions of state interference with the private affairs of citizens. Classic liberalism views human freedom generally as the absence of governmental restrictions, maintaining that happiness, prosperity, and progress can be achieved only by limiting government. In an increasingly complex world, this raises the question as to whether and to what extent laissez-faire ideology, in particular negative freedom, is correct. Is the enjoyment of rights...

Human rights are by definition universal. Yet in a world characterized by enormous diversity, there is no consensus about the implications of the universality of human rights. In several regions of the world, human rights conceptions are promoted that challenge the mainstream, largely Western-dominated discourse on this subject. This volume offers an analysis of context-specific human rights discourses from East Asia, Subsaharan Africa and the Muslim World. Rather than interpreting these as threats to universality, the author examines how and to what extent the claims that are advanced can...

Discrimination on the basis of race, gender or other ascribed group affiliations or individual identities is an all too well-known phenomenon. International instruments are invoked and refined to alter this situation, but often to little avail. In the present volume, authors from across the globe explore the nature and forms of discrimination and seek to establish a new conceptual ground for addressing the issue.
Toleration is often advocated as a remedy for discriminatory practices. In contrast to tolerance, which is seen as an attitude, toleration implies an active engaging of...

The quest for human security is a defining issue of our times. The international human rights norms define the content of human security. In the contemporary world, it is of the utmost importance to understand the linkages between human rights and human security. The relationship between freedom and security is also a central issue of our times. This is the first book ever to trace the links between human rights and human security. It provides answers to a key question: How does the protection of human rights in the contemporary world contribute to human security and how can one strengthen...

Ever since its creation, the United Nations has sought to protect as well as to promote human rights. Those who campaigned for decades for the establishment of the post of High Commissioner for Human Rights did so in the hope that the High Commissioner would spearhead the efforts of the United Nations and the international community to protect those at risk or whose rights are being violated. How has the High Commissioner contributed to international protection since the establishment of the office in 1993? This book, the first-ever written on the office since its establishment, presents the...

The United Nations peacekeeping has evolved as a practical measure for preserving international peace and security. Recent peacekeeping has two important features: the use of force which arguably exceeds self-defence on the one hand, and multifunctional operations on the other. The Security Council has started considering a wide range of factors including serious human rights violations as threats to international peace and security. Recognising the UN's principle to seek peaceful settlement which underlies the legality of peacekeeping, this research focuses on the human rights functions of...

The child's right to religious freedom in international law has never been considered in a comprehensive fashion, yet key issues include the prevention of indoctrination, religious clothing, the relationship of the child with parents and religious communities, and the duties of the state to the child. Building on a sociological analysis of religious children, a body of international legal materials is analysed against a theoretical model of what the child's right ought to be. This book is the first attempt at analysing what international law says on the question, the result is a compelling...

The purpose of this book is to introduce land planners to the principles of remote sensing and to the applications remote sensing has to the land planning process. The potential applications to land planning are many and varied. For example, remote sensing techniques, and aerial photography in particular, can provide planners with an overview of their communities they can obtain in no other way. These same techniques can also provide planners with a whole variety of land resource data and have the capability of updating these data on a syste matic basis. Maps, too, can be produced from a...

The Margin of Appreciation Doctrine in the Dynamics of European Human Rights Jurisprudence is the first full-length monograph to treat this subject, which is of central importance to the interpretation and application of the European Convention on Human Rights. It will enrich the understanding and appreciation of judges, advocates, civil servants, scholars, researchers, students, and indeed of anyone whose life and work is affected by national and international human rights adjudication. This thorough and learned analysis synthesizes the work of the Strasbourg judicial organs,...

In one of the most important publications on the European Convention and Court of Human Rights in recent years, a wide range of fundamental practical and theoretical problems of crucial importance are addressed in an original and critical way bringing a fresh, coherent and innovative order into well-known battle zones. The analysis revolves around the Court's fair balance-test and comprises in-depth analyses of e.g. methods of interpretation, proportionality, the least onerous means-test, the notion of absolute rights, subsidiarity, formal and substantive principles, evidentiary standards,...