Renana Keydar, Vera Shikhelman, Tomer Broude, Jonathan Elkobi
{"title":"The Discursive Evolution of Human Rights Law: Empirical Insights from a Computational Analysis of 180,000 UN Recommendations","authors":"Renana Keydar, Vera Shikhelman, Tomer Broude, Jonathan Elkobi","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae021","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae021","url":null,"abstract":"Building on an independent database of 180,000 UN recommendations and a novel computational method, we present the most comprehensive study of human rights (HR) debates to date. We develop a unique empirical model that measures topical density of discourse. This innovative instrument measures the discursive activity of UN HR bodies through a machine-learning textual analysis of their outputs, offering a dynamic map of evolving trends in human rights, both over time (diachronically) and across different mechanisms (synchronically) within the UN HR ecosystem. Leveraging this comprehensive dataset and sophisticated computational methodologies, we identify which protected groups are central to different mechanisms’ attention and highlight the major human rights issues that have witnessed significant changes in attention. Our research presents significant findings on the density of UN HR discourse and its implications for two major debates in the field of HR law—HR proliferation and the structural critique of UN HR bodies.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-09-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"142206068","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The ECHR and the Positive Obligation to Criminalise Domestic Psychological Violence","authors":"Niels Hedlund","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae019","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae019","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the scope of the positive obligation deriving from the case law of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) to criminalise forms of domestic psychological violence. This is primarily done by examining the implications of Volodina v Russia (No. 1), Volodina v Russia (No. 2) and Tunikova and Others v Russia regarding the obligation in question. Additionally, this article addresses different legislative approaches towards the criminalisation of domestic violence that have been distinguished by the ECtHR and discusses whether they adequately criminalise domestic psychological violence. Some approaches appear ill-suited as they concern national offences that focus on serious incidents. Domestic psychological violence, on the other hand, can involve a course of conduct consisting of seemingly minor incidents. It is concluded that State Parties should review to what extent such forms of psychological violence are criminalised under their national criminal laws.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-07-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141865894","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Glorification of Terrorist Violence at the European Court of Human Rights","authors":"Ilya Sobol","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae017","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae017","url":null,"abstract":"This article examines the European Court of Human Rights’ approach towards restrictions on expression glorifying terrorist violence. This is done by situating the Court’s case law against two objections to respective criminal offences: their inherent overbreadth and their incompatibility with the restraining demands of the ‘harm principle’. In doing so, the article discusses how the ‘harm principle’ relates to the proportionality test and how the Court’s categorisation of expression glorifying violence responds to the objection of overbreadth. In arguing that the tool of categorisation has not been determinative in driving the outcomes in relevant decisions, the article suggests that engaging the existence of a competing public interest and reviewing the admissibility of reasons for such restrictions would appropriately elevate the Convention standard. Finally, the article argues that inconsistencies across decisions are best explained by the Court’s deference-giving practices, particularly in cases involving claims about the recency of terrorist violence.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141546355","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Human Right to Land: A Peasant Struggle in the Human Rights System","authors":"Valentine Granet","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae013","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae013","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 Control and access to land are major concerns for peasants of the global south who face the longstanding consequences of colonialism and recent ‘land-rush’. What is the role of human rights in this peasant struggle? The UNDROP marks the international recognition of the right to land. However, as the very project of human rights is facing criticism and the effectiveness of this recognition remains uncertain, the question of whether using the human rights framework is even desirable arises. Arguing for a broader understanding of the actors and processes involved in the application and evolution of human rights, I explain that the process of obtaining the recognition of the right to land involved the mobilisation and re-modelling of human rights by grassroots organisations. I explore the potential of this mobilisation to transform common understandings of human rights, and its distinctive ability to support the necessary paradigm shift to transform peasants’ lives.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141269045","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"General Comment No. 25 on Children’s Rights in Relation to the Digital Environment: Implications for Children’s Right to Privacy and Data Protection in Africa","authors":"Yohannes Eneyew Ayalew, V. Verdoodt, Eva Lievens","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae018","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae018","url":null,"abstract":"\u0000 The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child has published its much-awaited General Comment No. 25 on children’s rights in the digital environment in 2021. Much of the conversations since its adoption have centred on how General Comment No. 25 influences State behaviours in the western world or globally. Little attention has been given as to what General Comment No. 25 means for children’s right to privacy in Africa. This article seeks to explore the role of General Comment No. 25 in clarifying States’ obligations in respect of children’s rights to privacy and data protection in the digital era on the African continent. In doing so, this article first contextualises General Comment No. 25 in the broader context of the United Nations human rights system and analyses its recommendations on children’s right to privacy. Second, the article examines children’s right to privacy in Africa and analyses the specific features of the African human rights system that influence the understanding of this right. Finally, the article illuminates certain child-specific privacy and data protection measures that are being or have been included or discussed in the law-making processes and policy debates in a selection of African countries and links them to both General Comment No. 25 and the socio-cultural context of the continent.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141388340","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"A Research Agenda for Human Rights and the Environment","authors":"Stephen J Turner","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae015","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae015","url":null,"abstract":"","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-06-03","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"141273028","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Who Manages Menstrual Health? The Untapped Potential of the Right to Health to Support a Comprehensive Right to Menstrual Health beyond Menstrual Hygiene Management","authors":"Céline Brassart Olsen","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae010","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae010","url":null,"abstract":"For the 1.8 billion people who menstruate every month globally, menstruation is not always just synonymous with blood loss. As such, many also experience premenstrual conditions such as dysmenorrhea (period pain), limited access to health care and/or menstrual stigma. Yet, so far, laws have mostly focused on menstrual hygiene management (MHM), particularly menstrual products provision. Despite MHM’s success, scholars have criticized its narrow focus on products at the expense of a more comprehensive definition of menstrual health, which recognises the menstrual cycle, and includes menarche and menopause. Meanwhile, global institutions have been shifting their focus from menstrual hygiene to menstrual health, and have framed the latter as a health and human rights issue. However, so far, the Committee on Economic Social and Cultural Rights and the Special Rapporteur on the Right to Health have mostly remained silent on the topic of menstrual health. The article argues that these mechanisms should conceptualize a right to menstrual health, which promotes menstruators’ rights to health literacy, agency, participation, culture and increased scrutiny of the menstrual products industry.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140939289","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Solidarity as Foundation for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights","authors":"Koldo Casla, Marion Sandner","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae011","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae011","url":null,"abstract":"The potential of the principle of solidarity as an interpretative guide for the realisation of ESCR has, to date, been largely overlooked. Solidarity mediates between the individual and the community, and it has a collective dimension in relation to both burden- and benefitsharing. The recognition of ESCR creates not only positive legal obligations on the state but also civic responsibilities on individuals to contribute, within their means, to the progressive realisation of ESCR. While the state is ultimately accountable for making progress on ESCR, taking these rights seriously will have implications for individual rights and responsibilities. We argue in this article that the principle of solidarity within society underpins ESCR as a whole and is essential for achieving sustainable progress on ESCR. This is because their progressive realisation requires not only that states' legal obligations are fulfilled but also that individual and collective contributions are made for the common good.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140888239","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Sex and Gender in International Human Rights Law through the Prism of the ‘Women’ Category in Recent Case Law","authors":"Ekaterina Yahyaoui Krivenko","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae012","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae012","url":null,"abstract":"This article problematises the current understanding of sex and gender in international human rights law, especially as it manifests itself in its treatment of the ‘women’ category. The problematic nature of the current state of international human rights law in this regard came recently to light in two cases: the majority judgment in the Y v France case of the European Court for Human Rights and the dissenting opinions in the Vicky Hernández case of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. Arguments and statements emerging from these two authoritative recent sources coming from two arguably progressive jurisdictions exemplify continuing inadequacies of the dominant approach. Through a critical engagement with these arguments, supplemented by the discussion of the broader framework of international human rights law, the article not only points out the precise nature of the existing shortcomings but also formulates strategies for overcoming them.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-05-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140889761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The Received View about the Right to Marry: A Critique","authors":"Bartosz Biskup","doi":"10.1093/hrlr/ngae003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/hrlr/ngae003","url":null,"abstract":"This article reconstructs a Received View of the right to marry in the European Convention on Human Rights and provides its philosophical interpretation. According to the Received View, the right to marry is a right to a legal institution of marriage. Recent case law from the European Court of Human Rights is analysed, with a focus on the protection and recognition of personal relationships under the law. According to the Fedotova case, the rights pertaining to the protection of conjugal relationships stem from the right to family life. The problem of non-distinctiveness of the right to marry is being discussed. If substantial rights protecting conjugal couples stem from the right to family life, then the right to marry does not offer any additional protection for the couple. The Received View addresses this issue. However, it is politically and morally unjust.","PeriodicalId":46556,"journal":{"name":"Human Rights Law Review","volume":null,"pages":null},"PeriodicalIF":1.5,"publicationDate":"2024-04-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"140630404","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":2,"RegionCategory":"社会学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}