“饥饿国度的法律救赎”——印度《国家食物保障法》及其启示

为了解决严重的饥饿和营养不良问题,印度2013年颁布了《国家食物保障法》。该法完善了食物公共分配机制,加强了儿童和妇女的食物权保障,明确了各级政府的义务。它不仅体现了权利、义务和责任的统一以及对弱者的人文关怀,也体现了理想与现实折衷以及中央与地方博弈。由于该法在食物保障标准、特殊群体食物保障以及政府免责方面也存在缺陷,未来修法时应该提升食物保障标准,增加对赤贫者以及灾民等群体的食物权保障,规定政府在不可抗力条件下必须证明已尽最大努力才能免责。     

俄罗斯改革住房制度

1991年以来,随着向市场经济的转型,俄罗斯对其住房制度也进行了重大改革。 (一)大力推动住房私有化。 在前苏联计划经济体制时期,俄一直实行福利性住房制度。公民住房的建设使用与维修保养,都由政府作为向公民提供的社会保障和福利包揽下来。苏联解体后,俄罗斯陆续通过或颁布的关于住房制度改革的法律、法令、政府决议和条例达50余项,内容涉及住房制度的各个方面,但最基本目标就是要     

南非公民受义务教育权的标准及其实现

受义务教育权之所以能够成为公民的一项基本权利,并受到宪法特殊保护,在很大程度上是由教育自身的目的与宗旨所决定的。一个国家的整体人权状况要想有较大改善,就必须充分重视教育权的实现。对公民受义务教育权的这种认识深深地影响着南非新政府的决策。南非在公民受义务教育权上采取了充分标准,主要是基于对民主、南非所面对的社会问题,以及美国经验三个方面的考虑。为了公民充分受义务教育权的实现,南非除了在立法层面加强相应的法律制定外,还积极采取了一系列即时性措施,这对非洲其他国家具有一定的启示作用。     

俄罗斯住房保障的政策与措施

设计住房保障制度，平衡保障性住房与市场化住房之间的关系，是世界各国面临的共同难题。针对俄罗斯住房市场发展中存在的供给和有效需求不足、供需结构不平衡、住房基础设施老化、危房所占比重较高、住房公用服务费大幅上涨等问题，近20年来，俄罗斯政府在坚持对低收入者和特定群体的住房保障义务的同时，积极谋求构建适应市场经济的住房制度框架，并通过刺激需求、增加供给和减少行政障碍等途径对住房市场发展施以影响。     

奥巴马政府的秘密政策

民主是美国建国的基石,这一点体现在《独立宣言》与《权利法案》对公民个人自由的保护上。民主要求公民能够获取政府信息,就社会的目标与手段进行公开对话,而政府负有向民众进行解释的义务。国家安全则完全相反,它要求秘密采取行动,不相信内部与外部的敌人,它还要求公众无条件地支持政府。因此,在美国民主和国家安全经常处于一种持续紧张的状态,     

国际海底区域内活动的 担保国的赔偿责任

1982年《联合国海洋法公约》（简称《公约》）为缔约国规定了确保其所担保的个人和实体在进行国际海底区域内活动时遵守《公约》相关规定的义务以及对所担保的承包者没有遵守其义务而造成的损害承担赔偿责任。然而，担保国的此种赔偿责任并非严格责任。只有当同时满足以下条件时担保国才应对其所担保的承包者造成的损害承担责任：担保国未按照《公约》履行其确保遵守的义务；所担保的承包者没有遵守其义务并因此造成损害；担保国的不履行与损害发生之间存在因果关系。在担保国需要承担赔偿责任的情况下，其责任的上限是其所担保的承包者的不法行为造成的“实际损害”，同时还应考虑管理局和对有关活动行使管辖或控制的国家的潜在责任。然而，担保国和承包者并不承担连带责任，担保国赔偿责任的存在并不影响承包者承担和履行其赔偿责任。承包者应先于担保国履行赔偿责任，而只有在承包者不能完全赔偿其应负责的损害时，担保国才有义务对未能赔偿的损害部分承担剩余责任。由于担保国根据《公约》承担的确保遵守的义务是一种“行为义务”，而并非杜绝损害发生的“结果义务”，因此，如果担保国已经履行了公约规定的尽责义务，那么即使发生损害，也不应要求其承担责任。     

保障房建设与融资博弈

保障房建设的融资者 政府融资平台在现行的法律框架下，地方政府不能担当借债的主体，必须由政府相应机构或公司，即融资平台（各地城投公司和专门的保障房建设公司）通过贷款或发债等方式进行融资。近期多家省级保障房建设平台公司设立，如河北省保障住房投资有限公司和陕西保障性住房建设工程有限公司，前者由河北省政府批准组建，授权省住房和城乡建设厅履行出资人职责，按“省市连带担保、项目打捆、统一融资、统一调配、统一还款”模式运作，     

基于宪法的中俄公民环境权比较研究

公民环境权问题是环境法中的一个重要问题,许多国家目前已经在宪法中确认了公民环境权。本文通过对中国和俄罗斯联邦公民环境权的分析比较,指出我国应借鉴俄罗斯联邦宪法公民生态权的合理因素,在我国宪法中增加公民环境权及其保护条款,并对宪法如何确立公民环境权提出建议。     

国际人权公约与中国人权立法完善

中国政府迄今已经签署和批准加入了包括《经济、社会和文化权利国际公约》在内的 多个国际人权公约, 但是, 《公民权利和政治权利国际公约》仍有待全国人大常委会批准加入。我 国人权立法状况在近20多年来已有明显改观, 但仍然需要在宪法和法律层面加以革新, 或创制或 修改或废除, 以实现与国际人权公约的完整对接, 为履行国际人权公约义务奠定制度基础。     

保障性住房让底层人民享受改革开放成果——辽宁省住房保障建设厅

记者：从政府工作报告里我们看到一个数字，2011年全年要完成54万户保障性住房的任务，从会前资料里看到一个数字新增政策性保障性住房5．15万套，我想请胡厅长解释一下这两个数字之间的联系，是不是和辽宁省的住房保障任务相结合的？谢谢。     

从大学生与高校的关系看学生的权利

近年来，大学生诉高校的案子越来越常见，诉讼内容涉及学生在校生活的各个方面，然而，相同的案件在不同的法院，判决结果截然不同，原因就在于对学生与学校的权利义务没有一个明确的界限，要划分高校与学生的权利义务，就必须搞清楚高校与学生的法律关系，因为高校与学生之间不是一重法律关系，而是由不同法律关系结合构成的多重法律关系，学生与高校也都存在多样权利和义务。     

德日美宪法与冲突法关系考察

宪法作为一国具有最高效力的法律必须为该国所有其他法律所遵守，包括该国的冲突法。冲突法立法和司法实践应当体现和维护宪法规定的基本人权。美德日等法治发达国家已经确立了行之有效的关于宪法与冲突法关系的理论与实践，我们应借鉴这些国家的有益经验，明确和完善我国宪法与冲突法的关系。     

Terrorism and Human Rights: A Defence Lawyer's Perspective

ABSTRACT

The author of this article is one of the attorneys appointed to represent Zacarias Moussaoui in the United States. Mr. Moussaoui is the only person facing criminal charges for alleged involvement in the September 11 plot. The author describes the system of government in the United States with a specific emphasis on several terrorism cases pending in the United States. He seeks to assure the readers that the rule of law is paramount in the United States. Recent decisions of the Supreme Court—in the Hamdi and Guantanamo cases—that confirm the constitutional rights of even the most dedicated enemies of the United States, which decisions post-date this submission, only affirm the writer's theme.     

Human rights treaties and mobilized dissent against the state

How does state obligation to international human rights treaties (HRTs) affect mobilized dissent? We argue that obligations to protect human rights affect not only state behavior but also the behavior of dissidents. We present a theory in which the effect of HRTs on dissent is conditional on expectations of when it will constrain government behavior. We assume that HRT obligation increases the likelihood that government agents face litigation costs for repression but argue that leaders are only constrained when they would be most likely to repress. The expectation of constraint creates opportunity: citizens are more likely to dissent in HRT-obligated states with secure leaders and weak domestic courts. We find empirical support for the implications of our theory using country-month data on HRT obligation and dissent events from 1990 to 2004.     

Derogating from International Human Rights Obligations in the ‘War Against Terrorism'? — A British–Australian Perspective

ABSTRACT

This article examines the United Kingdom's Anti-terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001 and the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation Legislation Amendment (Terrorism) Act 2002 (Cth) from an international human rights law perspective. It argues that both pieces of legislation raise serious concerns in relation to international legal obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. Both international treaties allow for ‘derogation’ from certain provisions in times of ‘public emergency’. While the United Kingdom has officially derogated from some of its treaty obligations, Australia has yet to submit a similar notification. This article argues, however, that the United Kingdom's derogation is unlawful. Likewise, current circumstances in Australia would not permit lawful derogation from the ICCPR.     

国家维护能源安全手段的选择逻辑：产权制度的视角

经济体量、能源禀赋、对外能源依赖程度等相仿的国家在应对同一场或情境相似的能源危机时所采用的手段经常呈现出明显的差异,以美国为代表的一部分国家主要依托行政或外交手段,而以中国为代表的另一部分国家则更依赖行政与商业的组合手段。为解释这一差异,就要突破能源安全研究惯有的地缘政治与供给需求分析视角,借助产权制度来考察政府与企业的权利责任边界以及政府借助企业力量维护能源安全的可能性和成本。基于美国应对1973年石油危机与中国应对2017年天然气紧缺的实证研究以及英法两国应对1973年石油危机的补充性分析,可以发现产权制度决定了企业的自主性与政府的处置成本。研究表明,在私有产权制度下,能源公司的自主性与政府的处置成本均较高,政府难以借助能源公司的力量应对能源危机,由此独自采取行政或外交手段保障能源安全;在公有产权制度下,能源公司的自主性与政府的处置成本均较低,政府更容易借助能源公司的力量应对能源危机,由此两者共同承担维护能源安全的责任并通过行政与商业相结合的手段维护能源安全。     

Institutional legitimacy in Sub-Saharan Africa

ABSTRACT

How do personal encounters with legal institutions shape citizens’ confidence in those institutions throughout sub-Saharan Africa? Using Afrobarometer’s cross-national citizen survey, we show that negative first-hand experiences with government courts and police erode citizens’ trust in those state institutions but do not tend to disrupt citizens’ perceptions of their authority to arbitrate or enforce the law. Individuals from diverse demographic backgrounds imbue state institutions with the right to perform their governance and law-enforcement duties, even after experiencing institutional incompetence or injustice. This article advances existing comparative research on legal institutions, which tends to conflate trust and legitimacy and overlooks the distinction between de facto performance and de jure authority. We suggest that rule-of-law institutions have deeper roots than some scholars have previously supposed.     

A Nationalist's View of Lawfare

Many lawyers, military legalists, scholars, and policymakers continue to march the United States down the road to full membership in the International Criminal Court (ICC). This article explores the darker side of such a trek, from both legal and strategy perspectives, by examining three important fracture points that make joining the ICC irreconcilable with our Constitutionally-based republican form of government: Constitutionally protected individual rights; the American legal notion of the individual right of self-defense, and the influence of Sharia law.     

Human Rights Disparities between Europe and the United States: Conflicting Approaches to Poverty Prevention and the Alleviation of Suffering

The US and most of Europe disagree over the validity of a human rights approach to economic development and planning. These differences manifest themselves in policy outcomes with higher protections in Europe for the poor, the vulnerable, and the weak. The US approach of limited state action, on the other hand, appears to create insecurity for the needy. Europe's success in poverty alleviation presents an ethical challenge to US reluctance to accept legal obligations to provide a basic right of subsistence to its citizens.     

The Panama invasion and the laws of war

This article considers the conduct of armed parties in the invasion of Panama on 20 December 1989 by United States forces, in relation to the standards established by the international laws of war and the Geneva Conventions of 1949. The article confines itself to the conduct of US and Panamanian armed forces from the commencement of hostilities, and does not consider arguments for or against the invasion itself. The authors, on behalf of the US‐based Americas Watch, a human rights monitoring organization, visited Panama in January 1990, and collected information contained in the article. The article concludes that US forces failed in their Geneva Convention obligations with respect to the detentions of Panamanian POWs and civilians. It also concludes that US forces failed to exercise precautions to minimize collateral civilian casualties in the attack on the Panamanian military headquarters. It finds that Panamanian forces put non‐combatant civilians at risk by dressing in civilian clothes and firing from civilian‐occupied structures. It estimates the number of Panamanian civilian dead at approximately 300. The article further considers protection of human rights under the new Endara government, and the plight of refugees left homeless by the invasion.