Twenty-Five Years of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child: Achievements and Challenges

Netherlands International Law Review - The 25th anniversary of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in November 2014 is an appropriate occasion for reviewing its record of achievements and...     

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and Mental Health Law

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) took effect in 2008. This paper discusses a number of flashpoints where the CRPD will require real and significant reconsideration of English mental health and mental capacity law. The CRPD introduces a new paradigm into international disability law, relying on the social model of disability. While that is no doubt a good thing, there is as yet no clear sense as to how that is to be implemented. After providing an introduction to the Convention, the paper considers four specific areas: mental capacity law (focussing on the provisions of the Mental Capacity Act 2005), psychiatric treatment without consent, civil detention of people with mental disabilities, and mental disability in the criminal system (fitness to plead, insanity and diminished responsibility).     

Taking Metaregulation to the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Regime: The Case of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

This article argues that regulatory scholarship can be harnessed to promote human rights, in this case the rights of persons with disabilities. It argues that the regulatory regime of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (the Convention) establishes a human rights metaregulatory regime. It shows that the Convention delegates all of the regulatory functions to four different actors, to the effect that no single actor has the full range of regulatory competencies. The implication of this high degree of delegation is that the Convention establishes a three‐party framework whereby the interaction between the regulatee and the two regulators is mediated by an oversight body. While organically independent, each actor is functionally interdependent so that an equilibrium is established. At a time where the effectiveness of the UN human rights treaty system is under assault, this article argues that the metaregulatory regime of the CRPD provides an optimistic vision for the future of human rights treaties.     

Prompt Release in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea: Some Reflections on the Itlos Jurisprudence

Netherlands International Law Review -     

《联合国反腐败公约》中的引渡制度探析

<联合国反腐败公约>是目前反腐败方面最重要的国际法律文件,它筑起了一道强大的国际反腐法律强网.实现对腐败犯罪的引渡是国际反腐败的一种自然延伸.而<联合国反腐败公约>关于引渡的规定既是对缔约国的要求,也是各国进行国际合作的有效路径.为了实现对腐败犯罪的引渡,接受"死刑犯不引渡原则"则是我国的上上选择.     

《联合国打击跨国有组织犯罪公约》浅说

当今世界,不断滋生和蔓延的跨国有组织犯罪已经严重威胁到了全人类的共同利益。一方面,跨国有组织犯罪集团以聚敛到巨额非法收益为资本加紧向民主政体的渗透与腐蚀,造成了政治统治上的腐败和法律秩序上的混乱;另一方面,跨国有组织犯罪又与各种经济犯罪、环境犯罪、恐怖主义活动相伴生,不但严重损害合法资本持有者的利益,而且直接威胁各国国民经济体系的根基。同时,偷渡、贩卖人口、国际卖淫等有组织犯罪更是构成了对各国人民的生存权、发展权等基本人权的肆意践踏。正是基于面临的这种严峻形势,联合国迅速把如何采取积极的司法对策以有效打击跨国有组织犯罪事实列为其重要的战     

The United Nations Convention on the rights of persons with disabilities

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, which came into force on 3 May 2008, marks the culmination of over five years of negotiations between States Parties and non-governmental organisations as to what constitute the human rights of and governmental obligations to individuals with disabilities. It differs from other Conventions in that, while it still sets out general rights, it also details the steps that should be taken to ensure equality of treatment. This column provides a general overview of the Convention, focusing in particular on Art 25 which sets out the right to health and Australia's obligations under the Convention.     

气候变化的国际法发展:从温室效应理论到《联合国气候变化框架公约》

本文考察了温室效应理论对缔结《联合国气候变化框架公约》的决定性影响 ,并对《联合国气候变化框架公约》的基本法律原则 (规则 )及其对国际环境立法的贡献进行了述评。     

《联合国反腐败公约》视域下我国反腐败法律举措的完善

《联合国反腐败公约》是联合国历史上通过的第一部指导国际反腐败斗争的法律文件,也是迄今为止第一个关于治理腐败犯罪的最完整、最全面而又广泛、创新性的国际公约。该公约已在我国生效。国际公约的国内法化是落实公约内容的最佳路途。以该公约为衡量标准,重新审视我国刑法关于腐败犯罪的规定,可以窥见在罪名、犯罪主体、实行行为、刑种设定及预防举措等方面存在着一定差距。剖析该公约关于反贪污贿赂法律的规定和适用,以此为鉴,提高我国反腐成效。     

The United Nations Convention on the Law of International Watercourses: A Frameworkfor Sharing

Netherlands International Law Review -     

Youth participation and agency in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

This article examines the participation and agency of young non-state actors (NSAs) in the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). It utilizes the constituency of Youth NGOs: YOUNGO, as a case study to examine the relationship between selection of participatory strategies, power sources (following Nasiritousi et al. in Int Environ Agreem Politics Law Econ 16(1):109–126, 2016), recognition and agency using ego and alter perceptions. It finds that young people’s selection of participatory strategies and power sources is shaped by the level of agency which they perceive to be available to them. When self-perception of agency is high, young participants offer constructive policy amendments which can lead to recognition and agency, though only within certain policy areas and the silos in which they are negotiated. When self-perception of agency is low, youth interpret this as lack of recognition, leading to efforts to assert their relevance and/or to challenge procedural legitimacy: neither of which are well received by decision-makers. In reality, several of the challenges faced by young participants are not structurally unique to their constituency; however, their lack of financial resources does hinder their ability to fully utilize modes of participation which previous studies have found to be beneficial to other NSAs, such as side-events. Financial constraints also restrict the ability of youth participants, many of whom are volunteers, to develop professional relationships with key actors over time, meaning that the level of agency developed by more established, better-resourced NSAs remains largely out of reach. These findings have implications for the understanding of NSA agency, which has previously been treated as homogeneous and raises further questions regarding procedural legitimacy of the UNFCCC and its role in mobilizing and empowering the next generation.     

《联合国反腐败公约》与我国刑事缺席判决制度之构建

为有效打击腐败犯罪,《联合国反腐败公约》确立了刑事缺席判决制度。国外刑事缺席判决制度立法为建立我国该项制度提供了有益的借鉴。文章从适用的案件范围、诉讼程序、代理、辩护及救济等方面论述了我国刑事缺席判决制度之构建路径。     

The United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Punishment of Children Under English Law – Public and Private Vices?

The punishment of children in the domestic sphere and in the public domain is an issue of concern for those with care of children or whose interests lie in the protection of children’s human rights. How children are treated when they are judged to have broken rules reveals fundamental approaches to the welfare of those who have yet to reach adulthood. The effect of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child in respect of how children are punished, whether in the home or as transgressors of criminal law, may be examined through two distinct but linked spheres: the private and home life context of domestic or personal punishment, and the public domain of state punishment of children in terms of criminal responsibility under English Law. Both spheres reveal attitudes towards the rights of children which suggest how human rights are accorded to particular groups in applying international obligations to a state’s domestic provision. This article seeks to explore some issues of compliance with Article 19 (the physical chastisement of children), Article 37 (the imprisonment of children being a ‚last resort’) and Article 40 (the minimum age of criminal responsibility) of the United Nations Convention on the␣Rights of the Child. The application of the rights of children and the operation of the ‚best interests’ of the child in applying Articles 19, 37 and 40 suggests that there are issues in relation to non-compliance which indicate a diminution of the separate rights of children under English Law in particular and in the operation of the best interests of the child. Penny Booth is a Reader in Law at Staffordshire University Law School.     

《联合国海洋法公约》下的自愿与强制调解

谈判、仲裁和司法裁决是和平解决海洋争端的常用方法。实践表明,谈判有很大难度,而仲裁和司法解决有比较大的不可预测性和不可控性。调解居于仲裁(含司法解决)与谈判中间,程序上有像仲裁之处,实质上是谈判的辅助措施,且有可控性,其成果除了双方届时接受以外,不具有约束力。《联合国海洋法公约》鼓励争端各方采用自愿调解,规定排除于有约束力程序管辖外的一些争端可以诉诸强制调解,并且对自愿与强制调解的程序作了一定的规定。     

权利类属理论之反思——以霍菲尔德权利理论为分析框架

权利话语所面对的窘境在于提出主张的双方希冀透过权利所获得的保障,或说阻止他人行为的意图虽不必然同一,但由于共同内涵中词汇的共享,使问题变得棘手。与其争论相冲突的权利主张孰轻孰重,美国学者霍菲尔德指出权利一词蕴含四种不同的法律关系,分别是权利、特权、能力与豁免,并以实务判决作为分析对象,为不同的权利类属进行定性说明。借用霍菲尔德理论架构,并据此推断美国罗伊诉韦德案判决所保障之权利应该属于霍菲尔德理论中的何种类属。     

《联合国国家及其财产管辖豁免公约》--一个并不完美的最好结果

2004年12月2日,第59届联合国大会以不投票的方式正式通过了<联合国国家及其财产管辖豁免公约>(以下简称<公约>),这是国际社会一个期待已久的成果.从内容上来看,<公约>并不是一个十分令人满意的完美文本,<公约>的许多规定和条款都是各种复杂问题及冲突利益之间小心平衡和艰难谈判和妥协的产物,但这从另一个角度而言,它似乎又是一个目前能为各方所广泛接受的最好结果.<公约>通过后,国际社会普遍给予了肯定的评价.本文拟就<公约>中几个主要方面的内容与问题作一扼要评述,以期我国有关部门在今后制定相关国内立法以及批准和履行<公约>时予以注意.