Self-protection in Greece: sticking with groups,communicating, protesting,and fighting

Despite the international community’s responsibility to protect (R2P) mandate, we are years away from effective international enforcement mechanisms. It is therefore important that we better understand and seek to support local capacities for self-protection. Migrants and refugees in Greece have shown us four central ways they cope with insecure environments. They stick together in groups, communicate warnings of danger, protest when conditions are threatening, and fight when all else fails. This practical note offers three recommendations on how to support the capacity of displaced people to protect themselves.     

Institutions and abused women: an interactional model to access justice in India

The discourse on domestic violence has steadily moved from solely the realm of private family affairs into the institutional domain, through changing perceptions and the enactment and enforcement of laws. This article aims to understand how women approach institutions and how institutions perceive, translate, and respond to complaints within human rights discourses. The study analysed all cases registered in a family counselling centre in Rajasthan, India, with ten cases then randomly selected for in-depth interviews. The institutions are a catalyst of social change; however, they need to partner with specialists for medical interventions, and network with line departments more effectively to improve social resilience.     

Sustainable development and the struggle for LGBTI social inclusion in Africa: opportunities for accelerating change

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the Agenda 2063 chart a new development pathway for Africa. ‘Leaving no one behind’, or full social inclusion, is central to this effort. What will this mean for lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or intersex (LGBTI) people in Africa who are among the most socially excluded members of the population? This article explores this through a discussion framed by the concept of social inclusion and the commitments regarding it that appear in the SDGs and the Agenda 2063. Although LGBTI inclusion across Africa is not explicit in either document, there are nevertheless important opportunities for linking continental LGBTI advocacy to the sustainable development enterprise.     

Judgement without justice: on the efficacy of the European human rights regime

The European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) is widely regarded as the most important human rights court worldwide. This article investigates the extent to which the court addresses cases from countries with the worst human rights performance. Using a new data set on all ECtHR judgments from 1995–2012, the analysis suggests that the ECtHR does not deliver its judgments against members of the Council of Europe with the worst human rights records, but instead against more democratic and affluent states. The reason is that litigating in front of a supranational court requires capacities that vulnerable people are unlikely to possess, except when aided by transnational advocacy groups. However, more judgements are issued against countries that lack independent judiciaries, where cases are less likely to be resolved at the domestic level. While the ECtHR might not address the worst human rights crimes, it plays a subsidiary role in the European human rights protection system by compensating for weak domestic judiciaries. However, the court's inability to independently pursue litigation, together with the lack of capacity in some countries to bring cases forward, have hampered more effective protection of human rights for the most vulnerable in Europe.     

The contested spaces of civil society in a plural world: norm contestation in the debate about restrictions on international civil society support

Civil society organizations are facing increasing political restrictions all over the world. Frequently, these restrictions apply to the foreign funding of NGOs and thus curtail the space for external civil society support, which, since the 1990s, has become a key element in international democracy and human rights promotion. This so-called ‘closing space’ phenomenon has received growing attention by civil society activists, policymakers and academics. Existing studies (and political responses), however, neglect the crucial normative dimension of the problem at hand: As we show, the political controversy over civil society support is characterized by norm contestation, and this contestation reveals competing perceptions of in/justice and touches upon core principles of contemporary world order. Taking this dimension into account is essential if we are to academically understand, and politically respond to, the ‘closing space’ challenge. It is also highly relevant with regard to current debates on how to conceptualize and construct order in a world that is plural in many regards and in which liberal norms are fundamentally contested. Empirically, the paper combines an assessment of the global debate about closing space in the UN Human Rights Council with an analysis of a specific controversy over the issue in US-Egyptian relations.     

Death and injury caused by land mines in Burma

One hundred and eighty-eight Burmese refugees in Thailand were interviewed. One hundred and five of those interviewed had knowledge of a total of 313 persons who had been exposed to land mine explosions. Twenty-three of the interviewed were land mine survivors. They were all male, aged between eight and 68 years, and all except one had been injured between 1986 and 1997. Fifteen of the 23 were civilians, eight were guerilla soldiers who were injured either in battle or while deploying or disarming land mines. Those who had stepped on land mines were all crus or femur amputated and had several scars on the lower limbs, abdomen and some also on the forearms. Those who had handled a land mine had lost either fingers or hands and one also lost both eyes. This study shows that the frequency of land mine accidents in Burma has been underestimated and that the mortality is high. The study also supports the general impression that many victims are civilians.     

Breach of Confidence as a Privacy Remedy in the Human Rights Act Era

This article examines the impact of the Human Rights Act (HRA) on the current lack of a remedy for non-consensual publication of personal information by the media. It argues that the action for breach of confidence is now ripe for development into a privacy law in all but name and that the normative impetus for this enterprise can be found in the HRA which will require domestic courts to consider Convention jurisprudence. It will suggest that when Strasbourg decisions are examined in the context of more general Convention doctrines, they may be seen to suggest the need for an effective privacy remedy. Drawing upon approaches from other jurisdictions it seeks to demonstrate that principled solutions may be found to the thicket of legal problems associated with such development. It contends that the main objection to this enterprise, the perceived threat to media freedom, is largely misplaced, as analysis at the theoretical and doctrinal levels reveals that speech and privacy interests are in many respects mutually supportive and the areas of conflict small and readily susceptible to resolution.     

The necessity of the implementation of Privacy by Design in sectors where data protection concerns arise

This article examines the extent to which Privacy by Design can safeguard privacy and personal data within a rapidly evolving society. This paper will first briefly explain the theoretical concept and the general principles of Privacy by Design, as laid down in the General Data Protection Regulation. Then, by indicating specific examples of the implementation of the Privacy by Design approach, it will be demonstrated why the implementation of Privacy by Design is a necessity in a number of sectors where specific data protection concerns arise (biometrics, e-health and video-surveillance) and how it can be implemented.     

论管制征收构成标准——以美国联邦最高法院判例为中心

美国联邦最高法院在审理33个管制征收案件时主要采用是否属于物理性侵占、是否属于经济利益互惠、财产权行使是否构成对公共或他人的妨碍、是否符合公共利益、对财产价值的影响程度五类标准。管制征收构成标准的体系构建,需通过对五类标准进行形式与实质递进式的双阶层划分来实现:是否属于物理性侵占、是否属于经济利益互惠以及财产权行使是否构成公共妨碍为第一阶层的形式标准。一项管制行为属于物理性侵占即构成管制征收;管制行为属于经济利益互惠或者财产权行使构成对公共或他人的妨碍,则不构成管制征收。在不属于物理性侵占、经济利益互惠或者财产权行使构成公共妨碍的情况下,对是否符合公共利益和对财产价值的影响程度作第二阶层的实质判断。不符合公共利益标准或者对财产价值造成过度影响的管制行为构成应于补偿的管制征收。     

Citizenship and the Constitution

The status of “British subjects”, the relationship between the individual and the State, and the concept of “rights” and “liberties” are relevant to the current political debate about “British identity”, citizenship, “multiculturalism”, a “British Bill of Rights”, and whether there is now a need for a written constitution. This article describes the confused contemporary understanding of what is meant by “British” citizenship and analyses the parallel developments of citizenship and our constitutional arrangements. The Human Rights Act, devolution and Gordon Brown's proposed constitutional renewal are important steps in setting out the ideas and principles that bind us together as a nation. Together with a coherent definition of the rights and obligations of British citizenship, constitutional reform would achieve a stronger sense of what it means to be British today.