Why Human Rights Should Matter to Conservatives

In a speech given to the University of London's Constitution Unit and Judicial Institute on 3 December 2014, the Rt Hon Dominic Grieve QC MP challenged Conservatives to think carefully about the party's proposal to break the link between British courts and the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg. Grieve recalled why the United Kingdom signed the Convention in the first place and, although recognising that the Court's approach has been on occasion properly criticised and may present difficulties, argued that the reforms embodied in the Brighton Declaration 2012 are bearing fruit. He provided a critical exposition of the Conservative paper ‘Protecting Human Rights in the UK: the Conservatives’ Proposals for changing Britain's Human Rights Laws’ (October 2014) and concluded that Conservatives should want to remain within the jurisdiction of the ECHR to maintain and ensure the Court's effectiveness and continued viability.     

婚内有奸：基于法学视角的思考——兼与张明楷教授商榷

宪法和婚姻法规定夫妻双方权利平等,意味着性权利平等,妻子享有性自由权。警从刑法典自身、立法解释、司法解释和我国法律体系的和谐来看,刑法236条没有排除妻子为强奸罪的犯罪对象。否认婚内有奸,不符合犯罪的认定标准、不符合立法的逻辑、不利于降低社会成本和代价、不利于保护少年的身心健康。“婚内有奸”并非是惩罚丈夫的工具,而是妻子合法权益的证明。     

Municipality and food security promotion for disabled people: evidence from north-eastern Thailand

This article puts forward a qualitative method for analysing the role of municipalities in promoting food security for people with disabilities, and examining barriers that affect their food access and food utilisation. Findings from face-to-face interviews with mayors, street vendors, and disabled persons from three major municipalities in north-eastern Thailand clearly indicate that a lack of knowledge of food security among mayors and street vendors, and financial restrictions suffered by families, have become insurmountable barriers to food among people with disabilities. The article recommends that municipalities should create paid employment for people with disabilities and incorporate universal design into infrastructure improvement.     

The struggle to empower trade union members: insights from Zambia

Empowerment is under-researched in labour and trade unions, not least in sub-Saharan Africa. Based on workplace observations and interviews with union members and staff in agriculture, commerce, and industry, this article shares insights from two trade unions in Zambia. Findings show that the extent of empowerment differs between members and that empowerment is constrained by employer influence, privatisation, lack of government labour law enforcement, and union resources. Using an integrated approach, the article discusses differences in perceptions of empowerment, how external intentions clash with local structures, and offers suggestions which may help to improve union empowerment methods and programmes.     

Land governance and women’s rights in large-scale land acquisitions in Cameroon

This article identifies and examines the role of actors involved in the process of large-scale land acquisitions in Cameroon. It is based on primary data from interviews conducted among principal actors. Findings reveal that government, chiefs, and to some extent elites, play key roles in formal and informal processes that grant land to investors. However, both processes neglect women and affected communities because there are no mechanisms to hold actors accountable to them, especially to women who depend on land for their livelihood. The article concludes that a legal framework that makes the process transparent and promotes accountability and gender inclusiveness is indispensable.     

Right to information (RTI) legislation: the role of infomediaries in enhancing citizens’ access to information

Merely creating a legal space by enacting right to information (RTI) legislation is often not enough to ensure citizens’, especially women's, access to information. Based on a pilot intervention on RTI implementation in Bangladesh, this article explores whether the introduction of information intermediaries, or “infomediaries”, enhances rural citizens’ access to information through using the RTI Act. It was found that due to the assisted access provided by infomediaries, the number of RTI Act users increased significantly in the intervention areas compared to the national average, with five times more women than men being able to use the Act.     

Human Rights in the Public Sector

This article examines how universal human rights have been given practical effect in the UK through the Human Rights Act. It focusses on the role of human rights in public services and using the duty placed on public officials as a lever to bring about positive change.     

How to Advance Social Rights without Jeopardising the Human Rights Act 1998

When the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was drafted, governments grasped that human rights are needed as safeguards, not only against authoritarianism but also against the causes of authoritarianism. For this reason, the UDHR encompasses civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights. This holistic vision of human rights was obscured during the Cold War and more recently by economic neo‐liberalism. The UK government neglects social rights, which have a very low public profile, although there is evidence that the profile of these human rights is increasing. UK domestic law and practice is inconsistent with the holistic vision of human rights and the government's binding international social rights obligations. The UN Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights recommends that the UK provides for ‘the legislative recognition of social rights’ which can be approached in various ways. One way is to proceed social right by social right (for example, the rights to housing, health and education), and sector by sector (for example, the sectors of housing, health and education). This administrative law approach advances explicit social rights without implicating or jeopardising the Human Rights Act 1998.     

Human Rights in Policing: The Past,Present and Future

This article seeks to demonstrate, largely from practitioners’ perspectives, the growing evolution in understanding and implementation of meaningful human rights standards within the policing context. In the early 2000s, human rights were perceived and treated as a rather restrictive framework in UK policing. They are now more readily seen as a set of tools that guide and help the police to balance the views and interests of all parties to the criminal justice process. Human rights values enable police in the UK to better endeavour to do the right thing, ‘without fear or favour’.     

论著作权法的范式转换 从“权利”到“行为规制”

现行著作权法条文的构造具有浓厚的自然权理论色彩,重视对著作人身权的保护,且在处理著作财产权时拘泥于物权构造。静态思维的权利范式缺乏体系化思维,将著作权误解为对作品这一无体"物"享有的权利。然而,著作权的本质是行为规制,其对私人行动自由的限制程度较高。因此,著作权法的思维方式也需要从静态思维的权利范式转向动态思维的行为规制范式。动态思维的行为规制范式,既可以纠正政策形成过程中的利益倾斜问题,也可以弥补著作权法条文与使用者普遍认知之间的偏差。