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Full-Text Articles in Law
Voices From Below—Africa’S Contribution To The Development Of The Norm Of Corporate Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Akinwumi Olawuyi Ogunranti
Voices From Below—Africa’S Contribution To The Development Of The Norm Of Corporate Responsibility To Respect Human Rights, Akinwumi Olawuyi Ogunranti
PhD Dissertations
The long conversations about corporate responsibility predominantly take place in forums and conferences in the Global North. Yet, the majority of the human rights abuses and their impacts are felt by peasants, farmers, children, and women in local communities in the Global South who do not have a voice in the institutionalized governance systems that animate global affairs. This thesis answers the question of how norms and human rights institutions in Africa can influence the corporate responsibility to respect (CR2R) norm as embedded in pillar II of the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights. Through the theory …
Mapping Human Rights-Based Climate Litigation In Canada, Lisa Benjamin, Sara L. Seck
Mapping Human Rights-Based Climate Litigation In Canada, Lisa Benjamin, Sara L. Seck
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
In line with global trends, there has been an increase in human rights-based climate litigation brought in Canadian courts in recent years. Some litigants invoke human rights as found in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms to push federal and provincial governments to take seriously the implementation of their climate obligations. Other litigants invoke procedural environmental human rights to engage in free speech and peaceful protest in the face of government action supporting fossil fuel consumption or expansion. At the same time, the Supreme Court of Canada has recognized that Canadian courts could develop civil remedies for corporate violations …
Responsible Business Conduct In The Extractive Industries: Prospect Of Respecting Women's Human Rights In Ghana, Veronica Dossah
Responsible Business Conduct In The Extractive Industries: Prospect Of Respecting Women's Human Rights In Ghana, Veronica Dossah
LLM Theses
Business operations in the extractive industries (EI) continue to violate women’s human rights and the environment in the communities in which they operate. In Ghana, existing laws and regulations do not preclude businesses from such violations. This makes it important to reflect on innovative means including soft laws which could encourage companies operating in the EI in Ghana to respect women’s human rights and the environment over and above compliance with national laws and regulations. This thesis examines the problem of land grabbing by EI companies operating in Ghana, the unique negative impacts women in mining communities face as a …
Submission To The Toronto Police Services Board’S Use Of New Artificial Intelligence Technologies Policy- Leaf And The Citizen Lab, Suzie Dunn, Kristen Mj Thomasen, Kate Robertson, Pam Hrick, Cynthia Khoo, Rosel Kim, Ngozi Okidegbe, Christopher Parsons
Submission To The Toronto Police Services Board’S Use Of New Artificial Intelligence Technologies Policy- Leaf And The Citizen Lab, Suzie Dunn, Kristen Mj Thomasen, Kate Robertson, Pam Hrick, Cynthia Khoo, Rosel Kim, Ngozi Okidegbe, Christopher Parsons
Reports & Public Policy Documents
We write as a group of experts in the legal regulation of artificial intelligence (AI), technology-facilitated violence, equality, and the use of AI systems by law enforcement in Canada. We have experience working within academia and legal practice, and are affiliated with LEAF and the Citizen Lab who support this letter.
We reviewed the Toronto Police Services Board Use of New Artificial Intelligence Technologies Policy and provide comments and recommendations focused on the following key observations:
1. Police use of AI technologies must not be seen as inevitable
2. A commitment to protecting equality and human rights must be integrated …
Human Rights And Transnational Organized Crime, Robert Currie, Sarah Douglas
Human Rights And Transnational Organized Crime, Robert Currie, Sarah Douglas
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This chapter will scrutinize the points at which these two legal regimes intersect with and infuse each other. It will proceed in three sections. The first section will provide a brief overview of the international human rights law system, specifically tailored to ground the following parts. The second section will examine the means by which protection is given to the human rights of individuals who are targeted for criminal investigation and prosecution as a result of their alleged involvement in TOC (referred to for efficiency as “accused persons” or “the accused”). It will first briefly explain the means by which …
Evidence Brief: Impact Assessment And Responsible Business Conduct, Sara L. Seck, Penelope Simons, Adebayo Majekolagbe
Evidence Brief: Impact Assessment And Responsible Business Conduct, Sara L. Seck, Penelope Simons, Adebayo Majekolagbe
Responsible Business Conduct and Impact Assessment Law
This Evidence Brief provides a concise overview of the April 2020 report, Sara Seck & Penelope Simons, "Impact Assessment and Responsible Business Guidance Tools in the Extractive Sector: Implications for Human Rights, Gender and Stakeholder Engagement" (Draft Final Report for the SSHRC Knowledge Synthesis Grant: Informing Best Practices in Environmental and Impact Assessments, 13 April 2020).
Human Rights And The Impact Assessment Act: Proponents And Consultants As Duty Bearers, Adebayo Majekolagbe, Sara L. Seck, Penelope Simons
Human Rights And The Impact Assessment Act: Proponents And Consultants As Duty Bearers, Adebayo Majekolagbe, Sara L. Seck, Penelope Simons
Responsible Business Conduct and Impact Assessment Law
This chapter is the pre-publication version of a contribution to a book on the new federal Impact Assessment Act (IAA), and builds upon the research conducted for the SSHRC KSG on responsible business conduct and the IAA. We highlight the role of proponents and their consultants as human rights duty bearers and recommend the integration of human rights approaches into impact assessment processes under the IAA.
The Broad Implications Of The First Nation Caring Society Decision: Dealing A Death-Blow To The Current System Of Program Delivery On-Reserve & Clearing The Path To Self-Government, Naiomi Metallic
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
On January 26, 2016, the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal (the “Tribunal”) released a watershed decision in a complaint spearheaded by the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada, its Executive Director, Dr. Cindy Blackstock, and the Assembly of First Nations (the “Caring Society” decision). The complaint alleged that Canada, through its Department of Indigenous and Northern Affairs (“INAC” or the “Department”), discriminates against First Nations children and families in the provision of child welfare services on reserve. In its decision, the Tribunal found that INAC’s design, management and control of child welfare services on reserve, along with its …
Regional Human Rights Regimes And Environmental Protection: A Comparison Of European And American Human Rights Regimes’ Histories, Current Law, And Opportunities For Development, Don Mccrimmon
PhD Dissertations
This work reviews the Inter-American and European human rights regimes and their abilities to respond to point-source pollution, climate change, and ecosystem conservation. It begins by reviewing leading human rights theories and the development of the relationship between human rights and the environment. It then focuses on European human rights, both under the ECHR and the CFREU, and highlights the ECHR’s ability to respond to instances of point-source-pollution though the right to privacy. The work then looks at the Inter-American human rights regime, its structure, history and ability to respond to environmental challenges. It reviews the regime’s tendency to use …
Business Responsibilities For Human Rights And Climate Change, Sara Seck
Business Responsibilities For Human Rights And Climate Change, Sara Seck
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This contribution to the work of the International Law Association’s Study Group on Business and Human Rights considers the relationship between business responsibilities for human rights and climate change. While it is now widely accepted that the adverse effects of climate change undermine the enjoyment of human rights, and that businesses have a responsibility to respect human rights, the relationship between business responsibilities for human rights and climate change is unclear. This paper first considers state duties to protect human rights from climate change harms, including harms arising from business activities, and second, considers how the business responsibility to respect …
The Protection Of Human Rights In The Suppression Of Transnational Crime, Robert Currie
The Protection Of Human Rights In The Suppression Of Transnational Crime, Robert Currie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This chapter examines the troubled relationship between the various legal regimes under which states cooperate to suppress crime and the protection of human rights, specifically the procedural human rights of individuals targeted for investigation in transnational cases. It provides an analysis of what rights protections exist in the context of the suppression treaties themselves, and also whether and to what extent international human rights law imposes obligations on states when they engage in inter-state cooperation in criminal matters (eg extradition, mutual legal assistance). It concludes that despite the topic being an active one for some decades, relatively few hard human …
Book Review: Gary Botting, Extradition Between Canada And The United States (Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, 2005), Robert Currie
Book Review: Gary Botting, Extradition Between Canada And The United States (Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, 2005), Robert Currie
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Both domestic and international laws regarding the extradition of fugitive criminal offenders are in a state of flux throughout the world. The current legal landscape reflects tension between the interest of state authorities in promoting “security,” on the one hand, and increasing recognition that human rights obligations are at play, on the other. Gary Botting’s book, Extradition Between Canada and the United States, successfully addresses this tension by way of a detailed examination of what is probably the most integrated extradition partnership outside the European Union.
Wrongful Termination Claims In The Supreme Court Of Canada: Coming Up Short, Dianne Pothier
Wrongful Termination Claims In The Supreme Court Of Canada: Coming Up Short, Dianne Pothier
Dalhousie Law Journal
The author concludes that the Supreme Court of Canada's narrow interpretations in Wal-Mart and Honda undermine the purposes of collective bargaining and human rights legislation, respectively Wal-Mart involves an unfair labour practice complaint following the closing of a store in Jonquibre, Quebec. The author contests the analysis of the Supreme Court of Canada, as being far removed from the context of the real difficulties in dealing with determined anti-union employers, instead facilitating statutory evasion. Honda involves a claim for wrongful dismissal, where the issue at the Supreme Court of Canada level is one of remedy, premised on the dismissal amounting …
Canadian Mining Internationally And The Un Guiding Principles For Business And Human Rights, Sara Seck
Canadian Mining Internationally And The Un Guiding Principles For Business And Human Rights, Sara Seck
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Between 2005 and 2011, there was much debate within Canada and at the United Nations over what role home states should play in the regulation and adjudications of human rights harms associated with transnational corporate conduct. In Canada, this debate focused upon concerns associated with global mining, and led to a series of government, opposition and multi-stakeholder reports and proposals. These culminated in 2010 with the appointment of a Corporate Social Responsibility Counsellor for the Extractive Sector and the defeat of Bill C-300, an act respecting Corporate Accountability for the Activities of Mining, Oil or Gas in Developing Countries. Meanwhile, …
Adding Social Condition To The Canadian Human Rights Act, A. Wayne Mackay, Natasha Kim
Adding Social Condition To The Canadian Human Rights Act, A. Wayne Mackay, Natasha Kim
Reports & Public Policy Documents
Almost a decade ago, in June 2000, the Canadian Human Rights Act Review Panel conducted a comprehensive review of the Canadian Human Rights Act [CHRA] and recommended that “social condition” be added as a prohibited ground of discrimination. Since then, no action has been taken to implement this recommendation, despite calls for action from international bodies, political actors, human rights agencies and organizations, and academic commentators to provide protections from discrimination for those suffering from social and economic disadvantage. The authors analyze the experiences at the provincial level with socio-economic grounds of discrimination, jurisprudential developments under the Canadian Charter of …
Social And Economic Rights In Canada: What Are They And Who Can Best Protect Them?, A. Wayne Mackay
Social And Economic Rights In Canada: What Are They And Who Can Best Protect Them?, A. Wayne Mackay
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
This article examines the development and current status of positive social and economic rights in Canada. Exploring the comparative competence of legislatures, courts and human rights tribunals, Wayne MacKay suggests that courts should depart, with caution, from their traditional deferential role to legislators. Due to their flexibility and accessibility, HR Tribunals should supplement the role of the courts and legislatures in giving effect to social and economic rights, which should form part of a holistic package of human rights in Canada.
Home State Obligations For The Prevention And Remediation Of Transnational Harm: Canada, Global Mining And Local Communities, Sara Seck
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Canadian mining companies, stock exchanges, mining professionals, and the Canadian government itself, play a significant role in global mining. This unpublished PhD dissertation, completed in January 2008, explores whether Canada has a legal obligation to regulate to prevent and remedy human rights and environmental harm associated with Canadian mining companies operating abroad. Canada and global mining serve as a case study to explore the broader question of whether home states have obligations under international environmental and human rights law. The key claims examined in this dissertation are as follows. First, the exercise of unilateral home state jurisdiction over transnational corporate …
Transphobia And The Relational Production Of Gender, Elaine Craig
Transphobia And The Relational Production Of Gender, Elaine Craig
Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press
Knowing one's place in the social order, whether that place is one of relative privilege or not, serves two psychologically ameliorative functions. It relieves one from the “anxiety of [gender] identity interrogation” and it helps to inform one as to the socially agreed upon, acceptable conduct for interpersonal exchanges--the episteme of social interaction. This Paper will demonstrate that gender identity is produced through relational, contextually influenced, interpretative processes. Because gender is constructed in societies which strongly embrace static, binary conceptions of gender, and in which social, familial, occupational, and sexual *139 interactions are heavily influenced by gendered social scripts, gender …
Le Rôle Organisations Internationales Dans La Protection Du Droit À La Vie., Paul Gormley
Le Rôle Organisations Internationales Dans La Protection Du Droit À La Vie., Paul Gormley
Dalhousie Law Journal
The emerging role of international and regional organizations toward the realistic protection of the right to life (along with closely related guarantees) constitutes the scope of the scholarly treatise, which is an outgrowth of the author's participation at the Research Center of the Hague Academy of International Law. Precisely Johannes van Aggelen of the Center for Human Rights, United Nations Office at Geneva, is one of the rising scholars of the coming generation of human rights lawyers. Indeed, his work in such closely related fields as humanitarian law, the Arab-Israeli conflict, the right to an adequate food supply and supporting …
Rule Of Law In A State Of Emergency, John P. Humphrey
Rule Of Law In A State Of Emergency, John P. Humphrey
Dalhousie Law Journal
Is there any such thing as an absolute human right? Part of the answer to this question will be found in article 4 of the United Nations' Convenant on Civil and Political Rights. The article says in part that "in time of public emergency which threatens the life of the nation ... the States Parties to the present Covenant may take measures derogating from their obligation under the present Covenant to the extent strictly required by the exigencies of the situation ... " Similar provisions will be found in regional conventions on the human rights.
Second Class Rights? Principles And Compromise In The Charter, Denise G. Réaume, Leslie J. M Green
Second Class Rights? Principles And Compromise In The Charter, Denise G. Réaume, Leslie J. M Green
Dalhousie Law Journal
Minority language rights are both historically and politically central to the Canadian constitution. It is also commonly supposed that they are fundamental rights, rooted in principle, and deserving generous interpretation by the courts. For a time, it seemed that the Supreme Court of Canada shared this view. In the Manitoba Language Reference, for example, they said that "The importance of language rights is grounded in the essential role that language plays in human existence, development and dignity." In Mercure v. A.G. of Saskatchewan they reiterated: "It can hardly be gainsaid that language is profoundly anchored in the human condition. Not …
The Human Rights Committee And Articles 7 And 10(1) Of The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights, 1966, P R. Ghandhi
The Human Rights Committee And Articles 7 And 10(1) Of The International Covenant On Civil And Political Rights, 1966, P R. Ghandhi
Dalhousie Law Journal
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Optional Protocol thereto, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations in Resolution 2200A (XXI) t of 16 December 1966, entered into force on 23 March 1976 in accordance with Articles 49 of the Covenant and 9 of the Protocol respectively. As at 28 July 1989, there were eighty-seven States Parties to the Covenant and forty-five States Parties to the Protocol.
The Politics Of The Imagination: A Life Of F.R. Scott, J King Gordon
The Politics Of The Imagination: A Life Of F.R. Scott, J King Gordon
Dalhousie Law Journal
The task of a biographer is a challenging one at best. And when the subject is one who has achieved distinction in many fields the difficulties are magnified many times. Better, perhaps, to settle for a Festschift where colleagues and friends in fields in which the subject has excelled join together to pay their separate tributes. So in the case of Frank Scott and his biographer, Sandra Djwa. She is a professor of literature and has achieved recognition for the work she has done on the writings and life of E.J. Pratt. It was undoubtedly Frank Scott, the distinguished Canadian …
The Concept And Present Status Of The International Protection Of Human Rights: Forty Years After The Universal Declaration, Annemieke Holthius
The Concept And Present Status Of The International Protection Of Human Rights: Forty Years After The Universal Declaration, Annemieke Holthius
Dalhousie Law Journal
John P. Humphrey, the first Director of the Human Rights Division of the United Nations, in his preface to The Concept and Present Status of the International Protection of Human Rights - Forty Years after the Universal Declaration, observes that the question of the international protection of human rights "has received far too little attention from scholars, statesmen, diplomats and human rights activists". There "has so far been no attempt ... to provide a comprehensive account" of the concept of "protection" within the international law of human rights. In his new book, Dr. B.G. Ramcharan, the distinguished lawyer-adviser in the …
Science, Technology And Human Rights, Yoram Dinstein
Science, Technology And Human Rights, Yoram Dinstein
Dalhousie Law Journal
The rapid development of science and technology, particularly in the last generation, has had a tremendous impact on human rights. Many, perhaps most, human rights are adversely affected - in actuality or potentiality - by modern machines.' The subject has been discussed at great length by scientists and statesmen, lawyers and laymen, preachers and futurologists. But, to understand it in its proper perspective, it is believed that a typological approach is called for. It is necessary to distinguish between four different types of cases, in accordance with the nature of the relationship between science and technology, on the one hand, …
Human Rights In Canadian Society: Mechanisms For Raising The Issues And Providing Redress, A. Wayne Mackay
Human Rights In Canadian Society: Mechanisms For Raising The Issues And Providing Redress, A. Wayne Mackay
Dalhousie Law Journal
To the great body of the people, the whole mass of right is without remedy. Selling justice to the favoured few, denying it to the many, the system gives the rights in outward show; takes them away in effect; gives rights by what it says, takes them away by what it does. 1 Society has changed since Jeremy Bentham made the above observation. However, the problem he identified has not been eliminated. The gap between what governments say about human rights and what they do about violations of human rights is wide. In spite of occasional verbal protests from other …
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
Dalhousie Law Journal
The credibility gap in human rights is a term coined by my predecessor, Mr. Sean MacBride. He used it to refer to the gap between the standards with governments proclaim, or accept, or at least pay lip-service to, and the reality of their practice in enforcing or suppressing these rights. The questions I would like to consider with you are the extent of this gap, the reasons for it, and what, if anything, ordinary citizens who care about human rights can do about it.
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
Dalhousie Law Journal
The credibility gap in human rights is a term coined by my predecessor, Mr. Sean MacBride. He used it to refer to the gap between the standards with governments proclaim, or accept, or at least pay lip-service to, and the reality of their practice in enforcing or suppressing these rights. The questions I would like to consider with you are the extent of this gap, the reasons for it, and what, if anything, ordinary citizens who care about human rights can do about it.
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
Dalhousie Law Journal
The credibility gap in human rights is a term coined by my predecessor, Mr. Sean MacBride. He used it to refer to the gap between the standards with governments proclaim, or accept, or at least pay lip-service to, and the reality of their practice in enforcing or suppressing these rights. The questions I would like to consider with you are the extent of this gap, the reasons for it, and what, if anything, ordinary citizens who care about human rights can do about it.
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
The Credibility Gap In Human Rights, Niall Macdermot
Dalhousie Law Journal
The credibility gap in human rights is a term coined by my predecessor, Mr. Sean MacBride. He used it to refer to the gap between the standards with governments proclaim, or accept, or at least pay lip-service to, and the reality of their practice in enforcing or suppressing these rights. The questions I would like to consider with you are the extent of this gap, the reasons for it, and what, if anything, ordinary citizens who care about human rights can do about it.