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Standing And Collective Cultural Rights, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The procedural question of standing has deep implications for the definition and enforcement of cultural rights. Cultural rights have individual and collective elements that can lead to several entities seeking access to justice when these rights are violated. This chapter focuses on the question of standing to explore the contours of existing cultural human rights and possible reparations flowing from their violation. It considers claims by (1) an individual member of the group who has been wronged because of their membership of the group; (2) a collective action brought by the group; and (3) a representative action on behalf of …

Challenges For International Cultural Heritage Law, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The period from the shelling of Dubrovnik, Sarajevo and Mostar in the 1990s to the bombardment of Homs and Aleppo in the 2010s, witnessed the significant expansion of interventionist activities by the international community and then their gradual contraction in this new century. The factors that fostered the cosmopolitan drive during this brief period had a positive impact on the protection of cultural heritage during armed conflict and peacetime. It also puts into stark relief the perpetual challenges facing the legal protection of cultural heritage at the international level, which forms the core of this chapter. In this first part, …

Human Rights And Culture Heritage In International Law, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Regional and international conflicts defined as a so-called ‘clash of civilisations’, civil conflicts from Central and South America, to former Yugoslavia, from the north Africa and the Middle East to Southeast Asia, and discrimination against and persecution of vulnerable individuals within ethnic or religious communities, appear to indicate tensions between human rights and culture at all levels of society, from the global to the local, from the collective to the individual. Despite the growing cognisance of these cleavages, the international community rather than suppressing cultural, ethnic or religious differences, has actively promoted the importance of cultural diversity and religious tolerance …

Liberty, Equality, Diversity: States, Cultures And International Law, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

This chapter explores how culture is addressed by contemporary international law, with particular reference to human rights law norms. The first part covering freedom focuses on the rise of the modern state and its conscious reimagining of ties with its citizens through the promotion of tolerance and a secular, national identity. The shift is explored through the prisms of the freedom of religion, the right to participate in (national) cultural life, and the limitations on freedom of expression including prohibition of hate speech and domestic blasphemy laws. The second part on equality centres on the relationship between the state, the …

Genocide And Restitution: Ensuring Each Group's Contribution To Humanity, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The protection of minorities in modern international law is intimately connected with and fueled the recognition of the crimes of persecution and genocide. Minority protection represented the proactive component of the international efforts to ensure the contribution of certain groups to the cultural heritage of humankind. Prohibition and prosecution of persecution and genocide represented the reactive element of these same efforts. The restitution of cultural property to persecuted groups by the international community was recognition that their ownership and control of these physical manifestations was necessary for the realization of this purpose.

In this paper, I consider the emergence, contraction …

Women And Private Military And Security Companies, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Lack of clarity about the application of international law norms and inadequacies of existing regulatory regimes covering private military and security companies have reinforced concerns about transparency and accountability in respect of gender-related violence, harassment and discrimination. This chapter focuses on the main issues and legal concerns raised by the impact of the privatisation of war on women, both as PMSC employees and civilians. Part I highlights how armed conflict, civil unrest, occupation and transition have a detrimental effect upon the lives of women with particular reference to safety, displacement, health and economic disadvantage. Part II provides a summary of …

Human Rights And Genocide: The Work Of Lauterpacht And Lemkin In Modern International Law, Part I, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

2008 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Genocide Convention and Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly. These two instruments adopted and proclaimed by then newly formed world body on successive days, 9 and 10 December 1948 respectively, represent two sides of one coin. Born of the horrors of the 1930s and 40s, the United Nations Charter speaks of human rights and to the importance of the rule of law. The Genocide Convention and UDHR are integral to the pursuit of these aims.

The work of two international lawyers, Hersch Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin, …