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Full-Text Articles in Law

African Lessons For Post-2015 Global Right To Development Conceptualization And Practice, Obiora Chinedu Okafor Dec 2015

African Lessons For Post-2015 Global Right To Development Conceptualization And Practice, Obiora Chinedu Okafor

The Transnational Human Rights Review

No abstract provided.


What Is Right With Africa: The Promise Of The Protocol On Women's Rights In Africa, Leslye Amede Obiora, Crystal Whalen Dec 2015

What Is Right With Africa: The Promise Of The Protocol On Women's Rights In Africa, Leslye Amede Obiora, Crystal Whalen

The Transnational Human Rights Review

No abstract provided.


The Relationship Between Human Rights And Judicial Globalization, Klodian Rado Dec 2015

The Relationship Between Human Rights And Judicial Globalization, Klodian Rado

The Transnational Human Rights Review

There are numerous academic writings about the actors, factors, and mechanisms that shape and drive human rights at national, transnational, and international levels. However, the relationship between human rights and the process of judicial globalization remains underexplored in recent scholarship, and the purpose of this study is to explore such a relationship and its effects. First, we provide a brief theoretical background of both human rights and judicial globalization concepts, and then, we focus on the relationship between them. By investigating existing empirical data, we uncover how judicial globalization is effecting and shaping human rights through various mechanisms and their …


Indigenous Rights Before The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights : A Call For A Pro Individual Interpretation, Valerio De Oliveira Mazzuoli, Dilton Ribeiro Dec 2015

Indigenous Rights Before The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights : A Call For A Pro Individual Interpretation, Valerio De Oliveira Mazzuoli, Dilton Ribeiro

The Transnational Human Rights Review

In its traditional conception, international law regulates relations between sovereign states. This definition is challenged by current developments of international law, especially in the area of human rights. The human person is arguably a bearer of rights and duties under international law. However, recognizing this individual legal personality is not enough. International bodies and treaties need to acknowledge that individuals are subjects of international law within a pluralistic world. In other words, the law of nations must crystalize the idea that individuals are, with all their cultural differences, subjects of international law. The Inter-American Court of Human Rights recognizes this …


Human Rights States And Societies: A Reflection From Kenya, Willy Mutunga Dec 2015

Human Rights States And Societies: A Reflection From Kenya, Willy Mutunga

The Transnational Human Rights Review

A human rights state is conceptualized as a liberal democratic state with a social democratic content, the modern day version of the capitalist welfare state. With the “collapses” of communism and neoliberalism, the paradigms of human rights and social justice have taken a center state. The birth of transformative constitutions and transformative constitutionalism linked to modern and comprehensive Bills of Rights have enriched the intellectual, ideological, and political debates of human rights and social justice paradigms. On one hand they have the ingredients of mitigating neo-liberalism while on the other hand they reflect some of the features of the paradigms …


Reinforcing The Identity Of The African Children's Rights Committee: A Case For Limiting The Lust For Judicial Powers In Quasi -Judicial Human Rights Mechanisms, Solomon T. Ebobrah Dec 2015

Reinforcing The Identity Of The African Children's Rights Committee: A Case For Limiting The Lust For Judicial Powers In Quasi -Judicial Human Rights Mechanisms, Solomon T. Ebobrah

The Transnational Human Rights Review

Established as a quasi-judicial treaty supervisory body rather than an international court, the African Committee of Experts on the Rights and Welfare of the Child struggles for relevance in the African human rights system where most non-state stakeholders arguably prefer organs with clear judicial powers. Thus, similar to the experiences of its older counterparts, the Committee appears to be under subtle pressure to substitute or at least reinforce its quasi-judicial character with more judicial powers and action. In essence, the Committee suffers from the uncertainty that prevails in international law regarding the definition of the term quasi-judicial; and the unclear …


Theorizing International Criminal Procedure Review Essay: Christoph Safferling's International Criminal Procedure, Sujith Xavier Dec 2015

Theorizing International Criminal Procedure Review Essay: Christoph Safferling's International Criminal Procedure, Sujith Xavier

The Transnational Human Rights Review

No abstract provided.


The Failure Of The Canadian Human Rights Regime To Provide Remedies For Indigenous Peoples: Enough Time Has Passed, Jeffery Gordon Hewitt Dec 2015

The Failure Of The Canadian Human Rights Regime To Provide Remedies For Indigenous Peoples: Enough Time Has Passed, Jeffery Gordon Hewitt

LLM Theses

In 2008, Canada amended the Canadian Human Rights Act to remove s.67, which in essence precluded Indigenous Peoples from bringing complaints as against Canada and Band governments. Since the amendment took effect in 2010, a multi-fold increase has occurred in the number of complaints filed with the Human Rights Commission of Canada from dozens to hundreds. The first such significant complaint to be heard by the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal was filed by the First Nation Child and Family Caring Society along with the Assembly of First Nations (the Complaint). The Complaint alleges Canada's funding with respect to First Nation …


Book Review: The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights, And The Home State Advantage, By Penelope Simons & Audrey Macklin, Sara L. Seck Sep 2015

Book Review: The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights, And The Home State Advantage, By Penelope Simons & Audrey Macklin, Sara L. Seck

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

Book review of The Governance Gap: Extractive Industries, Human Rights, And The Home State Advantage, by Penelope Simons & Audrey Macklin.


No Refuge: Hungarian Romani Refugee Claimants In Canada, Julianna Beaudoin, Jennifer Danch, Sean Rehaag Jan 2015

No Refuge: Hungarian Romani Refugee Claimants In Canada, Julianna Beaudoin, Jennifer Danch, Sean Rehaag

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

From 2008 to 2012, large numbers of Hungarian Romani refugee claimants came to Canada. Their arrival was controversial. Some political actors suggested that their claims were unfounded and amounted to abuse of Canada’s refugee processes -- abuse which could only be prevented through wide-scale reforms to the refugee determination system. Many advocates for refugees, by contrast, argued that persecution against Roma was rampant in Hungary and noted that hundreds of Hungarians had been recognized as refugees in Canada. Some went further and contended that Romani refugee claimants fled persecution in Hungary only to be confronted with similar mistreatment in Canada. …


Towards A Natural Law Foundationalist Theory Of Universal Human Rights, Anthony Robert Sangiuliano Jan 2015

Towards A Natural Law Foundationalist Theory Of Universal Human Rights, Anthony Robert Sangiuliano

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

The contemporary literature on the philosophy of human rights features a clash between two opposing theoretical paradigms. The first paradigm, called Functionalism, grounds the nature of human rights in their practical or political significance. The second paradigm, called Foundationalism, grounds the nature of human rights in a pre-political substratum of moral thought to which positive legal-political institutions ought to conform. What tends to make the first paradigm more appealing is that it avoids the problem of grounding human rights in moral considerations that may be ethnocentric and thus not acceptable to all peoples everywhere. This paper makes a case for …


Ending Homelessness: Building Not Only Homes But Relationships Of Respect, Janet Mosher Jan 2015

Ending Homelessness: Building Not Only Homes But Relationships Of Respect, Janet Mosher

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.


Climate Change And Human Rights: How? Where? When?, Basil E. Ugochukwu Jan 2015

Climate Change And Human Rights: How? Where? When?, Basil E. Ugochukwu

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Climate change poses a threat to several internationally recognized human rights, including the rights to food, a livelihood, health, a healthy environment, access to water and the rights to work and to cultural life. Actions taken to mitigate and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change have to be centred on human rights. In negotiations for a binding international climate change instrument, nation states have been called upon to fully respect human rights in all climate-related actions. As important as this demand is, there is also the need to describe and plan how human rights can be integrated into …


Scotland: Delivering A Right To Housing, Fiona King Jan 2015

Scotland: Delivering A Right To Housing, Fiona King

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Discusses Scotland’s progressive homelessness legislation and the mechanisms through which this right to housing has been achieved. Also considers the substantial issues stemming from a lack of central government investment and the supply of social homes across Scotland to meet the legal commitment and the challenges for Scotland to continue to deliver on the right to housing.


A Road To Home: The Right To Housing In Canada And Around The World, Darcel Bullen Jan 2015

A Road To Home: The Right To Housing In Canada And Around The World, Darcel Bullen

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Collects papers presented at the Right to Housing symposium, “A Road to Home: The Right to Housing in Canada and Around the World” held in Toronto, 24 October 2013. Contributors speak to the various interventions and strategies used to actualize housing as a fundamental human right in South Africa, France, the United States, Scotland, and Canada, ranging from litigation, to community awareness building, to protests, and to lobbying. Also speaks to the challenges of enforcement of the right to housing once that right is recognized at law.


Fighting For The Right To Housing In Canada, Tracy Heffernan, Fay Faraday, Peter Rosenthal Jan 2015

Fighting For The Right To Housing In Canada, Tracy Heffernan, Fay Faraday, Peter Rosenthal

Journal of Law and Social Policy

This paper examines Tanudjaja v Attorney General—the “Right to Housing” case. The authors, co-counsel on the case, discuss the context of the case, the nature of the application, and the legal underpinnings of the section 7 and 15 Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms claims, including positive obligations under the Charter and international law, innovative procedure taking a systemic approach to challenging oppressive legislation, and innovative supervisory orders. The authors examine the procedural and substantive implications of the provincial and federal governments’ move to strike the case, parse the Ontario Superior Court of Justice and Ontario Court of Appeal decisions …


Charter Eviction: Litigating Out Of House And Home, Margot Young Jan 2015

Charter Eviction: Litigating Out Of House And Home, Margot Young

Journal of Law and Social Policy

The case of Tanudjaja v Attorney General (Canada) takes up the cause of housing rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms in a novel and complex way. The government actions and inactions cited as constitutional breaches and the broad remedial requests reflect the “pixelated” picture of housing concerns necessary to understanding Canada’s housing security crisis. In dismissing the challenge at a preliminary stage, the Ontario Superior and Appeal Courts risk rendering the Charter irrelevant to the deep social justice concerns that cross our country. More specifically, formulaic judicial invocation of concerns about positive rights and justiciability leave the …


Implementation Of Housing Rights In South Africa: Approaches And Strategies, Lilian Chenwi Jan 2015

Implementation Of Housing Rights In South Africa: Approaches And Strategies, Lilian Chenwi

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Ensuring access to adequate housing, especially for the poor and disadvantaged in society, including those faced with evictions and displacement, continues to be a global challenge. The situation remains critical in South Africa, with many poor households living in difficult conditions, facing the risk of eviction and unable to access adequate housing. This is despite the myriad of progressive housing laws, jurisprudence, policies and programs that exist in South Africa. Notwithstanding the challenges that the country faces in ensuring the effective realization of the right to adequate housing, as illustrated in this article, lessons can be learnt from its approaches …


The Right To Housing In France: Still A Long Way To Go From Intention To Implementation, Claire Lévy-Vroelant Jan 2015

The Right To Housing In France: Still A Long Way To Go From Intention To Implementation, Claire Lévy-Vroelant

Journal of Law and Social Policy

The goal of this essay is to examine the implementation of housing rights in France. Legislation adopted in March 2007 opened the possibility of an enforceable right, which can be asserted before a court. However, it also created new inequalities before the law. Indeed, the conditions required to access that right exclude people who do not have permanent residence or a valid temporary resident permit. The implementation of this right is also limited due to the lack of available housing, especially at Ile-de-France, and to competition between people with priority entitlements. The horrible fire at a furnished Parisian hotel in …


Do Us Proud: Poor Women Claiming Adjudicative Space At Cesr, Emily Paradis Jan 2015

Do Us Proud: Poor Women Claiming Adjudicative Space At Cesr, Emily Paradis

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Claiming Our Rights was a feminist participatory action research project based at Sistering, a Toronto drop-in for women facing homelessness. At weekly meetings over the course of eighteen months, members learned about social and economic rights, gave testimony on their lived experiences, and undertook actions to claim their rights. Among other initiatives, the group—which members named FORWARD—contributed a report on women’s homelessness to the 2006 review of Canada by the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. This paper draws upon observations of the group’s process and in-depth interviews with participants to assess this human rights education methodology. …


Community Campaigns For The Right To Housing: Lessons From The R2h Coalition Of Ontario, Yutaka Dirks Jan 2015

Community Campaigns For The Right To Housing: Lessons From The R2h Coalition Of Ontario, Yutaka Dirks

Journal of Law and Social Policy

This paper describes the history of the Right to Housing (R2H) Coalition of Ontario and the role of the Advocacy Centre for Tenants Ontario (ACTO) within the Coalition. The R2H Coalition provided support to the applicants in the Right to Housing Charter Challenge. The Coalition also engaged in a variety of educational and community organizing activities in support of the right to housing and the creation of a federally funded affordable housing strategy. This paper, based on the author’s personal experiences within the R2H Coalition, examines how the adoption of community organizing principles could strengthen campaigns for systemic social change, …


Catherine Lennon's Story: Lessons From Front Line Advocacy On The Human Right To Housing, Rob Robinson Jan 2015

Catherine Lennon's Story: Lessons From Front Line Advocacy On The Human Right To Housing, Rob Robinson

Journal of Law and Social Policy

Discusses the United States housing crisis, where four and a half million families were foreclosed on between 2008 and 2013. Families who lacked universal or adequate health insurance, found the physical pain and suffering of a loved one was soon followed by the economic pain and suffering associated with the high costs of health care. The human reality of this suffering is reflected by the story of New York state resident Catherine Lennon. Ensuring the pay out to Bank of America was the law firm of Steven J. Baum, the notorious New York based foreclosure mill, which has since been …