Human Rights Law Commons^™

Table Of Contents: The Use Of Force, Human Rights, And General International Legal Issues

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

The Individual And International Law, Alona E. Evans

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

The Right Of The Individual To Know And Act Upon His Rights And Duties: Monitoring Groups And The Helsinki Final Act, Virginia A. Leary Professor Of Law,

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The provisions of the Helsinki Final Act relating to human rights stimulated a most extraordinary and probably unforeseen development the creation of ad hoc private citizen monitoring groups in signatory countries. No other international instrument on human rights has had a similar effect. The activities of these monitoring groups cannot be over emphasized. The phrase in Principle VII of the Final Act that the signatory states confirm the right of the individual to know and act upon his rights and duties constituted international recognition of the legitimacy of participation by private individuals in the monitoring of their own country's conformity …

The Place Of Helsinki On The Long Road To Human Rights, Vojin Dimitrijevic

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The ten principles enumerated in the Helsinki Final Act mark the beginning of a process that could improve relations among the signatory States. Such rapprochement would create a more favorable climate for fuller realization of human rights or values by every person living in their territories. In the other direction, Principles VI and VIII try to define the societal preconditions for amelioration of interstate relations. The term "progress" implies gradual development to be assessed at certain intervals. The assessment can hardly be unanimous; thus, the fact that government representatives in Belgrade parted without substantive agreement was not in itself a …

Human Rights And The Belgrade Meeting, Arthur J. Goldberg

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In September of 1977, President Carter asked me to take on responsibility for what is familiarly called CSCE--the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe. Like most Americans, I had previously thought of the CSCE in terms of the Helsinki Summit of 1975 when President Ford signed the document called the Final Act, a lengthy text, not a treaty, but an expression at the highest political level of the commitment of the 35 states of Europe and North America to respect certain principles of interstate behavior, to respect human rights, to build mutual confidence in the military sphere, and to …

The Csce Follow-Up Mechanism From Belgrade To Madrid, Dante B. Fascell

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The on-going nature of the Final Act has given the endeavor initiated at Helsinki the characteristics of an active process, one intended to grow and intensify as its commitments are fulfilled, and, in turn, expanded by the participating states. It is this sense of an on-going process which makes the Final Act unique among international documents. Unlike many treaties or other legally binding documents, the Final Act, which is non-binding, provided for a mechanism which allows periodic review of implementation progress in a series of multilateral forums. This review mechanism, in many respects, makes the issue of compliance, if not …

Introduction, William W. Bishop, Jr.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This issue of the Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law is a symposium devoted to human rights aspects of the Helsinki Final Act. The Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe was convened in Helsinki July 3, 1973. After sessions there and in Geneva, all European states, both Western and Eastern (except Albania), took part, as did also the United States and Canada. On August 1, 1975, the Final Act of the Conference was signed at Helsinki by thirty-five nations. Its provisions had been laboriously arrived at by consensus rather than by voting. Early pressures for such a conference had come …

Human Rights Bibliography, Igor L. Kavass

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It would be a mistake to assume that the concept of human rights as an ethical precept is an invention of recent origin. The shelves of libraries throughout the world are filled with books which either endeavor to define the inalienable rights of individuals or record the sad history of their constant and relentless abuse. Many of the world's greatest literary creations, from the Greek drama onward, chronicle man's cruelty to man. What is more effective in evoking a feeling of indignation about the perversity of human misery and suffering than the unforgettable books of writers with such culturally and …

Human Rights Research In Periodicals: A Bibliographic Note, Howard A. Hood

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Research on implementation of the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Accord must include examination of the periodical literature. Articles on this topic are not restricted to specific journals, however, but are scattered throughout the gamut of human rights and general interest publications--from scholarly reviews and esoteric newsletters to the most popular magazines and newspapers. Research on the Accord thus encounters difficulties common to the investigation of the broad topic of human rights. Many of the relevant periodicals are obscure, unindexed, hard to locate, and ephemeral. Because of the global character of human rights concerns, journals and newsletters dealing with them …

The Approach Of The Helsinki Declaration To Human Rights, Antonio Cassese

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The purpose of this paper is to outline briefly the basic attitude toward human rights evidenced in the Helsinki Declaration. By way of introduction, I shall describe summarily how perceptions of human rights have evolved in the United Nations since the adoption of the Charter in 1945. It is in this context that the novelty of the Helsinki exercise can be viewed and assessed.

There are many ways of analyzing and appraising United Nations action in the field of human rights over the years. This complex phenomenon can be divided into various stages, according to prevailing political philosophy. Three phases …

Human Rights And The Helsinki Conference On Security And Cooperation In Europe, Jacqueline P. Granier

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Preparatory talks for the Conference on Security and Cooperation in Europe began in November 1972, in Helsinki, Finland. This final product of seven months of discussions, known as the Blue Book, served as the procedural manual for the Conference when it officially opened in July 1973. It contains recommendations on various aspects of the Conference including organization, agenda, participation, rules of procedure and financial arrangements.

The organizational section provides that the Conference be divided into three working sessions designated Stages I, II, and III. Stage I was a ministerial level meeting designed to open the Conference and allow for the …

The Humanitarian Provisions Of The Helsinki Accord: A Critique Of Their Significance, Valery Chalidze

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It is no exaggeration to say that the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Accord have been recorded in the history of international relations by virtue of not so much their content as the strong public response they have elicited. This reaction is perhaps surprising, for the humanitarian provisions of the Helsinki Accord itself are very weak. If the convergence of East and West means loss by the West of its legal perspective on issues as fundamental as human rights, then I would not recommend such a convergence. Keeping in mind the development of such problems in the future, it would …

The Sunday Times Case: Freedom Of The Press And Contempt Of Court Under English Law And The European Human Rights Convention, Nathaniel L. Nathanson

Kentucky Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The International Legal Significance Of The Human Rights Provisions Of The Helsinki Final Act, Alexandre C. Kiss, Mary F. Dominick

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

It may be submitted that the Helsinki Final Act is not a treaty, nor is it similar to resolutions of international organizations. In light of the language used in the text and the signatories' public expressions of intent, the human rights provisions must be deemed to have the same legal nature as the other provisions. The document as a whole falls within a special category of international legal instruments not anticipated by traditional definitions of the sources of international law--that is, non-binding, but directive texts which produce limited legal effects. Its foundation is agreement on a common objective: detente. Its …

East European Perceptions Of The Helsinki Final Act And The Role Of Citizen Initiatives, Vratislav Pechota

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Human rights are articulable expressions of legal ideas that can be readily identified. The developments of the last thirty-five years have created a duality of sources from which fundamental rights of the individual derive. There are, on the one hand, national human rights. They derive from the constitution and the laws of each nation, from its traditions, values and other elements that make up what may be appropriately called the "national human rights culture." They are expressive of the specific needs of each society and indicate the purposes for which governments are created. They necessarily differ from one country to …

The Soviet Human Rights Doctrine In The Crossfire Between Dissidents At Home And Critics Abroad, F.J.M. Feldbruggge

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Political and foreign relations aspects, rather than justiciability and legal instrumentalities, have always been preponderant in So- viet human rights doctrine. It is widely admitted now, at least outside the Soviet Union, that the main purpose for the much- publicized inclusion of an extensive catalogue of basic rights in the 1936 Constitution of the USSR can only have been the crea- tion of a favorable impression upon the Western democracies.' One has to remember that this happened not only at a time when the victims of Stalinist terror were numbered in millions (making the constitutional pronouncements a lugubrious farce) but …

President Carter's Sermon On Human Rights In Foreign Policy, Charles Veenstra

Pro Rege

No abstract provided.

Are Human Rights Good For International Business , Anthony D'Amato

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

When I take up the Nuremberg cases in my class in International Law, I find it quite difficult to convey to the students how radical those proceedings appeared to be in 1947. At that time, the contention that there should be individual accountability under international law seemed to constitute an unfounded and dangerous precedent. How could political leaders be made personally responsible for acts of state such as instituting a war (even an "aggressive" war) or engaging in wholly internal policies (the "final solution" against Jews and other minorities of their own citizens)? Indeed, the Nuremberg result seemed somewhat unprincipled …

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, …

Books Received, C. C. S.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

APPLICABLE LAW IN INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION By Julian D. M. Lew. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications,1978. Pp. 633.

COMPARATIVE LAW YEARBOOK Issued by The Center for International Legal Studies Germantown, Maryland: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1979. Pp. 300.

CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL LAW: A CONCISE INTRODUCTION By Werner Levi Boulder, Colorado: The Westview Press, 1979. Pp.391.

DIRECT INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE U.S. By Raymond J. Waldman Washington, D.C.: Transnational Investments, 1979.Pp. 413.

ENHANCING GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS Edited by J. I. Dominguez and others New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979. Pp. 270.

THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF LAW By Laura Nader Menasha, Wisconsin: American Anthropological Association, …

Whither The Commission On Human Rights: A Report After The 35th Session, Gerson Smoger

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The statement that the Commission on Human Rights "functions as the focal point of the United Nation's concentration on the international observance of human rights" is fraught with definitional inconsistencies. Throughout its existence one of the main problems faced by the members of the Commission has been to agree upon the appropriate limits of the expression "human rights." The question arises whether the term includes the right of a retired school teacher to speak out against his country's employment practices or his entitlement to receive social security after his departure from the teaching force. If these are both considered to …

To Bring To An End The State Of War: The Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, John F. Murphy

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This article will describe and evaluate the Egyptian-Israeli Peace Treaty, and set it in historical and contemporary perspective in order to highlight some of the primary problems facing decision-makers in their deliberations on approaches to resolve the Arab-Israeli conflict in the Middle East. The article will then consider alternative courses of action available to the world community in light of principles of the United Nations Charter and of other sources of public international law and justice, political feasibility and the perceived interests of all parties to the conflict. Lastly, it will suggest new approaches to the problem, with a view …

The Right To Life, George P. Fletcher

Faculty Scholarship

In the theory of rights we repeatedly encounter the problem of reconciling someone's having a right with his properly suffering damage to the interest protected by the right. In the case of right to life, we have to assess numerous cases in which individuals are killed or allowed to die, and we wish nonetheless to affirm their right to life. These cases include killing an aggressor in self-defense, accidental homicide, terminating life-sustaining therapy, and capital punishment.

My program in this Article is to provide an account of how it is that those with a right to life may nonetheless be …

International Law And Control Of The Media: Terror, Repression And The Alternatives, Jordan J. Paust

Indiana Law Journal

Terrorism and the Media: Legal Responses, Symposium

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 …

Toward Freedom From Value, Richard Stith

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Torture And Other Forms Of Cruel And Unusual Punishment In International Law, Steven Ackerman

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Although historically legal interest in human rights has been the special province of scholars, recent worldwide economic realignment has educated the public to global interdependency, vindicating those who foresaw a nexus between human rights and the maintenance of world order. "[A]n interdependent global community cannot sustain itself. .if the coin of common exchange is genocide and discrimination." A pragmatic understanding of the relationship between the maintenance of world order and the protection of human rights suggests that tolerance and fulfillment of the world expectation of human rights may not be a goal that can be universally achieved. It is, however, …

Books Received, Law Review Staff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

HUMAN RIGHTS IN A ONE-PARTY STATE.

The International Commission of Jurists. London: Search Press, 1978. Pp. 133.

This work is a report of a seminar conducted by the international Commission of Jurists in Dar-es-Salaam, Tanzania in 1976. The topics discussed include the maintenance and furtherance of social and individual rights in the constitutional one-party systems which have developed in Eastern Africa since independence from colonial rule. Specific attention is focused on the experiences of Tanzania, Zambia, and Sudan.

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RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AT THE INTERNATIONAL LEVEL.

By Oran Young.

New York: Nichols Publishing Company, 1977. Pp. 252.$16.00.

The emphasis of this …

War Crimes Jurisdiction And Due Process: The Bangladesh Experience, Jordan J. Paust, Albert P. Blaustein

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Must any state that holds and controls prisoners either prosecute those accused of having committed serious violations of international law or extradite them to a state that will prosecute? Finally, would similar breaches of international law by India or Indian troops obviate any jurisdictional competence or duties of India or Bangladesh?

The questions seemed unusual, at least in view of the past practices of international tribunals of the United States in prosecutions of its nationals. Specific criminal applications of relevant international norms had been relatively sparse.' There were problems with the applicability of international norms to Bangladesh, especially during the …

Human Rights And World Public Order: Human Rights In Comprehensive Context, Myres S. Mcdougal, Harold D. Lasswell, Lung-Chu Chen

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.