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You can search for books and e-books simultaneously through the Library catalogue, Explore, which is the principal tool for finding books, journals and other materials held in UCL libraries (whether in print or electronic format).
The print collection is located on the 1st floor of the UCL Main Library and is arranged by subject. The Human Rights classification scheme is an adaptation of that used by HURIDOCS (Human Rights Information and Documentation Systems International) and consists of the name of the collection, followed by a letter and number indicating the subject and the first three letters of the author's or editor's surname.
For example, Women, Gender, and Human Rights: a Global Perspective edited by Marjorie Agosín has the classmark HUMAN RIGHTS CG 400 AGO, which indicates that it's shelved in the Human Rights collection (HUMAN RIGHTS) in the women's rights section (CG 400).
E-books are catalogued individually and may be accessed directly through Explore. There's further information about finding, using and citing e-books in our e-books guide.
Arguing for a pro-democratic approach in authoritarian times, this book challenges the focus on age in identifying children in child rights. It argues that, even for the purposes of a benevolent rights regime, adopting a monist construction of child identity artificially separates the law from reality, potentially foreclosing children's democratic deliberative agency in self-identification. An essential feature of other human rights regimes is the scope for a claimant to argue one's identity, or foundationally 'I am a human being;' but such a contention is foreclosed when identification as a child is decided uniquely by reference to age. Drawing on Critical Race Theory's narrative method and inspired by W.E.B. DuBois' identity construction, Professor Grahn-Farley advocates a new theoretical understanding of the child and of child rights, cognisant of social interaction and democratic participation. This book will appeal to researchers in child and human rights, and to sociologists, legal theorists and activists.
Argues that a refined concept of culture can be used by American courts to better analyze cases that cover the sense of community. Supreme Court Justices frequently justify their opinions in terms of the traditions and customs of a community. Yet, the rights and interests of entities that fit neither with the state nor the individual are treated as fluid and subjective, often existing without clarity in the current legal framework. The Rights of Groups focuses on a series of specific examples to argue that a more refined concept of culture than has been employed by American courts could offer better ways to analyze a broad range of cases that employ the notion of community. Through an original reading of the Ninth Amendment, Lawrence Rosen illustrates how a constitutional consideration for group protections might be applied to decisions arising before the Supreme Court, including the decision to overturn Roe v. Wade. Similarly, in other chapters, Rosen shows how a revised theory of culture can change the concepts--including those of "community"--that courts currently apply, whether it is the application of indigenous concepts of value to revise the statutes governing intellectual property, the importance to native peoples that burial remains be returned to the group, the role a community can play in the responsibilities attendant on the prudent investor rule, the cultural organization of Western states' water resources, or the implementation of a new basis for group defamation suits. The book thus concludes with a call for a more sophisticated concept of culture that can sharpen our usage of the legitimate rights and interests of those entities that fit neither with the state nor the individual.
This collection is an essential supplement to the recent academic handbooks on children's rights studies and international children's rights law. Over the years, the international legal framework on children's rights has evolved into a complex system, which includes United Nations treaties and resolutions, regional human rights instruments, such as treaties, recommendations, resolutions, and guidelines, both of private and public international law. For students, researchers, and professionals, navigating this complex social and legal landscape can be challenging. A comprehensive and easily accessible overview of these legal sources is crucial for effectively understanding and promoting children's rights. Edited by leading experts in the field, this book is meticulously designed to provide exactly that, making it an invaluable resource for anyone dedicated to the protection and promotion of children's rights.
This thoroughly updated second edition presents a comprehensive legal perspective on the inherently interdisciplinary field of children's rights. Chapters provide an article-by-article analysis of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, including its Optional Protocols, as well as contextualised advice on the interpretation and implementation of its provisions. The Commentary critically engages with the Convention, exploring its position within the wider context of human rights law and other multidisciplinary fields such as the sociology of childhood. This second edition includes a revised introduction focusing on contemporary challenges and opportunities for children's rights, new material on children in conflict with the law and the individual complaints procedure, and updated discussions of recent case law in regional human rights systems. Drawing on global perspectives, this new edition is an invaluable resource for students and researchers in family law, human rights, public international law and the sociology of law. It will also be of great interest to practitioners and policymakers in children's services, education, social work, psychology and healthcare.
This book explores how international organizations have addressed the actual and potential human rights issues caused by AI technologies. Combining in-depth theoretical and doctrinal analysis with a pragmatic approach, it investigates vital questions on where accountability and responsibility for AI-related violations of human rights should lie. Expert contributors examine the evolution, strengths, weaknesses and loopholes of international guidelines and standard-setting initiatives for AI by the United Nations, Council of Europe and European Union. Chapters focus on key situations in which the use of AI raises human rights concerns, including AI-supported decision-making in healthcare, public administration and cases of asylum; the use of facial recognition software; and the creation of deepfakes. Ultimately, the book highlights the need to establish effective oversight systems and adaptable remedies to protect human rights as AI continues to develop. Demonstrating the significant implications of AI technology in all areas of human life, this book is a vital resource for academics and students of international human rights law and European law. It is also an important read for policymakers and professionals interested in data security and the utilization of AI-powered solutions.
While the Security Council has been mandating peacekeepers to protect civilians since 1999, there is still contention on its legal meaning. Even though the concept of 'protection' can seem self-evident, as the concept of 'protection' is borrowed language, each body of law will perceive 'protection' through a different lens. However, as the mandate creates a legal obligation on UN peace missions, a clear understanding of protection is fundamental to ensure performance and accountability.
This book aims to contribute to the global observance of the 75th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), 1948. It considers nature and development of international human rights law. It considers how human rights interact with other regimes such as intellectual property, foreign direct investment, corporate social responsibility, international environmental law, humanitarian law, refugee law, economic law, and criminal law. The book then presents human rights of vulnerable populations and sets out contemporary challenges and issues relating to human rights, such as globalisation, the effects of COVID-19, religion, nationality, and the implementation of economic, social, and cultural rights.
This vital book traverses the ongoing challenges faced by Indigenous peoples in the pursuit of their fundamental right to self-determination. Set against the backdrop of issues such as climate change, governance, space and data, it explores the intersection between Indigenous rights and land, territories and resources. Indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to the adverse effects of climate change, and Valmaine Toki outlines its critical impact on political and economic marginalization, loss of land and resources, and human rights violations and discrimination. She advocates for the meaningful inclusion of an Indigenous worldview within climate change approaches, governing bodies and a right to space. In the fast-changing world of artificial intelligence, Toki examines how Indigenous knowledge and data can be applied to ameliorate the adverse consequences of climate change, in doing so emphasizing the importance of Indigenous data sovereignty and governance. Thought-provoking and topical, this book is invaluable for students, scholars and policymakers involved in Indigenous rights, human rights law, climate change, and environmental governance and regulation.
This book unlocks the look, sound, smell, taste, and feel of justice for massive human rights abuses. Twenty-nine expert authors examine the dynamics of the five human senses in how atrocity is perceived, remembered, and condemned. This book is chockful of images. It serves up remarkably diverse content. It treks around the globe: from Pacific war crimes trials in the aftermath of the Second World War to Holocaust proceedings in contemporary Germany, France, and Israel; from absurd show trials in Communist Czechoslovakia to international courtrooms in Arusha, Phnom Penh, and The Hague. Readers embark on a journey that transcends myriad dimensions, including photographic representations of grandfatherly old torturers in Argentina, narco-trafficking in Mexico, colonialisation in India, disinformation and misinformation pixelated in cyberspace, environmental degradation in Cambodia, militarism in Northern Ireland, and civil rights activism in Atlanta. Sights, Sounds, and Sensibilities of Atrocity Prosecutions reimagines what an atrocity means, reconsiders what drives the manufacture of law, and reboots the role of courtrooms and other mechanisms in the pursuit of justice. It unveils how law translates sensory experience into its procedures and institutions, and how humanistic inputs shape perceptions of right and wrong. This book thereby offers a refreshing primer on the underappreciated role of aesthetics, time, and emotion in the world of law.
In 1969 Greece withdrew from the Council of Europe (CoE), following pressure exercised by various European countries, organisations, social movements and individuals in response to the brutal conduct of the military junta that had taken power by force on 21 April 1967. This volume brings together an international cast of noted historians, oral historians, political scientists, and legal scholars to investigate the perceptions, policies and roles of the key actors involved. These figures range from international organizations, states, and social movements to NGOs and individuals, critically demonstrating the extent of the legacy and long-term impact of the 'Greek Case' on international human rights. The 1969 'Greek Case' in the Council of Europe reveals how the pressure applied by the Council of Europe proved to be crucial for the international condemnation of the Colonels' regime, setting a precedent in international human rights cases for the significance of the collection of evidence on the use of torture.
Located approximately forty miles northwest of Philadelphia, the working-class borough of Pottstown does not immediately come to mind as an influential site of the Black freedom struggle. Yet this small town in Pennsylvania served as a significant hub of interracial civil rights activism with regional as well as national impact. In The Jim Crow North: The Struggle for Civil Rights in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, Matthew George Washington adds another interpretive perspective to historiography by using both the "freedom North" and the "long civil rights movement" theoretical models to frame the borough's unique history. Primary documents, including newspaper accounts, census records, oral histories, and correspondence present a vivid account of a rapidly changing town, from the dawn of its civil rights movement during World War II to the revitalization of its NAACP branch in the early 1950s and its activism throughout the 1960s. Placing special emphasis on the demographic nature of the movement, Washington explores how interracial collaboration among the working class made up the movement's critical base--and how, through it all, Black activists remained front and center. This critical examination of Pottstown illuminates the struggle for African American civil rights in one of the long-ignored urban spaces of the North, providing a rich and in-depth portrait of the Black freedom struggle of postwar America.
Blackstone's Guide to the Human Rights Act 1998 provides clear, concise coverage of the operation and application of the Human Rights Act 1998, including the development of human rights jurisprudence in the domestic courts and in Strasbourg. It also sets out the recent erosion of the universal applicability of the remedies in the Human Rights Act by the Illegal Migration Act 2023 and other recent changes to the statutory scheme such as the amendment to the limitation period for claims involving the armed forces. The Guide considers the case law of the European Court of Human Rights and the impact of Convention rights in landmark domestic judgments across a wide range of areas, including terrorism, privacy, discrimination, and criminal law. It explains the interpretive techniques employed by the courts to read legislation compatibly with Convention rights and the jurisdiction to declare legislation incompatible with Convention rights. Finally, the last chapter sets out how to make an application to the Strasbourg Court and sets out in detail how that court works. The new edition of this popular Guide considers the key developments since the publication of the previous edition 9 years ago. It sets out recent reviews of the Human Rights Act and puts the threats to the Act, especially the Bill of Rights, in the context of the recent history of human rights in the UK. It also considers significant developments in the law relating to the extra-territorial reach and applicability of the Convention under Article 1 ECHR, following Al Skeini, Georgia v Russia, Guzelyurtlu, Hanan and HF. The book contains an up to date copy of the Human Rights Act 1998, and the text of the rights in the European Convention on Human Rights which are now a central part of UK law.
In human rights adjudication, courts sometimes face issues that they lack the expertise or constitutional legitimacy to resolve. One way of dealing with such issues is to 'defer', or accord a margin of appreciation, to the judgments of public authorities. This raises two important questions: what devices courts should use to exercise deference, and how deference can be made more workable for judges and predictable for litigants. Combining in-depth conceptual analysis with practice in a broad range of jurisdictions, Deference in Human Rights Adjudication answers these questions. It introduces six devices for deference (namely, the burden of proof, standard of proof, standard of review, giving of weight, choice of interpretation, and choice of remedy), analyzes how courts should choose amongst them, and proposes techniques for rendering deference practicable. The book has two distinctive features. First, it engages with the jurisprudence of six common law jurisdictions that apply a structured proportionality test in rights adjudication, namely, Canada, Hong Kong, Ireland, Israel, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Second, it offers guidelines for judges who wish to apply its theoretical arguments. As such, Deference in Human Rights Adjudication will enable human rights adjudication to be more principled and in line with the rule of law and separation of powers. Insightful and pioneering, this book will be an important reference for researchers, teachers, and students of constitutional theory, comparative constitutional law, and human rights law around the world. It will also assist practitioners, judges, and policymakers who have to grapple with issues of deference in adjudication.
In 1960, consensual sodomy was a crime in every state in America. Fifty-five years later, the Supreme Court ruled that same-sex couples had the fundamental right to marry. In the span of two generations, American law underwent a dramatic transformation. Though the fight for marriage equality has received a considerable amount of attention from scholars and the media, it was only a small part of the more than half-century struggle for queer family rights. Family Matters uncovers these decades of advocacy, which reshaped the place of same-sex sexuality in American law and society - and ultimately made marriage equality possible. This book, however, is more than a history of queer rights. Marie-Amélie George reveals that national legal change resulted from shifts at the state and local levels, where the central figures were everyday people without legal training. Consequently, she offers a new way of understanding how minority groups were able to secure meaningful legal change.
At a time of intense polarisation about the value of human rights, this edited volume brings together leading scholars in international law and international human rights to reflect upon the present, the recent and distant past, and the future of human rights. Human Rights in Transition combines rich theoretical reflections with practice-informed observations about human rights and their potential futures. The book eschews the polarized and one-sided approach which can too easily dominate either side of the debate. Instead, drawing on deep learning and a range of engagements with human rights institutions, the authors develop a prognosis for contours of human rights law and politics, and its impacts, in the current conjuncture. The book charts new ways to consider human rights in the concrete areas of specific rights such as social and economic rights, institutional settings (the EU and the UN treaty bodies), and agendas, namely feminism and climate change. The results are a very rich set of essays which delve deeply into specific topics in human rights law and practice, and work outwards from a rigorous analysis of the past and present, to an argument about how to think about the future. Sensitive and thought-provoking, this book will fast become a defining volume on questions about the role of human rights in the past, present, and future and will remain valuable to anyone interested in understanding, diagnosing, and ultimately acting to help bring about, the possible futures of human rights.
Engaging critical human rights studies from an interdisciplinary arts and humanities perspective, Human Rights on the Move addresses a range of human rights violations in contemporary society, including the carceral systems that prevent movement, the gendered and racial restrictions placed on movement, the lack of access that assures movement only for those who have the ability to move, and the histories of movements such as settler colonialism. The approaches to human rights in this wide-ranging collection are also "on the move," emphasizing a nimble, cross-disciplinary approach that considers the intersection of politics, culture, and the arts. Contributing artists, activists, and scholars expose the fundamental paradox of human rights (namely that nation-states are violators and guarantors of rights) while also showing how people facing violence and persecution move with the hope of more livable and equitable futures. The assembled scholarly essays, interviews, and creative pieces demonstrate the importance of a more relational and contextual understanding of human rights--one that can destabilize current definitions and open space for new formulations.
Language is not neutral; it determines, and is determined, by perspective. This volume explores the role of an influential vocabulary of war, sanitised language, the language that seeks to clean up the appearance of events through euphemism, abstract words and opaque phrases. Critical discourse analysis of the language of recent military campaigns shows that the public authorities do not explain events as clearly as they might. Despite social, political and strategic incentives to use sanitised language, its use appears to undermine the democratic process and reduce public authorities' freedoms, possibly emboldening adversaries and turning away potential partners.
Business and Human Rights Law is a rapidly growing area of law, which has dramatically transformed many parts of international law. In this new volume in the Elements series, Robert McCorquodale explores how the responsibility for human rights abuses has transitioned from a purely state obligation to also being the responsibility of businesses. Business responsibility for human rights impacts have become subject both to legislation and to court decisions whenever their activities lead to human rights abuses anywhere in the world. This book shows the importance of the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights in these developments, and examines their influence on international, regional, and national law. It also analyses the changes on state obligations to protect human rights, on the corporate responsibility for human rights abuses, and on effective access to remedies for those adversely affected by business activities. Each of these shifts has consequences on core tenets of international law, such as sovereignty and jurisdiction, and has implications for crafting new international law in areas such as climate change and technology. Robert McCorquodale brings his decades of experience in scholarship and legal practice in business and human rights law, as well as his extensive engagement with businesses, governments, civil society, and international organisations, to bear on his understanding and analysis of this increasingly important field.
What is the status of Indigenous religious rights in the world today? Despite important legal advances in the protection of Indigenous religious beliefs and practices at the international and national levels, there are still many obstacles to the full implementation of these provisions. Using a unique large-scale comparative approach, this book aims to identify the fundamental issues that characterize the law of Indigenous religions in several countries, as well as certain avenues that may prove useful in state implementation of the provisions of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples regarding practice, promotion, transmission, protection, and access to spiritual heritage.
The twenty-first century is seeing a battle of ideas between different conceptions of governance: people-centred and party-centred. At the same time, scientific and technological developments are posing new challenges for human rights. This book identifies new dimensions in the international protection of human rights and makes the case for a new human rights diplomacy focusing on enlarging the area of common ground among governments and enhancing national human rights protection systems.
In this thoroughly revised second edition, editors Bård A. Andreassen, Claire Methven O'Brien and Hans-Otto Sano continue to advance current discussions on human rights research methodology, bringing together an array of leading scholars to offer instruction and guidance on different approaches to the subject area. Research Methods in Human Rights bridges the methodological deficit that is often compounded by the interdisciplinary nature of human rights research, providing an up-to-date assessment of the topic. New chapters include discussions of comparative human rights law, qualitative methods of data generation and analysis, methodological challenges facing human rights-based approaches, and the impact of new and emerging digital technologies. Crucially, the book effectively explores the complexities which arise when conducting human rights research at the crossroads of different academic disciplines, and puts forward an agenda for best practice. Offering a contemporary overview of this ever-evolving subject, this Research Handbook will be an excellent reference tool for academics, researchers and students in human rights, law and development, public international law and development studies. Given the recent prominence of human rights discourse at both national and international levels, this book will also be of great benefit to human rights practitioners and policy-makers.
Terrorism, Politics, and Human Rights Advocacy provides an insider-outsider analysis of the #BringBackOurGirls (#BBOG) movement. Formed through a coalition of elite women and middle-class allies to advocate for the rescue of over 200 high school girls from Chibok, Nigeria, who were kidnapped by Boko Haram in 2014, the movement is a global leader in the 'lives matter' advocacy and a new episode in African women-led rights movements. Based on data garnered from over 170 research participants, Oriola demonstrates how the #BBOG transformed the Chibok kidnapping into an international cause and a social problem in a sociological sense, inadvertently creating a social problem industry. The volume provides in-depth analyses of the organizational structure, decision-making, repertoire of protest, framing, internal dynamics, and divisions within the #BBOG. Far more than a social media phenomenon, the #BBOG deploys a hybridized communication process which seamlessly combines the time-space compression of social media with the relative fidelity and territoriality of traditional media. State repression against the #BBOG and response of movement actors are also articulated, and the outcomes and impact of the #BBOG explicated. The BBOG experience speaks to the texture of the African state and its military architecture, party politics, and challenges to human rights advocacy; the findings speak to peace and security in Africa, the war against terrorism in the Lake Chad Basin, perpetuation of social problems, and outcomes of social movements in the postcolony.
At specific moments in the history of Africa, Europe, and Latin America, each region decided to create supranational jurisdictions to protect human rights. These are, in chronological order, the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Court on Human and Peoples' Rights. While each has been the subject of important, dedicated monographs, no major study has analysed both the institutional and jurisprudential issues of all three regional systems. The 3 Regional Human Rights Courts in Context: Justice That Cannot Be Taken for Granted is the first book to offer a comprehensive comparison of the three systems. Rather than merely juxtaposing analogous features, the book considers how the three courts operate as parts of a greater, integrated whole. Similarities and differences between the courts are illuminated alongside historical, political, and sociological insights, in addition to the book's primary legal focus. Close analysis of the processes by which the courts came into being makes it clear that, regardless of distinct political, cultural, or other variances, states on each of the three continents have chafed against international supervision. The book also debunks the common belief that, after the Second World War, the thrust of human rights initiatives was so powerful that states no longer need to discuss them. Justice cannot be taken for granted--a position further supported by the book's analysis of how each court has evolved and how their rulings have been implemented.
Materials of relevance to the study of Human Rights can also be found in the following collections:
Materials relevant to the study of Human Rights can also be found in the following Library collections:
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