Access to Justice and Human Security

Access to Justice and Human Security PDF Author: Sindiso Mnisi Weeks
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1351669567
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 423

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Book Description
For most people in rural South Africa, traditional justice mechanisms provide the only feasible means of accessing any form of justice. These mechanisms are popularly associated with restorative justice, reconciliation and harmony in rural communities. Yet, this ethnographic study grounded in the political economy of rural South Africa reveals how historical conditions and contemporary pressures have strained these mechanisms’ ability to deliver the high normative ideals with which they are notionally linked. In places such as Msinga access to justice is made especially precarious by the reality that human insecurity – a composite of physical, social and material insecurity – is high for both ordinary people and the authorities who staff local justice forums; cooperation is low between traditional justice mechanisms and the criminal and social justice mechanisms the state is meant to provide; and competition from purportedly more effective ‘twilight institutions’, like vigilante associations, is rife. Further contradictions are presented by profoundly gendered social relations premised on delicate social trust that is closely monitored by one’s community and enforced through self-help measures like witchcraft accusations in a context in which violence is, culturally and practically, a highly plausible strategy for dispute management. These contextual considerations compel us to ask what justice we can reasonably speak of access to in such an insecure context and what solutions are viable under such volatile human conditions? The book concludes with a vision for access to justice in rural South Africa that takes seriously ordinary people’s circumstances and traditional authorities’ lived experiences as documented in this detailed study. The author proposes a cooperative governance model that would maximise the resources and capacity of both traditional and state justice apparatus for delivering the legal and social justice – namely, peace and protection from violence as well as mitigation of poverty and destitution – that rural people genuinely need.

The Viability of Human Security

The Viability of Human Security PDF Author: Monica den Boer
Publisher: Amsterdam University Press
ISBN: 9053567968
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
This volume elaborates on the EU report A Human Security Doctrine for Europe, adding an engaging discussion of international legal consequences and operational demands in the European Union’s quest for domestic security. Introducing the concept of “Human Security from Below,” the editors highlight how people in war-torn countries have no choice but to create their own security arrangements. But such structures, surprisingly, are not unique to war zones, the contributors reveal—human security initiatives from below occur in even the most stable Western countries. Arguing that human security as a concept only makes sense if it covers both foreign and domestic policy concerns, The Viability of Human Security offers concise insights on this largely neglected topic.

Access to International Justice

Access to International Justice PDF Author: Patrick Keyzer
Publisher: Routledge
ISBN: 1317661117
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 307

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Book Description
There is much debate about the scope of international law, its compatibility with individual state practice, its enforceability and the recent and limited degree to which it is institutionalized. This collection of essays seeks to address the issue of access to justice, the related element of domestic rule of law which does not yet figure significantly in debates about international rule of law. Even in cases in which laws are passed, institutions are present and key players are ethically committed to the rule of law, those whom the laws are intended to protect may be unable to secure protection. This is an issue in most domestic jurisdictions but also one which poses severe problems for international justice worldwide. The book will be of interest to academics and practitioners of international law, environmental law, transitional justice, international development, human rights, ethics, international relations and political theory.

Demanding Justice and Security

Demanding Justice and Security PDF Author: Rachel Sieder
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 0813587956
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 310

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Book Description
Across Latin America, indigenous women are organizing to challenge racial, gender, and class discrimination through the courts. Collectively, by engaging with various forms of law, they are forging new definitions of what justice and security mean within their own contexts and struggles. They have challenged racism and the exclusion of indigenous people in national reforms, but also have challenged ‘bad customs’ and gender ideologies that exclude women within their own communities. Featuring chapters on Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, Guatemala, and Mexico, the contributors to Demanding Justice and Security include both leading researchers and community activists. From Kichwa women in Ecuador lobbying for the inclusion of specific clauses in the national constitution that guarantee their rights to equality and protection within indigenous community law, to Me’phaa women from Guerrero, Mexico, battling to secure justice within the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for violations committed in the context of militarizing their home state, this book is a must-have for anyone who wants to understand the struggle of indigenous women in Latin America.

Access to Justice as a Human Right

Access to Justice as a Human Right PDF Author: Francesco Francioni
Publisher: OUP Oxford
ISBN: 0191018651
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
In international law, as in any other legal system, respect and protection of human rights can be guaranteed only by the availability of effective judicial remedies. When a right is violated or damage is caused, access to justice is of fundamental importance for the injured individual and it is an essential component of the rule of law. Yet, access to justice as a human right remains problematic in international law. First, because individual access to international justice remains exceptional and based on specific treaty arrangements, rather than on general principles of international law; second, because even when such right is guaranteed as a matter of treaty obligation, other norms or doctrines of international law may effectively impede its exercise, as in the case of sovereign immunity or non reviewability of UN Security Council measures directly affecting individuals. Further, even access to domestic legal remedies is suffering because of the constraints put by security threats, such as terrorism, on the full protection of freedom and human rights. This collection of essays offers seven distinct perspectives on the present status of access to justice: its development in customary international law, the stress put on it in times of emergency, its problematic exercise in the case of violations of the law of war, its application to torture victims, its development in the case law of the UN Human Rights Committee and of the European Court of Human Rights, its application to the emerging field of environmental justice, and finally access to justice as part of fundamental rights in European law.

Lynching and Local Justice

Lynching and Local Justice PDF Author: Danielle F. Jung
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1108888607
Category : Political Science
Languages : en
Pages : 99

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Book Description
What are the social and political consequences of poor state governance and low state legitimacy? Under what conditions does lynching – lethal, extralegal group violence to punish offenses to the community – become an acceptable practice? We argue lynching emerges when neither the state nor its challengers have a monopoly over legitimate authority. When authority is contested or ambiguous, mass punishment for transgressions can emerge that is public, brutal, and requires broad participation. Using new cross-national data, we demonstrate lynching is a persistent problem in dozens of countries over the last four decades. Drawing on original survey and interview data from Haiti and South Africa, we show how lynching emerges and becomes accepted. Specifically, support for lynching most likely occurs in one of three conditions: when states fail to provide governance, when non-state actors provide social services, or when neighbors must rely on self-help.

The Thin Justice of International Law

The Thin Justice of International Law PDF Author: Steven R. Ratner
Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA
ISBN: 0198704046
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 497

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Book Description
Offering a new interdisciplinary approach to global justice and integrating the insights of international relations and contemporary ethics, this book asks whether the core norms of international law are just by appraising them according to a standard of global justice grounded in the advancement of peace and protection of human rights.

Human Dignity and Human Security in Times of Terrorism

Human Dignity and Human Security in Times of Terrorism PDF Author: Christophe Paulussen
Publisher: Springer Nature
ISBN: 9462653550
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 373

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Book Description
In this book, it is explained that despite a current drop in the number of deaths, terrorism should still be considered a serious and widespread problem. However, the responses to this phenomenon are often more problematic from a long-term perspective. With the human rights framework under serious pressure, this edited volume offers a timely, important and critical in-depth analysis of human dignity and human security challenges in the lead-up, and in the responses, to current forms of terrorism. It aims to map how human dignity and human security can be secured and how law can constitute a source of trust at a time when Europe and the rest of the world continue to be plagued by terrorism. The authors are both established names and upcoming talent in this fastchanging and exciting field of law. They thoroughly analyse a variety of topical subjects, in more conceptual chapters—for example calling for the humanisation of the security discourse—and in highly practical contributions, in which for instance the Kafkaesque situation in which rendition and torture victim Abu Zubaydah still finds himself today is considered. This book, which focuses on, but is not limited to the situation in Western countries, aims to inspire not only academics—through further theorisation on the sometimes elusive but important concepts of human dignity and human security—but also practitioners working in the field of countering terrorism. It will hopefully convince them (even more) that following a human rights approach will be indispensable in securing human dignity and human security for all. Even—or in fact: especially—in times of terrorism. Christophe Paulussen is a Senior Researcher in the Research Department of the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague, The Netherlands and Martin Scheinin is Professor of International Law and Human Rights in the Department of Law of the European University Institute (EUI) in Florence, Italy.

Access to Justice in Iran

Access to Justice in Iran PDF Author: Sahar Maranlou
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
ISBN: 1107072603
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 277

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Book Description
A critical and in-depth analysis of access to justice from international and Islamic perspectives, with a specific focus on access by women.

Technology, Innovation and Access to Justice

Technology, Innovation and Access to Justice PDF Author: Siddharth Peter De Souza
Publisher: EUP
ISBN: 9781474473873
Category : Law
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
Around four billion people globally are unable to address their everyday legal problems and do not have the security, opportunity or protection to redress their grievances and injustices.