As the major players in globalization, firms often operate in states where human rights may not be respected. Without direct intent, firms may be complicit in human rights violations. In 2008, John Ruggie, the UN Special Representative on business and human rights, developed a framework for...

Up to one quarter of the world’s population is estimated to be landless, including 200 million people living in rural areas. For many of these people, the condition of landlessness threatens the enjoyment of a number of fundamental human rights. Access to land is important for development and...

To what extent should or must a corporation contemplate international human rights law? Following a brief discussion of the increasing influence of transnational corporations and global business transactions, as well as the growth of the international human rights system, this Article uses the...

The 26 June 1987, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the “European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”, which entered eventually into force two years later. Being closely intertwined with the European Convention...

The January 2010 earthquake in Haiti created a major humanitarian crisis for all of Haiti’s population, not least for its children. The devastation resulting from any large scale natural disaster raises numerous children’s rights issues. Immediately following the Haiti earthquake, however,...

The recent events in the Middle East and North Africa have demonstrated the potential of online social media as a tool of political activism, as well as the counter-measures this has provoked from repressive regimes. This potential, and State responses so far, raise significant human rights...

Over the past decade the World Trade Organization (WTO) has increasingly become the whipping post of those that criticize globalization. There have been violent expressions of this critique on the streets of cities around the world. But the critique has also arisen in documents of respected...

This paper examines the recent violence in Nigeria following April 2011 elections as well as the violent political, ethnic and religious conflicts and unrests to date from a legal perspective. It discusses the culture of impunity prevalent in Nigeria due to the non apprehension of culprits and...

The article approaches human rights conceptually. In the first Chapter, the author defines and distinguishes fundamental rights and human rights. In the second Chapter, the author generally discusses the relations between human rights and democratic values. In the third Chapter are discussed the...

The right of self-determination has long been celebrated for bringing independence and self-government to oppressed groups, yet it remains a highly controversial norm of international law. From the breakup of the Austro-Hungarian and Ottoman Empires after World War I to the struggle of colonial...