This article explores how international human rights law has influenced relations between organized civil society and the State in Japan. More specifically, it analyzes whether global norms on human rights have had any broad influence on the role of civil society as a public actor, or on the...

The persistence of the debate opposing universality of human rights and cultural relativism explains that many problems met when implementing human rights in a non-Western country are given a "cultural" reason. Japan has been described for decades as being "unique" by sources both outside and...

Modern global food supply chains are characterized by extreme levels of concentration in the middle of those chains. This paper argues that such concentration leads to excessive buyer power, which harms the consumers and food producers at the ends of the supply chains. This paper argues that the...

In comparison to GATT law, WTO law is characterized by a notably expanded coverage. Since its inception in 1995, its material density and reach has been further extended. It was only a question of time until the demand would come up for this branch of law to fulfil objectives laying outside the...

The chapter explores the relationships between three fields of law: intellectual property rights, the right to food and farmers’ rights. While acknowledging that the World Trade Organization’s 1994 Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS) sets high standards...

The privatization of essential services such as water and electricity has raised a number of questions with respect to the role of the state and how these services should be regulated. An obligation to regulate from the perspective of human rights law may clash with the right to regulate within...

This chapter examines the historic and current policies and practices that have contributed to food insecurity in the global South. It analyzes the impact of international economic law on the patterns of trade and production that perpetuate food insecurity, and recommends concrete measures that...

The guiding principle of International Human Rights Law (IHRL) is “recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family,” otherwise known as universality. In order to ensure the universality of access to justice despite social...

In recent years, a number of international and cross-sectoral initiatives have attempted to respond to the human rights impacts of corporations. Foremost among these is the United Nations’ 2008 “Protect, Respect, and Remedy” Framework and its Guiding Principles on Business and Human...

Since the nexus between the regimes of human rights and international trade has been established, most of the views expressed on this subject are at extreme variance. On one side you have scholars who argue that the nexus between international trade and human rights is a positive one, and on the...