Converging or Diverging?How do we protect those who cannot exercise their rights? How do we make war have some element of humanity and ensure that civilians are not drawn into conflict? In a world of poverty, terrorism, and inequality, should the priority of governments and society be to ensure law, order, and food? When we are trying to understand these questions, Human Rights and Humanitarian Law as theories, norms and laws serve as tools to make people safer and freer. This brief paper will outline the common and contrasting elements of HR/IHL, trends of convergence and divergence, and the reasons why HR/IHL belong together in a journal.
More to come
HR / IHL defined
Human rights (HR) laws and norms set out negative and positive rights of individuals. There rights are guaranteed under a wide variety of treaties including the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), International Covenant of Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR). Treaties and customary law put obligations on states to guarantee the rights of individuals. International Humanitarian Law (IHL) sets out obligations on both individuals and states on how they act in war. Military theorists often call IHL the "Law of Armed Conflict". While focusing on the "humanitarian" we will not exclude military perspectives on IHL. On the contrary, the wider the perspectives the better the dialogue. Why a Human Rights & Humanitarian Law Journal?We conceive of HR and IHL broadly The vision of the Journal is to present the best analysis of the most pressing HR/IHL challenges in the world today. Our conception of these challenges bridges academic disciplines and areas of the law. We will publish articles topics that have an aspect touching on HR/IHL: from international criminal law, Aboriginal law, and international labour law to less traditional areas such as international development law, environmental law, and disability law. The key criteria will be whether the articles further the discourse of HR/IHL and suggest ways of understanding and protecting rights and freedoms. HR and IHL are convergingThere is evidence that the best way
New Conflicts and Crises Call For New Approaches
Faced with Canada’s diminishing compliance to human rights values and increasing human rights demands from the international community, Canada needs an international human rights and humanitarian law journal more than ever to promote further discourse on these subjects, monitor state compliance and identify government shortcomings in their human rights activities. The vision of a Canadian Journal is one that the Journal O |
