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Iryna Bogdanova (ed.): Unilateral Sanctions in International Law and the Enforcement of Human Rights: The Impact of the Principle of Common Concern of Humankind
- Edited by Philip Czech, Universität Salzburg, Lisa Heschl, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria, Karin Lukas, Central European University, Budapest, Manfred Nowak, Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Gerd Oberleitner, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria
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- Book:
- European Yearbook on Human Rights 2023
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 04 April 2024
- Print publication:
- 30 November 2023, pp 685-688
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Summary
In contemporary times, the discourse surrounding sanctions has gained substantial prominence and attracted considerable attention. Particularly in the wake of Russia's illegal invasions of Ukraine, in 2014 and 2022, the legality and efficacy of sanctions have become subjects of intense scrutiny. It is within this context (though not yet addressing Russia's 2022 aggression) that Iryna Bogdanova's monograph emerges, offering a comprehensive analysis of unilateral economic sanctions in international law.
The book is structured into three parts and encompasses five substantive chapters, along with an introduction and conclusion. The monograph primarily revolves around the legality of unilateral economic sanctions (Part 1) and places special emphasis on sanctions imposed to redress severe human rights violations (Part 2). The third part, shorter than the previous sections, explores the doctrine of the common concern of humankind. This doctrine recognises that certain challenges possess the capacity to jeopardise international stability, peace and welfare, thus transcending national borders as shared issues of humankind. Bogdanova examines the potential contribution of this doctrine, which entails a number of normative obligations, to enhancing international human rights protection. She particularly explores whether it can provide a basis for legitimising unilateral human rights sanctions.
At the core of Bogdanova's argument lies the contention that the legality of unilateral economic sanctions remains a subject of controversy in international law, even when aimed at remedying serious human rights violations. However, she posits that the doctrine of the common concern of humankind presents a promising framework for legitimising unilateral human rights sanctions.
The monograph defines unilateral economic sanctions as ‘restrictive economic measures imposed by an individual state against another state and/or its government officials and bodies, legal entities and foreign nationals, in pursuance of political objectives and without any prior authorisation from an international or regional organisation’ (pp.5, 60). Consequently, the book does not cover sanctions imposed by the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) or autonomous sanctions adopted by the European Union (EU). Additionally, it does not address the unilateral measures states undertake to implement UN sanctions. Bogdanova thus subscribes to a broad notion of the term ‘sanction’. Nevertheless, she acknowledges the ongoing debate regarding whether the concept denotes only restrictive measures authorised by international organisations in accordance with their constituent documents.
Sören Stapel: Regional Organizations and Democracy, Human Rights,and the Rule of Law: The African Union, Organization of AmericanStates, and the diffusion of Institutions
- Edited by Philip Czech, Universität Salzburg, Lisa Heschl, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria, Karin Lukas, Ludwig Boltzmann Institut für Menschenrechte, Austria, Manfred Nowak, Global Campus of Human Rights, Venice and Universität für angewandte Kunst Wien, Gerd Oberleitner, Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz, Austria
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- Book:
- European Yearbook on Human Rights 2022
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 20 April 2023
- Print publication:
- 30 November 2022, pp 785-788
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Summary
Cham, Palgrave Macmillan, 2022, 349 pages, € 109.99 (Hardcover)
Stapel’s book examines why regional organisations create ‘regional institutions’, and how such institutions are implemented. Regional institutions are ‘sets of rules and standards that govern the behaviour of states’ within or of a regional organisation [3]. The book focuses on regional institutions that promote and protect democracy, human rights, and the rule of law. According to Stapel, of the 73 regional organisations in the world, more than 40 had adopted at least one of the three fundamental governance standards by 2020 [5,7], and only about 20 have not yet adopted any of these three standards. This monograph discusses the adoption and design of these regional institutions, but without addressing their effects and effectiveness [4]. The adoption and design of democracy, the rule of law, and human rights institutions in regional organisations depend, pursuant to the central argument of the book, on two different factors that affect each other: demands and diffusion [11 et seq]. On the one hand, these fundamental governance standards are fleshed out according to the interests of the Member States in pursuing their distinct objectives (‘demands’). And, on the other hand, regional organisations will model their institutions after those already existing in other regional organisations (‘diffusion’). In the analysis, Stapel employs a mixed methods approach [cf. 15 et seq]. He fi rst analyses data collected in two so-called ‘GTRO-data sets’ (acronym undefi ned) that he developed [90 et seq], before empirically testing the interplay between demand and diffusion. The analysis is complemented by two case studies that examine, in detail, the governance standards of the Organization of American States (OAS), on the one hand [201 et seq], and the African Union (AU) and its predecessor, the Organization of African Unity (OAU), on the other [237 et seq]. The selection of these two case studies already suggests that the book follows a different path to comparable works in the field.
Hannah Russel (ed.): The Use of Force and Article 2 of the ECHR in Light of European Conflicts
- Edited by Philip Czech, Lisa Heschl, Karin Lukas, Manfred Nowak, Gerd Oberleitner
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- Book:
- European Yearbook on Human Rights 2020
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 11 February 2021
- Print publication:
- 01 December 2020, pp 643-646
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Summary
While the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR, the Convention) and its main guardian, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court), have been in operation since 1953 and 1959, respectively, it was only in 1995 that a ruling in McCann and others v the United Kingdom on Article 2 of the Convention – encompassing the right to life – was handed down. In this landmark case, the Court ruled that the aforementioned article is one of the ‘most fundamental provisions in the Convention’. One could hardly agree more with this ruling since, as a matter of fact, the ‘existence and the adherence’ to the right to life is indispensable, especially as without this right, ‘any enjoyment of other rights is impossible’ (p. 12). Also, when Article 2 of the ECHR is violated inasmuch as life is taken away, it is impossible to reverse the wrong that was done (ibid).
The remarks above already demonstrate the particular importance of the right to life and the need for an extensive treatise of the Convention's Article 2. The volume at hand, which evolved from Hannah Russel's PhD, was released as Volume 81 in the Series Modern Studies in European Law and focuses on the greatest threat to the right to life, namely, the use of force. The work addresses many issues and developments of the right to life since the McCann case and investigates how it can be better protected in Europe. In so doing, Russel draws from the experience of four European conflicts – the Basque, Chechen and Turkish-Kurdish conflict as well as the Northern Ireland Troubles – which are invoked to illustrate the point. It is primarily during conflicts that the right to life is ofter disregarded and under great threat, which is why Russel draws important findings from these conflicts for the analysis of Article 2 of the Convention. The four case studies are perfectly apt to draw from and their analysis enriches the volume.
The main feature of Russel's book, however, is the proposed guidelines, set out in the volume's appendix, which are based on the Convention's wording and its corresponding case law.
Jeroen Temperman, T. Jeremy Gunn and Malcolm Evans (eds.): The European Court of Human Rights and the Freedom of Religion or Belief – The 25 years since Kokkinakis
- from PART VII - BOOK REVIEWS
- Edited by Philip Czech, Lisa Heschl, Karin Lukas, Manfred Nowak, Gerd Oberleitner
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- Book:
- European Yearbook on Human Rights 2019
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 24 January 2020
- Print publication:
- 31 October 2019, pp 579-582
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During these times, Article 9 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR, the Convention) arguably is the most contentious provision the judges of the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) have to deal with. The collection of Temperman, Gunn and Evans joins the ranks of books on Article 9 and identifies the following reasons for the recently increased number of applications concerning the freedom of religion or belief: on the one hand, migration is the main driver for a growing religious diversity, and on the other hand, both, the increasing popularity of innovative ‘religious movements and “spiritualties”’ as well as the rising importance of secularism and the ‘undeniable process of “unchurching”’ cause more and more applications (pp. 369ff.).
Yet it seems that the ECtHR can hardly satisfy the very different expectations of believers as opposed to secularists or of members of majority religions as opposed to followers of minority religions (p. 370). Each decision concerning Article 9 is therefore thoroughly reviewed, widely discussed and broadly criticised, rendering the said topic highly emotional and polarising.
Nonetheless, the book determines that such a development in the context of freedom of religion or belief was anything but predictable and anticipated, especially in light of the lack of any decision on Article 9 between the Court's establishment in 1959 and 1993, when the ECtHR issued its first ruling squarely invoking the said article in the Kokkinakis v Greece case.
It is this case – which is often considered as the ‘turning point’ in the history of Article 9 – that serves as the ‘focus point’ of this collection, thus giving the compendium a clear structure (p. 13). The book is divided into four parts with a total of 19 separate chapters of renowned contributors. Part one depicts the Pre- and Post-Kokkinakis era in two chapters, respectively addressing the main challenges of the said periods. This part reveals, for instance, that before Kokkinakis, cases concerning ‘corporal punishment’ in public schools (imposed against the beliefs of the parents of the punished child), at that time mostly dealt with under Article 2 of Protocol No. 1, were prevalent, while nowadays it is ‘curriculum’ cases – with the parents either being religious or secular and oppose either compulsory sex education or religious education classes – that are brought before the Court (p. 14).
Stijn Smet and Eva Brems (eds.): When Human Rights Clash at the European Court of Human Rights – Conflict or Harmony?
- from Part VI - Book Reviews
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- By Christina Seewald, universities of Vienna and Geneva
- Christian Strohal, Stefan Kieber
- Edited by Wolfgang Benedek, Philip Czech, Lisa Heschl, Karin Lukas, Manfred Nowak
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- Book:
- European Yearbook on Human Rights 2018
- Published by:
- Intersentia
- Published online:
- 31 January 2019
- Print publication:
- 31 October 2018, pp 607-608
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Some cases at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR, the Court) appear to be impossible to be justly resolved: Should the Court either deny maternity, by deciding to destruct the frozen embryos against the wishes of the woman who contributed her ovum, or force paternity against the will of the applicant‘s former partner? The ECtHR dealt with this question in the Evans v The United Kingdom case, which entails a conflict between human rights, namely a ‘ conflict between the Article 8 rights of two private individuals ‘ (para. 73). Also, Ladele v The United Kingdom, Axel Springer AG v Germany and Fernández Martinez v Spain are just some additional examples of cases at the Court which encompass conflicts between Convention Rights. However, there is little literature covering possible human rights conflicts and the existing literature with its different approaches is widely scattered, making it difficult for practitioners to get a profound overview. The book When Human Rights Clash at the European Court of Human Rights: Conflict or Harmony?, composed of contributions by different renowned authors, with the editors Stijn Smet and Eva Brems leading the way, is a compelling compendium of various approaches to tackle not only the resolution of human rights conflicts but also the very possibility of their existence. The book is divided into two parts, with the first part (pp. 23) setting out different theoretical approaches and the second part (pp. 75) resolving the four cases, mentioned at the beginning of this review, which form the ‘ analytical backbone ‘ of the book (p. 2). While some might criticise that this work is a mere collection of separate papers by different contributors, it must be emphasised that it is a coherent whole with the four cases running like a common thread through all the separate chapters. In the second part of the book, each of the four cases is discussed in two chapters from a different angle by two authors, which leaves the reader the impression of a comprehensive resolution of the human rights conflict each case entails.