Human Rights Quarterly
Volume 38, Number 2, May 2016
http://muse.jhu.edu/issue/33495
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Articles
The Rights of Man and the Rights of the Man-Made: Corporations and Human Rights
Turkuler Isiksel
ABSTRACT:
The Citizens United and Hobby Lobby decisions of the US Supreme Court stoked the longstanding controversy over the court’s doctrine that corporations are persons entitled to certain constitutional rights on the same basis as citizens. It is less widely noted that, in some fields of international economic law, firms are increasingly considered not just legal persons but bearers of human rights. This article critically examines the incipient arrogation of human rights discourse in the context of international investment arbitration, where the claims of firms are often articulated and adjudicated with language and standards borrowed from human rights law. This development, which the article describes as the dehumanization of human rights, is part of a larger process whereby international economic institutions accord legal recognition and certain protections to private economic actors. The article traces the important implications of business corporations being considered as bearers of human rights for determining the proper scope and purpose of international human rights norms, and for conceptualizing their relationship to constitutional democracy.
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Chronicity and Pseudo Inheritance of Social Exclusion: Differences According to the Poverty of the Family of Origin Among Trash Pickers in León, Nicaragua
José Juan Vázquez, Sonia Panadero
ABSTRACT:
People living in extreme poverty or social exclusion mainly come from poor families, and their social difficulties tend to become chronic. This situation appears to be especially pronounced in countries with lower levels of development. This article analyzes different aspects of people (n = 99) who make their living collecting trash from dumps in León, Nicaragua, one of the countries with the lowest levels of development in Latin America. This group is difficult to access, heavily stigmatized, lives in chronic and extreme poverty and their families were also poor. The results show that the pickers in León whose families were poorest had the highest illiteracy rates, were poorest in health, had experienced more stressful life events, and had poorer future expectations. Negative health and life circumstances, low levels of education, and fatalism may lead to the pickers’ situations of social exclusion becoming chronic.
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Nepali Widows’ Access to Legal Entitlements: A Human Rights Issue
Pamela G. Poon, Kiely Houston, Abina Shrestha, Rajin Rayamajhi, Lily Thapa, Pamela J. Surkan
Abstract
Despite legal reforms, Nepali widows face barriers in exercising their property rights. This article provides a qualitative perspective on Nepali widows’ understanding of their rights and their ability to pursue legal entitlements due to widowhood. In-depth interviews and focus groups were conducted with seventy-six Nepali widows, four paralegals, and three key informants. They demonstrate that widows have limited success in exercising their property rights and seeking government benefits primarily because of a dominant patriarchal society, familial traditions, and bureaucratic restrictions. Nepali widows’ continued denial of property constitutes a human rights violation that Nepal’s new government should seek to redress.
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Forced Marriage, Slavery, and Plural Legal Systems: An African Example
Jody Sarich, Michele Olivier, Kevin Bales
Abstract
Slavery, long abolished under international law, left a devastating imprint on Africa. However, enslavement of women through forced marriages remains a common phenomenon in many African states. These African states share the common feature of legal pluralism where traditional legal systems continue to be observed alongside national laws in which slavery is outlawed. Where traditional practices condone the marriage of underage girls who are legally unable to consent, the questioning of age-old accepted forms of marriage can generate strong reactions. This article traces the position of forced and child marriages in international law, and investigates how legality becomes a moveable target when legal systems exist in parallel. Despite international and African Union conventions on slavery and human rights declaring that marriages not based on the full and free consent of both parties are considered a violation of human rights and a form of slavery, these practices persist. These instruments are assessed to gauge the level of conformity (or variance) of African state practice where forced marriages commonly occur. Importantly, the reasons behind noncompliance and the impact of legal pluralism are explored in African states where forced marriages commonly occur.