Book Review: ‘Het heeft onze aandacht’: Nederland en de rechten van de mens in Oost-Europa en Joegoslavië, 1972–1989 = ‘We pay attention to these matters’: the Netherlands and human rights in Eastern Europe and Yugoslavia, 1972–1989
| Published date | 01 September 2001 |
| Date | 01 September 2001 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/092405190101900311 |
| Subject Matter | Book Review |
Documentation
exclusively) the countries
ofthe
North which have the most legislation against the practice
of
FGM
-clearly directed at immigrant populations - a fact which throws up one
of
the
classic dilemmas
of
human rights work: should one fight for rights seen as universal and
fundamental-
in this case the bodily integrity
of
women
-overriding
the cultural or religious
beliefs
of
minority groups? Finding asolution to this problem is the second aim
of
this book.
The authors suggest an answer through the actual implementation
of
human rights treaties,
treaties which the vast majority
of
countries have signed up to. They examine these treaties
in detail and then look at how FGM violates these rights for women: specifically freedom
from gender discrimination and violence, the right to health and the rights
of
children. They
concludewith recommendations for action by governments, the internationalcommunity, and
non-governmental organisations.
'Het heeft onze aandacht ': Nederland en de rechten van de mens in Oost-Europa en
Joegoslavie, 1972-1989 ='We
pay
attention to these matters' :the Netherlands and human
rights in Eastern Europeand Yugoslavia, 1972-1989/Floribert Baudet. -Amsterdam: Boom,
200
l.
-
340
p.
ISBN:
905352
673 0
This Ph.D. thesis traces the origins
of
the Netherlands' commitment to human rights and
explores the way this basic commitment was implemented in actual policy toward Eastern
Europe and Yugoslavia during the last phase
of
the Cold War, the framework
of
which had
been shaped by the CSCE process that came into being after 1972. What was the motivation
behind its policy and what goals did the Netherlands hope to achieve by promoting human
rights?
Hierarchy in international law: the human rights dimension /Ian D. Seiderman, -
Antwerpen: Intersentia, 2001. - xiii, 335 p. - (School
of
Human Rights Research series; no.
9)
ISBN: 90-5095-165-1
Humanrights are purported in the standard pronouncementsto be indivisible, interdependent,
and interrelated, and, by implication, normatively equal. However, an appraisal
of
the
variable priorities accorded to such rights and to humanitarian norms in international law
calls into question this unitary paradigm and suggests that a more hierarchical ordering may
obtain among norms. While most States have
now
accepted awide ranging corpus
of
legal
obligations in the human rights and humanitarian areas, they and the other major
governmental and non-governmental international players have signaled that the strength
of
those obligations
may
vary according to the value attached to the corresponding norm. This
Ph.D. thesis surveys the development and evaluates the effectiveness
of
six normative
categories
of
international law, each
of
which carry implications for human rights hierarchy:
jus
cogens (peremptory norms), non-derogable human rights, obligations erga omnes,
international State responsibility, international crimes
of
individual responsibility and the
international tort in United States domestic jurisprudence. The author concludes that
jus
cogens
may
be emerging as the doctrinal crown in a quasi-constitutional international order
and that certain substantive norms, such as those comprising contemporary international
criminal law and several civil and political rights,
may
already have achieved the grade as
peremptory norms. The challenge for human rights proponents will be to seize the
opportunity to raise further the standing
of
human rights in international law and to expand
the
jus
cogens roster with seemingly excluded important human rights norms.
371
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