Suchergebnisse

Abstract: Who is responsible for the protection of human rights in Kosovo?Human rights are central in the international community's missions in Kosovo. Moreover, Kosovo's 2008 Constitution lists eight directly applicable human rights instruments, along with detailed instructions on how they are to be interpreted in line with developments at the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR). And yet, human rights protection is lacking in the region. Potential violations attributable to the local authorities can be adjudicated, but only through the national courts, which raises questions of independence and impartiality. Meanwhile, NATO's Kosovo Force (KFOR) and the European Union's Rule of Law Programme (EULEX) enjoy immunity against prosecution by the domestic courts while still wielding some executive and judicial power. EULEX has an internal human rights panel, modelled on the less-than-successful panel established to hold the UN's Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) accountable, while KFOR has no similar judicial body. This article maps which options individuals have for addressing human rights violations in Kosovo and where the system still has its weaknesses. Additionally, it traces how the jurisdictions have changed in the past 15 years and proposes a way forward to fill the lacunae that remains.

Abstract: Security and Vulnerability After Armenia's Velvet Revolution: Elite Perceptions on Gender Equality, Human Rights and Conflict ResolutionThe Velvet Revolution in spring 2018 and the snap elections that followed in December 2018 shook Armenia. This article examines the country's new political elite and other central social elites, and their affective and evaluative beliefs with respect to human security, drawing on an elite survey conducted in 2017 and 2019, complemented by in-depth interviews. The aim is to shed light on whether Armenia's elite-level political culture is headed for progressive change concerning the rights of disadvantaged groups, primarily women and sexual minorities – an expectation among the young and educated in Yerevan. This study finds that, as regards reducing vulnerability and increasing the security and freedom of choice for those traditionally disadvantaged in Armenian society, the values and judgments of the new elites have remained basically traditional.