Suchergebnisse

The aim is to explore the protection that international human rights law offers to refugees, asylum-seekers, and the forcibly displaced. The ambition of the global rights framework is to guarantee a defined range of rights to all human beings, and thus move the basis for normative entitlement from exclusive reliance on national membership to a common humanity. This comprehensive and international perspective remains formally tied to states - acting individually or collectively - in terms of creation and implementation. The norms must find an entry point into the empirical world, and there must be clarity on responsibilities for practical delivery. It should remain unsurprising that the expectations raised by the normative reach of the law are frequently dashed in the complex and difficult human world of instrumental politics, power, and conflict. The intention here is to outline the international human rights law context, and indicate the value and limitations for the protection of refugees and asylum-seekers. A question is then raised about possible reform.

This article uses the example of Northern Ireland to illustrate how political mobilization may be deployed to challenge structural forms of inequality. The experience suggests that regulatory models can be designed for particular contexts to shape approaches that present challenges to dominant economic and political orthodoxies. The intention is not to overstate the significance of this specific transitional context but simply to highlight elements that might feature in any attempt to mobilize successfully around human rights and equality, and against aspects of neoliberal thinking.

This article examines the development of affirmative action and equality policies targeted at the two main ethno-national communities in Northern Ireland, as an example of 'contextualised equality'. The argument places particular weight on a politics of legal mobilisation. The article suggests that the ability to connect post-1998 reforms, in practical and symbolic ways, to overriding inter-communal narratives was often a determining factor in identifying those elements of the Good Friday Agreement which advanced, or were constructed as achievable. The argument has implications for understanding how equality debates will progress, and explaining why certain agendas appear to 'succeed' and others 'fail'.

This essay explores the connection between discourses of membership, and refugee and human rights law. The argument is that state practice is often anchored in conceptions of democracy that refugee advocates must challenge at a fundamental level. I am particularly interested in the idea of human security. In addition, it is suggested that although human rights law has an essential role to play, we should not neglect the importance of refugee law as a status-granting mechanism. In the end, specific problems in refugee law call for progressive reform. For example, the essay calls for serious engagement with the idea of international or regional regulatory mechanisms to monitor state practice in this area. Many of the ideas applied in domestic contexts, such as the Canadian, come from international discussions. These discussions are often removed from effective participation. If states now function—and construct policy—at this level, then why should we not strongly advocate the creation of systems of accountability that operate at this level also? ; Cet article explore la relation entre les discours sur l'appartenance et la loi sur le droit d'asile et les droits de l'homme. Le raisonnement utilisé est que la pratique des états est souvent ancrée dans des concepts de démocratie que les défenseurs du droit d'asile se doivent de remettre en question. Je fais cela en relation avec l'idée de la sécurité humaine. Additionellement, il est suggéré que bien que la loi sur les droits de l'homme ait un rôle essentiel à jouer, nous ne devrions pas négliger l'importance que la loi sur le droit d'asile a à jouer en tant que mécanisme octroyant un statut. En fin de compte, il faudra apporter des réformes progressives touchant aux problèmes spécifiques de la loi sur le droit d'asile. Par exemple, l'article réclame que soit examinée sérieusement l'idée de mécanismes régulateurs au niveau international ou régional pour faire le suivi de la pratique des états dans ce domaine. Un grand nombre d'idées appliquées dans un contexte local ...

This article examines the law and politics of asylum in Europe. The aim is to explore both the construction of 'Fortress Europe' and the resistance within Europe to the dominant policy response. Human rights law now plays an important part in the struggle to secure decent treatment for asylum seekers in Europe. Its use has exposed serious problems with existing refugee law and policy. In examining the law and politics of human rights this article suggests that dialogic models of law are useful. In particular they bring back into the picture those individuals and groups which make change happen in practice. This allows us to 'ground' the discourses of human rights and refugee law much more securely within concrete political struggles over the terms of asylum policy. At a time when human rights lawyers are becoming part of the international 'mainstream', this article suggests that we must be alive to the importance of dissident voices that remain on the margins.