bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Artificial Intelligence and Religious Freedom
Authors: Jeroen Temperman
Published: June 2024

Artificial intelligence’s dynamics with religious freedom are particularly salient on account of the forum internum, that is, the freedom to have beliefs, including the very belief in deep artificial intelligence (AI). This chapter applies human rights law’s (HRL) triple obligations to the emerging area of ‘religion and AI’. Beliefs in deep or comprehensive forms of AI are robustly protected by international law and the state has a duty to respect any such beliefs. When it comes to the manifestation of AI-based beliefs, notably fraudulent ones or beliefs otherwise potentially affecting the rights and freedoms of others, the state may intervene subject to strictly regulated conditions. Certain AI technologies are likely to foster religious practices, including religious studies and dissemination activities—areas where the state’s main duty is to refrain from interference. Since AI technologies are for a large part developed by the private sector, the duty to protect is increasingly engaging the state’s due diligence obligation, and regulation and measures are in order to ensure people are not discriminated against based on their religion or belief and to prevent undue interferences with religious practices and rituals. AI-oriented fulfilment of religious freedom, it is suggested, is largely constrained to informational advances; since religious autonomy will typically stand in the way of other inroads.
Artificial Intelligence and Freedom of Expression
Authors: Giovanni De Gregorio , Pietro Dunn
Published: June 2024

The spread of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies has led to opportunities and challenges for freedom of expression. Even if AI can empower the sharing of ideas and improve access to diverse information, the implementation of these technologies by public and private actors still raises questions about the protection of freedom of expression as a human right. This chapter offers an insight into the main issues raised by the use of AI in the context of freedom of expression and highlights the role and responsibilities of state and business actors.
Artificial Intelligence and Freedom of Assembly
Authors: Margaret Warthon
Published: June 2024

In their efforts to fulfil their positive obligations concerning the right to freedom of assembly, public authorities have turned to Artificial Intelligence (AI) technologies, with biometric systems becoming the primary means of identifying and tracking assemblies troublemakers. While this is true, the indiscriminate, biased and opaque nature of biometrics also have the potential to deter protesters from exercising their right to assembly. This chapter provides an overview of the implications of using biometrics on the right to freedom of assembly. It explores their promised capabilities, the practices behind their use, and the potential chilling effects they may have on protesters. Considering its long-established relevant case law on freedom of assembly rights generally, the chapter also discusses the approach of European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) on the nature and use of biometric data and surveillance practices within assemblies. Finally, a summary on effective safeguards in the context of assemblies is provided.
The Rights to Privacy and Data Protection and Facial Recognition Technology in the Global North
Authors: Natalia Menéndez González
Published: June 2024

Facial recognition technology (FRT) is a biometric data-driven technology with a great impact on fundamental rights. The development of artificial intelligence (AI)—more specifically deep learning (DL) techniques applied to computer vision—has taken FRT to another level in terms of accuracy and capabilities. The most obviously impacted rights, in the context of FRT as fuelled by facial images or biometric sensitive data, are privacy and data protection rights. Further, the fact that FRT is a contactless technology might cause difficulties in obtaining actual and free consent from data subjects. Not only FRT—but also its use, especially for mass surveillance purposes—affects other fundamental rights. This chapter, proposing an interpretation of the rights to privacy in general, and data protection in particular, as a corollary, an umbrella to other fundamental rights, will explore these additional impacts of FRT on human dignity, security, freedom of assembly and association, equality before the law and non-discrimination and the rights of the child. This chapter maps the global impact to demonstrate the actual reach of FRT’s threat to fundamental rights.
The Production of and Control over Data in the AI-Era
Authors: Bart van der Sloot
Published: June 2024

This chapter will describe the basic shifts in knowledge production in the last few decades. Next, the chapter outlines two basic strategies for privacy and data protection as engrained in law. It will discuss the two ideal models that have inspired the American and European regulatory regimes. The chapter will show that these two strategies are difficult to uphold vis-à-vis the new ways of knowledge production. Finally, it will argue that—in order to be viable in the twenty-first century—the privacy regime has to be fundamentally reconceptualised.
Artificial Intelligence Screening and the Right to Asylum
Authors: Dhruv Somayajula
Published: June 2024

This chapter examines the use of artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the context of refugee forecasting and screening at the border. Refugees have a right to asylum under international law, which offers a framework for fair treatment and non-refoulement of refugees. AI systems offer efficiency and capacity management, and AI has been widely adopted for predictive analytics, credibility tests, scoring and ranking algorithms, and migration management. However, deploying AI systems raises ethical and legal concerns in terms of inaccuracy, bias, and a lack of transparency or interpretability affecting refugee rights. The current lack of holistic regulation around the use of AI systems deployed to perform state functions perpetuates the harms caused by this deployment. To address these shortcomings, the chapter suggests policy reforms aimed at reducing harms faced by refugees emanating from the use of AI systems. The chapter also puts forward institutional policy proposals to address issues of inaccuracy and interpretability.
Artificial Intelligence and the Right to Housing
Authors: Caroline Compton , Jessie Hohmann
Published: June 2024

This chapter considers the implications of artificial intelligence (AI) for the right to housing. It argues that the intersections between AI and housing cover areas as wide as real estate finance and the (broader) finance and insurance industry; aspects of the built environment; to management and interventions at the level of the individual dweller such as control of thermostats and smart doorbells. While much of the literature on housing and AI focuses on ways that AI can negatively impact experiences of housing and home, this chapter also draws readers’ attention to AI as a means through which enjoyment of the right to housing can be advanced. The chapter defines the right to housing in international law, then explores the ways that AI technologies can have both positive and problematic applications in the field of housing. It is argued that human rights law (HRL) provides standards through which we can attempt to regulate such technologies and provide a framework of principles against which to evaluate them.
Artificial Intelligence and Consumer Protection Rights
Authors: Shu Li , Béatrice Schütte , Lotta Majewski
Published: June 2024

This chapter investigates the impact of using artificial intelligence (AI) systems in the business sector on consumers. In this regard, AI can be a double-edged sword. While it has the potential to improve consumer protection, it can also be detrimental to consumers’ fundamental rights. The analysis in this chapter not only explains with concrete examples how AI can be utilised to both improve consumer welfare and to manipulate consumers, raise safety concerns as well as amplify indirect discrimination; it also identifies the legal gaps in different jurisdictions when it comes to addressing how AI challenges fundamental rights. International human rights law (IHRL), while having endowed consumer protection with a status at least similar to that of a human right, reinforces consumer protection. What is more, concrete measures in line with protecting consumers’ fundamental rights are identified that serve to improve the transparency and fairness of AI.
Artificial Intelligence and the Right to a Healthy Environment
Authors: Alberto Quintavalla
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses how artificial intelligence (AI) interacts with the right to a healthy environment. It shows that AI technology plays a dual role in its relationship with the environment: while certain AI applications benefit environmental protection, others have adverse effects. These latter vary in form and scope. However, the most discernible problem of AI technology for the environment is the generation of a large amount of carbon emissions. After highlighting this profound impact, the chapter proceeds with an analysis of whether human-right-to-environment claims could be used to mitigate the negative effects of AI. The outcome is that although a right to a healthy environment can in principle improve the status quo, corporate actors would remain with no hard law human rights obligations.
Putting Private Sector Responsibility in the Mix
Authors: Isabel Ebert , Lisa Hsin
Published: June 2024

To date, neither companies nor states have yet developed a comprehensive and systematic understanding of the human rights impacts of artificial intelligence (AI), but it is clear that the impact of AI on human rights is transnational, which requires a principled but adaptable regime to meet the challenges of new technology in a rapidly changing landscape. This chapter explains that when the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (UNGPs) were adopted in 2011, they formally recognised corporate responsibilities for human rights and imposed an obligation on businesses to do no harm. The chapter sets out this framework and examines key domestic legislative developments in light of the UNGPs. The question how these standards apply to AI is considered, including specific challenges presented by business models and development processes. This chapter introduces the reader to how a human rights-centric approach relates to AI, especially the ‘human rights due diligence’ processes, as advanced by the UNGPs, which can encourage technology companies to adapt their AI operations to respect human rights.
Real-Life Experimentation with Artificial Intelligence
Authors: Elizaveta Gromova , Evert Stamhuis
Published: June 2024

This chapter aims at uncovering the conditions under which allowing experimentation with artificial intelligence (AI)-powered systems in predestined legal environments can be compatible with the requirements of human rights law (HRL). It follows a doctrinal methodology in analysing the legal status quo, with a focus on the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), with its force in European Union (EU) and non-EU states. As for the possibilities of AI sandboxing, the exceptions allowed under the Convention and on the preventive action obligations, developed by the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) are studied. The chapter makes the following recommendations for a legally resilient sandbox practice for AI systems: implementation of an appropriate risk strategy by applying one of the available human rights impact assessments; mandatory liability insurance on the side of the operator or warranty of indemnification from the state authority; a liquidity test to check if the experimenting company has enough assets to compensate in case of harm; and efficient mechanisms for quick and qualified resolution of the disputes arising from experimentation.
Destruction of Stockpiled Anti-Personnel Mines
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter notes the obligation to destroy stockpiled anti-personnel mines as indicated in the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention’s Article 4. It considers several methods of destruction possible, clarifying that the Convention does not stipulate the specifics of stockpile destruction. Additionally, all anti-personnel mines within a State’s jurisdiction or control must be destroyed within four years of becoming a party to the Convention. Unlike other disarmament treaties, the indicated four-year deadline for destruction cannot entertain any extension. The chapter also considers how both Greece and Ukraine still had longstanding, significant stockpiles of anti-personnel mines to destroy at the end of 2021.
International Cooperation and Assistance
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter explains the international cooperation and assistance indicated in Article 6 of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Although no primary obligation to assist mine victims was agreed upon in the text of the Convention, international assistance is to be provided for measures to support victims and for mine risk education. The provision supplements a State’s duties under international human rights law to promote the well-being of survivors within their jurisdiction. The chapter considers the duties to facilitate access to equipment and information and the right to seek and receive assistance. It mentions how international cooperation and assistance for mine action continued to be generously provided by donor States.
Review Conferences
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter focuses on Article 12 of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. It explains how the five-yearly Review Conferences of the Convention complement the annual Meetings of States Parties. The States Parties are empowered collectively to take the decision whether or not to grant an extension to the deadline under Article 5 according to a request by an affected State Party. The chapter details the convening of and interval between Review Conferences, while also referencing the history of the conferences held in Nairobi, Cartagena, Maputo, and Oslo. The date and location are yet to be determined for the Fifth Review Conference of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.
Signature
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter provides an overview of Article 15 of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. It also considers the negotiation of the provision and its subsequent consequences. Treaties are typically opened for signature by States, which are then subject to ratification in order to become a State Party. Under the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the signature of the Convention was possible for all States until it entered into force. The chapter explains that the act of signing a treaty has legal consequences under international law, unless and until a signatory declares that it does not intend to ratify the treaty in question.
Ratification, Acceptance, Approval or Accession
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter covers the ratification, acceptance, approval, or accession of treaties under Article 16 of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. It explains how treaties are typically signed and ratified by States in order to become a State Party. Under the Convention, signatories must ratify the Convention while non-signatories must accede to it. The chapter clarifies that accession to a treaty constitutes signature and ratification in a single act. It also elaborates on how an independent country that secedes from a State Party can choose to be bound by the Convention by ‘succeeding’ to it by means of a formal declaration.
Entry into Force
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter explores the implementation of Article 17 of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. It explains how the Convention needed forty ratifications to enter into force. Thus, the Convention only managed to enter into force in 1999 following the ratification by Burkina Faso. The chapter explains that a ratifying or acceding State was entitled to provisionally apply the core obligations of the Convention in its Article 1(1)(a) before the entry into force of the Convention as a whole. It then elaborates on how 119 more States became a party to the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention since its entry into force.
Provisional Application
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter explicates the provisional application indicated in Article 18 of the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention. Article 18 allowed any contracting State to provisionally apply the core obligations in Article 1(1) of the Convention until the Convention as a whole entered into force. Austria, Mauritius, South Africa, Sweden, and Switzerland provisionally applied the Convention before it entered into force. Each signatory State was already prohibited from using anti-personnel mines by virtue of its customary law duty to refrain from acts which would defeat the Convention’s object and purpose. The chapter mentions Chile, which ratified the Convention in 2001, declared upon ratification that it would provisionally apply the Convention.
Depositary
Authors: Casey-Maslen Stuart
Published: June 2024

This chapter notes that the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention’s Article 21 designates the Secretary-General of the United Nations as the Depositary of the Convention. The UN Secretary-General is the depositary of more than 550 treaties, which includes many of those that were negotiated outside UN auspices. Concerning the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention, the depositary receives all signatures, and instruments of ratification, accession, and declarations of succession. The chapter discusses how Vienna Convention delineates the habitual functions of a treaty depositary unless otherwise provided in the treaty. It mentions how the UN Secretary-General is also charged with administrative functions, such as organizing a fact-finding mission.
The UN Sustainable Development Goals
Authors: Ilias Bantekas , Francesco Seatzu
Published: June 2024

The UN Sustainable Development Goals: A Commentary constitutes an expert encyclopaedia on the subject matter that combines legal and policy analysis through critical lens. In its seventeen chapters the treatise offers a goal-by-goal and target-by-target analysis of the SDGs by reference to each goal’s travaux préparatoires, an exhaustive examination of their content, and a critique from an international law perspective. Normative and legal questions arising from the incorporation of the SDGs into the international economic, social, and environmental legal framework are addressed conclusively with argumentation being grounded in relevant treaties and soft law instruments as well as the jurisprudence of international courts and tribunals, and principles of international law on sustainable development. Importantly, however, the authors complement their legal analysis with empirical evidence from the most credible sources of datasets in order to provide a robust assessment of the SDGs’ implementation status. This volume constitutes an influential reference tool for practitioners and scholars in the fields of law, politics, economics, policy, and global governance gathering interdisciplinary scholarship and practice under one source in an authoritative manner.
‘Make Cities and Human Settlements Inclusive, Safe, Resilient, and Sustainable’
Authors: Hannah Birkenkötter
Published: June 2024

Sustainable Development Goal 11 aims to make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable. It occupies a special place amongst the SDGs as the only goal that concerns both an actor and a physical space. The chapter argues that cities and human settlements cannot claim legal subjectivity de lege lata in public international law but that they are legal subjects in today’s transnational legal ordering. SDG 11 is the result of decades of UN work in the field of human settlements and needs to be read in conjunction with the New Urban Agenda, which was adopted only one year after SDG 11. The commentary links SDG 11 as a whole and its individual targets to other goals and targets in the 2030 Agenda and to other international instruments. This includes human rights treaties, UN agendas such as the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction, and international environmental standards.
‘Protect, Restore and Promote Sustainable Use of Terrestrial Ecosystems, Sustainably Manage Forests, Combat Desertification, and Halt and Reverse Land Degradation and Halt Biodiversity Loss’
Authors: Frederic Perron-Welch , Jorge Cabrera Medaglia , Dario Piselli , Alexandra Goodman , Aleksandra Spasevski
Published: June 2024

The chapter constitutes a detailed commentary on Sustainable Development Goal 15, which aims at the protection of terrestrial ecosystems, the sustainable managements of forests, biodiversity loss and the combat of desertification. It starts with a thorough presentation of UN Summits and their outcomes that shaped eventually the Goal’s content before proceeding with the analysis of core aspects of the goal and its individual targets. The authors appraise critically the Goal’s developmental impact by looking at the international legal framework on biodiversity, protection of land, and desertification as well as by presenting examples of best practice demonstrating the implementation status of each of SDG 15’s targets.
‘Strengthen the Means of Implementation and Revitalize the Global Partnership for Sustainable Development’
Authors: Andreas Rechkemmer , Damilola Olawuyi
Published: June 2024

SDG 17 underscores the need for enhanced partnerships—globally, regionally, and nationally—on trade, investment, environment, public health, shared governance, and other issues in order to advance collective action on all of the SDGs. To some degree, SDG 17 reflects recent and novel theories and concepts of governance of global public goods and commons under twenty-first-century conditions and tries to make a difference in establishing a new and more just and effective basis for multilateral action. Despite this clear objective however, political and practical challenges to multi-stakeholder partnerships must be carefully understood and addressed at all levels in order to establish a new and effective equilibrium and momentum for global sustainable development action. This chapter discusses the scope and content of SDG 17. It highlights the preparatory works and context for its establishment and inclusion; the opportunities, risks, and barriers related to its implementation; and how such challenges may be overcome through innovative governance approaches.
Global Health Law
Authors: Sekalala Sharifah , Habibi Roojin
Published: June 2024

This chapter, “Global Health Law,” introduces the legal and policy frameworks that make up global health law. In a globalizing world, threats to public health increasingly transcend national frontiers and require cross-border coordination through international law. These frameworks encompass the legal institutions, processes, and instruments—both hard and soft law—that support global health and shape the vast landscape of state and non-state actors in disease prevention and health promotion. Global health law thus encompasses various forms of public international law, with these hard law instruments supported by soft law to advance public health. Soft law policies, while not legally binding, are authoritative through instruments such as resolutions, declarations, guidelines, protocols, and recommendations. Complementing hard law, soft law policies advance global health by providing normative clarification of treaties, setting standards, ensuring monitoring and accountability, and serving as precursors to hard law. While the traditional hard law approach employed international law to address public health challenges across national governments, this focus of international health law among states has given way to a far more expansive soft law framework among state and non-state actors in an expanding field of global health law.
Global Health Norms
Authors: Bueno de Mesquita Judith , Forman Lisa
Published: June 2024

This chapter, “Global Health Norms,” analyzes the normative frameworks that bring together actors in global health law and policy. These norms are being framed by international agreements between states and global policies among state and non-state actors, providing a foundation for structuring partnerships across global health actors. As the justification for global health initiatives, these ethical bases for social justice in global health frame global health governance, looking to normative frameworks for collective action, basic survival needs, global equity, and human rights. The United Nations (UN) system has specifically looked to human rights in providing legal norms for global health, framing health disparities as rights violations and codifying government obligations to realize rights. Drawing from an expanding “health and human rights” movement, the World Health Organization (WHO) has worked to incorporate human rights law in global health policy, beginning in the early years of the HIV/AIDS response and expanding to encompass a wide range of health challenges. Global governance now looks to mainstream human rights in global health, and a wide range of actors now incorporate notions of justice, equity, and rights as a basis to decolonize global health and bring together partnerships to advance health throughout the world.
Infectious Disease
Authors: Villarreal Pedro A , Tonti Lauren
Published: June 2024

This chapter, “Infectious Disease,” examines how global health law has evolved to combat the spread of infectious diseases, examining contemporary responses from HIV/AIDS to COVID-19. While scientists long posited that steady progress in controlling infectious disease would lead to the gradual decrease in the global burden of disease, a rapidly globalizing and interconnected world has fostered the rise and rapid spread of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases. At the same time, efforts to prevent the spread of disease can cause disruptions to international travel and trade, as well as potential violations of human rights. Global health law has become crucial in combating the spread of disease through a rules-based international response, with policymakers seeking to strengthen surveillance systems across states and establish disease control partnerships between international organizations, governmental agencies, and non-governmental organizations. Under the World Health Organization (WHO), states have sought to balance the need for disease prevention and individual protections in the 2005 revision of the International Health Regulations (IHR). Despite these legal advancements through WHO, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed numerous weaknesses in the IHR, and global health law and policy reforms will be necessary to identify, control, and prevent the cross-border spread of infectious disease.
Non-Communicable Disease
Authors: Magnusson Roger , Gostin Lawrence O
Published: June 2024

This chapter, “Non-Communicable Disease,” examines how non-communicable diseases (NCDs) are conceptualized and governed at the global level. In order to combat major non-communicable diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, diabetes, and chronic respiratory disease, global health partners must work together to reduce the individual behaviors that undermine health—including tobacco use, unhealthy diets, physical inactivity, and alcohol. However, NCDs are not an epidemic of unhealthy choices made by individuals acting in isolation but a predicable consequence of physical, economic, and social environments that undermine healthy lifestyles. Globalization has led to trade liberalization, opening up new markets in low- and middle-income countries to commercial determinants of health, making global health law and policy initiatives crucial to the NCD response. While the World Health Organization (WHO) adopted a legal framework to address tobacco under the 2003 Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), global governance of NCDs occurs largely through a mosaic of WHO soft law instruments—including global strategies, action plans, and other normative instruments—with the involvement of other UN agencies broadening the NCD agenda. Strengthened global governance, by aligning law and policy standards under WHO and the UN system, will be needed to turn the tide on NCDs.
Sustainable Development
Authors: Dagron Stéphanie , Hasselgård-Rowe Jennifer
Published: June 2024

This chapter, “Sustainable Development,” examines the rise of global health goals to facilitate sustainable development. It focuses on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (2030 Agenda), which establishes a comprehensive global policy framework for international development. In advancing sustainable development, the 2030 Agenda was developed as a follow-up to the Millennium Declaration, which had been announced at the turn of the century as a policy foundation to alleviate poverty and address inequalities under 8 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs). The 2030 Agenda builds on the MDGs to establish 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDG 3, which specifically seeks to promote good health and well-being. SDG 3 brings together thirteen targets aimed at improving health outcomes and strengthening state capacities to promote public health services and ensure universal health coverage. In addition to Goal 3, the SDGs include goals and targets aimed at addressing a wide range of interconnected determinants of health, including climate action, clean water and sanitation, energy access, hunger, and poverty. By shaping global development efforts, the implementation of the 2030 Agenda is establishing global health law norms and shaping global health governance.
Global Health Funding Agencies
Authors: Halabi Sam , Gostin Lawrence O
Published: June 2024

This chapter, “Global Health Funding Agencies,” introduces the ways in which actors have come together to create funding institutions to advance global health. Where states have come to see an imperative to work together with non-state actors to support low-income countries, these efforts to realize international assistance and cooperation have led to the establishment of new agencies to fund and distribute essential medicines and new immunizations globally. These new funding initiatives have focused on specific global health problems such as HIV/AIDS, vaccinations, tuberculosis, and malaria. Employing innovative governance models to fund such vertical health initiatives, these new organizations include both innovative methods of raising financing through taxes, philanthropic funding, and state assistance. Through novel institutional partnerships, they have also led to the development of new norms, as seen in the imperative for emergency funding amid health crises, human rights in global governance, and global solidarity for essential medicines. However, in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis, there are increasing questions about the sustainability of this model of global health funding, and it will be necessary to explore how global health law could secure the development of financing institutions to ensure that funding for essential needs is sustained, equitable, and redistributive.
Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights
Authors: Ahmed Aziza , McGovern Terry
Published: June 2024

This chapter, “Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights,” provides an overview of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) as they emerged from the 1979 Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW) and drove the creation of key international agreements under the 1994 Program of Action of the International Conference on Population and Development in Cairo and the 1995 Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action of the Fourth World Conference on Women. This evolution of international law to safeguard human rights has led to a paradigm shift in sexual and reproductive health—from a focus on population control, through maternal health, and onto reproductive health with greater respect for bodily autonomy and sexual rights. SRHR has now become formalized in human rights treaties and international agreements, institutionalized in the agendas of international organizations, and implemented in global governance to ensure sexual and reproductive health. Yet despite the progressive development of SRHR in global health law and policy, the SRHR agenda has faced recent obstacles from the rise of right-wing populism, leading to new opposition to feminist advancements and pushback against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) rights.
Introduction
Authors: Nowak Manfred , Birk Moritz , Monina Giuliana
Published: June 2024

This introductory chapter begins with a background on the phenomenon of torture, which is defined as a direct and deliberate attack on the core of the human personality and dignity. It then discusses the drafting history, entry into force, status of ratification, and content and significance of the Convention against Torture and its Optional Protocol. The Convention against Torture was adopted in 1984 as a specialized human rights treaty in response to the widespread and systematic practice of torture in Latin America and other regions of the world. The remainder of the chapter covers the rules of interpretation; and the reservations, declarations of interpretation, and denunciation of the Convention and Protocol.
Preamble
Authors: Nowak Manfred , Birk Moritz , Monina Giuliana
Published: June 2024

This chapter deals with the Preamble of Convention against Torture, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Like most other international human rights treaties, the Convention against Torture contain an extensive preamble. It places the obligations of States parties contained in the Convention in the context of the principles proclaimed in the Charter of the United Nations, and it emphasizes the natural-law origins of human rights. The text, as proposed in the original Swedish draft of 1980, was unanimously adopted with only a few changes suggested during the drafting in the Working Group of the Commission on Human Rights. The preamble reiterates the absolute prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, as contained in Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Article 7 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and expresses the desire ‘to make more effective the struggle against Torture’ and cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment.
Principle of Non-Refoulement
Authors: Ammer Margit , Schuechner Andrea
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 3 of the Convention against Torture, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Article 3 prohibits refoulement, which codifies an important principle of general international law and a norm of customary international law. According to this principle a State violates the absolute prohibition of torture not only if its own authorities subject a person to torture, but also if its authorities send a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that the person would be in danger of being subjected to torture. The Committee's task is to determine whether the expulsion, return, or extradition would violate the returning State party's obligation under Article 3 — and not whether the applicant's rights under the Convention against Torture have been violated by the receiving State.
The Convention as a Basis for Extradition
Authors: Schmidt Roland
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 8 of the Convention against Torture, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Article 8 seeks to remove, as far as possible, legal obstacles to extradition. It establishes an obligation to treat torture as an extraditable offence in bilateral or multilateral extradition treaties between State parties, and an obligation to recognize torture as an extraditable offence in domestic law. In addition, Article 8 authorizes State parties to consider the Convention as a legal basis for extradition and establishes a legal presumption of equality between the principles of territoriality and nationality.
Mutual Judicial Assistance
Authors: Schmidt Roland
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 9 of the Convention against Torture, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Articles 4 to 9 aim at avoiding safe havens for torturers by requiring State parties to criminalize torture (Article 4) and to establish different types of jurisdiction for the criminal offence of torture, including universal jurisdiction on the basis of the principle aut dedere aut judicare (Articles 5(2) and 7), as well as by obliging the forum State, i.e. any State party on the territory of which a suspected torturer is present, to take him or her into custody, carry out a preliminary inquiry of the facts and to proceed either to prosecution or extradition (Articles 6 and 7). These principle obligations are facilitated by requiring State parties to afford each other the greatest measure of mutual judicial assistance (Article 9).
Training of Personnel
Authors: Monina Giuliana
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 10 of the Convention against Torture, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Articles 10 to 13 contain the most important provisions for the prevention of torture and other forms of ill-treatment. Article 10 requires each State party to ensure that education and information regarding the prohibition against torture are fully included in the training of law enforcement personnel, civil or military, medical personnel, public officials, and other persons who may be involved in the custody, interrogation, or treatment of any individual subjected to any form of arrest, detention or imprisonment. Each State party shall include this prohibition in the rules or instructions issued in regard to the duties and functions of any such persons.
Committee against Torture
Authors: Monina Giuliana
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 17 of the Convention against Torture, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Article 17 sets out the requirements for a Committee against Torture. Among them are that the Committee shall consist of ten experts of high moral standing and recognized competence in the field of human rights, who shall serve in their personal capacity. The experts shall be elected by the States Parties, consideration being given to equitable geographical distribution and to the usefulness of the participation of some persons having legal experience. Elections of the members of the Committee shall be held at biennial meetings of States Parties convened by the Secretary-General of the United Nations. The members of the Committee shall be elected for a term of four years. They shall be eligible for re-election if renominated.
Annual Report
Authors: Monina Giuliana
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 24 of the Convention against Torture, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. The article states that the Committee shall submit an annual report on its activities under this Convention to the States Parties and to the General Assembly of the United Nations. The Convention against Torture Committee is, together with the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance, the only treaty monitoring body which, pursuant to Article 24 of the Convention against Torture, shall report directly to the States parties and the General Assembly. The annual reports of the Convention against Torture Committee are published as Supplements to the Official Records of the General Assemby and are at the same time transmitted to all States parties to the Convention. In addition to organizational and procedural matters, the annual reports contain comprehensive chapters on the activities of the Committee under the State reporting, inquiry and individual complaints procedures.
System of Preventive Visits to Places of Detention
Authors: Krisper Stephanie
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 1 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Article 1 of the Optional Protocol defines the objective of the Protocol by highlighting its main features: First, the Optional Protocol creates a two-pillar system by visits being carried out by both international and national mechanisms. Second, the obligation of States parties to permit regular visits to places of detention is established. Third, the Optional Protocol is based on the principle of cooperation between the State party, the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and the national preventive mechanisms. Fourth, prevention of torture and other ill-treatment is defined as the aim of the visits.
National Preventive Mechanism
Authors: Krisper Stephanie
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 3 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Article 3 of the Optional Protocol introduces the national visiting body of the Optional Protocol's two-pillar system by obliging the States parties to set up, designate, or maintain one or more domestic visiting bodies for the pevention of torture and other ill-treatment, referred to as a national preventive mechanism. This obligation is the innovative feature distinguishing the Optional Protocol from its regional counterpart, the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Nomination of Subcommittee Members
Authors: Buchinger Kerstin
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 6 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. The members of the subsidiary body of the Convention against Torture Committee (SPT) are nominated and elected exclusively by States parties to the Optional Protocol, rather than by the Committee itself. In establishing such a system, the drafters wished to underline the extent to which the SPT is, in practice, independent from the Convention against Torture Committee. The right of States parties to nominate candidates and the procedure of elections at a meeting of States parties are similar to other UN human rights treaties.
Election of the Subcommittee
Authors: Buchinger Kerstin
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 7 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. The members of the Subcommittee on Prevention (SPT), despite its nature as a subsidiary body of the Convention against Torture Committee, are nominated and directly elected by the States parties to the OP without any involvement of its parental body. This was not uncontroversial during the drafting of the Optional Protocol. However, ultimately the delegates of States prevailed who argued that the usual procedure of nominating and electing UN human rights treaty-monitoring bodies should also be followed with regard to the case of the SPT.
Mandate of the Subcommittee
Authors: Buchinger Kerstin
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 11 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. Article 11 defines the core preventive mandate of the Subcommittee on Prevention (SPT) as follows: conducting country missions and preventive visits to places of detention; advising and assisting States parties and national preventive mechanisms; and cooperating with relevant international, regional and national organizations and institutions in the field of torture prevention. The competences of the SPT and the corresponding obligations of States parties in relation to country missions are further defined in Articles 12 to 16 of the Optional Protocol, while the respective provisions for national preventive mechanisms are set out in Articles 17 to 23.
Reports of the Subcommittee
Authors: Buchinger Kerstin
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 16 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. After every country mission, the Subcommittee on Prevention shall draw up a report, including its recommendations and observations to the State party concerned. Despite the fact that the principle of confidentiality laid down in Article 2(3) of the Optional Protocol constitutes one of the main principles of the Protocol, the drafters of Article 16 attempted to strike a fair balance between the principle of confidentiality and the need for transparency and publicity of its activities, taking into account the respective provisions of the European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.
Independence, Pluralism, and Efficiency of National Preventive Mechanisms
Authors: Krisper Stephanie
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 18 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. The role of national preventive mechanisms within the universal system of torture prevention is of special significance, especially as the novelty of the whole system ‘lies in requiring states to utilize such mechanisms in combating torture as a matter of international legal obligation’. Article 18(4) of the Optional Protocol explicitly refers to the Principles relating to the status of national institutions for the promotion and protection of human rights (Paris Principles) that States shall only give ‘due consideration’ to when establishing national preventive mechanisms. Hence, the provisions of Article 18 are interpreted in light of the travaux préparatoires and the Paris Principles.
Mandate and Power of National Preventive Mechanisms
Authors: Krisper Stephanie
Published: June 2024

This chapter discusses Article 19 of the Optional Protocol to the Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment, covering the chronology of draft texts, analysis of Working Group discussions, and issues of interpretation. The mandate and power of national preventive mechanisms, as defined in Article 19, must be read together with the corresponding obligations of States parties under Articles 17, 18, and 20 to 23 of the Optional Protocol. The main function of national preventive mechanisms is to conduct regular visits to all places of detention in their respective country, to examine the conditions of detention therein and the treatment of detainees with a view to strengthening their protection against torture and ill-treatment. The purpose of visits to places of detention is threefold: preventive, fact-finding and as a means of cooperating with the government concerned. Whereas Art. 1 of the Optional Protocol stresses the preventive function of visits to places of detention as the overall objective of the Protocol, Article 19 concentrates more on the fact-finding task of national preventive mechanisms.