Overførsel af fanger under væbnet konflikt
By Peter Vedel Kessing
Summary: The article discusses under what conditions states can transfer prisoners, who are under their authority and control, to another state when they are acting outside own territory in peacetime and in the context of an armed conflict.
Conditions for transfer under international humanitarian law and under international human rights law, including the European Convention on Human Rights and the UN Torture Convention, are discussed and the difference between the two set of standards are analyzed.
Finally, it is discussed to what extent states according to standards in humanitarian law and human rights law can rely on diplomatic assurances when they transfer prisoners to another stat extraterritorially.
It is concluded that human rights standards on extraterritorial transfer of prisoners in many situations can complement standards in international humanitarian law e.g. in relation to transfer of civilians in international armed conflicts and transfer of persons in non-international armed conflicts which is not regulated in international humanitarian law. It is further concluded that human rights conditions for transfer appears more restrictive than standards for transfer in international humanitarian law.
Keywords: Extraterritorial application of human rights instruments; transfer of prisoners in armed conflict; interrelationship between human rights and international humanitarian law; diplomatic assurances.
Human Rights and Territorial Claims: Transition from Unlawful Regimes in International Law
By Yaël Ronen
Abstract: The doctrinal debate on the relationship between territorial status on the one hand, and rights and obligations on the other, relies heavily on evidence from international practice. This article addresses this relationship in situations of transition from unlawful and non-recognized regimes. It examines the implications of non-recognition of status in these situations, and analyses the significance of land and citizenship in this context. The conclusions offered in the article are that human rights have had a significant role in ensuring that individuals do not become hostages to political and legal conundrums.
Keywords: human rights, non-recognition, property, land rights, citizenship, illegal regime.
Menneskelig sikkerhet og sentrale menneskerettighetsdebatter
By Tor Dahl-Eriksen
Abstract: The article discusses what the introduction of the concept ”human security” can provide to central human rights discussions. The concept is introduced as part of the widened security debate. A focus on the content of the concepts “human rights” and “human security” is followed by discussions about the role of the concepts on the national and the international arena. The last one is analysed through relevant theories of international politics (IP)/international relations (IR), in order to show different possible understandings.
Keywords: Extended security debate, human security, human rights, state-citizen relationship, confidence, international actors, sovereignty, relevant IP/IR-theories.
The Doubtful Descent of Human Rights from Stoicism
By Jan Edward Garrett
Abstract: It is often thought that the ancient Stoics significantly contributed to the origin of natural or human rights, but critical study of the evidence provides little support for thinking that the Stoics’ writing or conduct foreshadowed positions today associated with human rights. Comparison of Stoicism with contemporary human rights culture reveals sharp contrasts between them, making it unlikely that Stoicism contributed much to the latter’s emergence. Studies of the social function of Stoic philosophy in antiquity confirm this conclusion. Indeed, Stoicism provided a rationale not to engage in the sort of social justice activity encouraged by contemporary human rights thinking.
Keywords: Stoicism, human rights, human rights culture, law of nature, natural rights, ideological function.
The Eritrean-Ethiopian Peace Agreement: Exploring the Limits of Law
By Gro Nystuen and Kjetil Tronvoll
Abstract: This article analyses the Eritrean-Ethiopian Peace Agreement that was settled in Algiers in 2000 following a brutal war between the two countries. It points to the obvious shortcomings of the Peace Agreement (henceforth the Algiers Agreement), including the lack of a mechanism for solving implementation issues in case something went wrong, as demonstrated by the current deadlock. Moreover, it deals with the failure to address other important issues of normalisation between the two countries, such as economic, trade and migration issues, and the fact that the Algiers Agreement does little to avoid human displacement and refugee problems as a result of its implementation. The article also discusses key decisions by the two bodies established in the peace agreement; the Boundary Commission and the Claims Commission, with particular focus on the contested decision on demarcation of the border between the two counties. Furthermore, the article explores possible juridical and political strategies to break the current impasse between the two countries. Last but not least, it questions the lack of any reference in the Algiers Agreement to human rights and implicitly democratic political tools for, at least in a long term perspective, avoidance of the use of armed conflict to reach political goals.
Keywords: Peace agreements, human rights, war, arbitration mechanisms, Eritrean-Ethiopian Boundary Commission.