International human rights and national legislatures - Conflict or balance?

Nordic Journal of International Law

Volumn 75, Issue 1, 2006, Pages 3-28

  Koch, Ida Elisabeth ^a   Vedsted Hansen, Jens ^b  

^a Danish Institute for Human Rights   (Denmark)

^b AARHUS UNIVERSITY   (Denmark)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 68249158305     PISSN: 09027351     EISSN: 15718107     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1163/157181006778530858     Document Type: Article

References (24)

1. See the Final Report Makt og demokrati. Sluttrapport fra Makt-og demokratiutredningen, NOU 2003:19, in particular Chapter 6, and the governmental follow-up report Makt og demokrati, St.meld. nr. 17 (2004-2005), Chapter 3.
2. See I. E. Koch et al., Menneskerettigheder og magtfordeling (Human rights and the division of powers) (Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Århus, 2004) with further references.
3. Cf. P. Lorenzen et al., Den Europæiske Menneskerettighedskonvention (ECHR Commentary), 2. Edition, Vol. 2, (DJØF Forlag, Copenhagen, 2004) p. 577.
4. For a slightly different approach, see J. Elo Rytter, Den Europæiske Menneskerettighedskonvention - og dansk ret (The ECHR - and Danish law), (Thomson, Copenhagen, 2003) pp. 59-60.
5. Cf. C. Ovey and R. C. A. White, Jacobs & White: European Convention on Human Rights, 3. Edition (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002) pp. 363-65.
6. Cf. I. E. Koch et al., Menneskerettigheder og magtfordeling (Human rights and the division of powers) (Aarhus Universitetsforlag, Århus, 2004)
7. and J. Vedsted-Hansen, 'Menneskerettigheder som politiseret ret eller retliggjort politik?', 36:1 Politica (2004), pp. 41-54.
8. See e.g., Makt og demokrati, St.meld. nr. 17 (2004-2005), Chapter 3, Section 3.7.4.
9. Preamble to the Constitution of the International Labour Organisation, 1919, para. 2.
10. See e.g., Government of the Republic of South Africa and Others v. Grootboom and others, CCT 11/00 of 4 October 2000 (Constitutional Court of South Africa) and Minister of Health and Others v. Treatment Action Campaign and Others, CCT 8/02 of 5 July 2002 (Constitutional Court of South Africa), S. Liebenberg, 'The Protection of Economic, and Social Rights in Domestic Legal Systems', in A. Eide et al. (eds.), Economic, Social and Cultural Rights - A Textbook, 2nd Edition, (Kluwer Law International, The Hague, 2001) p. 55 et seq.
11. and M. Scheinin, 'Protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in Finland - a Rights-Based Variant of the Welfare State', in M. Scheinin (ed.), The Welfare State and Constitutionalism in the Nordic Countries (Nordic Council of Ministers, Copenhagen, 2001) p. 245 et seq.
12. A. Sen, 'The right not to be hungry', in P. Alston et al. (eds.), The Right to Food (Martinus Nijhoff, The Hague, 1984) p. 70.
13. The designation the integrated approach was originally introduced by Martin Scheinin, see M. Scheinin, 'Sociala rättigheter som mänskliga rättigheter', 75 Nordisk Administrativt Tidsskrift (1994) p. 181 ff.
14. and most recently 'Economic and Social Rights as Legal Rights', in A. Eide et al. (eds.), Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: A Textbook, 2nd Edition (Kluwer Law International, The Hague, 2001).
15. Paul Lemmens suggests that the Court has developed a "theory of legitimate expectations", cf. the Gaygusuz decision situated in the case law of the European Court of Human Rights, in S. Van den Bogaert (ed.), Social Security Nondiscrimination and Property (Maklu, Antwerpen, 1997) p. 28 ff.
16. S. Holmes and C. R. Sunstein, The Cost of Rights: Why Liberty Depends on Taxes (W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 1999) Chapter 1.
17. Terence Daintith has contributed to the discussion on the indivisibility of human rights by pointing out that virtually any type of right may bear upon the economic interest of individuals and groups. Thus, freedom of speech may be construed to protect commercial advertising; freedom of press and media necessarily provides economic guarantees to the owners of such media, and freedom of movement is an essential complement to a freedom to choose one's employment, cf. T. Daintith, 'The Constitutional Protection of Economic Rights', in 2:1 International Journal of Constitutional Law, (2004) p. 56 et seq.
18. The obligation to create institutional machinery essential to the realisation of rights is part of a quintuple human rights obligation, developed by H. J. Steiner and P. Alston in International Human Rights in Context, 2nd Edition (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2000) p. 182 et seq.
19. See e.g., I. E. Koch, 'Dichotomies, Trichotomies or Waves of Duties?', 5 Human Rights Law Review (2005) Issue 1, p. 81 ff.
20. One of the most recent publications bringing the discussions further is M. Sepúlveda, The Nature of the Obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (Intersentia, Antwerp, 2003).
21. See Council of Europe, Parliamentary Assembly Recommendation 1415(1999). Additional protocol to the European Convention on Human Rights concerning fundamental social rights.
22. See Council of Europe, Committee of Ministers, Recommendation No. R (2000) 3 to Member States on the right to the satisfaction of basic material needs of persons in situations of extreme hardship. In 2002 the Steering Committee for Human Rights (CDDH) decided to establish a Working Group with a view to enabling the CDDH on what further work should be done in this field, cf. 54th meeting of the CDDH (1-4 October 2002, see para. 28. (iii), CDDH (2002) 016. The group worked until 2005 at which time the CDDH, however, decided instead to appoint a special 'rapporteur' on issues relating to social rights, cf. 60th meeting of the CDDH (14-17 June 2005), CDDH (2005) 009.
23. Modern technology has provided us with valuable tools for taking this dialogue further, cf. e.g., , which includes a database of legal jurisprudence on economic, social and cultural rights.
24. A. Sachs, 'Social and Economic Rights: Can they be made Justiciable?' 53:4 Southern Methodist University Law Review (1999).