* with thanks to Nika Arevadze for preparing this post.
Issue 40(3) contains four articles and one book review.
Articles
Last On the List: The Protection of Sexual and Reproductive Health and Rights in Timor-Leste’s Transitional Justice Process – by Noemí Pérez Vásquez
The article explores the role of sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR) in transitional justice. The study is based on the case of Timor-Leste and, in particular, the findings from the trials and truth commission operating there. It reveals the barriers to women’s access to transitional justice mechanisms and draws on examples from other jurisdictions to emphasize the global nature of the issue.
Speaking the Unspeakable: Disclosures of Sexual and Gender-based Violence in Asylum Credibility Assessments – Charlotte Ludt, Margunn Bjørnholt & Birgitta Niklasson
The article investigates whether asylum bureaucrats in Norway enable the disclosure of sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) and how this may impact the assessment of credibility. The study, based on the analyses of public case summaries and 18 interviews, concludes that caseworkers’ use of coping mechanisms makes them reluctant to enable, or engage with, disclosures of SGBV, and that this may endanger human rights.
Indigenous Peoples on the Move: Intersectional Invisibility and the Quest for Pluriversal Human Rights for Indigenous Migrants from Venezuela in Brazil – Gabriela Mezzanotti & Alyssa Marie Kvalvaag
The article discusses the “Intersectional Invisibility” of Indigenous Peoples in migration. it explores the deficiencies in the current human rights system and calls for a shift towards pluriversal approaches.
The Ambivalent Status of Socio-Economic Rights in Human Rights-Based Approaches to Development – Padraig McAuliffe
The article looks at the ambivalent role of socio-economic rights (SER) in development. It finds that SERs are usually not judicially enforced but apply as “morally serious and politically compelling criteria”, in particular, as standards in donor, multilateral organisation, and NGO development policies.
Book review
The Inter American Court of Human Rights: The Legitimacy of International Courts and Tribunals by Natalia Zuniga – Juan-Pablo Perez-Leon-Acevedo
Issue 40(4) contains four articles and one book review.
Articles
The Universal Periodic Review: A Catalyst for Domestic Mobilisation – Michael Lane
The article explores the impact of the UN Universal Periodic Review (UPR) and argues that the domestic mobilisation theory is a better lens for understanding its successes compared to other theories and explanations. The study reveals, on the basis of the review of existing research, that the UPR has been a catalyst for mobilisation, providing leverage and an opportunity for dialogue between domestic actors and governments.
Successful Human Rights Implementation? Victims of Crime and the Swedish Example – Fanny Holm
The article critically challenges Sweden’s position as a model of successful implementation of international victims’ rights and argues that the position is due to the historical position given to victims of crime in the country rather than its effective fulfilment of commitments under its international obligations.
Litigating Climate Change before the Committee on the Rights of the Child in Sacchi v Argentina et al.: Breaking New Ground? – Yusra Suedi
The article analyses the case of Sacchi v Argentina et al. before the UNCRC Committee and its reception as a ‘historic ruling’. The article discusses this by examining the three admissibility criteria in the case: extraterritorial jurisdiction, victimhood, and the exhaustion of domestic remedies.
The Adverse Effect of Immigration Laws on a Migrant Child’s Right to Family Life: A Reminder of the South African Nandutu Case – Elvis Fokala
The article examines the judgement of Nandutu v the Minister of Home Affairs by the South African Constitutional Court through the lens of child rights-based approach, in particular, the principles of the rationality of the principle of best interests of the child and a child’s right to life.
Book reviews
Non-Governmental Organisations and the United Nations Human Rights System (by Fiona McGaughey, Routledge, 2021, 96 pp, £45 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-13836-009-9) – Therese Boje Mortensen
The Making of International Human Rights: The 1960s, Decolonization, and the Reconstruction of Global Values (by Steven LB Jensen, Cambridge University Press, 2017, xii + 326 pp, £23.99 (hardback), ISBN 978-1-10711216-2) – Alberto Rinaldi
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