A Educação em Direitos Humanos é entendida, hoje, como um conjunto de processos de educação formal e não formal, orientados para a construção de uma cultura de respeito à dignidade humana, através da promoção e da vivência dos valores democráticos e republicanos, da liberdade, da justiça, da igualdade, da solidariedade, da cooperação, da tolerância e da paz. O objetivo principal desta pesquisa consiste em aprofundar o conhecimento sobre essa nova área de reflexão e de vivência no campo educacional que tem sido objeto de intervenções institucionais e do crescente interesse de dirigentes políticos, educadores, pesquisadores, militantes, entidades religiosas e organizações da sociedade civil ONGs. A partir da premissa sobre o vínculo inarredável entre democracia, Direitos Humanos e educação, trata-se de, com base no trabalho de levantamento e sistematização do que tem sido pensado e feito nesta área, provocar o debate e suscitar questões para a consolidação e o constante aperfeiçoamento do reconhecimento institucional e social de tais projetos, visando, igualmente, a melhoria das relações educacionais e sociais, na escola e fora dela. A dissertação apresenta uma abordagem histórica da educação em Direitos Humanos em nosso país, seus marcos normativos inclusive através dos planos governamentais - e experiências mais significativas. Apresenta também um balanço da produção brasileira sobre o tema, suas especificidades e regularidades. / The Human Rights Education is understood, today, as a process of formal and informal education, oriented for the construction of a culture of respect for the human being dignity, through the promotion of the democratic and republican values, of liberty, justice, equality, solidarity, cooperation, tolerance, and peace. The main goal of this research is to promote a deep understanding of this new area of reflection in the educational field, which has been the object of many institutional interventions and growing interest of politicians, educators, researchers, activity, religious entities and civil society organizations - NGOs. From the premise about the intrinsic bond between education, democracy and human rights, with the survey work and systematization of what has been thought and done in this area, this research wish to provoke the debate and bring new questions for the consolidation and the constant improvement of the institutional and social recognition of such project, aiming equally the improvement of social and educational relations at schools and outside. The dissertation shows an historical approach of education in Human Rights in our country, their normative milestones inclusive through governmental plans - and most significant experiences. It also shows a balance of brazilian production about this theme, their specificities and regularities.

Esta dissertação procurou identificar ações concretas que podem ser desenvolvidas para evitar torturas e violações de direitos humanos perpetrados por agentes da polícia no ato de investigação de crimes na província de Tete, em Moçambique. Através de entrevistas e questionários dirigidos aos agentes que compõem o sistema de administração da justiça – juízes, procuradores, membros da Liga Moçambicana dos Direitos Humanos, advogados do Instituto de Patrocínio e Assistência Jurídica e membros da Polícia de Moçambique – foi possível perceber as causas que levam os polícias a pautar pela tortura no ato da investigação criminal e identificar ações para evitá-la. A pesquisa revelou variadas causas que contribuem para que a polícia na Cidade de Tete cometa o crime de tortura durante a investigação de crimes: parte-se, pois, da má formação dos agentes policiais em matéria dos direitos humanos até a falta de uma lei própria que defina e criminalize a tortura em Moçambique, além da ausência de um advogado por parte do suspeito no momento do primeiro interrogatório policial e da fiscalização deficitária das celas da polícia e das penitenciárias por parte dos órgãos competentes (procuradores) para evitar casos de maus-tratos e/ou tratamentos desumanos nesses locais de detenção. Como recomendação, propõe-se a criação de uma lei própria e exclusiva que defina e incrimine a tortura; a presença obrigatória de um advogado durante o primeiro interrogatório policial – em caso de o indiciado não ter condições de contratar um advogado particular, que lhe seja garantido um defensor oficioso por parte do governo; a inspeção médica imediatamente após a detenção para apurar se o suspeito possui lesões corporais e, em caso afirmativo, a apuração das causas das lesões; revisões periódicas e formações sistemáticas de regras de interrogatórios, instruções, métodos e práticas aos agentes aplicadores das leis por parte do Estado; e a realização de visitas e inspeções regulares aos locais de detenção por um órgão independente que tenha poderes para ouvir queixas dos detidos de modo a obter informações sobre o tratamento policial. / This research aims to identify concrete actions that can be developed to prevent the violation of human rights and actions of torture performed by police officers on criminal investigation in the province of Tete, Mozambique. Interviews and questionnaires delivered to the agents responsible for the justice system, such as, judges, prosecutors, members of the Mozambican League of Human Rights, lawyers from the Institute for Legal Assistance and Representation, and police officers, have revealed why do police officers torture suspects under investigation, making it possible to identify actions that best prevent the violation of human rights in such cases. Among the causes that contribute for the police of the province of Tete, Mozambique, to commit the crime of torture during criminal investigation are: the poor instruction of police officers as far as Human Rights are concerned; the absence of a specific law to define and criminalize the practice of torture in the country; the absence of the attorney at the moment of the first police interrogation; and the lack of inspection in police cells and penitentiaries by relevant bodies (prosecutors) to prevent cases of abuse and ill-treatment in places of detention. As a recommendation, it is proposed: the creation of a separate and unique law to define, incriminate and apply an abstract criminal frame for the crime of torture; the mandatory presence of the attorney by the time of the first police interrogation (if the suspect is unable to get a private attorney on his own, then the government must ensure him a public defender); a physical exam right after the arrest so as to ascertain whether the suspect is injured (if so, the causes of the injury must be determined); regular systematic reviews and lectures on interrogation rules, instructions, methods and practices for laws agents; and regular visits and inspections in places of detention by an independent body that is empowered to hear complaints from prisoners in order to learn about police treatment.

Magister Commercii - Mcom (Political Studies) / While they have emerged as global ideals based on the recognition of liberty, dignity and universal rights to 'all individuals' within the global community, human rights have faced numerous criticism and scepticism from the Global South. This research paper argues that such scepticism has had negative impact on the drive for the protection and promotion of human rights and International Human Rights Law in global politics. Given such huge challenges, this research paper points out that, unless the global human rights discourse undergoes significant reform and shift, its Western-centric domination will result into more harm than good in the international community's agenda for human rights protection and promotion. Postcolonial Africa has been at the forefront of the debate on the power-political use of the notion. As such, it has been argued that human rights discourse has influenced relations and policies between the West and the Third World, especially Africa. In this relationship, human rights have been viewed as a strategic tool for powerful states in global politics, to use in their quest to legitimise the case for political change. Furthermore, human rights have also been employed by governments seeking to justify their interference in the domestic affairs of other states, especially the West in the case of postcolonial Africa. It has therefore emerged that the human rights rhetoric/ discourse has been understood by postcolonial Africa as serving to establish a powerful perspective relating to the present and past collective experiences of injustice, exclusion and domination within global politics. Here, the global human rights regimes and Africa seem to be at a crossroads regarding the role of human rights in international politics.

Made available in DSpace on 2014-06-11T19:31:06Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 0 Previous issue date: 2013-04-03Bitstream added on 2014-06-13T19:20:04Z : No. of bitstreams: 1 gasparoto_al_dr_mar.pdf: 558358 bytes, checksum: ca0360fc9ba1705edfb9aebda579abeb (MD5) / Esta pesquisa teve como objetivo verificar a aplicabilidade do princípio da primazia da norma mais favorável ao indivíduo nas sentenças e opiniões consultivas proferidas pelas Cortes Européia e Interamericana de Direitos Humanos. Esta investigação foi feita por meio de uma análise da aplicação do princípio pro homine, nos tribunais europeu e interamericano dos direitos humanos, sob os pontos de vista da doutrina, jurisprudência e opiniões consultivas emitidas pela Corte Interamericana de Direitos Humanos e pelo Tribunal Europeu de Direitos Humanos. / This research aimed to investigate the employ of the principle of the primacy of the most favorable rule to the individual during the judgments and advisory opinions given for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and European Court of Human Rights. The analysis was done evaluating the application of the pro homine principle in the referred courts about the doctrine jurisprudence and advisory opinions given for the Inter-American and European Courts of Human Rights.

This dissertation analyzes how transnational feminist advocacy and ideas about gender shaped modern human rights doctrines that remain central to this day. After World War II, United Nations delegates drafted and adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR). During this process, international feminist activists disagreed about how to incorporate women's long-standing rights claims into the emerging human rights framework. Fiery interwar debates about laws and standards that regulated female labor persisted, prompting influential U.S. feminists to oppose the inclusion of gender-specific rights. To challenge U.S. opposition, key delegates to the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) forged an unofficial coalition. Despite the fact that these CSW delegates held competing ideas about gender and represented distinct national governments, they collectively crafted a significant but little-known women's human rights agenda and lobbied UDHR drafters to adopt it. Their proposals not only included political and civil rights, but also promoted particular economic and social rights for women as a group. They maintained, for instance, that child care and maternity leave should be obligations of the state. Indeed, the CSW insisted that recognition of their women's human rights agenda was essential to building a socially-just postwar order. While Anglo-American women dominated interwar NGOs, the CSW showcased myriad international voices and won critical allies among liberal and conservative UN delegations by linking the advance of women's human rights to notions of modernity and democracy. As a result, the CSW made substantial political and civil rights gains, such as the guarantee of equal rights in marriage and divorce. Yet feminist delegates had to juggle their internationally-minded agenda with the interests they were to serve as national representatives. This task was further complicated by nascent Cold War politics and a growing anti-feminist backlash at the UN. In this context, UDHR drafters ultimately rejected the CSW's call for women's economic and social rights--a "social revolution" for women--in favor of the perceived stability of the "traditional" family. By the early 1950s, anti-communist pressures led the CSW to sever the pursuit of women's rights from the developing human rights framework at the UN. Feminists' absence from the UN human rights debates over the next several decades removed a forceful challenge to U.S.-led efforts to privilege political and civil rights over economic and social rights, and fostered a tacit hierarchy of rights that persists to this day. This dissertation places the CSW's competing vision of universal human rights at the center of the postwar human rights project, and expands our understanding of the history of international women's activism and human rights. By analyzing official UN records, delegates' papers and memoirs, and the records of governmental and non-governmental organizations, it reveals that postwar human rights advocacy was critically shaped by women's activism of the interwar period. Furthermore, this dissertation demonstrates that the CSW's demands for women's rights shaped the context from which the universal human rights framework emerged. Indeed, feminist activism and debates about the rights of women influenced UDHR drafters' views about human rights in ways that expanded, but also significantly curtailed postwar human rights standards. As a result, feminist activists continue to fight today for full recognition of women's rights as human rights.

Thesis (LLM. (Law and Development)) -- University of Limpopo, 2011

<p>The European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“the Convention”) was adopted in 1950. One of the most important rights established therein is the right to life, which can be found in article 2.</p><p>The purpose of this thesis is to examine how far the scope of this right reaches concerning the beginning and the end of life. This is mainly done by examining the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) which is set to monitor the observance of the rights. To make this thesis manageable, the three areas of abortion, euthanasia and the death penalty have been chosen as the starting-point of the examination.</p><p>The position of the three areas among the member states varies. Abortion and euthanasia have been regarded by the Court as sensitive areas in which the states have a wide margin of appreciation to decide on their own. This is much due to the lack of consensus within the states as to how they should be regulated.</p><p>Whether the unborn foetus is protected by the Convention and in such case to what extent is still in dispute. This is also the case concerning when life begins. The Court has stated that any right the foetus may possess is limited by the rights of the mother. They have also said that they do not want to impose a certain view on the member states.</p><p>The Commission has stated that if the foetus would have an absolute right to life under the Convention, then it would lead to serious implications for the mother, as she would not be able to have an abortion in any circumstance. Also, in <em>Vo v. France</em> one of the dissenting judges stated that the foetus’ right to life have to be narrower in scope than the right of the born.</p><p>In the case <em>Pretty v. the United Kingdom</em> the Court unanimously ruled that article 2 does not include a right to die. However some member states, like the Netherlands, have made euthanasia legal without being found to violate its obligations under the Convention. Consequently, it does not seem to be against the Convention for states to make their own legislation allowing for euthanasia to be practiced.</p><p>One important aspect to this debate is whether one considers life to be inalienable or not. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe has said that even though the rights of the terminally ill should be respected, it does not mean that one has the right to die at the hands of someone else. The Court has also said that in this area, it is important to protect those vulnerable from being used, and therefore states have the right to legislate against euthanasia.</p><p>The situation is different when it comes to the death penalty. Two additional protocols have been adopted restricting or completely abolishing the penalty since the adoption of the Convention. In 1950 there was no possibility to exclude the right to use the death penalty from the Convention since many European states still retained it in their domestic laws. However, the development since has moved towards a complete abolition. This is for instance evident since aspiring members of the Council of Europe have to be willing to abolish the penalty to be accepted.</p><p>The Court has dealt with the death penalty in several cases. In <em>Soering v. the United Kingdom</em> they said that extraditing someone to a state where he or she risks being executed not automatically means a violation of the right to life or the prohibition of torture. In <em>Öcalan v. Turkey</em> they established that the imposition of the death penalty after an unfair trial was a violation of article 3. Also, they considered the death penalty to now be regarded as an unacceptable punishment in peace time. Abolition of the death penalty is something the Council of Europe has worked for in decades to realise.</p>

<p>The history of prison reform after 1994 was shaped by the relationship between governance and human rights standards / the requirements for both are set out in the Constitution and elaborated on in the Correctional Services Act. Good governance and human rights converge in five dimensions of a constitutional democracy: legitimacy, transparency, accountability, the rule&nbsp / of law / and resource utilisation. The new constitutional order established a set of governance and rights requirements for the prison system demanding fundamental reform. It de-legitimised the existing prison system and thus placed it in a crisis. This required its reinvention to establish a system compatible with constitutional demands. The thesis investigates whether&nbsp / constitutionalism provided the necessary transformative basis for prison reform in South Africa after 1994. The Department of Correctional Services (DCS) senior management failed to&nbsp / anticipate this in the period 1990 to 1994. In the five years after 1994 senior management equally failed to initiate a fundamental reform process. This lack of vision, as well as a number of external factors relating to the state of the public service in the period 1994 to 2000, gave rise to a second crisis: the collapse of order and discipline in the DCS. By the late 1990s the state had lost control of the DCS and its internal workings can be described as a mess &ndash / a highly interactive set of problems in causal relationships. In many regards the problems beleaguering the prison system were created in the period 1994 &ndash / 1999. The leadership at the time did not recognize that the prison system was in crisis or that the crisis presented an opportunity for&nbsp / fundamental reform. The new democratic order demanded constitutional and political imagination, but this failed to materialise. Consequently, the role and function of imprisonment within the&nbsp / criminal justice system has remained fundamentally unchanged and there has not been a critical re-examination of its purpose, save that the criminal justice system has become more punitive. Several investigations (1998-2006) into the DCS found widespread corruption and rights violations. Organised labour understood transformation primarily as the racial transformation of the staff corps and embarked on an organised campaign to seize control of management and key positions. This introduced a culture of lawlessness, enabling widespread corruption. w leadership by 2001 and facing pressure from the national government, the DCS responded to the situation by focusing on corruption and on regaining control of the Department. A number of&nbsp / gains have been made since then, especially after 2004. Regaining control of the Department focused on addressing systemic weaknesses, enforcing the disciplinary code and defining a&nbsp / new employer-employee relationship. This has been a slow process with notable setbacks, but it continues to form part of the Department&rsquo / s strategic direction. It is concluded that the DCS&nbsp / has engaged with and developed a deeper understanding of its constitutional obligations insofar as they pertain to governance requirements in the Constitution. However, compliance with&nbsp / human rights standards had not received the same attention and areas of substantial non-compliance remain in violation of the Constitution and subordinate legislation. Overcrowding,&nbsp / violations of personal safety, poor services and/or lack of access to services persist. Despite the detailed rights standards set out in the Correctional Services Act, there is little to indicate that&nbsp / legislative compliance is an overt focus for the DCS. While meeting the minimum standards of humane detention, as required by the Constitution, should have been the strategic focus of the&nbsp / DCS in relation to the prison population, the 2004 White&nbsp / Paper defines &ldquo / offender rehabilitation&rdquo / as the core business of the DCS. In many regards the DCS has assigned more prominence&nbsp / and weight to the White Paper than to its obligations under the Correctional Services Act. In an attempt to legitimise the prison system, the DCS defined for itself a goal that is required neither&nbsp / by the Constitution nor the Correctional&nbsp / Services Act. Compliance with the minimum standards of humane detention must be regarded as a prerequisite for successful interventions to reduce&nbsp / future criminality. After&nbsp / seven years, delivery results on the rehabilitation objective have been minimal and not objectively measurable. The noble and over-ambitious focus on rehabilitation at&nbsp / policy level distracted the DCS from its primary constitutional obligation, namely to ensure safe and humane custody under conditions of human dignity Throughout the period (1994 to 2012)&nbsp / the DCS has been suspicious if not dismissive of advice, guidance and at times orders (including court orders) offered or given by external&nbsp / stakeholders. Its relationship with civil society&nbsp / &nbsp / &nbsp / &nbsp / organisations remain strained and there is no formal structure for interaction. Since 2004 Parliament has reasserted its authority over the DCS, not hesitating to criticise poor decisions and&nbsp / sub-standard performance. Civil society organisations have increasingly used Parliament as a platform for raising concerns about prison reform. Litigation by civil society and prisoners has&nbsp / also been used on a growing scale&nbsp / to ensure legislative compliance. It is concluded that prison reform efforts needs to refocus on he rights requirements set out in the Correctional Services&nbsp / Act and approach this task in an inclusive, transparent and accountable manner.&nbsp / &nbsp / </p>

Recent Inter-American Court of Human Rights jurisprudence has resulted in major amendments to Mexican military justice law that were previously thought to be impossible, considering the historical role of the armed forces and Mexico's civil-military pact. Yet, with a recent Supreme Court decision, Mexican law has been modified to bring it into compliance with the Inter-American Court's decisions. However, their efficacy has been undermined by aspects of the decisions which were not made on a principled basis.

Recent Inter-American Court of Human Rights jurisprudence has resulted in major amendments to Mexican military justice law that were previously thought to be impossible, considering the historical role of the armed forces and Mexico's civil-military pact. Yet, with a recent Supreme Court decision, Mexican law has been modified to bring it into compliance with the Inter-American Court's decisions. However, their efficacy has been undermined by aspects of the decisions which were not made on a principled basis.