The increasing frequency and/or severity of climate-related disasters has pushed “environmental refugees” onto center stage, capturing headlines the world over. Although the urgency implied by the “refugee” terminology is apt, the legal reality is that few “environmental refugees” can enjoy the protections of refugee law—a system of law that was created in the post-World War II era to respond to the ongoing needs of Jews displaced during the War and whose stringent requirements reflect the particular historical moment of its creation. Despite evolutions in other areas, refugee law does not typically provide recourse for environmental harms. By contrast, human rights law, at both the international and domestic levels, has continued to evolve to recognize environmental and social environmental rights; for example, the General Assembly of the United Nations in 2010 recognized a human right to water. Issues related to water scarcity or water (mis)management may already be causing affected individuals to leave their homes, and concerns about water availability in the near future necessitate the development of legal tools for protecting these populations. This paper draws on human rights law, as it exists in the international system and as applied in Colombia, to create a framework that may provide greater protection for so-called “water refugees,” given the increasing salience of displacements related to water, the lack of movement in refugee law regarding environmental displacements, and the promise of social and economic rights discourse. / text

This article deals with Cultural, Social and Economic Rights established in the Constitution and in Constitutional Case Law. So, after explaining its nature, state’s role according preservation and enforceability,relationship with other fundamental rights, among other key points, it isi ntended to answer, dealing with those rights, which of two scenarios have prevailed: internationalization of constitutional law or constitutionalization of international law. / El presente artículo versa sobre la presencia de los derechos económicos sociales y culturales (DESC) en la Constitución y en la jurisprudencia constitucional. Así, tras abordar su naturaleza, el rol estatal respecto de su preservación, su exigibilidad y su relación con otros derechos fundamentales, entre otros importantes aspectos, intenta responder si en el tratamiento de los DESC en nuestro país se ha producido una internacionalización del derecho constitucional o más bien una constitucionalización del derecho internacional.

台灣司法院大法官早在1948年就開始進行違憲審查，迄今已釋憲超過65餘載，共作成730餘則大法官解釋，違憲宣告的比例大約30%至40%之間，其中與社會權相關的案件約20餘件，面對社會權應如何司法性的提問，我國學者多認為大法官對於社會權案件之釋憲立場過於難以捉摸，時而寬鬆時而嚴謹，大法官於社會權案件之審查上，並未創造出一套如同自由權般穩定且具有預測可能性的審查標準。 對於我國大法官於社會權案件中的釋憲難題，若僅著墨於方法論上的研究，忽略國家整體社會發展的歷史脈絡，將有見樹不見林之遺憾，而此種將社會發展歷史脈絡融入大法官釋憲過程中，最受國際推崇者莫過於南非憲法法院。南非在歷經長達數百年的種族隔離後，終於揮別威權擁抱民主，並擁有一部為世人所稱羨的新憲法，然而新民主南非所面臨來自於經濟、社會、政治與轉型正義等各方面之挑戰，並未因新憲法的制定而全盤迎刃而解。相反的，民主化後的新政府因財政短缺，導致無法實踐南非憲法中所保障之社會權，求助無門的民眾最終只能向憲法法院訴請權利保障。南非憲法法院面對困擾全球各地憲法法院之亙古難題「社會權如何司法性」時，並不懼怕挑戰，展現出以人為本之人權保障與弱勢保障之高度，做出許多為世人所稱羨之社會權憲法判決。 反思我國之社會權釋憲案件，多數均非由經濟弱勢者所提出，甚或有些與弱勢生存保障密切相關之釋憲案，最終這些弱勢群體之弱勢成因、社會處境現狀並未在釋憲場域中被凸顯、被衡量，導致憲法權利保障所連結之個人或群體從事現場域中消失了。對此，人民權利保障與權力分立原則同為憲法之兩大基石，二者間並無孰輕孰重之差別，故在社會權案件中，雖需考量資源有限性等權力分立之問題，然而過度尊重立法者之形成自由忽略人民權利保障之作法，仍有進一步改善之空間。

Les ressortissants de pays tiers sont devenus au fur et à mesure de la construction européenne des véritables sujets du droit de l'Union européenne. Toutefois, leur protection est fragmentée en raison d'une « catégorisation » croissante de leurs statuts, en fonction de la situation de fait ou de droit qui les caractérise. L'émergence d'un socle commun de garantie de droits sociaux fondamentaux à partir des normes européennes peut être néanmoins constatée. La coordination des régimes nationaux de sécurité sociale s'applique en effet explicitement aux ressortissants de pays tiers en séjour régulier. De même, les normes sociales européennes dont les destinataires ne sont pas déterminés en fonction de la nationalité peuvent leur être adressées. Pareil constat s'applique également aux normes relatives au principe de non-discrimination.Ce socle commun pourrait alors servir de base pour l'élaboration d'un statut social, entendu comme un attribut de la citoyenneté sociale, concrétisée par la participation sociale à la vie de la cité. Ce statut social pourrait être lui-même le fondement de l'élaboration d'un véritable statut européen consacré aux ressortissants de pays tiers en séjour régulier. Il contribuerait à la réalisation de l'objectif mis en avant par le Conseil européen de Tampere des 15 et 16 octobre 1999 consistant à donner un traitement équitable à cette catégorie de ressortissants. Il concourrait aussi au renforcement de leur intégration au sein des sociétés des Etats membres d'accueil. Il s'agirait d'une intégration par le bénéfice et l'exercice des droits sociaux fondamentaux, consistant dans le financement des systèmes de sécurité sociale, l'exercice d'une activité professionnelle, ou encore la participation aux activités syndicales et de représentation collective. / Third-country nationals have become veritable subjects of the EU Law. Nevertheless, their protection is fragmented by the increasing categorization of their status, in consequence of their fact and juridical situation. The emergence of a common standard of protection of fundamental social rights based on the EU regulations and policies may be however noted. Thus the coordination of social security systems applies explicitly to the regular staying third-country nationals. EU social regulations and directives also apply to those persons when the nationality condition is not specified. The same situation is also considered on the non-discrimination principle field. Then, this common standard of protection can offers a base to the development of a social status that is an attribute of the social citizenship, materialized by the social participation in the community. This social status could come itself the foundation of the construction of a truly European status dedicated to the regular staying third-country nationals. It could contribute to the realization of the European Council Tampere's objective to give a fair treatment to those persons. It could also contribute to the reinforcement of their integration at the member States community. It consists in a social integration, by the practice of fundamental social rights like working, funding social security, or getting involved with trade unions representation.

"Although the African Commission recognised that non-state actors (in this case the transnational corporations (TNCs)) contributed to the violations that prompted the SERAC communication, it failed to hold the TNCs accountable for the violations. The Commission rather held the state party responsible [for] failing to prevent the violations in its territory. The reason for the failure of the Commission to hold the non-state actor accountable is obvious. As Anderson has noted, 'conventional jurisprudence contends that human rights are enforceable only against the acts of omissions of the state rather than the acts of private entities'. Consequently, especially in international fora, violations by non-state actors have gone largely unaccoutned for. Hence, commentators have argued in favour of seeking an appropriate regime for holding non-state actors accountable for such violations, some arguing for horizontal application at international fora. However, non-state actors lack the status to allow Charter institutions exercise jurisdiction over them. This leaves the option of domestic systems as fora for their accountability. Thus, the emerging principle of horizontal applicability of human rights in domestic jurisdictions and the assumption of independent judiciaries provide the premises for this study. ... Chapter 1 contains a general overview of the study. In Chapter 2, the essay examines the scope and content of the right to a satisfactory environment as contained in the African Charter. Chapter 3 examines the existing framework for the realisation of the right to a satisfactory environment under the African Charter. The SERAC case is considered briefly in this chapter as an example of the difficulty to arrest non-state actor violations in the existing framework. Chapter 4 presents the case for horizontal application of article 24 of the African Charter at the domestic level as a complimentary approach to realisation of the right. The debate on horizontal applicability of human rights is highlighted to show that it is not yet widely accepted but it is presented as a basis for this option. The recent Nigerian case of Gbemre v SPDC is examined as an example of the possibility of horizontal applicaton of the article 24 right in a domestic tribunal. Chapter 5 summarises the conclusions from the study and makes recommendations in support of applying the African Charter based right horizontally in domestic courts." -- Introduction. / Mini Dissertation (LLM)--University of Pretoria, 2006. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / Centre for Human Rights / LLM / LLM