The Australian Reluctance about Rights

This article examines the way in which the Australian legal system protects human rights. It discusses the paucity of constitutionally protected rights and the failure of various attempts made to amend the Constitution in this respect. The paper looks at the inadequacy of the Australian common law and legislation in the protection of rights. It argues that the politics of both federalism and legalism have produced a culture wary of rights discourse. The paper concludes by considering how the Australian protection of rights can be improved and suggests that one way ahead would be to introduce an Australian charter of rights

Gendered States: Feminist (Re)Visions of International Relations Theory

Review of the book edited by V. Spike Peterson

Bridging the digital divide: young people's perspectives on taking action

Marginalised young people really do care about political and social issues, but that their day-to-day experiences often make it difficult for them to take action to create change in their communities, according to the findings of this report. "Taking action" means something quite different to marginalised young people, compared with traditional definitions of social and political participation. The research found that some of the barriers to participating in social and political action included not knowing how to take action, the attitudes of others and their own personal circumstances and characteristics. For those most marginalised, issues such as safety, personal security and health were paramount. The research involved focus groups with young people, as well as in-depth interviews with service providers, across Victoria. It explored how young people from a diverse range of backgrounds feel about participating in political and social action. This report is the second in a series of four that explores the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and its role in improving the mental health of young people who experience or who are at risk of experiencing social, cultural or economic marginalisation

Inside/Outside: Women and International Law

論説近江美保 訳 (trans.OMI Miho

Between the Margins and the Mainstream: The Case of Women\u27s Rights

This chapter investigates the conceptual limits of the field of women’s rights. It identifies two main currents of activity in the field: the elaboration of human rights standards, particularly through the UN Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women of 1979; and the development of the ‘Women, Peace and Security’ agenda by the UN Security Council since 2000. Both areas are limited in their understandings of the diverse lives of women. The chapter argues that campaigns for the recognition of women’s rights shuttle between the mainstream and the margins of international law and that the structural bases of women’s disadvantage remain obscured in both locations

The Gender of Jus Cogens

Defenders of the notion of jus cogens often explain its basis as the collective international, rather than the individual national, good. On this analysis, principles of jus cogens play a similar role in the international legal system to that played by constitutional guarantees of rights in domestic legal systems. Thus states, as national political majorities, accept the limitation of their freedom of choice in order to reap the rewards of acting in ways that would elude them under pressures of the moment. Among those jurists who accept the category of jus cogens, however, continuing controversy remains over what norms qualify as principles of jus cogens. Our concern in this article is neither with the debates over the validity of the doctrine of jus cogens in international law nor with particular candidates for jus cogens status. Rather, we are interested in the structure of the concept detailed by international law scholars. We aregue that the concept of the jus cogens is not a properly universal one as its development has privileged the experiences of men over those of women, and it has provided a protection to men that is not accorded to women

Regulatory Frameworks in International Law

Regulatory theory is concerned with how various forms of regulation, including law, govern social interaction. Much of the theoretical work on legal regulation has been developed in the context of domestic law. This chapter examines international law in the particular setting of regulation of outsider entities, such as failed and nascent states, that is where international regulation fills the vacuum caused by the collapse of domestic institutions and the rule of law. Through a brief examination of international regulation in Bosnia–Hercegovina and East Timor, this chapter asks what light a regulatory lens sheds on international law. Drawing on Hugh Collins\u27s starting questions in Regulating Contracts, it investigates whether the international law in this area conceives of relations in ways that are different from the frameworks in which they operate