Cultural rights in the case-law of the International Court of Justice (ICJ)

One of the most remarkable developments of the new millennium has been the expansion of debates on culture at the highest levels of the international community’s decision-making processes. This development has necessarily had an impact on cultural rights empowerment, including enhancing their justiciability. Substantial progress has been made both at a regional and international level. Yet, not all thresholds have been reached. The International Court of Justice (‘ICJ’) has never explicitly addressed cultural rights in its case-law. Despite its ‘multicultural’ composition, it is only with great difficulty that the Court examines questions related to culture. However, a thorough examination of the jurisprudence of the ICJ reveals that opportunities to take cultural rights seriously have arisen more than once. Recent judgments of the Court reveal the emergence of a certain trend calling for a ‘culturally sensitive’ understanding of legal issues brought to the Hague. The present paper submits that this trend is beneficial not only for the protection of cultural rights, but also for the maintenance of human and cultural diversity, as well as for the survival and livelihood of indigenous peoples. In light of the urgent worldwide need for peace, addressing culture as a legal issue before the ICJ, in accordance with articles 36 and 60 of its statute, may be a fruitful pathway for the Court to follow in order to resolve international disputes

Globalization and human rights

Globalization has various dimensions. Three of them are of particular importance: economic globalization, communication globalization and cultural globalization. Economic globalization opens new opportunities for economic growth and development. At the same time it has been accompanied by poverty, unemployment and the disregard of human rights in particular economic, social and cultural contexts. However, not all human rights are endangered. Those which may be qualified as "market oriented" like the right to private ownership or the right to the protection of intellectual property, are promoted and protected. Communication globalization has a rather positive impact on human rights. However, the use of the Internet by paedophiles, for the dissemination of pornography, for the advocacy of racism, xenophobia and violence raises a number of ethical and legal questions. The culturally homogenizing effect of globalization reinforces the universality of human rights and helps to eliminate certain discriminatory practices. The contradictory blessings of cultural globalization are linked with its negative consequences for the cultural rights of vulnerable groups. It may also undermine existing cultural identities and weaken ethical norms and social cohesion.peer-reviewe

Organizacja Narodów Zjednoczonych w zmieniającym się świecie. Konieczność reformy i podjęcia nowych wyzwań

"Debata na temat konieczności dostosowania ONZ do zmieniających się zagrożeń i wyzwań ma wiele źródeł. Zapoczątkował ją w 1997 r. Sekretarz Generalny propozycjami restrukturyzacji. W czasie szczytu milenijnego w 2000 r. zastanawiano się nad całościowym dostosowaniem Organizacji do potrzeb XXI wieku. Do nasilenia tej dyskusji przyczynił się szok po ataku terrorystycznym z 11 września 2001 r., a swoje apogeum osiągnęła ona po interwencji amerykańskiej w Iraku. Interwencja ta obnażyła wszystkie słabości i niezdolność do działania systemu bezpieczeństwa zbiorowego i Rady Bezpieczeństwa."(...

The Role of the Slow-Release Drugs in the Treatment Hypertension and Target Organ Damage

Nowoczesny lek przeciwnadciśnieniowy powinien równomiernie obniżać ciśnienie tętnicze w ciągu całej doby. Preferowane jest podawanie leku w pojedynczej dawce dobowej. Dlatego szczególne znaczenie ma długotrwałe działanie hipotensyjne leku. W artykule omówiono badania kliniczne z zastosowaniem leków o wydłużonym czasie uwalniania w kontekście obecnych zaleceń, ze szczególnym uwzględnieniem wpływu tych preparatów na profil dobowy ciśnienia tętniczego i regresję powikłań narządowych oraz ich tolerancji.A modern antihypertensive drug must allow for balanced 24-hour blood pressure control. It is preferred to administer the drug once a day. Therefore one of the most important properties of the drug is its long-term antihypertensive effect. The paper discusses clinical trials of slow-release preparations and focuses on the effect of discussed drugs on circadian blood pressure profile, regression of target organ damage and its tolerance

Different diagnostic criteria significantly affect the rates of hypertension in 18-year-old high school students

Introduction: Childhood hypertension is defined based on the normative distribution of blood pressure (BP), but from the age of 18 years high BP is diagnosed using adult criteria. We compared the rates of diagnosis of hypertension in a group of 18-year-old subjects using BP percentiles and the adult criteria

Impact of alpha-adrenergic receptor antagonists use on outcomes in patients with heart failure. A post-hoc analysis using Polish National Health Fund database

Background: The alpha-adrenolytics (AA) are not recommended in patients with ejection fraction (EF) reduced heart failure due to safety concerns. The aim of our study was to assess the safety of AA in patients hospitalized due to exacerbation of HF and the influence of these drugs on long-term endpoints. Material and methods: Data collected by the National Health Fund tracking all patient admissions and taking of the drug prescriptions throughout the entire country was used. Patients hospitalized due to HF exacerbation were included. The primary outcome variable was all-cause mortality and the secondary was the first readmission due to HF or all-cause death occurring more than 30 days after discharge. Results: Of 140 668 patients hospitalized in the year 2013 53 317 were included and followed for a median of 56.3 months. AA patients had lower long-term all-cause mortality (52.8% vs. 54.9%, unadjusted p = 0.038). The treatment with AA positively and independently affected long-term survival [adjusted hazard ratio (adjHR): 0.82, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.78–0.87, p < 0.001], as well as secondary endpoint (adjHR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.81–0.90, p < 0.001). Cox analysis in the subgroup treated with beta-blockers revealed that treatment with AA was associated with lower mortality (adjHR: 0.82, 95% CI: 0.75–0.90, p < 0.001) and lower incidence of secondary endpoint (adjHR: 0.85, 95% CI: 0.78–0.92, p < 0.001). Conclusion: In compliant patients hospitalized due to HF exacerbation post discharge treatment with AA was safe and beneficial