Editorial

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Volume 29 - p. 427

Column

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Authors: W. Vandenhole

Volume 29 - p. 429

Does the Right to Birth Registration Include a Right to a Birth Certificate?

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Authors: P. Gerber, A. Gargett, M. Castan

Volume 29 - p. 434

Inhoud: International human rights law has long recognised the right of every child to have their birth registered. However, what is less clear is what this right encompasses. For example, does the normative content of the right to birth registration inclu...de a right to a birth certificate? This is a question that has become very relevant to Indigenous Australians many of whom are experiencing difficulties acquiring a birth certificate. This article argues that the right to birth registration, as set out in the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Rights of the Child, implicitly includes the right to a birth certificate. This conclusion is reached following an analysis of the work of the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on the Rights of the Childhide

Reforming the Council of Europe’s Human Rights Monitoring Mechanisms

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Authors: R. Kicker, M. Möstl, E. Lantschner

Volume 29 - p. 460

Inhoud: By comparatively reviewing the monitoring procedures of the Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities, the European Commission against Racism and Intolerance, the European Committee for the Prevention ...of Torture and Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment, and the European Committee of Social Rights, this article identifies common deficits and achievements in the working methods of human rights monitoring bodies established within the framework of the Council of Europe. It is argued that limitations remain with regard to, first, the information available to the monitoring bodies, second, the extended intervals in between the monitoring cycles, third, the human resources, and fourth, publicity and transparency of the supervisory systems. By describing the initiatives taken to counter these deficits it will be shown that the core achievement of the four monitoring mechanisms is their flexibility to adapt their procedures within the restrictions given by their respective legal frameworks. However, certain limitations remain. This contribution, thus, concludes with proposals for reform that could enable the Council of Europe to better meet current challenges of monitoring human rights in Europe.hide

Towards Rights-Duties Congruence: Extraterritorial Application of the Human Right to Water in the African Human Rights system

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Authors: T. Soboka Bulto

Volume 29 - p. 491

Inhoud: Since 85 per cent of African freshwater comes from international rivers, the realisation of the newly emerging human right to water depends on the volume and quality of shared water resources. Each continental African State shares a river with at l...east one other State. Thus, a State has the capacity to hamper the realisation of the right in other co-riparian States by reducing the volume or polluting the shared river unless they are legally prevented from jeopardising the right abroad. The right would prove an empty promise for the right holders unless they are given legal avenues to hold third States accountable for their (in)actions that produce extraterritorial consequences. This article examines the extraterritorial reach of States’ human rights duties in the African human rights system in the light of the regional case law and comparative jurisprudence.hide