Surya Deva

Roger Hood

With the strengthening focus worldwide on human rights, there has been a rapid increase in recent years in the number of countries that have completely abolished the death penalty. This is in recognition that it is a violation of the right to life and the right to be free from cruel, inhuman and degrading punishment. There has, simultaneously, been pressure on countries that still retain capital punishment to ensure that they at least apply the United Nations minimum human rights safeguards established to protect the rights of those facing the death penalty. This book shows that the majority of Asian countries have been particularly resistant to the abolitionist movement and tardy in accepting their responsibility to uphold the safeguards. The essays contained in this volume provide an in-depth analysis of changes in the scope and application of the death penalty in Asia with a focus on China, India, Japan, and Singapore. They explain the extent to which these nations still fail to accept capital punishment as a human rights issue, identify impediments to reform, and explore the prospects that Asian countries will eventually embrace the goal of worldwide abolition of capital punishment.

Human Rights, Politics and Public Opinion

Confronting Capital Punishment in Asia

David Birchall

This authoritative Research Handbook brings together leading international scholars and practitioners to provide in-depth analysis of some of the most hotly debated topics and issues concerning the interface of human rights and business. Offering critical insights on prominent strands of research within the field of business and human rights, this comprehensive Research Handbook examines key challenges and potential solutions in the field.

Research Handbook on Human Rights and Business

David Bilchitz

This book provides a sustained treatment of the politico-legal context and content of a proposed business and human rights treaty.

Context and Contours

Building a Treaty on Business and Human Rights

In the last decade or so, China and India have emerged on the global stage as two powerful free market economies. The tremendous economic growth in China and India has meant that they have been able to lift millions of people out of the poverty trap. This growth has not, however, been without problems. Apart from worrying levels of environmental pollution, a significant number of people are still struggling to live a decent life as they do not have adequate access to basic needs such as food, health services, education, water, and housing. The traditional old age support mechanism is collapsing amidst push for urbanisation and the practice of nuclear families, while the alternative social security system has not been put in place. Both China and India stress the importance of socio-economic rights, have ratified the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and have in place a strong legal framework for the realisation of such rights. The constitutions of China and India accord significant importance to socio-economic rights and the both countries have numerous laws, regulations and policies that seek to implement various socio-economic rights. This book investigates how the gradual adoption of free market ideology has impacted on the realisation of socio-economic rights in both India and China and how the constitutional and legal frameworks have made necessary adjustments. Chapters in this volume, which are written by academics of international standing, explore how these two countries have tried to overcome certain common governance challenges in realising socio-economic rights. The role played by courts in India and China in the protection and realisation of socio-economic rights is considered along with the use and limitations of public interest litigation in achieving these rights. Finally, the effectiveness of measures in realising socio-economic rights are evaluated in relation to specific rights such as the rights to food, health, education, social security, and gender equality.

Comparative Insights from India and China

Socio-Economic Rights in Emerging Free Markets

Despite the continuous addition of regulatory initiatives concerning corporate human rights responsibilities, what we witness more often than not is a situation of corporate impunity for human rights abuses. The Bhopal gas leak – examined as a site of human rights violations rather than as a mass tort or an environmental tragedy – illustrates that the regulatory challenges that the victims experienced in 1984 have not yet been overcome. This book grapples with and offers solutions to three major regulatory challenges to obligating companies to comply with human rights norms whilst doing business, and asks; why companies should adhere to human rights, what these responsibilities are, and how to ensure that companies comply with their responsibilities. Building on literature in the fields of law, human rights, business ethics, management, regulation and philosophy, this book proposes a new ‘integrated theory of regulation’ to overcome inadequacies of the existing regulatory framework in order to humanize business. This book will be of interest to scholars, students, researchers, policy makers and human rights activists working in the fields of Law, Business and Human Rights.

Humanizing Business

Regulating Corporate Human Rights Violations

Guobin Zhu

Mark Kielsgard

The context in which constitutional laws and human rights instruments are read is ever-changing, and this is particularly true for the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. To understand the application of both national and local legislation and internationally recognized covenants, it is essential to be well acquainted with the documents themselves. Constitutional Law and Human Rights in Hong Kong—A Sourcebook is a one-stop resource for teaching, learning, and researching constitutional law and human rights in Hong Kong. As a handbook of teaching materials suitable for undergraduate and postgraduate studies, it is an indispensable tool for courses such as Hong Kong Constitutional Law, Basic Law, Public Law of Hong Kong, The Law of Human Rights of Hong Kong, International Human Rights Law, International Criminal Law, International Labour Law, Law and Gender, International Environmental Law, Business and Human Rights, and Discrimination Law. Moreover, it is equally useful for teaching and research in the fields of political science, business, and other social sciences. • Up-to-date legislation • Condensed into a single volume • An essential teaching and reference guide • Applicable across multiple legal fields

Constitutional Law and Human Rights in Hong Kong—A Sourcebook

This book critically evaluates the Ruggie Framework and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and investigates the normative foundations as well as the nature, extent and enforcement of corporate obligations for the realisation of human rights.

Surya Deva

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