Politics, law and human rights
How does politics influence human rights law and vice versa? What is the relationship between human rights and policy areas that affect human wellbeing? How does human rights law govern collective interests? Recent publications by NCHR researchers address some of these questions on issues of law and politics in the field of human rights.
International human rights law and politics are unquestionably intertwined – human rights law impacts how states act and shapes political decisions, but politics does also shape and impact human rights law. The Research Handbook on the Politics of Human Rights Law (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2023) explores this relationship, bringing together leading international scholars to provide theoretical reflections as well as empirical analyses on governance, policies and human rights law at national, regional and international levels. Edited by Bård A. Andreassen (NCHR), the book addresses a number of key issue areas where politics and law interact, such as civic space, distributive justice and resource allocation, globalization and development.
The role of human rights in debates and policies on development is comprehensively explored in Peris S. Jones’ (NCHR) book Human Rights and Development (Routledge, 2023). Taking a multi-disciplinary approach to the issue, the book explores why human rights has increasingly come to influence development debates in the last couple of decades, how human rights as a concept is understood and used in development practices at global, national and local levels, and how we can measure the impact of human rights approaches on development outcomes.
Turning to the role of law in a global governance context, Protecting Community Interests through International Law (Intersentia, 2021) looks at how international law functions to protect community interests and provide public goods. Edited by Gentian Zyberi (NCHR), with contributions from several scholars, this book looks at the role of international law and courts, including human rights law, in the governance of various issues concerning collective security, natural resources and common goods.
Perspectives on human rights bodies
International and regional human rights bodies, such as the United Nations human rights treaty bodies and regional human rights courts, play an important role in interpreting and enforcing international human rights. Two recent publications by NCHR researchers provide new perspectives on how we can understand some of these bodies as human rights actors.
Looking at the UN human rights treaty bodies, Nina Reiners (NCHR) analyses the role and impact of informal collaborations in the production of treaty interpretations on central human rights issues. In Transnational Lawmaking Coalitions for Human Rights (Cambridge University Press, 2021), she takes us beneath the surface of formal procedures and actors, and reveals how experts and external collaborators play a key role in developing human rights in the UN treaty body system.
Natalia Torres Zúñiga (NCHR) explores the legitimacy of international courts, looking at the Inter American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). The Inter American Court of Human Rights: The Legitimacy of International Courts and Tribunals (Routledge, 2023) takes a critical approach to existing Latin American legal strands that portray the IACtHR as a supranational body with a transformative effect on Latin American democracies. It engages with a view that ordinary people can mobilize and define law to transform their lives, centering focus away from formal legal institutions.
Islamic law and human rights
Islamic law (Shari’a) and human rights are rarely discussed together, and when they are, it is often in polarizing terms of rights versus religion. NCHR colleagues have contributed to publications that engage in new ways of thinking about the relationship between human rights and Islamic law.
Ham dan Syariat: Sebuah Kaijan / Shari’a and Human Rights: A coursebook (Mizan, 2021) takes as its starting point that there is much to be learnt by thinking about the Shari’a and human rights approaches to law, justice and equality in light of each other. Edited by Chekli S. Pratiwi, Lena Larsen (NCHR), Brett G. Scharffs and Tore Lindholm (NCHR), with contributions from leading Islamic researchers and reformers, this book compares, contrasts, and discusses the compatibility of Shari’a and human rights. The book is written in both Indonesian and English.
Turning to the specific issues of apostasy and blasphemy laws and their impacts on freedom of expression, the book Freedom of expression in Islam: Challenging Apostasy and Blasphemy Laws (Bloomsbury Publishing, 2021) critically engages with the theological, historical and legal reasoning behind such laws. With contributions from Muslim scholars, experts and activists, this book finds grounds in Muslim tradition for rejecting claims that apostasy and blasphemy laws are unchangeable and divine. The volume is edited by Muhammad Khalid Masud, Kari Vogt, Lena Larsen (NCHR) and Christian Moe, and has been published in both English, Indonesian and Bosnian.