Universal Human Rights and Extraterritorial Obligations

Globalization challenges fundamental principles governing international law, especially with respect to state sovereignty and international relations. This transformation has had a significant impact on the practice of trade law, financial regulation, and environmental law but relatively little effect on one area of law and regulation: human rights. Universal Human Rights and Extraterritorial Obligations examines both the international and domestic foundations of human rights law. What other contemporary human rights debates have almost totally ignored is that in an increasingly interdependent world--where public and private international actors have great influence on the lives of individuals everywhere--it is insufficient to assess only the record of domestic governments in human rights. It is equally important to assess the effect of actions taken by intergovernmental organizations, international private entities, and foreign states. From this standpoint, contributors to this book address how states' actions or omissions may affect the prospects of individuals in foreign states and asks important questions: To what extent do agricultural policies of rich countries influence the right to food in poorer countries? How do decisions to screen asylum seekers outside state borders affect refugee rights? How does cooperation among different states in the war on terror influence individuals' rights to be free from torture? This volume presents a brief for a more complex and updated approach to the protection of human rights worldwide.

In the face of globalization, the fundamental principles governing international law are changing dramatically. This book examines both the international and domestic foundations of human rights law and addresses how states' actions or omissions may affect the human rights of individuals in foreign states.

Introduction—Sigrun Skogly and Mark GibneyChapter 1. Obligations of States to Prevent and Prohibit Torture in an Extraterritorial Perspective—Manfred NowakChapter 2. Obligations to Protect the Right to Life: Constructing a Rule of Transfer Regarding Small Arms and Light Weapons—Barbara FreyChapter 3. Growing Barriers: International Refugee Law—Thomas Gammeltoft-HansenChapter 4. Diagonal Environmental Rights—John H. KnoxChapter 5. The Human Rights Responsibility of International Assistance and Cooperation in Health—Judith Bueno de Mesquita, Paul Hunt, and Rajat KhoslaChapter 6. The World Food Crisis and the Right to Adequate Food—Michael WindfuhrChapter 7. Labor Standards and Extraterritoriality: Cambodian Textile Exports and the International Labour Organization—Virginia A. LearyChapter 8. A Sort of Homecoming: The Right to Housing—Malcolm LangfordChapter 9. Protecting Rights in the Face of Scarcity: The Right to Water—Amanda CahillNotesBibliographyList of ContributorsIndex