Sexuality and international human rights law

This essay considers the extent to which international human rights now protect, or might protect, GLBT communities. The counterpoint between the potential width of application of international human rights instruments and their silence on sexuality has become the leitmotif of sexuality and gender identity within the international human rights framework. In addition, there is a symbiotic relationship between the international norms and domestic legal systems which directly affects the meaning of those norms. Domestic laws are not only needed to implement international norms, but are essential in overcoming the equivocations and silences of international human rights law as it has traditionally applied to GLBT communities. A fusion of the international norms with domestic legal systems through the principle of diversity, rather than the principle of equality, is needed.     

Sexuality and human rights in europe

Written human rights law in Europe is as scanty as in the rest of the world. Case-law however provides considerable protection of sexual rights. It guarantees comprehensive protection of autonomy in sexual life, also for minors, and provides protection against discrimination based on sexual orientation. Negative attitudes of a majority may not justify interferences with the sexual rights of a minority and society could be expected to tolerate a certain inconvenience to enable individuals to live in dignity and worth in accordance with the sexual identity chosen by them. Compensation for interference with sexual autonomy and freedom is awarded. This high-level protection (as compared to other parts of the world) is however limited. It seems to be granted only in areas where it corresponds with public attitudes and social developments. And it is seldom secured on the national level but nearly exclusively by the European Court of Human Rights, whose case-law is often weakened by inconsistency.     

Sexuality and human rights: an Asian perspective

In Asia, the lesbian and gay rights movements are clearly dominated by activists, who tend to think in terms of a binary opposition (homo- vs hetero-) and clear-cut categories. Based on "Western patterns," the approach is practical, the arguments based on minority rights. "Coming out" is often perceived as a "white model" bringing more problems than real freedom. On the contrary, "Asian values" put the emphasis on family and social harmony, often in contradiction to what is pictured as "lesbian and gay rights." Homophobia follows very subtle ways in Asian countries. Asian gays have to negotiate their freedom, lifestyle and identities in an atmosphere of heterosexism, and not the endemic violent homophobia prevalent in many western countries. In Asia, one's identity relates to one's position in the group and sexuality plays a relatively insignificant role in its cultural construction. That Asian gays often marry and have children shows the elasticity their sexual identity encompasses. Fluidity of sexuality does not really match the Western approach in terms of essentialist categories that have a right to exist. Most Asian societies can be thought of as "tolerant" as long as homosexuality remains invisible. Procreative sexuality can be seen as a social duty, and heterosexual marriage is often not considered incompatible with a "homosexual life." The development of the Internet has even facilitated the encounters while allowing secrecy. Unfortunately, the traditional figures of transgender and transvestites have often been separated from the gay liberation movement.     

Advancing human rights through constitutional protection for gays and lesbians in South Africa

As a consequence of the 1994 adoption of a justiciable Bill of Rights in South Africa, with an equality provision prohibiting discrimination on the ground of sexual orientation, a coalition of gay and lesbian organisations set about implementing a progressive agenda of gay and lesbian rights litigation. In striking down the offence of sodomy, the Constitutional Court established a jurisprudence of gay and lesbian rights to equality, dignity and privacy that proved to be the foundation for significant litigation around family law issues. Subsequent to the sodomy judgement, the Court has ruled that same-sex couples who are in permanent life partnerships should be entitled to the same rights as married couples to immigration, employment benefits, custody and adoption of children. Despite the extensive equality jurisprudence of the Court, it is still uncertain whether it will rule in the future in favour of same-sex marriage or in favour of a civil union/domestic partnership model.     

Speculating with human rights: two South Asian women writers and utopian mobilities

ABSTRACT

Utopian and dystopian fiction are classifiable under the umbrella term speculative fiction, which speculates with or takes risks with the reality it creates in the fiction. My paper investigates speculative writing which is also utopian by South Asian feminist and activist women, comparing creative texts by Rokeya Sakhawat Hossain, from the first half of the 20^th century, and Vandana Singh, from contemporary times. A selection of their published short fiction are focused on, in particular Hossain’s ‘Sultana’s Dream’ (1905) and Padmarag and the short story ‘Delhi’ by Singh. The article pulls together analysis of different kinds of mobility to argue that both writers, in their imagination of mobile utopia, also further creative speculations round human rights, with special reference to gender and the city. The article analyses how South Asian metropolises, notably Calcutta and Delhi, get reimagined in their writing. Both Hossain and Singh were/are educators in real life. How do their educative and speculative voices come together (or not) in their mobile utopia reimagining human rights? My answer is that the speculative reality-bending mode offers an articulation of the educative in a very different key to the conventionally pedagogic.     

Social indicators of basic needs: Quantitative data for human rights policy

This paper reports on the author's effort to improve the consistency and objectivity of the economic rights section of the annual Country Reports, prepared by the Department of State, to provide a basis for equitable implementation of this aspect of U.S. human rights policy. The purpose was to define relatively objectively the extent to which a country's basic human needs are filled, as a backdrop to a discussion of the country's policy effort. This complex and evolving area of foreign policy had few participants who were sophisticated about social policy or social data, and existing social indicators had many problems of reliability. The Universal Declaration on Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic and Social Rights to which the U.S. is signatory, were taken as starting points, along with literature on basic needs in developing countries. Education, health, income and nutrition were selected as the highest priority rights for immediate action, policy issues were outlined for discussion, and a set of overview, background, and diagnostic social indicators were selected for inclusion in the reports. Principles for the selection of indicators included simplicity, ready availability across many nations, reliability, credibility, comprehensibility and correspondence to policy issues. Indicators, which are available through the World Bank, included life expectancy, literacy rates, infant mortality, school enrollment, population per physician, percentage of FAO daily nutritional requirement, percentage served by clean water. Cautions are raised that indicators should be used only in context of expert qualitative analysis of a country's situation because they are imperfect and limited measures. They should not be linked to policy too directly because the causal connection may be tenuous. The project is seen as a first phase in improving the information used in this policy area and giving more visibility to the issues.     

Attitudes towards lesbians and gay men and support for lesbian and gay human rights among psychology students

A questionnaire comprising two scales, the short form of the Attitudes Towards Lesbians and Gay Men Scale (ATLG-S; Herek, 1984) and the newly devised Support for Lesbian and Gay Human Rights Scale (SLGHR) were administered to 226 students taking undergraduate psychology courses at universities in the United Kingdom, to assess their attitudes towards lesbians and gay men, and their level of support for lesbian and gay human rights. The results indicated that whilst only a small percentage of respondents expressed negative attitudes towards lesbians and gay men on the ATLG-S, the sample as a whole did not overwhelmingly support lesbian and gay human rights. The lack of support for lesbian and gay human rights is discussed in relation to its implications for psychology students as future practitioners and policymakers.     

Forensic demography and civil rights

In the summer of 1965, the legislature of the state of Mississippi passed a law which required children whose parents were living in another state to pay up to $350 tuition in order to attend public school. On the belief that this law discriminated against Negroes and was therefore unconstitutional, the Department of Justice began litigation procedures to repeal it. But evidence was needed to prove that the law was in fact discriminatory. The lawyers contacted demographers at the Bureau of the Census to provide data to determine if the majority of persons affected were Negro and too poor to pay the tuition. They sought information which could tell them, ideally, how many parents of children in Mississippi had left the state and what the economic position and racial characteristics of the children were.An attempt was made to get this information from already published sources, such as census reports and other research findings. These could give a hurried impression of the situation but could not deal directly with the issue of the whereabouts of parents not living with their children, since such a question had not been asked in the 1960 Census. An additional bit of information was obtained from the NAAGP Legal Defense and Education Fund in Jackson, Mississippi, from forms showing characteristics of persons actually affected by the law. But this limited sample did not provide evidence solid enough upon which to build a case.It was decided to rely on a retabulation of 1960 Census records to describe accurately the base population from which children with parents out of state would be drawn-namely, the children not living with either parent. This showed that of all school-age children living without either parent, 82 percent are Negro. The average Negro household, which contains at least one "parentless" child, houses 6.8 persons and has an annual income of $1,429. This allows less than $250 annually per person. Tuition for just one child eats up more than one person's yearly allotment. These data showed that the law, in fact, did discriminate racially, since most of the persons affected were Negro and too poor to pay tuition.This was one instance in which demographers were able to use their special skills in implementing public policy-notably, the law.     

Sexuality and Australian law

The author describes the changing legal environment concerning same-sex relationships in the common law world with special reference to Australia. He refers to shifts in public opinion recorded in opinion polls; important decisions of human rights courts and tribunals; and changes in national law and court decisions. He then reviews the Australian constitutional setting which divides lawmaking responsibility on such subjects between the federal, State and Territory legislatures. He describes initiatives adopted in the States and Territories and the more modest changes effected in federal law and practice. He concludes on a note of optimism concerning Australia's future reforms affecting discrimination on the grounds of sexuality.     

Fighting erosion of abortion rights

To get a feeling for the proposed abortion funding cutoff in the U.S. Congress, Zero Population Growth questioned the staffs of all but 3 new members of Congress. In the House 26 new members favored the funding cut, 10 were opposed, and 33 did not have definite positions. In the Senate 7 supported the cutoff, 6 were opposed, and 4 did not have known positions. 8 states have passed a resoultion calling for a constitutional convention to amend the Constitution to prohibit abortion, 3 have defeated such resolutions, and 13 more states have resolutions pending with 10 more expected to be introduced this year. Legislation covering pregnancy under worker insurance plans may be threatened by an amendment which would exclude abortions from coverage. Groups concerned with a woman's right to choose abortion are meeting to work out strategy to fight this erosion of abortion rights.     

Divorce law and family formation

Several studies have investigated whether unilateral divorce laws raised divorce rates, with mixed results. This paper asks whether unilateral, and no-fault, divorce laws influenced family formation. Besides their interest to policy makers, such effects may help theorists understand the mechanisms through which laws affect behavior. The results suggest that no-fault laws slightly reduced fertility, and unilateral divorce modestly increased divorce and legitimacy. However, the pattern of effects is not consistent with any of the hypotheses reviewed, and the estimated magnitudes suggest that changes in divorce law were not a major cause of changing family structure.      

Approval of equal rights and gender differences in well-being

Women earn less than men but are not less satisfied with life. This paper explores whether norms regarding the appropriate pay for women compared to men may explain these findings. We find that the gender wage gap is smaller where a larger fraction of the citizenry has voted in favor of equal pay. We also find that employed women are less (not more) satisfied with life in liberal communities where the gender wage gap is smaller. These findings suggest that norms regarding the appropriate relative pay of women compared to men are shaping gender differences in well-being.     

Condom AdvertisementsViolated law

TheChinesegovernmentbannedaTVcommercialurgingpeopletousecondomstopreventsexuallytransmitteddiseasesinNovember1999,sayingitviolatedthecountry'sadvertisementlaw.Advertisementsforcondomsorothersex-relatedproductsmayappearinthemediaonlyafterexistingState...     

Interplay of rights,technology, and services explored

Recent developments in the field of reproductive health and family planning have featured key intersections among technology, services, and rights. In May 1999, the Population Council hosted a two-day meeting on rights, technology, and services in reproductive health to examine more deeply the philosophical underpinnings of the council's work. In many countries, planning pregnancies and exercising reproductive rights have been central tenets of feminist thinking and activism for decades. In other settings, fertility-regulation technologies were introduced primarily for the purpose of controlling population growth rather than facilitating the exercise of individual rights. Much of the critique of population programs has centered on violations of rights and the need to protect women in the process of testing and delivering reproductive technologies. Despite a diversity of opinions on the ethics and appropriateness of specific technologies, there is a growing consensus that women and men have a basic right to control their bodies, reproduction, and sexuality. In many places, however, people have faced barriers as they attempt to exercise these rights. Some obstacles are primarily economic, while others are physical or institutional in nature. During the meeting, participants raised many additional questions, and their exploration of these questions highlighted the ways that rights, technology, and service influence each other.     

Protect the legal rights and interests of the floating population

To protect the legal rights and interests of the floating population is an important goal for improving the floating population service and management. For years, the population and family planning system has vigerously promoted the protection of rights in a convenient way and provided free family planning services, and have achieved satisfactory results.     

European migration potential and prospects

Since the end of the war much discussion has taken place on the problem of emigration overseas. In this paper the author examines the potential number of emigrants from different parts of Europe, as well as the obstacles to emigration and immigration which they would have to overcome in order to realize their ambition. The general conclusion is reached that a resumption of migration on the nineteenth-century scale is extremely unlikely and that many of the public statements that have recently been made on the subject do not take full account of the facts.