International law and human rights: trends concerning international migrants and refugees

Not with standing human rights linkages, migrants and refugees are often on the periphery of effective international protection. State sovereignty and self-regarding notions of community are used to deny or dilute substantive and procedural guarantees. Recently, even non- discrimination as a fundamental principle has been questioned, as has the system of refugee protection. This article located both migrants and refugees squarely within the human rights context, contrasting both inalienable rights with the demands of sovereignty, and juxtaposing the 2 in a context of existing and developing international standards. Migration and refugee flows will go on, and the developed world, in particular, must address the consequences - legal, humanitarian, socioeconomic, and cultural. Racism and institutional denials of basic rights daily challenge the common interest. This article shows how the law must evolve, responding coherently to contemporary problems, if the structure of rights and freedoms is to be maintained.     

Basic humanitarian principles applicable to non-nationals

This article examines the general status in international law of certain fundamental human rights to determine the minimum "no derogation" standards, and then surveys a number of formal agreements between stages governing migration matters, while examining some of the standard-setting work undertaken by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and other institutions. Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, proclaims the right of everyone to leave any country, including his or her own. The anti-discrimination provision is widely drawn and includes national or social origin, birth, or other status. Non-discrimination is frequently the core issue in migration matters; it offers the basis for a principles approach to questions involving non-nationals and their methodological analysis, as well as a standard for the progressive elaboration of institutions and practices. As a general rule, ILO conventions give particular importance to the principle of choice of methods by states for the implementation of standards, as well as to the principle of progressive implementation. Non-discrimination implies equality of opportunity in the work field, inremuneration, job opportunity, trade union rights and benefits, social security, taxation, medical treatment, and accommodation; basic legal guarantees are also matters of concern to migrant workers, including termination of employment, non-renewal of work permits, and expulsion. The generality of human rights is due not because the individual is or is not a member of a partucular group, and claims to such rights are not determinable according to membership, but according to the character of the right in question. The individualized aspect of fundamental human rights requires a case-by-case consideration of claims, and the recognition that to all persons now certain special duties are owed.     

International law and the detention of refugees and asylum seekers

The detention of refugees and asylum-seekers throughout the world remains a serious issue, currently affecting thousands of individuals. This article examines national concepts, powers, and practices of detention and these with individual right of refugees and asylum-seekers under international law. The general role of international law, in conjunction with the UN High Commission for Refugees, is to protect refugees. International law requires that access to detainees be granted and information given whenever refugees and asylum-seekers are detained. Detention itself is no solution, in either the remedial or the preventive sense. It is symptomatic of a variety of real problems and needs covering the broad range of movements of people, and cannot be separated from causes or from the necessity to find appropriate durable solutions. Principles of international solidarity and burden-sharing may offer a basis for the improvement of the lot of refugees and asylum-seekers.     

The time-varying performance of the long-run demand for money in the United States

This article investigates the issues of the stability and predictability and interest-sensitivity of money demand over 1870–1997. Two different estimation methodologies are used - random coefficient (RC) modeling and vector error correction (VEC) modeling. The former procedure allows the profiles of the coefficients to be traced over time and relaxes several restrictions routinely imposed in applied work. The results indicate that different estimation methodologies using different data periods and frequencies yield estimates of some of the coefficients of the long-run demand for money that fall within a fairly narrow range. The results also suggest that specification errors have had an important influence on the time profile of the interest elasticity of money demand and that there is a tendency for the interest elasticity to decline in absolute value as interest rates decline.