This chapter examines the human rights protections afforded to sexual and gender minorities. It shows that the jurisprudence focuses on issues of non-discrimination and privacy, and that important human rights protections can also be derived from the range of other civil, political, economic, social, and cultural human rights of general application. The chapter examines a recent exercise in the clarification of the application of human rights law concerning issues of sexual orientation, gender identity, and sex characteristics: the Yogyakarta Principles.
Chapter
15. Sexual Orientation and Gender Identity
Michael O’Flaherty
Chapter
11. Equality and non-discrimination
This chapter examines equality and non-discrimination in international human rights law. It discusses the provisions of human rights laws, conventions, and declarations, and emerging grounds of discrimination will also be considered. As human rights are focused on the individual, it is perhaps not surprising that there are many people who are disadvantaged or marginalized in the enjoyment of their rights and freedoms due to the intersecting of two or more grounds of discrimination. The chapter suggests that there is a link between the concepts of equality and that of non-discrimination, and that the rule of non-discrimination is basically the negative restatement of the principle of equality.
Chapter
8. Equality and Non-Discrimination
Daniel Moeckli
The principle of equality and non-discrimination has gained a prominent status in virtually every liberal democratic state as well as in international law. However, what this fundamental rule entails in practice is difficult to establish. The challenge is to give substance to the abstract notion of equality by translating it into concrete legal formulations that clarify which forms of unequal treatment are legitimate because they are based on morally acceptable criteria and which ones are wrongful. This chapter explains how this challenge has been addressed in international human rights law. It first discusses the meaning of equality and non-discrimination and gives an overview of the different norms guaranteeing equality and non-discrimination in international human rights law, followed by an explanation of the concepts of direct and indirect discrimination. The chapter then considers the requirements for a difference in treatment to be justified under international human rights law and sets out the various obligations that the right to equality imposes on states, in particular their duty to take positive action to ensure everyone can enjoy that right.
Chapter
29. Terrorism
Martin Scheinin
This chapter first addresses the question of whether terrorism constitutes a violation of human rights, or whether the notion of human rights violations can only be applied to action by states, and then considers challenges to the applicability of human rights law in the fight against terrorism, particularly since 9/11. It focuses on the notion of terrorism, and in particular the risks posed to human rights protection by vague or over-inclusive definitions of terrorism. The main section of the chapter deals with some of the major challenges posed by counter-terrorism measures to substantive human rights protections. It is argued that the unprecedented post-9/11 wave of counter-terrorism laws and measures that infringed upon human rights was a unique situation, and that governments and intergovernmental organizations are realizing that full compliance with human rights in the fight against terrorism is not only morally and legally correct but is also the most effective way of combating terrorism in the long term.
