The Transformation of the Prohibition of Torture in International Law

The Transformation of the Prohibition of Torture in International Law
Author: Lutz Oette
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 369
Release: 2024-06-04
Genre: Law
ISBN: 0198885768

The prohibition of torture and other cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment or punishment has a special status. It is the foremost international human rights norm protecting persons from attacks on their dignity and integrity. Consequently, it has been at the forefront of a series of developments in international human rights law and international law more broadly. Having withstood sustained challenges to its absolute nature in the 'war on terror', it has broadened its scope of application, becoming more sophisticated and complex in the process. The prohibition of torture increasingly interacts with other fields of human rights law, such as non-discrimination law, international criminal law, international humanitarian law, and international migration law. The Transformation of the Prohibition of Torture in International Law analyses the nature and significance of this transformation and looks into the scope of the prohibition's further evolution. Empirical scholarship, innovative human rights body practice, and challenges from activists, particularly from the Global South, have focused on the relational nature of torture and other ill-treatment, its embeddedness in wider structures of power, and the role of international law in legitimizing-if not facilitating-widespread suffering, from mass incarceration to poverty and climate change. This analysis reveals an inherent tension in the prohibition between a conventional, narrow focus on direct State violence and a wide lens encompassing myriad forms of suffering. To retain its validity and effectiveness in the twenty-first century, argues Lutz Oette, the prohibition on torture must navigate this tension and successfully address and transform abusive power asymmetries.

Normative Transformation and the War on Terrorism

Normative Transformation and the War on Terrorism
Author: Simon Frankel Pratt
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 229
Release: 2022-01-13
Genre: Political Science
ISBN: 1316515176

Sociological analysis of the transformation of prohibitions on assassination, torture, and mercenaries as components of the US War on Terror.

Does Torture Prevention Work?

Does Torture Prevention Work?
Author: Richard Carver
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Total Pages: 688
Release: 2016
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1781383308

In the past three decades, international and regional human rights bodies have developed an ever-lengthening list of measures that states are required to adopt in order to prevent torture. But do any of these mechanisms actually work? This study is the first systematic analysis of the effectiveness of torture prevention. Primary research was conducted in 16 countries, looking at their experience of torture and prevention mechanisms over a 30-year period. Data was analysed using a combination of quantitative and qualitative techniques. Prevention measures do work, although some are much more effective than others. Most important of all are the safeguards that should be applied in the first hours and days after a person is taken into custody. Notification of family and access to an independent lawyer and doctor have a significant impact in reducing torture. The investigation and prosecution of torturers and the creation of independent monitoring bodies are also important in reducing torture. An important caveat to the conclusion that prevention works is that is actual practice in police stations and detention centres that matters - not treaties ratified or laws on the statute book.

An Introduction to International Organizations Law

An Introduction to International Organizations Law
Author: Jan Klabbers
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 423
Release: 2022-03-10
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1108842208

Provides a framework for understanding how organizations are set up and the logic behind international organizations law.

Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens)

Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens)
Author: Dire Tladi
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 806
Release: 2021-08-16
Genre: Law
ISBN: 9004464123

Peremptory Norms of General International Law (Jus Cogens): Disquisitions and Dispositions is a collection of contributions on various aspects of jus cogens in international law.

Legitimacy and Legality in International Law

Legitimacy and Legality in International Law
Author: Jutta Brunnée
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages:
Release: 2010-08-05
Genre: Law
ISBN: 1139491474

It has never been more important to understand how international law enables and constrains international politics. By drawing together the legal theory of Lon Fuller and the insights of constructivist international relations scholars, this book articulates a pragmatic view of how international obligation is created and maintained. First, legal norms can only arise in the context of social norms based on shared understandings. Second, internal features of law, or 'criteria of legality', are crucial to law's ability to promote adherence, to inspire 'fidelity'. Third, legal norms are built, maintained or destroyed through a continuing practice of legality. Through case studies of the climate change regime, the anti-torture norm, and the prohibition on the use of force, it is shown that these three elements produce a distinctive legal legitimacy and a sense of commitment among those to whom law is addressed.