Essays on Human Rights ─ In Honour of Professor Sir Nigel Rodley and Professor Kevin Boyle

The Delivery of Human Rights reflects on two overlapping issues in international human rights law: how can existing norms be better implemented and effected, and how can other branches of international law or other international actors be used so as to provide an improved delivery of those norms. Rather than simply looking at the content of the rights, this book will also explore how the framers’ intention that individuals benefit from the norms can be achieved.

The book is written and published in honour of Professor Sir Nigel Rodley KBE. It celebrates his career as an academic and practitioner in the area of human rights. Professor Rodley acted as the UN Special Rapporteur on Torture from 1993 to 2001 and is currently a member of the UN Human Rights Committee. He is also a member of the International Commission of Jurists. Since 2001 he has been a Member of the UN Human Rights Committee, established under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. In 1998 he was knighted in the Queen's New Year's Honours list for services to Human Rights and International Law and in 2000 he received an honorary LLD from Dalhousie University. He is Professor and Chair of the Human Rights Centre, University of Essex, having taught there since 1990.

The contributors to this volume are notable experts in the area of human rights law and include Paul Hunt, Malcolm Evans, Michael O’Flaherty and David Weissbrodt. The book addresses such topics as the Role of Special Rapporteurs, how can the absolute prohibition of torture be properly implemented, Responsibility to Protect, non-state actors, including businesses, and human rights.

Strategic Visions for Human Rights takes a multi-disciplinary approach to future directions for human rights. It looks beyond what international human rights treaties have so far established and considers the context in which rights in the twenty-first century might develop to meet needs. The book examines how international law might be utilized to protect groups rather than just individual members of the group and it also calls into question the liberal positivist approach to international law that provides the framework for human rights norms.

The book is written and published in honour of Professor Kevin Boyle. It celebrates his long career in human rights law both as an academic and a practising barrister. Professor Boyle has taken numerous cases on human rights issues to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg and has long been involved in human rights aspects of the peace process in Northern Ireland. He has published widely on human rights issues, focusing on freedom of expression and religion and non-discrimination.

The contributors to this volume are well-known academics in the field of human rights and include Francesca Klug, Conor Gearty, David Beetham and Asbjorn Eide. Amongst some of the issues addressed in the book are the future of the European Court of Human Rights, the role of academics play in engendering transition to post-conflict democratic states, and human rights and religious pluralism.