Journal

HUQUQ Journal

Expanding Rights and Expanding Powers: Assessing and Contextualizing Human Rights Abuses in an Emerging Multipolar World

Research Assistants HUQUQ, Journal, Research Notes Globalism, Multipolarity 0

By Anthea Rose Abstract Since the fall of the Soviet Union to the Ukrainian crisis, the world order has been characterized as a unipolar one, wherein the United States monopolized power. A facet of world order acutely affected by this monopoly of administering justice and world dominance is within human rights practices–– a primary interest of this paper. As unipolarity becomes stretched thin, challenged in a geopolitical context by newly empowered contestants asserting individuality from international hegemonic structures, it is necessary to consider the protection and violation of ‘universal’ human rights and their implementation in a multiplicity of spheres–– including international enforcement, domestic monitoring, and the continuing effects of historical human rights abuses within enacted systems. The redistribution of world powers demands an expansion of the conceptualization of human rights to better define and safeguard rights protections in a transformed political landscape of the international and domestic hemisphere. This paper examines the interconnectedness of world polarity- its impact on human rights abuses, the geopolitical climate and its responsiveness to competing states. Using an interdisciplinary approach, this essay will demonstrate the potential of multipolarity in lessening human rights abuses. ________________ Keywords: human rights, multipolarity, unipolarity, social rights, globalism _____________ Defining Human Rights Traditional Approaches to Human Rights As both paradigm and practice, human rights are implemented within a delicate definition of their purpose and protections. Human rights are indicative of the relationship between an individual and the state, determining patterns of governance and punishment. Human rights can be loosely defined as Read more

How the War between Ideals and Practices in the West is Exposing Supremacism as the Force behind All Rights Abuses

Prof. Souaiaia HUQUQ, Journal Islam in Europe, Muslims in Europe 0

By Ahmed E. Souaiaia * When school started in France this fall, Muslim children who wished to wear an abaya (for girls) or a qamis (for boys) had to choose between the dress and education. They were compelled to make the difficult choice because the French government banned Islamic attire that offends secularism. France’s president, Emmanuel Macron, defended the ban, stressing that it aims to defend secularism and the principles of the republic, but also went further to connect Islamic dress to terrorism: “We also live in our society with a minority, with people who change the direction of a religion and come to challenge the Republic and secularism… Sometimes the worst happened. We cannot act as if there had been no terrorist attack and there was no Samuel Paty.” This statement is an explicit confirmation that the ban is not an instrument that applies to all to preserve the “neutral space” that secularism allegedly creates. It is a ban that targets a specific social group, Muslims. Moreover, the ban is targeting Muslims, according to Macron, because Islamic practices, including wearing a traditional dress, produces terrorism. These are the values, the reasoning, and the principles of the “enlightened world” that must be universalized, again, as per Macron’s recent instructions to his diplomatic core. The right to education that is enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which was produced by the Western world at the conclusion of the European wars, and that was used thereafter as a political Read more

The Instrumentalization of Human Rights is the Most Serious Threat to Human Rights

Prof. Souaiaia Journal Colonialism, Supremacism, Woman Rights 0

Abstract: Generally, human rights are claims made by disempowered social groups that those with power over them must do for them or must not do to them. As such, these rights can be universal. But so is the abuse of such rights because of the universality of power systems—all human societies, throughout history and across culture, have been under some form of governing entities that enjoyed and exerted power over those under their rule. Subsequently, no government can be beyond reproach when it comes to human rights abuse. Yet, when human rights abuses take place in Muslim-majority countries, Western governments impose sanctions and Western media provide extensive coverage of instances of abuse. But when similar or even more egregious or persistent human rights abuses take place in a Western country, Western governments and media outlets ignore the event or treated it like an isolated secondary event. What is behind the difference in reactions and what is the effect of ignoring human rights abuses when they happen in Western societies on human rights?

PERKEMBANGAN POLITIK HUKUM ISLAM PASCA REFORMASI DALAM PERSPEKTIF NEGARA HUKUM HANS KELSEN

Research Assistants Journal, Jurisprudence Indonesia, Islamic Law Reform 0

by Marsono Wibowo Abstract As a country with the largest Muslim population in the world, it will directly or indirectly affect the development of the living order of the Indonesian people. The regimes change from time to time with policies that different from one to another, provide a variety of colors in the life of the nation and state. As a legal expert, Hans Kelsen explains the connection between law, morality and religion. How do each other influence each other, and what is the connection of that thing in the life of the nation and state in Indonesia.

Systemic Racism in the U.S. Immigration Laws

Research Assistants Essays, Journal, Law 0

by Kevin R. Johnson, UC Davis Abstract This Essay analyzes how aggressive activism in a California mountain town at the tail end of the nineteenth century commenced a chain reaction resulting in state and ultimately national anti-Chinese immigration laws. The constitutional immunity through which the Supreme Court upheld those laws deeply affected the future trajectory of U.S. immigration law and policy. Responding to sustained political pressure from the West, Congress in 1882 passed the Chinese Exclusion Act, an infamous piece of unabashedly racist legislation that commenced a long process of barring immigration from all of Asia to the United States. In upholding the Act, the Supreme Court in an extraordinary decision that jars modern racial sensibilities declared that Congress possessed “plenary power”—absolute authority—over immigration and that racist immigration laws were immune from judicial review of their constitutionality. The bedrock of U.S. immigration jurisprudence for more than a century and never overruled by the Supreme Court, the plenary power doctrine permits the treatment of immigrants in racially discriminatory ways consistent with the era of Jim Crow but completely at odds with modern constitutional law. The doctrine enabled President Trump, a fierce advocate of tough-as-nails immigration measures, to pursue the most extreme immigration program of any modern president, with devastating impacts on noncitizens of color. As the nation attempts to grapple with the Trump administration’s brutal treatment of immigrants, it is an especially opportune historical moment to reconsider the plenary power doctrine. Ultimately, the commitment to remove systemic racism from the nation’s social Read more

Sharia and Human Rights

Prof. Souaiaia Essays, Journal, Jurisprudence Human Rights, Sharia 0

by Ahmed E. Souaiaia* Abstract: Being an extremely dynamic determinant system that can be both formalized and popularized, Sharia has the potential to be used to promote and protect rights as well as to be an instrument of exclusion and human rights abuse. In fact, that is the role Sharia has played throughout the history of Islamic civilization: rulers, from Yazid to Numeiri, justified their transgressions by their role as enforcers of God’s Sharia; and rebels, aggrieved, and dissenting social groups, from the Ibadis to the Muslim Brotherhood, invoked the Sharia for motivation and justification in their pursuit of delegitimizing and overthrowing unjust regimes. With an eye on its effects on human rights in historical and modern contexts, let’s take a close look at the definitions, functions, and history of Sharia. ________________ In Muslim-majority countries, where leaders debate and negotiate legal reforms, the persistent question is whether Sharia should be the source of law or a source of law. In countries where Muslims are minorities, some local and national governments have proposed laws banning the adoption of Sharia. In territories and countries controlled by Islamist armed groups, Sharia courts have been established and self-styled scholars have imposed themselves as chief Sharia judges (sing. qadi shar`i). Social movements, violent and non-violent ones, have emerged in many Muslim-majority countries have been demanding the “implementation of Sharia” in their communities. These events might give the impression that Sharia is a concrete and well-defined concept, body of law, and legal system. In reality, the Read more

Are Human Rights Compatible with Islam?

Editorial Team Journal 0

By Riffat Hassan, Ph.D. Though the Universal declaration of Human Rights is called “Universal”, it “was articulated along the lines of historical trends of the Western world during the last three centuries, and a certain philosophical anthropology of individualistic humanism which helped justify them” [1]. The basic assumptions underlying the Declaration were a) of a universal human nature common to all the peoples, b) of the dignity of the individual, and c) of a democratic social order [2]. In the decades since the Declaration, the term “human rights” has become an integral part of both political and popular discourse, particularly amongst Western, and Western-educated, persons. Until very recently most of this discourse has been in largely secular terms. In fact, it is frequently assumed, as well as stated, by many advocates of human rights, in both Western and non- Western (including many Muslim) countries, that human rights can exist only within a secular context and not within the framework of religion. Underlying the stance that the concept of human rights is fundamentally secular, and, therefore, outside of, and even antithetical to, the worldview of religion, is – of course – a certain view of religion in general, or of particular religions. In Muslim countries such as Pakistan, for instance, it is often remarked by secular-minded proponents of human rights that it is not meaningful to talk about human rights in Islam because as a religious tradition, Islam has supported values and structures which are incompatible with the assumptions which underlie Read more

ISSUES OF COMPATIBILITY HUMAN RIGHTS AND ISLAM: The Experience of Egypt and Indonesia

Editorial Team Journal 0

by Sus Eko Ernada This paper describes the plurality of Muslim responses to the modern conception of human rights, drawing in particular on Muslim interpretations of key human rights issues in the discourse of human rights and Islam -women’s rights, religious freedom and minority rights, and corporal punishment- in Egypt and Indonesia. The case studies of Egypt and Indonesia point to wide range of responses among Muslims to these issues, but also suggest that Islam is not incompatible with the modern conception of human rights. This paper argues that on the issues of human rights, Muslims do not share a single, monolithic stance. Instead, there is a variety of arguments based on various Islamic schools of thought and Islamic religious groups. As a result, the issues of human rights and their implementation have elicited a wide range of responses among Muslims. … read more

Human Rights in Islam

Editorial Team Journal 0

by Najma Moosa Introduction: Conflicts between human rights and religion do exist. Is this true of Islam? The answer is not as simple as ‘yes’ or ‘no’. Although an examination of human rights in an Islamic context will reveal its theocentric rather than secular and judicial basis, this paper asserts that, notwithstanding (later) Islamic law interpretations to the contrary, (original) Islam is compatible with the modern notion of human rights. The fact that some Muslim countries have opted for Western constitutional models because of uncertainty as to what constitutes Islamic constitutional law clearly supports this assertion. On the other hand, because of the Western origin of modern constitutions, countries like Saudi Arabia have no formal written constitution. … read more

Misconceptions About Human Rights and Women’s Rights in Islam

Editorial Team Journal Woman Rights 0

by Khalida Tanvir Syed This paper aims to clarify three current misconceptions about the Islamic faith and issues of human rights and women’s rights in the West. The first misconception is that Muslims are terrorists because they believe in Jihad. It is factually the case that Islamic teachings stress the value of peace and prosperity for all human beings. The second misconception is that Muslims prohibit scientific knowledge and only aim to seek religious knowledge. To the contrary, Qur’an emphasizes that the opportunity to seek all forms of knowledge is a human right and responsibility of all Muslims. The third misconception and perhaps, the most controversial, is that Islam oppresses women. In reality, Islam offers women the right to make their own choices in the areas of education, business, and property, to name a few. By sharing my own experiential narrative as a Muslim born woman and that of a Canadian women who converted to Islam, I can actually see the similarities between human rights in Islam and the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948). … read more