The Human Rights of Non-citizens

The History of the Special Procedures: A ‘Learning-by-Doing’ Approach to Human Rights Implementation

“…156 Conversely, resolutions addressed to geographic mandates did not include a request to respond effectively to information coming before them from all available sources (including individual communications). 157 This contributed to geographic mandate holders' reluctance to deal with individual cases from the early years of evolution of Special Procedures, a trend that remains today. 158 As argued elsewhere, the adoption of the Code of Conduct for Special Procedures 159 has provided for the first time -although indirectly -firm legal basis for the competence of mandate-holders to deal with individual cases.…”

Human rights and globalisation – Are human rights a “Western” concept or a universalistic principle?

“…A central issue with respect to human rights is nowadays the question which rights could and should be given to non-citizens, among whom we have to distinguish a lot of different groups: stateless persons, asylum seekers, rejected asylum seekers, refugees, migrants and trafficked persons, to name the most important of them (Weissbrodt 2008). The degree to which a society accepts and respects the rights of those groups depends to a high degree not only on their legal status in the respective country, but also on the willingness of civil society to take care of them.…”

Statelessness and Environmental-Induced Displacement: Future Scenarios of Deterritorialisation, Rescue and Recovery Examined

“…Developing this theme of effective protection, a number of legal experts have drawn attention to the principle of non-discrimination within international human rights law as a means of extending protection to people at risk (Blitz, 2009). Foremost among them is David Weissbrodt (2008) who has consistently argued that regardless of citizenship status, non-citizens should enjoy all human rights just as formal citizens unless exceptional distinctions serve a legitimate state objective; thus, reinforcing Leckie's arguments for applying principles of international human rights law to climate-induced migrants. Further studies have developed some of the conclusions Leckie reaches regarding the applicability of other international instruments, especially the Convention on the Rights of the Child to protect de facto stateless people (Blitz, 2009).…”