Derechos humanos y empresas y Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos

Reflexiones y diálogos

Ricardo Abello-Galvis, Walter Arévalo-Ramírez

• Editorial: Editorial Universidad del Rosario
• Año: 2019
• ISBN del libro electrónico: 9789587842890
• Categoría: Derecho
• Categoría: Ley de vivienda y urbanismo

El presente libro es una obra colectiva que refleja el desarrollo de los derechos humanos en el país, específicamente en la Facultad de Jurisprudencia de la Universidad del Rosario.Es clara la intención de educar para ellos e investigarlos si queremos tener una sociedad más justa y equitativa, en aras de lograr la paz en Colombia, así como lograr que tengan una mayor protección en la región.En este sentido, se lograron las dos intenciones y etapas que acompañaron el proyecto de crear el Congreso Anual de Derecho Internacional en la Facultad: por un lado, atender la necesidad de una obra colectiva de proyección internacional que abarcara, desde diferentes posiciones y escuelas, los nuevos debates relativos a la relación evolutiva entre empresas y derechos humanos y los debates recientes sobre el alcance y eficacia de la jurisprudencia y funcionamiento del sistema interamericano; por otro, la necesidad, como comunidad epistémica, de establecer un foro regional cuyo eje fuera Colombia, para el desarrollo y promoción de los más selectos debates de derecho internacional.

SECCIÓN 1
DERECHO INTERNACIONAL DE LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS Y DESARROLLOS SOBRE DERECHOS HUMANOS Y EMPRESAS

Universality at the cross-roads: current trends in inter-state negotiations at the United Nations and International (Human Rights) Law

Wilson de los Reyes Aragón*

* Senior Legal Advisor/Main representative to United Nations in Geneva - RFSU (Sweden); Associate Scholar Latin American Institute – Stockholm University (Sweden); Colaborador Centro de Investigacion de la Efectividad del Derecho (Spain). [email protected].

Foreword

Current notion of International Law is closely bound to the post-war order, particularly to the notion of peace among equally sovereign nations and universal human rights entitled to all individuals. Based on these two pillars, international relations and international law have (successfully) built a truly universal system mirroring nation-states architecture, namely pursuing the monopoly of force to the fullest extent possible, the development of a rational, independent, law-based dispute resolution system, and the guarantee of certain fundamental rights to all individuals (without further qualifiers). In this regard, the United Nations and the Universal Human Rights Charter have been operative as a foundational pact fulfilling a legitimising function. The basic intergovernmental agreements on human rights have, in their turn, acted as a guideline for state legitimacy and governance. However, current geopolitical trends put the idea of universalism at the cross-roads, posing both risks and opportunities for the international system, for its institutions and for International Law as a safeguard of its legitimacy.

The role of the United Nations and International Law in contemporary State legitimacy

As stated in its webpage, the United Nations has a unique international character allowing it to “take action on the issues confronting humanity in the 21st century, such as peace and security, climate change, sustainable development, human rights, disarmament, terrorism, humanitarian aid and health emergencies, gender equality, governance, food production, and more”. The UN claims to provide “a forum for is members” in order to find, through inter-governmental negotiation, “areas of agreement and solve problems together”.1

Such description is a very good summary of the purposes and principles enshrined in the Charter of the United Nations, as well as the source of its own organisational legitimacy. While never intended to be a super-state, the UN was intended as a more efficient successor to the League of Nations and aimed to be born as an international power.2 According to the Royal Institute of International Affairs, it was necessary to overcome some design flaws from the League Nations and build the new organisation upon the basis of formal equality of all states and open membership to all of them, regardless their size or influence.3

Designed as an international power aimed to create a new world order,4 the UN Charter entrusts the Organisation with the mandate to “establish conditions under which justice and respect for the obligations arising from treaties and other sources of international law can be maintained”, vesting it the with authority to audit and influence the conduct of both Member and Non-Member states through supervision and, eventually, through coercion.5

Despite any (reasonable) old and new criticism to the UN as organisation,6 to its politics7 and its activity,8 the political power historically exerted by the UN can be argued in terms of magnitude, but never in terms of existence. As a matter of fact, given the wide range of intersecting (and conflicting) topics, problems, organs and interests historically addressed by the UN, its mere existence can be regarded as evidence of success.9 Also, the number of Member States and the fact that Member States continue to entrust the different (old and new) UN bodies and agencies to deal with (old and new) issues can only confirm such success.10

UN relevance has also had a long-lasting impact on International Law. Since its creation, the UN has not only become a significant international legislator, but transformed International Law by producing a new set of soft-law regulations and standards not fitting within its traditional sources.11 According to some scholars, the interaction between different UN political organs and international courts has played a major role in developing and mainstreaming the use of teleological interpretations beyond the texts and original scope of International Law instruments.12 According to them, the UN Charter could be regarded as a World Constitution or, at least, as a basic framework enclosing a set of hierarchically superior legal norms and values. In other words, the UN Charter was intended as a foundational pact or social contract among nations based on the democratic ideal of (formal-legal) equality among all nations.13 If compared to the 51 founding members, the current 193 Member States (plus two Observers) can be regarded as evidence of the added-value that states find in adhering to a constitutionally-oriented international or...

Índice

• Portada
• Resumen
• Portadilla
• Página legal
• Contenido
• Prólogo
• Sección 1 Derecho Internacional de los Derechos Humanos y desarrollos sobre derechos humanos y empresas
• Addressing Transnational Corporate Human Rights Abuses through Soft-Law and Transnational Human Rights Litigation
• Las obligaciones de las empresas en virtud del Derecho Internacional Retos y oportunidades en materia de empresas y derechos humanos
• Obligaciones de los Estados en materia de empresa y derechos humanos en el marco de proyectos de infraestructura de alto impacto
• El camino hacia un tratado vinculante sobre empresa y derechos humanos
• La inmigración en el marco jurídico internacional de los derechos humanos La necesidad de un replanteamiento
• Sección 2 Sistema Interamericano de Protección y Promoción de los Derechos Humanos
• Lo que se ha dicho y lo que no se ha dicho sobre la cuarta instancia en el Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos un análisis crítico a la luz de la responsabilidad internacional del Estado por el hecho de los jueces*
• El Derecho Internacional al rescate de la Convención Americana sobre Derechos Humanos El caso argentino
• Las contribuciones del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos para la protección a la libertad de expresión en Internet
• Sección 3 Derecho Internacional Penal
• Hate speech and incitiement to further crimes against humanity and war crimes in the framework of the international criminal court
• Los autores