The active pursuit of social and labour rights is seen as a crucial response to globalization. These essays, written by leading scholars from the UK, Ireland, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the USA, question the effectiveness of the rhetoric of rights such as those to decent work and security, equal opportunity, adequate food and housing, and healthcare. The authors examine emerging approaches in several European countries, Japan, and the USA and in codes of practice of multinational companies. Attempts by the International Labour Organization to promote core rights and decent work, and techniques of enforcement at regional level by the EU and NAFTA receive special attention.

The book offers a comprehensive perspective on the highly topical issue of protecting and promoting labour standards in international economic law and the globalized economy. For the purpose of an in-depth analysis of both the specific and the fundamental aspects in this regard, it combines views from specialized academics of the legal and political sciences as well as experienced practitioners. The contributions to this book do not only reveal recurring obstacles but also point at best practices and potential for synergies, providing important guidance for future research and practice in international economic and labour law and policy.

Designed for educational use in international relations, law, political science, economics, and philosophy classes, Human Rights in the World Community treats the full range of human rights issues, including implementation problems and processes involving international, national, and nongovernmental action. Now with online appendices.

Economic globalisation is one of the guiding paradigms of the twenty-first century. The challenge it implies for human rights is fundamental, and key questions have up to now received no satisfying answers. How can human rights protect human dignity when economic globalisation has an adverse impact on local living conditions? How should human rights evolve in response to a global economy in which non-statal actors are decisive forces? Economic Globalisation and Human Rights was originally published in 2007, and sets out to assess these and other questions to ensure that, as economic globalisation intensifies, human rights take up the central and crucial position that they deserve. Using a multidisciplinary methodology, leading scholars reflect on issues such as the need for global ethics, the localisation of human rights, the role of human rights in WTO law, and efforts to make international economic organisations more accountable and multinational corporations more socially responsible.

L’ampleur des enjeux humains, économiques et sociaux posés par la question des solidarités entre générations a conduit l’International society of Family Law (ISFL) à choisir ce thème pour son XVe congrès mondial. Plus de 200 intervenants, venus de 50 pays, ont abordé ces questions sous l’angle juridique, mais aussi philosophique, économique et anthropologique. Cet ouvrage présente une partie de ces communications organisées autour de deux grands thèmes : l’enfant au cœur des solidarités familiales et la prise en charge des aînés par la famille. Des phénomènes tels que l’allongement de la durée de la vie, l’urbanisation des populations, la difficulté d’entrée sur le marché du travail ou encore l’éclatement des modèles familiaux traditionnels marquent notre monde contemporain et impliquent la disparition d’anciennes solidarités et l’apparition de nouvelles solidarités redessinant les relations entre générations, posant alors le problème du sort des personnes les plus fragiles : les enfants, les malades, les handicapés et, surtout, les personnes âgées. – Quel est alors le rôle de la famille et des collectivités dans la protection de ces personnes ? – Quels rapports entre solidarités publiques et solidarités privées ? – Quels sont les droits et libertés reconnus aux personnes que l’âge, la maladie ou le handicap, placent en situation de dépendances ? Telles sont les questions au cœur de cet ouvrage. The importance of the human, economic and social issues caused by the question of generations’ solidarities led the International Society of Family Law to choose this theme for its XVIth World Congress (Lyon, July 19-23rd 2011). More than 200 speakers from 50 countries studied these questions from the legal angle, but also philosophic, economic and anthropological. This work collects a part of these papers about two great issues: the child, as the center of family solidarities; and the support for elders by family. Phenomena such as increasing life expectancy, population urbanization, labor-market entry barriers, decline of traditional family patterns, mark in depth our contemporary world and involve old solidarity disappearance and new solidarity emergence, reshaping relations between generations while bringing up the problem of the fate of the most vulnerable: children, the sick, disabled, and especially elderly people. – What then is the role of families and communities in protecting these people? – What is the relationship between public and private solidarity? – What are the rights and freedoms of people placed by age, illness or disability in a dependence situation? These are the issues addressed by the authors of this book.

This handbook brings together the work of 25 leading human rights scholars from all over the world, covering a broad range of human rights topics.

From November 28 - 29, 2005, the Center for Human Rights of Central European University (CEU) organized a roundtable around the theme: Re-thinking Socio-Economic Rights in an Insecure World. The roundtable brought together scholars and human rights practitioners from different regions to reflect on the following questions relating to social and economic rights, particularly in the context of the global insecurity: If social rights are human rights, how does the failure to advance these rights undermine security? Are social rights human rights or do the claims they incorporate represent social needs? Are they moral or legal rights? Who has a duty to respect these rights? Is there a hierarchy among those who have such duties? How can these duties be fulfilled? What is an appropriate approach to social and economic concerns in developing countries? Is the argument for socio-economic rights an argument that overcomes the causes and legacy of conflicts? Do socio-economic rights deserve constitutional protection? What are the problems behind constitutional protection of such rights? Is the vagueness of social and economic rights an enough reason not to assign such rights to people? Is the rhetoric of social and economic rights helpful in protecting marginalized and neglected groups?

The book examines how international economic law affects the ability of states to regulate labour. It analyses the interactions between relevant norms and explains how linkages between economic law and labour navigate between two notions: fair competition and fundamental rights.

It cannot be denied that in recent decades, for many if not most people, work has become unstable and insecure, with serious risk and few benefits for workers. As this reality spills over into political and social life, it is crucial to interrogate the transformations affecting employment relations, shape research agendas, and influence the policies of national and international institutions. This single volume brings together thirty-nine scholars (both academics and experienced industrial relations actors) in the fields of employment relations and labour law in a forthright discussion of new approaches, theories, and methods aimed at ameliorating the world of work. Focusing on why and how work is changing, how collective actors deal with it, and the future of work from different disciplinary angles and at an international level, the contributors describe and analyse such issues and topics as the following: new forms of social protection and representation; differences in the power relations of workers and political dynamics; balancing protection of workers’ dignity and promotion of productivity; intersection of information technology and workplace regulation; how the gig economy undermines legal protections; role of professional and trade associations; workplace conflict management; lay judges in labour courts; undeclared work in the informal sector of the labour market; work incapacity and disability; (in)coherence of the work-related case law of the European Court of Justice; and business restructurings. Derived from a major conference held in Leuven in September 2018, the book offers an in-depth understanding of the changing world of work, its main transformations, and the challenges posed to classical employment relations theories and methods as well as to labour law. With its wide range of insights, analysis, and reflection, this unique contribution to the study of industrial relations offers an authoritative reference guide to scholars, policymakers, trade unions and business associations, human resources professionals, and practitioners who need to deal with the future of work challenges.