Felipe Gómez Isa

Cultural Diversity, Legal Pluralism, and Human Rights from an Indigenous Perspective: The Approach by the Colombian Constitutional Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights

The increasing cultural diversity and legal pluralism prevailing in the global South should not always be seen as a threat to a universal concept of human rights, but as an enriching input for it. The progressive recognition of indigenous peoples’ rights in the last decades is forging, sometimes with difficulties, a more open and dynamic conception of human rights. By opening the door to the indigenous conceptions of law, justice, and dignity, both the Colombian Constitutional Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights are decisively contributing with their progressive jurisprudence to an increasingly more multicultural approach to human rights. The culmination of this complex and somewhat contradictory process took place with the adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in September 2007, a clear example of an attempt to balance indigenous conceptions of dignity with the very basics of international human rights law. The aim of this work is to analyze how the Colombian Constitutional Court and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights conceive the problematic but also challenging relationship between indigenous legal pluralism and the protection and promotion of human dignity. The so-called multicultural jurisprudence is paving the way for a more inclusive conception of human rights, a conception enriched by local ways of framing and understanding human dignity.

EU Human Rights and Democratization Policies: Achievements and Challenges

Though the EU has tried to place human rights and democracy at the heart of its external action, there are serious concerns about its capacity to have a significant impact on the situation of human rights and human rights defenders as well as on the democratization processes taking place in different regions of the world. This edited volume sheds light on the achievements of EU policies and programmes in the field of human rights and democracy, also taking into account the challenges ahead. Analysing the changing global context’s effect on the ability of the EU to have a meaningful impact in the field of human rights and democratization, it examines relevant policies and programmes of the EU to see their impact on the ground. Combining various methodologies, the authors examine primary agreements and other EU documents, secondary sources (such as evaluations of EU’s policies and programmes) in the field of human rights and democracy promotion, and have interviewed EU officials, academics and other key stakeholders. From these, the book sheds light on specific programmes such as the EIDHR, the EOM and the EU Guidelines on Human Rights Defenders, illuminating the increasingly hostile environment to work for human rights and democracy in a number of countries.

Response to Annette Pearson’s note on restorative justice in the Colombian peace process

First of all, I would like to stress from the outset that I fully share the main conclusions drawn by Annette Pearson on the limited role played by restorative justice initiatives in the Colombian peace process so far. In spite of the incorporation of some mechanisms of restorative justice in both the Colombian Constitution and the Criminal Code, the truth is that the scope and practical implementation of these measures have been very modest. In fact, a number of local and international actors such as the Democratic Center (Centro Democrático, former President Alvaro Uribe’s political party), the Colombian Commission of Jurists or Human Rights Watch have been very reluctant to accept the restorative justice components of the Peace Agreement between the Colombian Government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, FARC). They basically perceive the restorative measures, particularly the ‘alternative sanctions’ established by the Law developing the jurisdictional components of the Peace Agreement, as a way to grant impunity to perpetrators of gross and systematic violations of human rights. There is an urgent need to offer full information and make pedagogy about the main ingredients and about the scope of the sanctions that can be imposed in the framework of restorative justice. The main message that has to be sent to Colombian society at large is that restorative justice does not necessarily equate to impunity. On the contrary, restorative justice mechanisms and alternative sanctions are aimed at the reparation of victims but also at the reintegration of perpetrators into society. Additionally, restorative justice mechanisms intend to reconstruct the broken social fabric, and therefore seek to restore civic trust. The core principles and values underlying restorative justice must be socialised. Values such as respect, honesty, care, accountability, mutual trust, forgiveness, reconciliation, social harmony and

THE REVERSIBILITY OF ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS IN CRISIS CONTEXT

Finansinė krizė turi reiksmingą poveikį įgyvendinant socialines ir ekonomines teises Europoje, sis poveikis ypac ryskus Pietų Europos salyse, pavyzdžiui, Ispanijoje, Portugalijoje, Italijoje ar Graikijoje. Tarptautinėje žmogaus teisių teisėje įtvirtinta apribojimų priemonėms, taikomoms ekonominės krizės metu, taciau valstybės paprastai nevertina socialinių ismokų mažinimo žmogaus teisių požiūriu. Straipsnyje siekiama nustatyti, pirma, valstybių įsipareigojimus ekonominių, socialinių ir kultūrinių teisių (angl. economic, social and cultural rights – ESCR) strityje ir, antra, parodyti ribotas galimybes gincyti regreso tvarka taikomas priemones is tarptautinės žmogaus teisių teisės perspektyvos.