Out now: European Yearbook on Human Rights 2012

I am happy to announce that  the European Yearbook on Human Rights 2012 has just been published. It gives an excellent overview of human rights development in Europe in 2011. Please consider buying it and/or recommending it to your library. 

Content

In terms of both human rights and democracy, 2011 was a revolutionary year. The Arab Spring has put into sharp focus some long held assumptions of the international community. But this was not the only revolution in human rights thinking in 2011.

Defining and discussing key developments in human rights in Europe and in the world, the fourth edition of the European Yearbook on Human Rights brings together 28 contributions by renowned human rights experts that provide a much needed overview and sought-after analysis.

Edited jointly by representatives of four major European human rights research, teaching and training institutions, the Yearbook 2012 contains extensive sections on developments in the field of the three main organizations charged with securing human rights in Europe: EU, Council of Europe and OSCE. A further chapter contains contributions on the role of civil society in human rights protection and on cross-cutting topics.


Holistic in its approach, but detailed in its analyses, the European Yearbook on Human Rights 2012 provides its readers with a sweeping overview and comprehensive analysis of the events and issues that have shaped the human rights debate in Europe in 2011 and continue to shape it today.


The impressive array of authors – academics and diplomats, practitioners and human rights experts – makes the book essential reading for anyone interested in human rights in Europe and beyond.


Editors


Wolfgang Benedek (European Training and Research Centre for Human Rights and Democracy – ETC of the University of Graz), Florence Benoît-Rohmer (European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation – EIUC, Venice), Wolfram Karl (Austrian Institute for Human Rights – OIM, University of Salzburg), Manfred Nowak (Ludwig Boltzmann Institute of Human Rights – BIM, University of Vienna). Associate Editor: Matthias C. Kettemann (Institute of International Law and International Relations, University of Graz)


Contributions


I Topics of the Year


Mohsine EL AHMADI and Abdelaziz RADI: Arab Spring and Human Rights


Andreas ACCARDO, Jonas GRIMHEDEN and Klaus STARL: The Case for Human Rights at the Local Level: More than an Obligation?


II European Union


Wolfgang BENEDEK: EU Action on Human and Fundamental Rights in 2011


Theodor RATHGEBER: The EU’s Performance in the UN Human Rights Council in 2011 in Light of the Review Process and its Main Outcomes


Jeff KENNER: The Court of Justice of the European Union and Human Rights in 2011


Daniel AUGENSTEIN and Christian BEHRMANN: Partnering with Civil Society: The EU’s Approach to Promoting Human Rights and Decent Work in Bangladesh


Gosia GORSKA: Mutual Influence: The Case of the EU and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights


Paul GRAGL: The Shortcomings of Dublin II: Strasbourg’s M.S.S. Judgment and its Implications for the European Union’s Legal Order


Rachel TOWERS: Recasting the Dublin II Regulation: Do the Draft Provisions on Appeal Rights, Detention and Access to Asylum Procedures Sufficiently Protect Asylum-Seekers’ Fundamental Rights?


Lidia Isabel ESTEVEZ PICON: Criminalizing Irregular Immigrants in the EU: A Human Rights Issue


Paolo BIONDI: The Externalization of the EU’s Southern Border in Light of the EU/Libya Framework Agreement: A Lawful Alternative or a Neo-Refoulement Strategy?


Birgit Angela WEIXELBAUMER, Maria HADJIPAVLOU and Kalliope AGAPIOU-JOSEPHIDES: The EU Facing the Human Trafficking Challenge: Reintegration as a Possible Shift Towards a Victim-Centred Approach


Sara DE VIDO: The European Contribution to the Recognition of the Human Right to Water


III Council of Europe


Tatjana CARDONA, Elisabeth HANDL-PETZ, Eva LECHNER and Brigitte OHMS: ECtHR Jurisprudence in 2011: An Overview


Tatiana MARTYNOVA: Implementation of European Court of Human Rights Judgments in the Russian Legal Order


Violeta BESIREVIC: A Short Guide to Militant Democracy: Some Remarks on the Strasbourg Jurisprudence


Pierre THIELBÖRGER: Positive Obligations in the ECHR after the Stoicescu Case: A Concept in Search of Content?


Agnieszka SZKLANNA: The Standing of Applicants and NGOs in the Process of Supervision of ECtHR Judgments by the Committee of Ministers


Lando KIRCHMAIR: The Right to Judicial Protection under the ECHR: A Yardstick for the Individual Action for Annulment after Lisbon?


Michaela POVOLNÁ: Protection of Medical Data in the Scope of Article 8 ECHR: An Analysis of the European Data Protection Safeguards


Markus MÖSTL: Monitoring Human Rights by Council of Europe Bodies: Quo Vadis?


IV OSCE


Manfred NOWAK and Karolina JANUSZEWSKI: Criminal Justice and Prison Standards in the OSCE Area


Hans-Joachim HEINTZE: The Unique Contribution of the OSCE in the Field of Minority Protection


V Civil Society/NGOs/Cross-Cutting Issues


Gábor HALMAI: From the “Rule of Law Revolution” to the Constitutional Counter-Revolution in Hungary


Enver HASANI, Dren DOLI and Fisnik KORENICA: Individual Complaint Mechanism as a Means to Protecting Fundamental Human Rights and Freedoms: The Case of the Constitutional Court of Kosovo


Vedrana SPAJIĆ VRKAŠ and Mitja ŽAGAR: Civic Education in South-Eastern Europe: Education and Training for Human Rights and Active Democratic Citizenship


Kira PRECKEL and Rosalind WILLI: The Role of Civil Society in the Universal Periodic Review: Human Dignity, in Your Hands?


Mirt KOMEL: Statelessness and the Right to Have Rights: Universalism of Human Rights within the Context of the UN and EU