12th edition of Sur Journal available online

Edited in collaboration with Amnesty International, this issue of the Sur Journal addresses the Millennium Development Goals a human rights perspective and also responsibility of corporations for human rights violations

03/03/2011

Sur - Human Rights University Network and Amnesty International (AI) present the Special Issue of the Sur Journal (Nº 12) addressing the Millennium Development Goals and Corporate Accountability. This edition is the beginning of our collaboration with Carlos Chagas Foundation (FCC) that is supporting the Sur Journal in 2010 and 2011. We would like to thank FCC for this support, which has guaranteed the continued production of the printed version of the Journal.

We hope that this issue of the Sur Journal will call the attention of human rights activists, civil society organisations and academics to the relevance of the MDGs for the advancement of human rights. The articles included in this edition of the Sur Journal not only critique the MDGs a human rights perspective, but also present several positive proposals on how to integrate human rights into the MDGs.

Two articles address the issue of corporate accountability for human rights violations analysing what measures a home state (i.e., the states the corporations are headquartered) could or should take in order to hold corporations to account for abuses they have committed, or contributed to, in developing countries, and to ensure effective remedy for the individuals or communities that have been victims of those abuses.

In addition, this 12th edition of Sur Journal includes two general articles, one on the effectiveness of the Inter-American System of Human Rights Protection and the other on the role of the Commonwealth of Nations in the protection of human rights.

Content:

Salil Shetty - Foreword

Fernando Basch et al. - The Effectiveness of the Inter-American System of Human Rights Protection: A Quantitative Approach to its Functioning and Compliance Withwith its Decisions

Richard Bourne - The Commonwealth of Nations: Intergovernmental and Nongovernmental Strategies for the Protection of Human Rights in a Post-colonial Association

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS

Amnesty International - Combating Exclusion: Why Human Rights Are Essential for the MDGs

Victoria Tauli-Corpuz - Reflections on the Role of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in relation to the Millennium Development Goals

Alicia Ely Yamin - Toward Transformative Accountability: Applying a Rights-based Approach to Fulfill Maternal Health Obligations

Sarah Zaidi - Millennium Development Goal 6 and the Right to Health: Conflictual or Complementary?

Marcos Orellana - Climate Change and the Millennium Development Goals: The Right to Development, International Cooperation and the Clean Development Mechanism

CORPORATE ACCOUNTABILITY

Lindiwe Knutson - Aliens, Apartheid and US Courts: Is the Right of Apartheid Victims to Claim Reparations Multinational Corporations at last Recognized?