Historical Dictionary of Human Rights by Jacques Fomerand

Author:Jacques Fomerand
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9780810880351
Publisher: ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD

J

JAPAN. See “COMFORT WOMEN”; DENIAL; FEMALE INFANTICIDE; FORCED LABOR; INTERNATIONAL MILITARY TRIBUNAL FOR THE FAR EAST; SEX TRAFFICKING; WORLD WAR I PEACE TREATIES.

JAPANESE DETENTION CAMPS. See KOREMATSU, FRED TOYOSABURO.

JOHN-PAUL II (1920–2005). Pope of the Roman Catholic Church from 1978 to his death. He is praised for having contributed to the fall of communism in his native Poland and to have significantly improved relations between the Church and Islam, Judaism and the Eastern Orthodox Church. He has been criticized though for conservative positions on social issues relating to reproductive rights, contraception and abortion and gender roles.

JUBILEE DEBT COALITION. Coalition of national organizations (also known as Jubilee Debt Campaign) formed as a successor organization to Jubilee 2000 which calls for the cancellation of the poorest countries’ external debt and the alleviation of poverty (the concept of Jubilee refers to the practice described in the Old Testament whereby every 50 years, people sold into slavery, or land sold due to bankruptcy, were redeemed). The Coalition focuses its activities on the organization of worldwide campaigns designed to mobilize public opinion and influence governmental decision makers in creditor countries.

JUDICIALIZATION. See ADJUDICATION.

JUDICIARY, INDEPENDENCE OF. Enshrined in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, this principle is deemed to be essential to ensuring the impartiality of justice. In one of its General Comments, the United Nations Human Rights Committee (UN-HRCttee) has asserted that the independence of the judiciary should be established not only in regard to such criteria as the rules and procedures governing the appointment and dismissal of judges, the terms and conditions of service of judges, the qualifications and training of judges, procedural, specific and legal guarantees available to defendants but also to the actual independence of the judiciary from the executive and legislative branches of government. A considerable volume of jurisprudence on these subjects has emanated from the European Court of Human Rights suggesting that the appearance of bias may be sufficient to give rise to individual complaints. In that context, the reliance of military courts and tribunals has prompted the UN-HRCttee to opine that they pose “serious problems as far as the equitable, impartial and independent administration of justice is concerned” and to seek further clarification from states in their reports to the Committee on the safeguards they have put in place to protect civilians in such judicial bodies (General Comment 13). See also GUANTANAMO BAY DETENTION CAMP; HUMAN RIGHTS INSTITUTE; INTERNATIONAL BAR ASSOCIATION.

JURISDICTION. Authority granted to a legal entity to deal with or make pronouncements on legal matters. The term may refer to a geographic area of authority as is the case in regard to the territory of a state, in which case, jurisdiction is determined by the site of the crime (territorial jurisdiction). Jurisdiction may also be exercised by a state whose nationals commit particularly nefarious offenses on the territory of another state (nationality principle). Finally, jurisdiction can also refer to the capacity of courts or court-like bodies to hear and decide on cases brought to them by claimants.

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