BROOKLYN JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW

"In recent years, calls have been made, particularly from within the non-governmental organization community, to strengthen the mechanisms which currently exist for the protection and enforcement of the human rights of women. One of the demands made is that the Women's Convention be strengthened by the addition of a complaints mechanism, in the form of an optional protocol, which would allow individual women to bring complaints before the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women.

This article notes that reproductive freedom as a matter of concern to the international community is part of a personal right to privacy as well as part of a fabric of social rights which include rights to health care and equality for women. Using the sources of international law as an analytical framework, the author argues that reproductive freedom is now included in the body of protected international human rights; thus, any governmental interference with the individual's exercise of such freedom constitutes an impermissible intrusion into the individual's rights.

This article highlights the increasing importance of women's concerns in the international human rights field and briefly discusses the advances and limitations of the Beijing Platform for Action (PFA). The author argues for the need to ensure domestic implementation of the PFA through activism and through the development of scholarship on women's international human rights. [Descriptors: Applying Human Rights Law - International, World Conferences, International]

This article is the transcript from two roundtable discussions on the impact of globalization on women's human rights held at the Brooklyn Law School, chaired by Kathleen Peratis. Joanna Kerr, a senior researcher at the North-South Institute in Ottawa, addresses globalization as an economic growth model and the extent to which this model negatively impacts on women in their home and paid abour duties.

This article examines the role of international law with regard to domestic violence against women. Part II describes the characteristics of international law. Part III examines the attempts made in international law to address violence against women. The author notes that one of the most important aspects of international work in this field is recognition of the law's limitations with regard to violence against women. Part IV concludes that international law has improved women's situation and briefly describes the benefits of international efforts to eradicate violence against women.

This article uses an "integrated race and gender perspective" to critique international human rights law. The article notes the tendency of traditional feminist theory to overlook the interaction between race and gender. Part II outlines the intersectional analytical framework and its importance for women who face oppression on multiple fronts. Part III looks at the impact of apartheid from a gendered standpoint.

"Recognizing the second-class status of women in societies around the world and the dangers of the marginalization that results, this article, as the title suggests, reviews and analyzes the rules that exist and the realities that persist. It proposes reform in the context of cultural, religious and traditional norms and practices. Part II describes the general setting that provided the impetus for women around the world to unite and demand their rights as human beings.