Reynolds, John
(2010)
The Long Shadow of Colonialism: The Origins of
the Doctrine of Emergency in International Human
Rights Law.
Comparative Research in Law & Political Economy, 6 (5).
Abstract
Amidst
the
post-‐war
turn
to
transcend
international
law’s
traditional
power
structures
in
the
narration
and
codification
of
individual
rights,
colonial
interests
and
legal
philosophies
retained
an
influence
on
the
framing
of
human
rights
discourse.
This
essay
explores
the
extent
to
which
the
particular
conception
of
the
‘state
of
emergency’
that
was
distilled
into
the
normative
framework
of
international
human
rights
law
at
its
inception
stemmed
specifically
from
Britain’s
traditions
of
colonial
governance
and
legislation.
The
evolution
of
emergency
law
is
traced
from
martial
law
in
England
and
the
‘first
empire’,
through
British
emergency
legislative
codes
in
Ireland
and
India
in
the
nineteenth
century,
to
the
wholesale
resort
to
emergency
powers
in
the
colonies
as
the
empire
began
to
fragment.
The
genesis
of
the
emergency
derogation
provisions
in
the
International
Covenant
on
Civil
and
Political
Rights
and
European
Convention
on
Human
Rights
is
appraised
in
the
light
of
the
colonial
emergency
context
that
formed
the
backdrop
to
their
drafting.
The
essay
argues
that
the
accommodation
of
colonial
interests
at
that
point
embedded
a
hegemonic
legal
tool
that
remains
ripe
for
exploitation
by
regimes
of
all
stripes
inclined
to
repress
opposition
and
dissent
in
a
‘post-‐colonial’
era.
In
the
illumination
of
the
colonial
shadows
from
which
the
doctrine
of
emergency
emerged,
the
state
of
emergency
is
revealed
as
a
vehicle
for
law’s
violence,
grounded
in
dynamics
of
domination.
| Item Type: |
Article
|
| Keywords: |
colonialism; British empire; martial law; rule of law; state of emergency; emergency powers; derogation; state of exception; |
| Academic Unit: |
Faculty of Social Sciences > Law |
| Item ID: |
11744 |
| Depositing User: |
John Reynolds
|
| Date Deposited: |
18 Nov 2019 14:50 |
| Journal or Publication Title: |
Comparative Research in Law & Political Economy |
| Publisher: |
Osgoode Hall Law School of York University |
| Refereed: |
Yes |
| URI: |
|
| Use Licence: |
This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available
here |
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