مجله نامه مفید
پیاپی 55 (شهریور 1385)

Some have argued that there exists a real and meaningful difference between the normative frameworks of human rights and humanitarian lawThis difference rests on the fact that human rights law is centered on granting rights to the individual, while humanitarian law protects the interests of the individual through means other than granting rights.This article analyses and compares the normative frameworks of international human rights law and humanitarian law by examining the way in which each is constructed to achieve its purpose, whether in the first case, granting fundamental rights to the individual or in the second the alleviation of human suffering in times of armed conflict. We examine, first, whether individuals are rights- holders under humanitarian law, and, secondly, the general pattern of protection in that legal system.

During the past half- century, there has been so many changes about rights of the accused. International human rights documents and some institutions like the European Court of Human Rights and Human Rights Committee that have been established to supervise the implementation of these instruments had special role in this regard. To defend oneself in person or through legal assistance is one of these rights. The issue that to what extent the International Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the International Criminal Court have, as international law subjects, regarded themselves bound to respect this right is the subject of the present article.

The judicial and legal rehabilitation, which is an approach to facilitate the represence of the convict in the society as well as to apply kindness towards him restores his political and social rights through elimination of his criminal record, lapse of his accessory punishment, enabling him to gain some legal privileges such as conditional discharge that depends on lack of criminal conviction. Article 62bis of the Islamic penal act provides a good but imperfect effort towards establishing legal rehabilitation and, with adopting some effects of rehabilitation, associates the institution of "resorting social and political rights to the committed person", though it needs to be revised and amended.

Vulnerable groups including the child due to their special conditions are in need of particular protection. This is carried out through differential policy. In domestic laws, the differential policy is realized in form of either special criminalization in the child domain or intensification of punishment. In international instruments special attention has been paid to the child. The present article tries to compare the predicted criminal protection for the child in international instruments with domestic laws.

The United Nations Organization (UN) has already put some international instruments on the table in relation to the Status of Women and made them to be approved. The “Women’s Political Rights” Convention of 20 December 1952 was the first document in this ground codified by the UN. The UN “Convention on Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women” was approved by the UN General Assembly and entered into Force in 1981. The basic nature of this treaty is equality in all aspects between male and female without any exception and limitation as to gender. Now the Convention is one of the treaties presented to the respected authorities in Iran. In the early 1376 (1996) it was put before the High Council of Educational Revolution and a committee was responsible for reviewing the contents of the Convention. After reviewing and debating the Committee announced its views to the Council. However, debate on the necessity of joining by the Islamic Republic of Iran to the Convention which began in 1998 has been going on in governmental and non-governmental organizations till now. Although some Articles of the Convention are in conflict with the rules and laws of Iran the conditional accession of Islamic Republic of Iran is possible. Finally, it can be expressed briefly that today the Convention is a topic being noted and emphasized upon by international organizations due to different reasons. To this end the debate on joining or not joining to the Convention has become a major issue at the world level and a sign of respect of women’s human rights on the part of States.

Contract of obligation to subsistence or constitution of rent which is the subject of Article 768 of the Iranian Civil Code in the context of settlement contract is among the institutions capable of playing a role in various civil and commercial issues and solving certain legal and fiqhi problems relating to some contracts. This article is an attempt to explore the scope of application of the said provision in areas such as strict settlement, life insurance, enterprise contracts, and contracts for carriage of passengers, banking operations (loan facilities, acceptance of deposit with fixed interest), debentures, discount and interest and contracts for transportation of goods and their insurance.

Policies and concerns of countries about professional liability insurance of attorneys are not the same and in harmony. Some countries, for example France and Belgium, make it obligatory for attorneys to obtain professional liability insurance and in some others, for example Egypt, attorneys have a choice for assuring their liability and finally in some other countries, for example Iran, professional liability insurance of attorney is not yet established or not regarded as necessary.The author in this article by regarding achievements of U.S and Europen countries focuses on necessity of insurance coverage for attorneys and examines all aspects of this contract and the obligations it imposes on the insurer and the insured.