The aim of this thesis has been to analyze and interpret several different discourses in Japan and from the findings see how the Ainu people and their existence in Japan have been defined in today's Japan and in who's interest it is to keep it this way. My findings was that the Japanese nation in all channels of society are reinforcing and perpetuating the belief that it constitutes an ethnically homogenous nation and that there exists no ethnic problems in the country. I found that schoolbooks don?t give adequate information about the Ainu people and its history, and the Japanese press is reinforcing the status quo by their selective silence and limited coverage on issues concerning the Ainu. The government has defined and legitimized the problem of Ainu within the framework of culture and tradition.

This paper?s purpose is to examine a Swedish missionary activity from a human rights perspective. As a scope I have chosen the Swedish evangelical mission to Congo-Brazzaville, from its establishment in 1909 to the congolese church's self-determination in 1961. I consider certain elements of the missionary activity that affect human rights, to discover wether the activity was in order with modern day human rights standards or not. During these years, Congo was part of the French colony Equatorial Africa, so the missionaries? part in the colonial discourse is taken into consideration.

This paper develops a theory for understanding negotiation situations involving states and indigenous peoples. Using relevant constructivist theory as a starting point, the paper develops a theory about understanding the relationship between power and culture implicit in the concept of the state. This relationship is examined in negotiations situations involving states and indigenous peoples. States are constituted by social structure and are representatives of the national culture. At the same time states are actors within the international system and a part of the culture of Westphalia.

This thesis examines the possibility of Bolivian indigenous women?s social movements? getting their demands of a gender equal society fulfilled in the new state which was initiated in 2005 when Evo Morales became the first president representing the indigenous people of the country. By using a qualitative method I have showed that although the Bolivian indigenous women?s social movements? historically has been significant political actors for social change in the country, with representation at both regional and national level, Bolivian women are still subordinated in the social and political sphere. By applying a feminist intersectional perspective which takes its point of departure in a understanding of power as multidimensional, where gender, ethnicity and class are constitutive principals, multiculturalism theories and a social movements theory framework, I have found that even if institutional changes, that opened the system increased the indigenous women?s social movements political participation in Bolivia, power structures based on gender limited their possibilities to influence both socially and politically.

The Swedish political organization is subject for the investigation of this thesis, with regard to the realization of universal human rights. There is a discrepancy between the Swedish state's international undertakings in legally binding treaties and theactualization of human rights by local authorities. The local authorities are ruled by a complex function of both national and local government. Of interest here, is the effect that these, and other organizational aspects, between the national and the local, have for the realization of human rights in local authorities. Also, the discrepancy between the national and the local is attempted to be understood.

To create fair conditions between the majority and minorities in a cultural diverse society poses a challenge for both the makers of government policy and the political theorist. The aim of this thesis is to examine the Swedish government official reports concerning integration and minority rights, with a special interest in values and cultural rights. As a methodological tool a theoretical model that classifies cultural rights is developed and the three normative doctrines lockean libertarianism, comprehensive liberalism and multiculturalism are distinguished from the discussion about how politics ought to be in a multicultural society. Through this perspective rights and values in the official reports are identified and analyzed. The result shows three different standpoints in the reports concerning which cultural minority group they are discussing.

In this study, the aim is to show how the social services fails to implement a specific rights law (LSS) wich is supposed to have the function of protecting the wellfare and provide specific rights to people with severe mental disabilities. By applying chritical theory on this case the aim is to provide an alternative answer on why it is possible for the social services to ignore these peoples rights.By revealing the power structures in the encounter between the system and a person with mental dissablilities, I conclude that people with mental disabilities does not fit in when it comes the social sevices way of implementing the law and further more that a private person is extreamly exposed to the systems arbitrariness..

With ever-increasing environmental problems in the world, I have with this thesis aimed at studying how the Inuit people of the Arctic organize themselves around the issue of environmental degradation. In focus for this thesis is the organization Inuit Circumpolar Conference (ICC), an NGO that focuses on saving and protecting the social and cultural rights of the Inuit people, along with the environment in the four arctic regions. This aboriginal population has a strong connection to the environment they dwell in, as the area serves as a source of income and nutrition as well as an historically important place for their culture.I will in this thesis primarily investigate the methods of operation amongst NGOs, as well as their ability to influence and interact with the UN. These are three concepts that I, as a hypothesis, considered to distinguish ICC from other NGOs. With help from three theories about NGOs, I conclude that certain central elements of ICC differ from the average NGO, making ICC a new kind of actor in global politics..

This paper investigates whether there is a right not to suffer from poverty. The investigation is being conducted from the theoretical standpoint/view that only civil and political rights constitute justiciable rights and rights proper from a moral stance, whereas economic and social rights constitute mere political agendas or less.In the search of an answer to this question the content of economic and social rights, and thereafter civil and political rights will be outlined, followed by an inquiry of what should really be considered as rights. Finally, the arguments against economic and social rights as real rights is presented and scrutinized.This paper will conclude that the stated difference between the above-mentioned sets of rights is illusory and that the right not to suffer from poverty ought to have the same status as civil and political rights..

Debate over Intellectual Property Rights ?IPRs? particularly patent and copyrights is mainly on forward-looking industries in computer software. As part of a trade deal reached in 1994, the member nations of the World Trade Organisation must adhere to a global agreement known as TRIPS, for the Trade- Related Aspect of Intellectual Property Rights.This study is to analyse the ethical conception of Intellectual Property Rights and in particular its implications on the developing countries in relation to TRIPS. The approach will be to analyse a broad philosophical theories of property to see if there is any justification for a software program to be treated as private property and also argue base on John Rawls two principles of justice in relation to TRIPS Agreement. Some reflections will be put on the use of open-source software by less developing countries.From the study it was asserted that, strong IPRs protection would hinder technological transfer and indigenous learning activities in the early stage of industrialisation when learning takes place through reverse engineering.

This study aims to unravel if it should be accepted to use natural resources in the Sami reindeer grazing area for the green transition. Mines, wind parks, and other infrastructure in the reindeer grazing area create problems for the reindeers which makes it difficult for the Sami to proceed with this traditional practice. While the Sami people have right to practice these customs the minerals and land which in it lies could be crucial to successfully go through the green transition in Sweden and the European Union as well. To answer the question: Should it be acceptable to use natural resources in the Sami reindeer grazing area to accomplish the green transition? a reflective equilibrium will be applied to the principles of egalitarianism and collective rights.

The Human Rights claim that all humans have special rights that are not allowed to be broken or violated. Although these rights are broken and violated by states every day. One major fact that makes this possible is the principle of sovereignty that includes all states, and which says that every state has the power and right to make decisions and create laws within the own country without the interference of other actors. In other words, the problem is that the states have to much power in relation to actors usch as the United Nations and to the rules of the Human Rights. This essay describe a possible way to strengthen the power of the Human Rights so that all humans can be guaranteed the fulfillment of the rights..

Jag har valt att studera uppkomsten av The African Charter On Human and Peoples Rights. Mitt huvudsyfte är att se vilken roll Afrikas historia har spelat för utformandet av den afrikanska stadgan för mänskliga rättigheter och vid sidan av detta även ta reda på om stadgan är effektiv. Jag har också valt att göra en jämförelse med Europakonventionen för att se vad som skiljer de två regionala systemen för mänskliga rättigheter åt. Jag har sökt information, granskat och tolkat det jag läst med hjälp av rättsvetenskaplig metod och en kvalitativ textanalys utefter en teori om universalism och en världssystemanalys. Något som krävt mycket och noggrann läsning. Mitt resultat pekar på en relativt ineffektiv stadga med starka regionala värderingar och stort fokus på kontinentens historia av kolonialism och de koloniala arven detta gett.

Due to the forest industry downsizing, many communities in rural forest regions in Canada and Sweden are facing problems to survive. In order to create community sustainability, resilience and well-being in remote forest regions, the view on the forest resources has shifted towards multiple use, through the concept of sustainable forest management (SFM). Beside the economic and ecological elements of sustainability, the social forest values are needed, contributing to the human well-being, local participation, stakeholder collaboration, human rights and cultural connection. In this thesis the embodiment of the social component of SFM within Prince Albert Model Forest (Canada), and Vilhelmina Model Forest (Sweden) will be examined. Being partners and facing similar challenges as rural boreal forest regions, the two model forests are compared through analysis of projects and activities, conducted interviews and organization documents. Looking at projects mentioned as successful by the interviewees, they all have elements from the social values of SFM. The direction can be explained by the introduction of the Forest Communities Program in Canada, demanding the Model Forests to work towards community stability and resilience, the Model Forest organization concept itself and the way global focus are increasing around social forest values. In the future, it may be important that the role of the MFs enable some kind of political authorization and legitimacy in order to improve conflict solving and indigenous rights equality.

AbstractMany of the refugees around the world today are children. Some of these children are travelling alone without anyone looking after them. These children flee from their countries to save their lives and as they are children they need special care and protection. This thesis has investigated the protection given to unaccompanied children during the asylum process in the two key instruments in the area: the Convention of the Rights of the Child and the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. The Refugee Convention does not contain any procedural rights and does not specifically acknowledge children, even though they are included in the scope of the Convention.