Equality and human rights: nothing but trouble? Liber amicorum Titia Loenen

Abstract

This volume in honour of Professor Titia Loenen, upon her departure from the Utrecht School of Law, offers challenging perspectives on a number of related human rights debates, all of which are closely linked to fundamental challenges in today’s world. The book consists of four parts, which represent the different angles from which the authors have looked at the core issue of this book: the close but complicated relationship between equality and human rights. Among the themes that cut across these approaches is the debate on the meaning of the universality of human rights in a ‘world of conflict and diversity’ (the title of the human rights research programme that Titia Loenen directed in Utrecht). A second theme deals with the relation between human rights and democracy, and between human rights and sovereignty. A recurring topic is religion and its position in human rights law as both an autonomous fundamental right (the freedom of religion) and as protection against discrimination because of beliefs. The increasing complexity of the debate itself is caused by the emergence of new human rights systems and institutions, new technologies and new concepts and this is also explored. A final theme is the shift from standard setting and monitoring to the effective implementation of both equality and (other) human rights.