
Minority Rights in the Middle East
Oxford University Press
Published on 25. April 2013
Book
Hardback
452 pages
978-0-19-967949-2 (ISBN)
Description
Within the Middle East there are a wide range of minority groups outside the mainstream religious and ethnic culture. This book provides a detailed examination of their rights as minorities within this region, and their changing status throughout the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The rights of minorities in the Middle East are subject to a range of legal frameworks, having developed in part from Islamic law, and in recent years subject to international human rights law and institutional frameworks. The book examines the context in which minority rights operate within this conflicted region, investigating how minorities engage with (or are excluded from) various sites of power and how state practice in dealing with minorities (often ostensibly based on Islamic authority) intersects with and informs modern constitutionalism and international law.
The book identifies who exactly can be classed as a minority group, analysing in detail the different religious and ethnic minorities across the region. The book also pays special attention to the plight of minorities who are spread between various states, often as the result of conflict. It assesses the applicable domestic legislative instruments within the three countries investigated as case studies: Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, and highlights key domestic remedies that could serve as models for ensuring greater social cohesion and greater inclusion of minorities in the political life of these countries.
The book identifies who exactly can be classed as a minority group, analysing in detail the different religious and ethnic minorities across the region. The book also pays special attention to the plight of minorities who are spread between various states, often as the result of conflict. It assesses the applicable domestic legislative instruments within the three countries investigated as case studies: Iraq, Syria, and Lebanon, and highlights key domestic remedies that could serve as models for ensuring greater social cohesion and greater inclusion of minorities in the political life of these countries.
Reviews / Votes
Joshua Castellino and Kathleen Cavanaugh draw on their expertise as law professors to first sketch the construction of minority status in modern international legal instruments, notably with regard to human rights norms pertaining to such themes as religion, gender, migrants, and territorial minorities ... Time and again, ^iMinority Rights in the Middle East^r effectively chronicles the interplay of religious, political, and historical forces that have framed contemporary settings, including the Palestinian situation which has pervasively influenced the politics of the region as a whole. * Amyn B. Sajoo, Ethics and Global Politics *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
Oxford
United Kingdom
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
Dimensions
Height: 240 mm
Width: 161 mm
Thickness: 29 mm
Weight
840 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-19-967949-2 (9780199679492)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions

Joshua Castellino | Kathleen A. Cavanaugh
Minority Rights in the Middle East
E-Book
04/2013
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€73.99
Available for download

Joshua Castellino | Kathleen A. Cavanaugh
Minority Rights in the Middle East
E-Book
04/2013
1st Edition
OUP eBook
€55.49
Available for download
Persons
Joshua Castellino is Professor of Law and Head of Law at Middlesex University, London, and Adjunct Law Professor of Law at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, Ireland. He worked as a journalist in India and completed his PhD in International Law in 1998. He has authored six books on issues concerning Global Minority Rights, International and Comparative Law. He was part of the EU-China Experts & Diplomatic Dialogue and the Lawyers for the New Millennium, a project run by the Law Society of England & Wales with the Arab Lawyers Union. He regularly engages with multilateral organisations such as the United Nations, and with Law Societies and NGOs around the world, on issues of human rights advocacy, with a special focus on minorities and indigenous peoples.
Kathleen Cavanaugh is a Lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway. She has worked for Amnesty International, especially in the context of the organisation's work in the Middle East, in Operation Defensive Shield and the Iraqi operation. She was a key participant in Lawyers for the New Millennium a project run by the Law Society of England & Wales with the Arab Lawyers Union, and is regularly called upon to comment and engage on questions concerning human rights in the region. She has been a part of an IBA project which brings together International and Islamic Legal Scholars to address the interface of Islamic and Human Rights Law. The results of this five year project is an OUP publication on Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law: Searching for Common Ground (2012), to which she is a contributor.
Kathleen Cavanaugh is a Lecturer at the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway. She has worked for Amnesty International, especially in the context of the organisation's work in the Middle East, in Operation Defensive Shield and the Iraqi operation. She was a key participant in Lawyers for the New Millennium a project run by the Law Society of England & Wales with the Arab Lawyers Union, and is regularly called upon to comment and engage on questions concerning human rights in the region. She has been a part of an IBA project which brings together International and Islamic Legal Scholars to address the interface of Islamic and Human Rights Law. The results of this five year project is an OUP publication on Islamic Law and International Human Rights Law: Searching for Common Ground (2012), to which she is a contributor.
Author
Professor of Law, Head of Law Department, Middlesex University
Lecturer in Law, Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, Galway
Content
Introduction ; 1. The Contemporary Middle East ; 2. Minority Identities in the Middle East: Religious Minorities ; 3. Minority Identities in the Middle East: Ethno-National and Other Minorities ; 4. Minority Rights in Iraq ; 5. Minority Rights in Syria ; 6. Minority Rights in Lebanon ; Conclusion