NAMEH-YE-MOFID
Year:2006 | Volume:11 | Issue:2 (52 LAW)|Papers Count:7

The increased importance of intellectual property rights (IPRs) in recent years has led to an active debate on the relationship between these rights and human rights. The proponents of strong protection of IPRs use human rights discourse to support their position. On the other hand, human rights bodies who see the strengthened protection of IPRs as affecting the enjoyment of human rights believe that IPRs in their present form do not stand as human rights. The present paper attempts to examine the status of IPRs in international human rights law. The right of everyone to benefit from the protection of moral and material interests resulting from any scientific, literary or artistic production of which he is the author is recognized in both Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. But the exact scope of the right is yet to be clarified. By analyzing the Declaration and the Covenant, the paper conveys the view that IPRs are human rights and impose obligations on States to protect them. The authors are of the opinion that the scope of the protection of IPRs must be determined in the light of other human rights.    

The International Court of Justice according to its contentious and advisory jurisdiction, delivers two kinds of decision, namely contentious decision judgment) and advisory opinion. Furthermore, the Court has the power to indicate provisional measures (interim orders) pending the final decision. The present article aims to show and investigate the sanctions of each mentioned type of decisions. In the case of judgment, considering the obligation of States complies with the judgment and their responsibility arising from the breach of this obligation, the wining parties may have recourse to the Security Council. That organ if deems necessary, makes recommendations or decides upon measures to be taken to give effect to the judgment. The other sanctions are the unilateral measures of the wining party; provisions laid down in special treaties or agreements. As to the interim orders, we can take the following into consideration for its enforcement: a) paragraph 2 of Article 94 of the UN Charter; b) unilateral measures of a state and c) the Court and its judgment. For the advisory opinion there are ways and means to give binding effect to it and subsequently we can find methods for its sanction. These ways include treaty and agreements, interpretation of the Charter of the UN; and application of procedural and customary rules.      

Acts, methods and practices of terrorism constitute a grave violation of the UN principles and purposes, posing a serious threat to the international peace and security. Nevertheless, there is no consensus as to the definition of terrorism in the international community. Without a comprehensive definition of this crime, it is impossible to achieve a permanent and coherent system of counterterrorism. Despite shortcomings, there have been substantial achievements against terrorism. States have ratified more than ten international conventions on prevention and suppression of terrorism. For instance, one can mention the 1999 International Convention for Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and the binding UN Security Council Resolution 1373 dated 28 September 2001. The Council has developed the scope of application of the aforementioned conventions. On the one hand combating terrorism should not violate fundamental civil rights of individuals and on the other hand, these rights must not be interpreted in such a way as to make obstruction to the international security measures against terrorism. Creating amendments or modifications to domestic as well as international laws making them more responsive against new challenges without damaging the proper mission of law and its rule can play a constructive role in the international movement against terrorism. Harmonization of domestic legislation with those of international conventions, joining of all States to the international conventions and protocols, organizing workshops and training courses on increasing public awareness of terrorism and combating crimes connected with international terrorism are considered as urgent measures that must be taken.      

The object and principal motive of the contracting parties is the possession of the considerations. To this effect, each party has the right of retention. Each party can relate the performance of the contract of his part to the performance of it by the other party. In the Convention each party has the right of retention against the subject matter of the contract and for the expenses suffered as a result of preserving the goods. He can also suspend the performance of his obligations. Unlike the Convention, Iranian law does not provide the right of retention against the expenses undertaken for preserving the goods. Nor is the right of suspension accepted as a general rule.      

Following the amendment of Article 1130 of the Civil Code of Iran in 1982 (1361) and in 1991 (1370) and the introduction of a general rule (known as the rule of usr and haraj or hardship) by which a woman may apply for divorce in case of hardship, the petitions for divorce on the basis of hardship have increased. The legislature has defined usr and haraj (or hardship) as the occurrence of a situation that makes the continuation of marital life hard and tolerance of such a situation difficult for the wife" and the establishment of such a situation has been left to the court. The court, first, compels the husband to divorce his wife and if the compelling of the husband is impracticable, then the wife will be divorced by the permission of the court. The examination of judicial decisions indicates that from the five cases mentioned in the Note (tabsirah) added to Article 1130 in 2002 (1381) the continuous maltreatment of the wife by the husband has been the chief cause for divorce petitions. In this paper, apart from the juristic and legal bases of hardship, a number of judgments given by the Supreme Court either in upholding or in quashing the judgments of the lower courts (the court of first instance and the court of appeal)have been examined.    

Evidence plays a basic role in judicial process. This is because evidence proves the rights which exist in reality. But evidence, like other parts of the proceedings and like the crime itself, has gone through changes and development. In contemporary period, this kind of evidence is referred to as "scientific evidence". This paper tries to examine and analyze the validity of scientific evidence from the viewpoint of Islamic Penal Law.