Digital Commons Network^™

Change We Can Believe In?, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

We were warned to temper our high hopes for a bold new Obama era of human rights. After all, President Obama would have “a lot on his plate”: a serious economic crisis, high unemployment, over forty million people without health insurance, “two wars,” global volatility. But it’s very hard not to be dismayed by some of the continuities from the Bush to the Obama administration, as well as by some Janus-faced policy decisions with damning human rights implications. When it comes to US-Latin America relations, such decisions include: professing support for progressive immigration reform while expanding regressive anti-immigration measures; claiming …

Constitutional Limits On Private Policing And The State’S Allocation Of Force, M. Rhead Enion

Duke Law Journal

This Note argues that a variety of "private police" forces, such as university patrols and residential security guards, should. be held to the constitutional limitations found in the Bill of Rights. These private police act as arms of the state by supplying force in response to a public demand for order and security. The state, as sovereign, retains responsibility to allocate force, in the form of either public or private police, in response to public demand. This state responsibility-a facet of its police power-is evidenced throughout English and American history. When this force responds to a public demand for order …

The Peruvian Precedent, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the early days of September 2009, former Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) president Salomón Lerner received a series of sick anonymous messages: “We will do to you what we did to your dogs.” Lerner’s two pet dogs had been fatally poisoned. The poisoning and the death threats against Lerner joined other vicious retaliations, including continuous attacks on another powerful human rights symbol, Lika Mutal’s “The Eye that Cries,” a sculpture in Lima that mourns the tens of thousands of Peruvian victims of internal armed conflict. In a twisted way, the poisoning, death threats, and attacks show that Peruvian …

Repression And Punishment In North Korea: Survey Evidence Of Prison Camp Experiences, Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The penal system has played a central role in the North Korean government’s response to the country’s profound economic and social changes. Two refugee surveys—one conducted in China, one in South Korea—document its changing role. The regime disproportionately targets politically suspect groups, particularly those involved in market-oriented economic activities. Levels of violence and deprivation do not appear to differ substantially between the infamous political prison camps, penitentiaries for felons, and labor camps used to incarcerate individuals for misdemeanors, including economic crimes. Substantial numbers of those incarcerated report experiencing deprivation with respect to food as well as public executions and other …

De-Cloaking Torture: Boumediene And The Military Commissions Act, Alan W. Clarke

San Diego International Law Journal

The Military Commissions Act of 2006 (MCA) marked the high tide and endgame for hiding torture. It's unraveling did more to uncover the Bush administration's secret interrogation practices than did the political change in Washington. International and domestic backlash against the government's embrace of harsh interrogation techniques, frequently rising to the level of torture, also played a role. However, the Supreme Court's decisions ending in Boumediene v. Bush played the decisive role. Boumediene, and the Supreme Court decisions that led up to it, made inevitable that which politics had left contingent and reversible. It also provided legal and political cover.

Gender, Globalization And Women's Issues In Panama City: A Comparative Inquiry, Elvia R. Arriola

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Application Of Non-Implemented International Law By The Federal Court Of Appeal: Towards A Symbolic Effect Of S. 3(3)(F) Of The Irpa?, France Houle, Noura Karazivan

Dalhousie Law Journal

Since 1999, the Supreme Court has explored the linkages between domestic statutes and international norms and values and has slowly developed the basic principles underlying a new mechanism of relevancy that the authors call harmonization of domestic law with international law The authors analyze this development in PartI of the present article. In Part II, they study the application of this harmonization mechanism in the field of Canadian immigration law Of, particular importance in the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act is s. 3(3)(f), for it directs judges to construe and apply the IRPA in a manner that "complies with international …

Human Rights Law On Trial In The Drc, William Paul Simmons

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The ongoing tragedy in Eastern Congo contains so many tragic lessons that it should shake to their very foundations all comfortable ideologies about human rights and politics. The atrocities in the DRC should implicate all but have so far resulted in almost limitless impunity. Here, I briefly put human rights law on trial for its role in perpetuating this tragedy.

If They Just Weren't So Rich!, Anja Mihr

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The deadliest war on earth-as it is called-in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will only end when the country's richness fades or is kept under surveillance. Human rights and peace might have a chance if Congo's lucrative diamond, gold or coltan mines were under shared control by non-profit agencies or international organizations with the intention to spread the mines' benefits and wealth among the Congolese people. Wishful thinking? Most likely it is, but what other alternative is there? The country's extraordinary wealth in natural resources is the main reason for the immense corruption, the extermination of entire villages, the …

Stereotyping Women In The Health Sector: Lessons From Cedaw, Simone Cusack, Rebecca J. Cook

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

What’S The Constitution Got To Do With It? Regulating Marriage In Pakistan, Karin Carmit Yefet

Duke Journal of Gender Law & Policy

[...] the supreme law of the land seems to embody a blatant contradiction. The Pakistani Constitution extends protection to an impressive catalog of fundamental rights, placing Pakistan in line with some of the most western-minded constitutional regimes in the world.3 At the same time, in contrast to the American-style constitutional commitment to separate church and state,4 the Pakistani regime is constitutionally committed to integrate the two, in the sense that all laws must conform to the injunctions of Islam as a condition of their constitutional validity.5 So the same Constitution that protects western fundamental rights also elevates Islamic law, a …

"A Change Is Gonna Come": The Implications Of The United Nations Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities For The Domestic Practice Of Constitutional Mental Disability Law, Michael L. Perlin

Northern Illinois University Law Review

As recently as fifteen years ago, disability was not broadly acknowledged as a human rights issue. Although there were prior cases decided in the United States and in Europe that, retrospectively, had been litigated from a human rights perspective, the characterization of "disability rights" (especially the rights of persons with mental disabilities) was not discussed in a global public, political, or legal debate until the early 1990s. Instead, disability was seen only as a medical problem of the individual requiring a treatment or cure. By contrast, viewing disability as a human rights issue requires us to recognize the inherent equality …

International Criminal Justice Must Not Only Be Done, It Must Be Seen To Be Done, Rhona Smith

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“[U]ntil a time in which the global governance structure is not reliant on states, humanity will continue to fail in its attempt to protect global human rights” (Eric Leonard, June 2008 Roundtable). Discourse across a range of disciplines (e.g. Roundtable comments by Landman in October 2008, and Thomson-Jensen and co-panelists in May 2007), irrespective of the methods of evaluation, conclude that the existing system of “human rights protection” fails those whose rights are heinously violated: millions die annually as a direct result of violations of basic human rights (food, clean water, adequate health); gross and systematic violations of human rights …

May Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Case Closed: A Prosecutor Without Borders” by Julie Flint and Alex de Waal. World Affairs. Spring 2009.

Character Assassination In The Court Of Public Opinion, Tyler Moselle

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Alex de Waal and Julie Flint employ character assassination on Luis Moreno Ocampo in their World Affairs article “Case Closed: A Prosecutor Without Borders.” Ironically, they are guilty of the same crime they accuse Ocampo of: being overly occupied with the court of public opinion. Or perhaps, that is the only court they as Sudan specialists, and Ocampo as the ICC’s first Prosecutor, have recourse to when attempting to right the wrongs of injustice.

The Prosecutor Of The Icc: Too Political, Not Political Enough, Or Both?, Chandra Lekha Sriram

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Much of the criticism of the behavior of the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno-Ocampo, revolves around two apparently contradictory criticisms, although both may well be true: that he is too political, and that he is not political, or politically savvy, enough. Certainly, his rush to pursue high-profile indictments, contemporaneous with his pursuit of the “low-hanging fruit” (supposedly easy cases such as that of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo), suggest a prosecutor with sharp political instincts and a recognition of the need for a new institution to have a few “quick wins.” Yet, simultaneously, his blundering approach with respect to …

Case Posed: But Can The Prosecution Rest?, Charli Carpenter

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Julie Flint and Alex de Waal have published a damning article about the ICC prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo which reads, by extension, as a trouncing of the entire institution. I’m not in the loop with the court’s day-to-day politics well enough to offer an informed counter-argument, so instead, by way of playing devil’s advocate, let me agree for argument’s sake with a number of the authors’ claims, hyperbolic and partisan though they sound at places, and then (again for argument’s sake), push back on the assumptions the authors make about the implications of those claims.

Changing The Culture Of Corruption - Do Small Steps Count?, Rhona Smith

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Corruption is endemic in modern society, but history attests this problem is as old as states themselves. No single solution to date has garnered sufficient political and/or popular support to effect change. Could education play a role in changing the culture?

Legitimacy And Effectiveness Of A Grassroots Truth And Reconciliation Commission, Jill E. Williams

Law and Contemporary Problems

Williams describes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process that was put into place in Greensboro NC. That process was set up to address community hostilities that had been festering for more than twenty years, since the 1979 killings of black protesters by Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis. In that case a grassroots-initiated TRC was formed to address the community problems, but it was not backed by the local government and it lacked the ability to grant amnesty or to subpoena witnesses. Community members had very different views regarding the necessity and likely helpfulness of the TRC. She concludes …

The Unbalanced Imagery Of Anti-Terrorism Policy, Stuart Macdonald

Cornell Journal of Law and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Unconscionable, Sarah Stanlick

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The combination of level-headed scientific approaches and passionate activism seems at first glance an incompatible relationship. For the passionate humanitarian, there is a hesitation in fear of "selling out" to the black and white world of science, that science would somehow take the "human" dimension away from human rights. However, the bigger issue-and opportunity-is the multitude of ways that the partnership between scientific method and human rights can yield possibilities and innovations. As described in Sonia Shah's piece in The Nation , scientists are coming together to lend their unique skills and perspective to the ever-changing global status of human …

Human Rights In China: Introduction, Hsiu-Lun Teng

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The People’s Republic of China has experienced rapid and cardinal changes in its political, economic, and societal realms over the past thirty years. These changes, in conjunction with China’s political and economic policies abroad, have left recognizable imprints on a variety of human rights issues. The human rights issues discussed in this digest cover both domestic and international dimensions.

Confronting The Past: Democratic Rhetoric Or Socially Necessary?, Rachel Oster

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the current globalized international system, politics, economics, and societal issues are the concern of not only the state but of the world as a whole. It is increasingly apparent that participation in the global community requires states to implement, at minimum, conventional democracy within which individual rights are recognized and protected. Yet for much of the developing world, democratic regimes are partially contested given that many states were historically controlled by non-democratic, often militant regimes that offered security to citizens during times of economic crises.

Child Labor In Latin America: Poverty As Cause And Effect, Michaelle Tauson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Throughout much of the developing world, children make up an alarming portion of the workforce. These children are robbed of their childhood in order to provide economic supplementation to their families. According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), 5.7 million children in Latin America participate in the regional workforce (2006). It is a common misconception that children, who do not participate in the formal workforce, are not child laborers. However, the ILO defines child labor as any work that is detrimental to a child’s well-being or interferes with a child’s education. Due to the many categories and classifications of child …

The Interaction Of Legal Systems In The Work Of The International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia, H.E. Judge Patrick Robinson

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (Tribunal) where I work is a court with a mandate to try individuals for the most serious violations of international humanitarian law committed during the conflict that engulfed Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Human Rights And Human Trafficking: Introduction, Claude D’Estrée

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Much like the first iteration of this Topical Digest on human trafficking and modern slavery, with an “Introduction” by Dr. Kevin Bales, this second iteration covers a wide range of subjects, moving from country specific and regional to broad subjects and issues of international jurisprudence. This survey of literature on human trafficking is of critical importance, especially in a young, emerging, and controversial field.

Human Trafficking In The People’S Republic Of China, Annie Dullum

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As China rises to become a superpower and is placed in the national spotlight as the host for the upcoming 2008 Beijing Olympics, China is struggling to represent its ability to be powerful and stable within its own borders resulting from a staggering human rights record. Among the policies contributing to human rights violation, population controls are in place that create barriers to residence and immigration, which means that desperate individuals cannot legally move to other countries. As well, Chinese citizens are vulnerable to the practices of traffickers who move individuals illegally around the world.

Corruption And Crime In The East: Organized Crime And Human Trafficking In Russia And Ukraine, Danielle Mossbarger

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Russian culture and life are uniquely fascinating. Rarely has such magnificence, potential, and wonder been so dramatically juxtaposed to such tremendous terror, poverty, and struggle. The state has an almost mystical aura about it, simultaneously intriguing and repellant. Sharing more in Russia’s failures than in its successes, Ukraine is deeply bound to its former communist overlord in history and in modernity. As the world’s leading exporters of women, these two former Soviet strongholds have perfected the merge between organized crime and human trafficking, severely hindering national efforts to fully emerge from the shadows of the Soviet era. As the modus …

Robbed Of The American Dream, Megan Walker

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Many people have immigrated to the United States, hoping to live the “American dream.” Unfortunately, this romantic notion is part of the reason that the United States has become one of the most sought after destination countries for human trafficking. It is easy for traffickers to convince potential victims that they can live the American dream. Traffickers from all over the world and all walks of life profit in this booming market, by promising poor and vulnerable people high wages in legitimate jobs as farm workers, maids, and waitresses. Many of these people end up in terrible conditions as indentured …

Trafficking Of Women And The Harmonious Society: The Chinese National Plan Of Action On Combating Trafficking In Women And Children Within The Context Of Chinese Patriarchy And Reform, Sean Michael Barbezat

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Chinese National Plan of Action on Combating Trafficking in Women and Children, an evolution of prior regional cooperative work in coordination with the United Nations Inter-Agency Project on Trafficking (UNIAP), is a considerable accomplishment. It represents a comprehensive, practical foundation for counter-trafficking work, and addresses the most serious concerns raised by Chinese and international anti-trafficking research over the last dozen years. However, a statement of this magnitude produced by a state not known for its sweeping human rights instruments leads to suspicion.