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Democracy On Trial: Terrorism, Crime, And National Security Policy In A Post 9-11 World, David Schultz Oct 2010

Democracy On Trial: Terrorism, Crime, And National Security Policy In A Post 9-11 World, David Schultz

Golden Gate University Law Review

The events of 9-11 presented western democracies with a challenge and a test. The challenge: respond to terrorism either by military or diplomatic means (such as criminal apprehension and prosecution) to address national security needs and to protect civilian populations, infrastructure, and commerce. The test: meet the terrorist and national security challenges while simultaneously respecting international law, human rights, domestic constitutionalism, rule of law, and individual rights and liberties of both citizens and non-citizens. Unfortunately, the report card on both the challenge and test reveal a mixed record, especially in the United States. This Article examines regime responses to international …


Justice For Rwanda: Toward A Universal Law Of Armed Conflict, Heather Alexander Sep 2010

Justice For Rwanda: Toward A Universal Law Of Armed Conflict, Heather Alexander

Golden Gate University Law Review

Section I of this Comment provides a history of the Rwandan armed conflict and a description of the laws of armed conflict. It focuses on the basic laws of armed conflict, the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocols, and describes how these laws have been interpreted by the ICTY and ICTR. Section II addresses the classification of the Rwandan armed conflict as a non-international conflict. This section discusses Ugandan support for the invading Rwandan Patriotic Front ("hereinafter RPF") and the murder of ten Belgian U.N. peacekeepers by Rwandan troops. The Section proposes changing the definition of an international conflict, thereby strengthening …


Security Council Resolution 808: A Step Toward A Permanent International Court For The Prosecution Of International Crimes And Human Rights Violations, Daniel B. Pickard Sep 2010

Security Council Resolution 808: A Step Toward A Permanent International Court For The Prosecution Of International Crimes And Human Rights Violations, Daniel B. Pickard

Golden Gate University Law Review

This comment examines the difficulties involved in implementing Resolution 808, and also its contribution to the development of a permanent international criminal court (hereinafter "ICC"). The comment begins with an overview of Security Council Resolution 808. The comment next considers the factors that have stopped previous attempts to create an ICC. Finally, the author proposes that a permanent ICC could and should be implemented and that the earlier difficulties in establishing such a tribunal have been overcome.


Fundamental Issues And Practical Challenges Of Human Rights In The Context Of The African Union, Moussa Samb Aug 2010

Fundamental Issues And Practical Challenges Of Human Rights In The Context Of The African Union, Moussa Samb

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

This paper starts with an overview of the legal issues of the African human rights system. Then, it discusses the main human rights issues and challenges which confront the African system, as democracy, human rights during conflict and development issues. It ends with a brief discussion on a minimal core approach to social and economic rights.


The African Charter On Human And Peoples' Rights: Suggestions For More Effectiveness, U. O. Umozurike Aug 2010

The African Charter On Human And Peoples' Rights: Suggestions For More Effectiveness, U. O. Umozurike

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

This paper examines some of the problems of the African Commission, and its shortcomings, all of which gave room for the criticism and, more importantly, suggestions for the greater effectiveness of the Commission. The moderate achievements of the Commission are complicated by what appears to be some doubt about its desirability. The European Commission has been abolished and its functions merged with those of the European Court after it had functioned only long enough to develop human rights standards in Europe. The African Commission has existed for twenty years with inadequate resources and personnel. It is not even mentioned in …


Universal Human Rights: A Generational History, Eric Engle Aug 2010

Universal Human Rights: A Generational History, Eric Engle

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

Human rights are universal. Not in the sense of being the same positive laws, at all times and places, but rather as being aspirational goals, at all times and places, and also as containing core values which are indeed universal, such as the right to life (no irrational deprivation of life). Histories of human rights usually propose that the concept has evolved through at least three separate historical waves. This historical account, while roughly accurate, must be clarified as a theoretical construction which corresponds only partially to the historical reality: the rights of women and of non-white persons, in fact, …


Sovereignty Over Natural Resources Under Examination: The Inter-American System For Human Rights And Natural Resource Allocation, Lila Barrera-Hernández Aug 2010

Sovereignty Over Natural Resources Under Examination: The Inter-American System For Human Rights And Natural Resource Allocation, Lila Barrera-Hernández

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

The present paper is based on the contention that, by virtue of the impact of resource exploitation on individuals, international human rights' tribunals and bodies, particularly the organs of the Inter-American System, are increasingly in the position of "allocator" of natural resources, giving new meaning to the concept of permanent sovereignty.


Enforcement Of International Human Rights By Domestic Courts In The United States, M. Shah Alam Aug 2010

Enforcement Of International Human Rights By Domestic Courts In The United States, M. Shah Alam

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

The U.S. Constitution, Article VI provides that " ... all Treaties made, or which shall be made, under the Authority of the United States, shall be the supreme Law of the land; and the Judges in every State shall be bound thereby, any Thing in the Constitution or Laws of any State to the Contrary notwithstanding." On the other hand, the U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that customary international law is "part of our law, and must be ascertained and administered by the courts of justice of appropriate jurisdiction, as often as questions of right depending upon it are duly …


Human Rights And Sharia'h Justice In Nigeria, M. Ozonnia Ojielo Aug 2010

Human Rights And Sharia'h Justice In Nigeria, M. Ozonnia Ojielo

Annual Survey of International & Comparative Law

This article examines the introduction of Sharia'h law in northern Nigeria, both in regard to the fundamental legal provisions of the Nigeria constitution and also as to the international rights conventions to which Nigeria is a signatory. The relationship between the new Sharia'h laws enacted in all 19 northern Nigerian states and the human rights provisions in the 1999 Constitution will be examined under five parameters: the general constitutional provision, protection of freedom of religion the federal status of Nigeria the Islamic state issue, and the politics of the Sharia'h law debate. The Zarnfara state law will be used as …