Law Commons^™

Enforcing International Human Rights Law Against Corporations, Barnali Choudhury

All Papers

International human rights law is generally thought to apply directly to states, not to corporations since the latter is not a subject of international law. Some domestic courts are, however, enforcing these norms against corporations in domestic settings. Canadian courts have, for instance, recognized that corporations can be liable for breach of customary international law norms while UK courts have enforced international human rights norms indirectly against corporations relying on a combination of domestic corporate and tort law.

At the same time, some states are choosing to enforce international human rights norms against corporations using regulatory initiatives. These initiatives, known …

An Imperial History Of Race-Religion In International Law, Rabiat Akande

Articles & Book Chapters

More than half a century after the UN’s adoption of the International Convention on the Prohibition of All Forms of Racial Discrimination, a debate has emerged over whether to extend the Convention’s protections to religious discrimination. This Article uses history to intervene in the debate. It argues that racial and religious othering were mutually co-constitutive in the colonial encounter and foundational to the making of modern international law. Moreover, the contemporary proposal to address the interplay of racial and religious othering is hardly new; iterations of that demand surfaced in the earlier twentieth century, as well. By illuminating the centrality …

Writing And Resisting Colonial Genocide, Heidi Matthews, Luann Good Gingrich, Joel Ong

Articles & Book Chapters

Canada has pursued policies of Indigenous assimilation and annihilation, many of which continue today. Among others, these include ‘Indian residential schools’, the Indian Act, welfare-state child removals, the Sixties Scoop, the prohibition of cultural practices, forced sterilization and environmental destruction. We are scholars co-leading a large interdisciplinary programme of research studying ‘colonial genocide’. Our research seeks to understand how historic colonialism and its contemporary manifestations rely on genocidal logic for power and profit. While we begin in Turtle Island, our work has global application. The act of naming is a powerful analytical and political tool, and ‘genocide’ is one of …

Corporate Law’S Threat To Human Rights: Why Human Rights Due Diligence Might Not Be Enough, Barnali Choudhury

Articles & Book Chapters

The take-up of mandatory human rights due diligence (HRDD) initiatives by states is continuously gaining momentum. There are now numerous states adopting some form of HRDD laws. While corporations being duly diligent in respecting human rights is a positive step towards addressing problems of business and human rights, these HRDD initiatives on their own may only be a form of window-dressing, that is, enabling states to put a smart spin on their efforts to address business and human rights issues without addressing some of the root causes of that predicament. As a result, HRDD laws are likely to be a …

Neutralizing Secularism: Religious Antiliberalism And The Twentieth-Century Global Ecumenical Project, Rabiat Akande

Articles & Book Chapters

A marked feature of the contemporary U.S. constitutional landscape is the campaign by an Evangelical- Catholic coalition against the idea of secularism, understood by this alliance to mean the exclusion of religion from the state and its progressive marginalization from social life. Departing from the tendency to treat this project as a national phenomenon, this article places it within a longer global genealogy of an earlier international Christian ecumenical effort to combat secularism. The triumph of that campaign culminated in the making of Article 18 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, now considered the paradigmatic international legal provision on …

Centring The Black Muslimah: Interrogating Gendered, Anti-Black Islamophobia, Rabiat Akande

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Renewing Freedom Of Expression, Part Two: From The Contextual Approach To Proportionality Balancing, Jamie Cameron

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This article continues the project to renew the Charter’s methodology of expressive freedom in two parts. Part One explained that the Court’s approach to s.2(b) decision making is skewed against expressive freedom and must be addressed holistically, under ss.2(b) and s.1. (see J. Cameron, “Resetting the Foundations: Renewing Freedom of Expression under Section 2(b) of the Charter”, in B. Bird and D. Ross, eds., Forgotten Foundations of the Canadian Constitution. (LexisNexis Canada, 2022). Part One provided a critique of the current methodology, addressed the meaning of freedom under s.2(b), proposed a revised standard of breach, and sketched a …

Transgender Erasure: Barriers Facing Transgender Refugees In Canada, Sean Rehaag, Alexandra Verman

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This paper explores the experiences of transgender refugee claimants in Canada’s refugee status determination system, using mixed methods: quantitative analysis of data obtained from the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), reviews of published and unpublished decisions, country condition documentation packages and IRB guidelines, as well as interviews with refugee lawyers. Using these methods, we explore how credibility arises in transgender refugee claims, noting the impact of medicalization and country conditions materials on transgender claims, and drawing parallels between medical gatekeeping and credibility assessments in refugee claims. We identify potential explanations for low recorded numbers of transgender claims as rooted in …

Written Submission To The House Of Commons’ Justice And Human Rights Committee On Bill C-9: An Act To Amend The Judges Act, Craig M. Scott

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

This is a brief entered into evidence before the Canadian House of Commons’ Justice and Human Rights Committee during its consideration of Bill C-9, An Act to amend the Judges Act. Bill C-9 was introduced on First reading by the Government of Canada on December 16, 2021. The amendments in Bill C-9 concern the procedures by which the Canadian Judicial Council handles complaints of judicial misconduct. The brief argues that the Bill C-9 presents problems of transparency that undermine accountability of the judiciary in the face of concerns of misconduct. It seeks to demonstrate that Bill C-9’s effort to hide …

Submission Of The Citizen Lab (Munk School Of Global Affairs, University Of Toronto) To The United Nations Working Group On Enforced Or Involuntary Disappearances, Siena Anstis, Ronald J. Deibert, Émilie Laflèche, Jonathon W. Penney

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.

20 Years Later, Walkerton Inquiry Members Discuss Impact Of Recommendations With Wcwc Staff, Colin Burrowes, Gus Van Harten

Editorials and Commentaries

No abstract provided.

The Grounds Of Human Rights, Brian Slattery

All Papers

What is the rational foundation for the doctrine of universal human rights? Some philosophers, such as Alan Gewirth, argue that it may be discovered simply by reflection on certain essential features of the human constitution. However this approach has significant problems, achieving its ends by smuggling certain tacit premises into the argument. A better approach is one that appeals to the communal practices and traditions within which doctrines of human rights have evolved historically. It is here that Alasdair MacIntyre's work becomes relevant, because it maintains that traditions have a rationality of their own, and that all rationality is in …

A Comparison Of Gender-Based Violence Laws In Canada: A Report For The National Action Plan On Gender-Based Violence Working Group On Responsive Legal And Justice Systems, Jennifer Koshan, Janet Mosher, Wanda Wiegers

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

This report undertakes a comparison of laws related to gender-based violence across Canada with a view to identifying promising practices. We use the definition of gender-based violence from the United Nations as our frame, analyzing laws relating to “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” While the UN definition includes both intimate partner violence and sexual violence, our focus is largely on violence in the …

Experimenting With Credibility In Refugee Adjudication: Gaydar, Sean Rehaag, Hilary Evans Cameron

Articles & Book Chapters

Canada offers refugee protection to sexual minorities facing persecution abroad. While success rates for sexual minority refugee claims have generally been higher than the overall average at Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Board, hundreds of such claims are nonetheless turned down each year. The most common reason for denying these claims is that assertions about the claimants’ sexual orientations are determined not to be credible. Scholars have raised concerns about how such credibility determinations are made. This article contributes to the critical literature in this area by exploring sexual minority refugee claim credibility assessments through an experimental study involving simulated refugee …

Online Abuse, Chilling Effects, And Human Rights, Jonathon W. Penney

Articles & Book Chapters

Online harassment, cyberbullying, hate, and other forms of online abuse pose a significant threat to human rights in Canada. Now, the country is at a crossroads: it will face American pressure to adopt a broad immunity model similar to Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA) or, at long last, take more robust action to address cyberharassment and other online abuse, beyond the piecemeal approach used today. Central to this regulatory debate are concerns and claims about “chilling effects”—that is, the idea that certain regulatory actions may “chill” or deter people from exercising their rights online and in other …

Impacts Of Investment Treaties On Health And Human Rights, Gus Van Harten

Articles & Book Chapters

While investment treaties could help protect health and promote human rights, they are rather often used as a means to discourage governments from taking action. The treaties allow foreign investors to initiate investor-state dispute settlement (or ISDS) proceedings against states for their legislative, executive, administrative, and judicial decisions at any level. Thus, they provide a powerful tool for “foreign” investors to frustrate state action in virtually any area, including health and human rights. This article describes how ISDS provisions have impacted health-related decision- making by states and, in so doing, weakened their abilities to fulfill their human rights obligations.

Stewart V. Elk Valley: The Case Of The Cocaine-Using Coal Miner, Faisal Bhabha

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It has for some time been settled under section 15 of the Charter and within anti-discrimination code definitions that "disability" includes "addictions". Labour boards and human rights tribunals have long accepted that "alcohol and drug addiction are illnesses and are physical and mental disabilities for the purposes of the Human Rights Code. There are no reasons to consider them any less an illness or disability than any other serious affliction."' The shift in expert consensus led to notable changes to the key American diagnostic instrument, the DSM 5, adopted in 2013 with a completely revised approach to addictions. What is …

Report Of The Independent Expert On Human Rights And International Solidarity, Obiora C. Okafor

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

This is the first report prepared by Obiora Chinedu Okafor in his capacity as Independent Expert on human rights and international solidarity. In the report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution 35/3, the Independent Expert sets out his vision for the mandate, summarizes the work undertaken so far by his predecessors, outlines his objectives and methods of work, and discusses possible thematic priorities for the mandate.

The Canada Brand: Violence And Canadian Mining Companies In Latin America, Shin Imai, Leah Gardner, Sarah Weinberger

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The Canada Brand: Violence and Canadian Mining in Guatemala

This is the first report to profile specific forms of violence and criminalization associated with Canadian mining projects in Latin America over a fifteen-year period. Each incident is carefully footnoted and all web links are preserved using Harvard Law School’s Perma.cc service. The report is critical of the lack of Canadian mechanisms for investigating human rights abuses of Canadian companies operating overseas. It draws on the thinking of former Supreme Court of Canada Justice Ian Binnie and others to argue that the concepts of proximity to violence and complicity of the …

La “Marca Canadiense”: La Violencia Y Las Compañías Mineras Canadienses En América Latina, Shin Imai, Leah Gardner, Sarah Weinberger

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Este informe, elaborado por el Proyecto Justicia y Responsabilidad Corporativa (JCAP, por sus siglas en inglés), es el primero que expone formas específicas de violencia y criminalización asociadas con los proyectos mineros canadienses en América Latina durante un período de quince años. La exposición de cada incidente se complementa con oportunas notas al pie, y todos los vínculos web mencionados se preservan con el uso del servicio Perma.cc de la Escuela de Derecho de Harvard. El informe critica la ausencia de mecanismos en Canadá para la investigación de cualquier presunta violación de los derechos humanos cometida por las compañías mineras …

Reducing Vulnerability To Human Trafficking: An Experimental Intervention Using Anti-Trafficking Campaigns To Change Knowledge, Attitudes, Beliefs, And Practices In Nepal, Margaret Boittin, Dan Archer, Cecilia Hyunjung Mo

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

Prepared for USAID, Humanity United, the US Department of Labor, and Terre des Hommes, March 2016.

The Nature, Attainments, Problems And Prospects Of Canadian-Nigerian Human Rights Engagements: An Analytical Overview, Obiora C. Okafor

Articles & Book Chapters

By way of a fully developed conclusion, this article offers a broad analytical overview of the insights that have been jointly and severally generated by the main sub-studies on which the articles in this volume are based. It offers such overarching discussions, one after the other, in relation to the nature, attainments, problems, and prospects of Canadian-Nigerian international human rights engagements. Drawing upon these analytical insights, the article then makes some pertinent recommendations that are addressed to the relevant stakeholders, especially in Canada and Nigeria, i.e. policy-makers, practitioners and theorists alike (depending on which of the itemized points they find …

As Good As It Gets? Security, Asylum, And The Rule Of Law After The Certificate Trilogy, Graham Hudson

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

This article uses constitutional discourses on the legality of security certificates to shed light on darker, neglected corners of the security and migration nexus in Canada. I explore how procedures and practices used in the certificate regime have evolved and migrated to analogous adjudicative and discretionary decision-making contexts. I argue, on the one hand, that the executive’s ability to label persons security risks has been subjected to meaningful constraints in the certificate regime and other functionally equivalent adjudicative proceedings. On the other hand, the ability of discretionary decision-makers to deport individuals who pose de jure security risks to face torture …

Poverty In The Human Rights Jurisprudence Of The Nigerian Appellate Courts (1999-2011), Obiora C. Okafor, Basil E. Ugochukwu

Articles & Book Chapters

The major objective of this article is to examine the extent to which the human rights jurisprudence of the Nigerian appellate courts has been sensitive and/or receptive to the socio-economic and political claims of Nigeria’s large population of the poor and marginalized. In particular, the article considers: the extent to which Nigerian human rights jurisprudence has either facilitated or hindered the efforts of the poor to ameliorate their own poverty; the kinds of conceptual apparatuses and analyses utilized by the Nigerian courts in examining the issues brought before it that concerned the specific conditions of the poor; and the key …

Inventing Legal Combat: Pro-Poor 'Struggles' In The Human Rights Jurisprudence Of The Nigerian Appellate Courts, 1999-2011, Obiora Chinedu Okafor, Basil E. Ugochukwu

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

This article deals with the question whether the jurisprudence of Nigeria’s appellate courts has helped advance or impede the struggles of the poor to assert their human rights in the country. The article begins by defining, delimiting, and situating the concepts “struggle” and “human rights as struggle.” It then moves on to identify and discuss the factors that make the struggles that the poor and the subaltern must wage to realize their human rights a tough one. Following this discussion, the article turns its attention to its main focus, i.e., an analytical examination of the ways in which the corpus …

Baxian Tremf Anxieties And Patterns Of Norm Entrepreneurship In Canada-Nigerian Human Rights Engagements: A Theoretical Overview, Obiora C. Okafor

Articles & Book Chapters

The article argues that the evidence that has been systematically analyzed in the study that grounds this volume at once support and undermine certain elements of the two theoretical frameworks that grounded the research: Upendra Baxi’s germinal theory on the emergence to global dominance of a kind of “trade-related market-friendly human rights” (TREMF) paradigm/discourse/mentality, and Martha Finnemore and Karthryn Sikikink’s strategic social constructivist theory on the role of the norm entrepreneur in generating and driving the so-called human rights “norm life cycles.” The article then suggests, in consequence, that both of these theoretical frameworks require a (modest) measure of refinement.

Canadian-Nigerian Human Rights Engagements (1999-2011): An Introduction, Obiora C. Okafor

Articles & Book Chapters

More contemporary Canadian-Nigerian human rights engagements have occurred against the backdrop of a relatively long history of engagement in this area between the two countries, and alongside an even longer history of Canadian-Nigerian relations more generally. These are histories within which one must situate the human rights engagements between these countries during the specific period under study here. As is well known, Canada established diplomatic relations with Nigeria shortly after Nigeria’s independence from British colonial rule in 1960. Nigeria reciprocated in 1973. It is noteworthy that Canada has for several decades now funded or otherwise supported many human rights efforts …

No Refuge: Hungarian Romani Refugee Claimants In Canada, Julianna Beaudoin, Jennifer Danch, Sean Rehaag

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

From 2008 to 2012, large numbers of Hungarian Romani refugee claimants came to Canada. Their arrival was controversial. Some political actors suggested that their claims were unfounded and amounted to abuse of Canada’s refugee processes -- abuse which could only be prevented through wide-scale reforms to the refugee determination system. Many advocates for refugees, by contrast, argued that persecution against Roma was rampant in Hungary and noted that hundreds of Hungarians had been recognized as refugees in Canada. Some went further and contended that Romani refugee claimants fled persecution in Hungary only to be confronted with similar mistreatment in Canada. …

Climate Change And Human Rights: How? Where? When?, Basil E. Ugochukwu

Osgoode Legal Studies Research Paper Series

Climate change poses a threat to several internationally recognized human rights, including the rights to food, a livelihood, health, a healthy environment, access to water and the rights to work and to cultural life. Actions taken to mitigate and adapt to the adverse impacts of climate change have to be centred on human rights. In negotiations for a binding international climate change instrument, nation states have been called upon to fully respect human rights in all climate-related actions. As important as this demand is, there is also the need to describe and plan how human rights can be integrated into …

Ending Homelessness: Building Not Only Homes But Relationships Of Respect, Janet Mosher

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

No abstract provided.