Law Commons^™

Are Threats To Impose Financial Sanctions An Effective Approach For The United States To Protect Lgbtq Rights In Africa?, Ryan J. Mcelhose

Emory International Law Review Recent Developments

No abstract provided.

Women, International Human Rights Law, And The Right To Adequate Housing In Africa, John Mukum Mbaku

Emory International Law Review

In many African countries, the rights of women and girls to adequate housing are under threat and remain vulnerable to violation by state- and non-state actors. This is so even though these rights are guaranteed by international human rights instruments and national constitutions. Of particular note is the existence of customary laws that discriminate against women and frustrate their ability to realize the right to adequate housing. To enhance the ability of women to realize their right to adequate housing, each African State must domesticate the various international and regional human rights instruments that guarantee this right in order to …

Can Mediation Provide Remedy For Human Rights Violations? A Quest For Justice Using A Development Bank Accountability Mechanism, Natalie Bugalski, David Pred

Perspectives

This essay describes what it takes—the enormous tenacity, solidarity, courage and skill required—for communities and their civil society partners to seek recourse through the dispute resolution processes of development bank accountability mechanisms. While these mechanisms can be the crucial centerpiece of an effective strategy, their critical shortcomings mean that community advocates must often engage in Olympian advocacy gymnastics to achieve even a small measure of redress. The essay makes recommendations for strengthening community-centered accountability in development finance, so that remediation and prevention of harm become the norm, and not the rare exception.

Collective Data Rights And Their Possible Abuse, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The United States’ Stringent Sovereignty: How Foreign Policy Framing Prioritizes Security Over Human Rights, Kathryn Parker

Scripps Senior Theses

American policymakers utilize valence framing, purposeful descriptions of outcomes as positive or negative, to influence the opinions of voters while maintaining the moral superiority felt by many citizens in the liberal Western hegemon. This study intended to combine the political theories of Constructivism and Realism to form Constructive Realism, a theory that emphasizes the significance of state power and norms as joint influences on constituents. Constructive realism was then applied to four case studies – the UN Security Council, International Criminal Court, Convention on the Rights of the Child, and Convention on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. This study …

The Inspection Panel And International Law, Daniel D. Bradlow

Perspectives

This essay argues that the creation of the Inspection Panel (Panel) was an important international legal development. It was the first time that an international organization established a mechanism that enabled those communities and individuals who claimed they had been harmed by the decisions and actions of the international organization to hold the organization accountable. The creation of the Panel also promoted the role of non-state actors in making the soft international law that is applicable to the international financing of development projects. This essay will discuss each of these developments before drawing some conclusions about the Panel and international …

The Promise Of Collaborative Problem Solving In Enhancing Iam Effectiveness, Gina Barbieri

Perspectives

This essay analyses the effectiveness of collaborative problem-solving through mediation within accountability mechanisms, and considers ways in which western mediation principles should be enhanced to ensure fair outcomes given the power imbalance at play in development disputes. It also considers whether there is any scope to use problem solving principles to address questions of compliance, arguing for consideration of a hybrid approach to bolster tools available to IAMs, and so strengthen outcomes for communities.

Privatizing International Governance, Melissa J. Durkee

Scholarly Works

The theme of this panel is “Privatizing International Governance.” As the opening vignettes should make clear, public-private partnerships of all kinds are increasingly common in the international system. Since United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's launch of the Global Compact in 2000, the United Nations has increasingly opened up to business entities. Now, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Compact, and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights all encourage engaging with business entities as partners in developing and executing global governance agendas. These partnerships are seen by some as indispensable to sustainable development, international business regulation, climate change mitigation, …

A Guide To Mireille Delmas-Marty's “Compass”, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

This essay appears as the Afterword (pp. 55-64) to a volume featuring an important work by the late Mireille Delmas-Marty (1941-2022) titled A Compass of Possibilities: Global Governance and Legal Humanism. A Collège de France de Paris law professor and one of the pre-eminent legal thinkers of her generation, Delmas-Marty and the essay’s author were longtime colleagues and collaborators. The volume contains an English translation of a 2011 lecture by Delmas-Marty, originally titled “Une boussole des possibles: Gouvernance mondiale et humanismes juridiques.” Amann’s essay surveys that writing, in a manner designed to acquaint non-francophone lawyers and academics with Delmas-Marty’s …

Unsettling Human Rights Clinical Pedagogy And Practice In Settler Colonial Contexts, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Caroline Bishop Laporte

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

In settler colonial contexts, law and educational institutions operate as structures of oppression, extraction, erasure, disempowerment, and continuing violence against colonized peoples. Consequently, clinical legal advocacy often can reinforce coloniality—the logic that perpetuates structural violence against individuals and groups resisting colonization and struggling for survival as peoples. Critical legal theory, including Third World Approaches to International Law (“TWAIL”), has long exposed colonial laws and practices that entrench discriminatory, racialized power structures and prevent transformative international human rights advocacy. Understanding and responding to these critiques can assist in decolonizing international human rights clinical law teaching and practice but is insufficient in …

The Forgotten Sexual And Gender-Based Violence Of The Vietnam-American War: Is Justice Too Late For Vietnamese Victims And Survivors?, Madison P. Bingle

Human Rights Brief

“The past, far from disappearing or lying down and being quiet, has an embarrassing and persistent way of returning and haunting us unless it has in fact been dealt with adequately.” —Desmond Tutu

The Vietnam-American War ended nearly fifty years ago. However, the atrocities committed during the war have had a devasting impact on the lives of persons involved long after the conflicts’ end. A particularly marginalized group within survivors and victims of the Vietnam-American War is Vietnamese women who experienced sexual and gender-based violence. And given the specific tactics of warfare employed during this war, including the use of …

The International Criminal Court’S Arbitrary Exercise Of Its Duties Under The Rome Statute To The Benefit Of Western Global Supremacy, Azadeh Shahshahani, Sofia Veronica Montez

Human Rights Brief

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a constituent institution of the United Nations (UN) that investigates and prosecutes perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. Established in 1998 by the Rome Statute, the ICC may open an investigation through referrals by state parties to the Statute; referrals by the UN Security Council; or the prosecutor’s own initiative. Additionally, non-party states may extend qualified jurisdiction to the ICC to prosecute cases within their territories, setting the scope of investigations and prosecutions as well as the dates they shall encompass.

The Rome Statute assigns various other …

A Double Standard In Refugee Response: Contrasting The Treatment Of Syrian Refugees With Ukrainian Refugees, Deanna Alsbeti

Human Rights Brief

The unrelenting proliferation of international crises marks the twenty-first century with mass global displacement. In 2011, the world witnessed the Arab Spring, a series of anti-government protests that led to the Syrian Civil War and injected more than 13.5 million displaced Syrians into the global system. Today, twelve years later, the international system still struggles to accommodate and protect Syrians who cannot return to their homeland. In addition to the dire Syrian refugee crisis, and other refugee crises throughout the globe, the recent Russian invasion of Ukraine added approximately 7.5 million Ukrainian refugees to the world’s already stressed humanitarian system.

Striking Out: How The Mlb’S Baseball Academies Interfere With Children’S Human Rights In The Dominican Republic, Crystal Nieves Murphy

Human Rights Brief

Major League Baseball (MLB) has recently included a large number of foreign-born players in the league. Specifically, many of these players are from the Dominican Republic, with Dominican players making up more than ten percent of active players on MLB Team rosters across the league. This large number of Dominican baseball players in the MLB comes from a culture of scouting talent at a young age and the creation of baseball academies in Latin America as a whole. Currently, all thirty MLB teams have a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic where each team develops young teenagers talented at baseball.

Ecthr Halts Forced Deportation Of Uyghur Couple Seeking Asylum In Malta: Latest In A Series Of Breaches Of European Convention On Human Rights, Tesa Hargis

Human Rights Brief

On January 16, 2023, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) ordered Malta to halt the process of forcibly removing a Uyghur couple, A.B. and Y.M., seeking asylum. The couple, who are Chinese nationals of Uyghur ethnicity and Muslim faith, arrived in Malta in 2016; the rejection of their initial application in 2017 forced them to live in hiding for years. Prior to bringing their case to the ECtHR, the Uyghur couple had been detained at the Safi Barracks and were facing immediate deportation to China.

Religious Discrimination And Violation Of Property Rights In Turkey, Andre Taylor

Human Rights Brief

In 2022, the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) provided a ruling in an application against Turkey by the Foundation of the Taksiarhis Greek Orthodox Church. The Turkish government was held to have committed religious discrimination against its Greek Orthodox community by rejecting an application to register a historic church without a valid explanation. The Turkish High Court decided to register the disputed property in the name of the Public Treasury rather than grant ownership of the property outright to the Church. The Istanbul Administrative Court had repeatedly dismissed the Church’s appeals on the basis that the conditions listed in …

Movement Lawyering: Rebuilding Community Power & Decentering Law, Sami Schramm, Naima Muminiy, Madison Sharp, Angela Altieri, Thea Cabrera Montejo

Human Rights Brief

On Thursday, February 16, 2023, the Human Rights Brief held its annual symposium entitled Movement Lawyering: Rebuilding Community Power and Decentering Law. It was organized by Angela Altieri, Madison Sharp, Naima Muminiy, Sami Schramm, Destiny Staten, Angel Gardner, Leila Hamouie, Fabian Kopp, Marnie Leonard, and Thea Cabrera Montejo. Together, the team curated a day full of empowering keynotes, inspiring panels, and an insightful workshop. The team also created a resource to document the event.

Movement Lawyering For Georgia Worker Cooperatives, Julian M. Hill

Human Rights Brief

Capitalism’s Contradictions in Atlanta. The Park Place and Auburn Avenue intersection in downtown Atlanta juxtaposes capitalism’s shiny veneer and putrid underbelly. Among Georgia State University’s multi-story buildings, Woodruff Park’s lush trees, and the vibrant Sweet Auburn neighborhood once home to Martin Luther King, Jr., diverse youth vying for class ascension and minority-owned businesses exemplifying Atlanta’s claim as an entrepreneurship hub populate the sidewalks. A deeper look, however, reveals cracks within the “Real Wakanda” facade. Wooden boards cover commercial space doors along Auburn Avenue, houseless folks support each other and request help from others around Woodruff Park, and students born into …

Principles On Effective Investigative Interviews: A New Instrument Of International Law, Juan E. Mendez, Matthew Ilsley

Human Rights Brief

International law absolutely prohibits torture and ill-treatment, yet such abuses remain prevalent and widespread. It most frequently occurs in the questioning of individuals by law enforcement, intelligence officials, and military personnel in the context of “fighting crime,” obtaining confessions, controlling detainees, and “counterterrorism.” The “Torture Memorandums,” exemplifying the deeply misguided practices used in the global fight against terror following the attacks of September 11, 2001, illuminated the pervasiveness of these practices.

Violating The Protections Of International Law: Examining Methods To Combat The Practice Of Female, Angel R. Gardner

Human Rights Brief

In 2021, the women’s rights non-governmental organization (“NGO”), Equality Now, filed a lawsuit alongside other organizations1 challenging Mali’s failure to outlaw the practice of female genital mutilation (“FGM”). FGM involves the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia or other injury to female genital organs for non-medical purposes. The practice of FGM traces back to an ancient ritual, however, current research reveals that it causes serious health problems. The case brought by these NGOs has the potential to create binding precedent against the practice of FGM across all the African States.

Impact Of Extreme Hindutva Ideology On Freedom Of Speech In India, Meher Shah

Human Rights Brief

In the last decade, India has seen a rise of extreme far-right nationalism often referred to as the “Hindutva movement.” While the movement existed even before India obtained its independence in 1947, it recently gained unprecedented popularity and support among Indian citizens and non-resident Indians. Among the factors responsible for the Hindutva movement’s current popularity is blatant support and affiliation from the ruling political party, the Bharatiya Janta Party (BJP). The BJP has been a leading endorser of the Hindutva ideology, bringing it back to the center stage of Indian politics.1 The rise and spread of the ideology and its …

China's Violation Of Refugee Rights: Repatriation Of North Korean Refugees, Ellery Saluck

Human Rights Brief

The concept of the North Korean defector is so pervasive that it tends to eclipse the legal reality: she is also a refugee. While the urgent economic prerogative for defecting has waned since the widespread North Korean famine of the 1990s, North Koreans continue to escape for various reasons, such as seeking a better standard of living, enjoying freedom of movement, and pursuing freedom of political and religious affiliation. The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK) legislates serious, and even fatal, retribution for the crime of defecting. Yet, Chinese authorities refuse to acknowledge the refugee sur place status of the …

Access To Education: Protecting Students With Disabilities By Decriminalizing Behavior, Maria Jardeleza

Human Rights Brief

Contrary to international human rights standards, laws that criminalize disorderly and disruptive behavior in schools neglect the needs of students with disabilities. These laws lead to the exclusion of students with disabilities from educational settings and are applied unfairly against them. This Article will first look at state statutes and school policies that grant broad discretion in determining when and how to exclude students from learning opportunities through suspensions, expulsions, and referrals to law enforcement1. Understanding the use of these statutes against students within the context of the data on school discipline rates for students with disabilities shows the disproportionate …

Facial Recognition System Is A Violation Of Human Rights In The Context Of The Echr, Aykhan Dadashov

Human Rights Brief

On January 31, 2020, Nikolay Sergeyevich Glukhin lodged a complaint to the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) arguing that the Russian government violated his right to respect for private life (Article 8) and freedom of expression (Article 10) under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). Glukhin held a banner in metro station of Moscow to protest the detention and criminal proceedings against a political activist. Using CCTV cameras and videos taken by a passersby on an app called Telegram, the police managed to identify and arrest Glukhin. It investigated CCTV cameras installed in other stations for further inquiry …

Youth Voices For Human Rights Litigation In The Face Of Climate Change, Mckenzie Gallagher

Human Rights Brief

In the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR), six young activists, age eleven to twentyfour, filed a case against thirty-two countries claiming violations of their human rights related to climate change. The Grand Chambers of the ECtHR heard the case, Duarte Agostinho and Others v. Portugal and Others, on September 27, 2023, but the court has yet to issue an opinion on the admissibility and merits of the claim. The case was granted priority status and deferred directly to the Grand Chambers due to the importance of the issue, climate change.

Former Peruvian President Fujimori's Forced Sterilization Program Faces Prosecution 26 Years Later, Taylor Potenziano

Human Rights Brief

In 1996, the Peruvian government under President Alberto Fujimori launched the National Reproductive Health and Family Planning Program (PNSRPF). While the government pitched the program as a way to promote access to family planning for low-income families and a way for women to be “masters of their own destiny,” the PNSRPF functioned as a forced sterilization program. From 1996 to 2001, 272,028 people were forcibly sterilized, the majority of them impoverished indigenous women from rural areas.

Post-Conflict Reconciliation In Ukraine, Elena Baylis

Articles

Reconciliation mechanisms should be a core component of transitional justice in Ukraine. The nature of this conflict as a war justified by claims about history, identity, and legitimacy suggests that there will be a need for post-war reconciliation initiatives. Such reconciliation measures would be intended to enable Ukraine’s Russian, Ukrainian, and other communities to live together constructively within the same state. The goals of social reconciliation also converge with Ukraine’s long-term, political aims vis-à-vis both Russia and the European Union. This paper addresses three types of reconciliation measures that are important for post-conflict Ukraine. Instrumental mechanisms to engage post-conflict social …

Deportations For Drug Convictions In The United States And The European Union: Creating A More Compassionate Approach Toward Drug Convictions In The Immigration Law, Megan Smith

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment begins by examining and comparing the legal framework for deportation and other immigration consequences for convictions of drug offenses in the United States, the European Union, and the United Kingdom. This Comment then looks at the harsh effects of current immigration policy on individuals and marginalized communities. Finally, this Comment argues that immigration law should be reformed to adopt a more humanitarian approach toward non-citizens convicted of drug offenses. Deportation and other harsh immigration consequences for drug offenses levy disproportionately severe punishments toward vulnerable minority immigrant communities, exposing them to consequences much harsher than non-immigrants would face for …

Brief Of Human Rights And Labor Rights Organizations And Experts As Amici Curiae In Support Of Petitioners, Janie A. Chuang

Amicus Briefs

Since Congress first enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, it has expanded and strengthened it through successive reauthorizations. Congress has broadened the scope of the TVPRA in order to impose criminal and civil liability on individuals, corporations, and other legal persons who use, or knowingly benefit from ventures that use, forced labor, as well as those who aid and abet these practices. Through this legislation, Congress has bolstered efforts to hold traffickers accountable, opening the courthouse doors to victims of these egregious crimes.

The Ninth Circuit's decision below undermined the very statutory scheme Congress put in place to …

Defending Henrietta Lacks: Justification Of Ownership Rights In Separated Human Body Parts, Arseny Shevelev, Georgy Shevelev

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Since the time of Moore v. Regents of the University of California, it has become a well-established and widespread view that a person, when their separated body parts are misappropriated, is forced to limit themselves to fiduciary and other non-proprietary claims against those who violate the bodily inviolability of their separated parts. Now, with the filing of a lawsuit in defense of the rights in body parts of the victim of racial discrimination, Henrietta Lacks, the judicial system has an opportunity to justify itself by adopting a different perception of rights in human body parts. This Article focuses on the …