Law Commons^™

Modern-Day Slavery And Cultural Bias: Proposals For Reforming The U.S. Visa System For Victims Of International Human Trafficking, Marisa S. Cianciarulo

Marisa S. Cianciarulo

The international trafficking of human beings has emerged as one of the most lucrative and far-reaching industries in the world, second only to trafficking in drugs and tied with trafficking in arms. Many victims of international human trafficking, including teenagers and young children, are forced to work in the sex trade. Others work in areas such as agriculture, restaurants and sweatshops. In 2000, in an effort to combat trafficking and encourage trafficking victims to assist in the prosecution of traffickers, the United States enacted the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA), which created a new visa, called the …

The Social Security Rights Of Transsexuals Under Eu Law And The, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

The rights of transsexuals have gained important recognition in recent decisions by the European Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights. Yet important conceptual issues remained to be clarified as to the precise implications of these decisions for the rights of transsexuals in areas such as social security and pensions entitlement. This article examines two important recent decisions which further develop the Courts’ caselaw. These cases also highlight the developing– and largely complementary - relationship between the two legal orders.

An Analysis Of The Legality Of Television Cameras Broadcasting Juror Deliberations In A Criminal Case, Daniel H. Erskine

Daniel H. Erskine

Recently, ABC News broadcast the deliberations of several juries in capital murder cases into the living rooms of the American public. The latest judicial opinion to confront the problem of televising jury room deliberations in a capital criminal case took place in the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals. The article surveys the applicable federal constitutional and statutory law, as well as state jurisprudence, relevant to the intrusion of television cameras into the jury room. Additionally, this article discusses recent Scottish and European case law addressing jury deliberation as a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights.

Protecting The Public Trust And Human Rights In The Great Lakes, Melissa K. Scanlan

Melissa K. Scanlan

No abstract provided.

Evidentiary Assessment In Refugee Status Determination And The Eu Qualification Directive, Gregor Noll

Gregor Noll

Evidentiary assessment in asylum procedures is an area largely unregulated by international law. While the EU Qualification Directive does not purport to fill this lacuna, its Article 4 offers a norm that does touch on a number of central aspects of evidentiary assessment. This article provides a detailed analysis of this complex provision and its practical implications. Amongst others, the Directive obliges Member States to communicate any information that impacts on the relevance of the applicant's statements.

The processing of information and evidence is divided into three distinct stages. The first deals with the submission of information, the second seeks …

Universal Human Rights: A Generational History, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

The article outlines the generational theory of human rights evolving from first generation procedural individual freedoms from through second generation collective rights to into third generational aspirational goals. That model is generally true but womens rights and rights of non-white persons do not perfectly fit into that model being approximately one or even two generations delayed.

Freedom Of Expression (R): Overzealous Copyright Bozos And Other Enemies Of Creativity (Book Review), Matthew Rimmer

Matthew Rimmer

Extraterritorial Corporate Criminal Liability: A Remedy For Human Rights Violations?, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

Examines the extraterritorial application of U.S. criminal law in the context of corporations.

Necessity Versus Legality: The United Kingdom’S 2001 Derogation Order And The European Convention On Human Rights, Ibrahim Sule

Ibrahim Sule

No abstract provided.

Waiting For Some Angel: Indigenous Rights As An Ethical Imperative In The Theory And Practice Of Human Rights, Sam Grey

Sam Grey

This article uses the stalled Draft Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the impetus for an examination of arguments championing and opposing the framing of Indigenous rights as human rights. Failings both theoretical and practical – in the conceptualisation, promulgation and interpretation of human rights – have long left Aboriginal peoples at a disadvantage. The dual focus of Indigenous claims is unique in the rights lexicon, asserting the right to be simultaneously different from and equal to the majority population. Yet Indigenous rights are often perceived, by governments with the power to block their progress, as a threat …

No Longer Little Known But Now A Door Ajar: An Overview Of The Evolving And Dangerous Role Of The Alien Tort Statute In Human Rights And International Law Jurisprudence, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

Human rights’ and other international law activists have long worked to add teeth to their tasks. One of the most interesting avenues for such enforcement has been the Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”). The ATS has become the primary vehicle for injecting international norms and human rights into United States courts – against nation-states, state actors, and even private individuals or corporations alleged to actually or in complicity or conspiracy been responsible for supposed violations of international law. This Symposium Article provides an overview of the ATS evolution (or revolution), discusses the most recent significant development in the evolution arising from …

The Place Of Human Rights Law In World Trade Organization Rules, Stephen Joseph Powell

Stephen Joseph Powell

WTO rules routinely are linked to the inability of nations to make meaningful progress in sharpening environmental and other human rights protections, for example, the failure of the 2002 Johannesburg World Summit on Sustainable Development to usher in any new treaties despite the bright promise of the Rio Earth Summit of the previous decade. The common brief of environmental, medical, and development interest groups is that the market principles of supply and demand, comparative advantage, and non-discrimination on which global trade rules are built have encumbered pursuit by nations of fundamental non-economic objectives that must in any reasoned legal hierarchy …

Current Maritime Labour Law Issues: An Internationally Uniform Identity Document For Seafarers, Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry

Cleopatra Doumbia-Henry

No abstract provided.

Functional Democracy: Responding To Failures Of Accountability, Molly K. Land

Molly K. Land

No abstract provided.

Smoke And Mirrors Or Science? Teaching Law With Computers - A Reply To Cass Sunstein On Artificial Intelligence And Legal Science, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

The article explores the possibilities and limits of AI for teaching and modeling law.

Human Rights And Civil Litigation In United States Courts: The Holocaust- Era Cases, Samuel P. Baumgartner

Samuel P. Baumgartner

This is a comment on an article by Professor Burt Neuborne, in which he describes in detail the Holocaust assets litigation against Swiss, German, Austrian, and French corporations. In the comment, I attempt to put that litigation episode into the larger context of human rights enforcement through civil litigation in United States courts as seen from a theoretical concept drawn from international relations theory. I then try to gain some insights into such civil human-rights litigation from the Holocaust cases.

I conclude that the Holocaust-era litigation has done considerable good by creating a vast pool of assets for distribution among …

Post-Colonialism, Gender, And Customary Injustice: Widows In African Societies, Uche Ewelukwa

Uche Ewelukwa

By amending discriminatory laws and practices related to the treatment of widows in Africa, widows can gain new rights based on evolving international human rights standards on equality. In Nigeria, both common law and statutes perpetuate discrimination against widows by subjecting them to dehumanizing treatment. The current laws ignore the deep social changes that have been present in Africa since the onset of colonialism. Due to the piecemeal way in which African legal systems were constructed, patently discriminatory laws are routinely upheld by the courts. This is done despite constitutional provisions espousing the principles of equality and non-discrimination, thereby creating …

End-Of-Life And The Good Society, Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler, Sylviane Colombo

Dr. Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler

The article offers a tentative proposal for legislation which explicitly recognizes a legal right to receive palliative care treatment in Israel

The Birth Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Michael Cooper

Michael D. Cooper, Esq.

This short article, written for an audience of U.S. based social science teachers, reviews the historical circumstances surrounding the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations General Assembly adopted on December 10, 1948. The narrative focuses attention on the negotiating process and, in particular, Eleanor Roosevelt’s role as Chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which drafted the landmark document.

Rising Temperatures: Rising Tides, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Transboundary environmental problems do not distinguish between political boundaries. Global warming is expected to cause thermal expansion of water and melt glaciers. Both are predicted to lead to a rise in sea level. We must enlarge our paradigms to encompass a global reality and reliance upon global participation.

Equal Protection And Sexual Orientation, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Jack Tsen-Ta LEE

Equality is the thread running through the fundamental liberties enshrined in our Constitution. ... Equality, expressed in Art 12 of the [Singapore] Constitution, is also a specific right enforceable by the court. The difficulty comes in applying this deceptively simple concept to real-life situations. ... In considering the validity of legislation, Singapore and Malaysian courts have generally favored rational review, a modest conception of equal protection, unlike their American counterparts which have adopted a more expansive reading in the form of strict and intermediate review. This article examines how these three levels of equal protection review operate, and argues that …

Lessons From Malcolm X: Freedom By Any Means Necessary, Ali Khan

Ali Khan

It is no secret that Malcolm's doctrine of freedom by any means necessary generates fear. It advocates the use of force in an attempt to gain social justice which poses a threat to law and order of the society. This concept is particularly disturbing to those who control the means of change. This idea, however, is also disturbing to those who prefer non-violence even when they are subjected to injustice, those who have resigned themselves to failure, and to those who have been filled with fear ever since they were babies. Malcolm understood the impact of his militancy, and he …

Treaty Law: A Primer For Human Rights Lawyers, Perry S. Bechky

Perry S. Bechky

This short article introduces the law of treaties to domestic lawyers handling civil liberties cases.

Sensibility At Nuremberg: A Review Essay On Telford Taylor's The Anatomy Of The Nuremburg Trials, Kenneth Anderson

Kenneth Anderson

Finding A Mechanism To Enforce Women's Rights To Freedom From Domestic Violence In The Americas, Katherine Culliton

KATHERINE CULLITON-GONZÁLEZ

No abstract provided.

Action Specific Human Rights Legislation For El Salvador, Kenneth Anderson

Kenneth Anderson