Law Commons^™

From Reparations To Dignity Restoration: The Story Of The Popela Community., Bernadette Atuahene, Sanele Sibanda

Bernadette Atuahene

Conference: Reparations In The Inter-American System: A Comparative Approach Conference, Ignacio Alvarez, Carlos Ayala, David Baluarte, Agustina Del Campo, Santiago A. Canton, Dean Claudio Grossman, Darren Hutchinson, Pablo Jacoby, Viviana Krsticevic, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Fernanda Nicola, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Francisco Quintana, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Alice Riener, Frank La Rue, Dinah Shelton, Ingrid Nifosi Sutton, Armstrong Wiggins

Claudio M. Grossman

This publication will enhance the understanding of what we call the law of reparations, developed in the Inter-American Court and Commission of Human Rights. Reparations have a special meaning for the victims of human rights violations and, in particular, the victims of mass and gross violations that took place in this hemisphere during the twentieth century. For those victims and their family members, reestablishing the rights as if no violation had occurred is not possible. Accordingly, to them, avoiding the repetition of those violations in the future is of paramount importance. In achieving that goal, what the victims want is …

Designing Emotional And Psychological Support Into Truth And Reconciliation Commissions, Verlyn F. Francis Ms.

Verlyn F. Francis Ms.

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions are a dispute resolution mechanism used to attempt to reunite countries and states after internal conflicts and civil wars. A large component of this transitional justice process involves truth-telling by perpetrators and victims. The ultimate goal is reconciliation of the parties within the unified state.

Using the example of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission, this paper argues that successful reconciliation depends on the design of the process. It is important for the designer to balance individual and institutional interests and to ensure that all stakeholders are at the design table. Since the truth-telling in …

Reflections On Racism And World Order, Winston P. Nagan

Winston P Nagan

This Article is about international racism. Racism is not simply a local or national phenomenon, it is an immense global problem. Indeed, its tentacles stretch from the local to the global and back to the local. Let us put the picture of international racism into perspective by tying it to the claims made to eradicate racism in economic relations. Apart from affirmative action, there are two other approaches: either to assert the notion that reparations is a way to ameliorate the worst manifestations of racism and provide for racial justice, or to join that with the notion that there is …

Reparations And Unjust Enrichment, Emily Sherwin

Emily L Sherwin

Despite an initial appearance of superior doctrinal fit, restitution is not an appropriate vehicle for reparations claims based on slavery and similar large-scale historical injustices. The justifying principle behind restitution—prevention of unjust enrichment—lacks the moral force necessary to resolve a controversial public dispute about moral rights and obligations among segments of society. At its core, a claim to restitution is an attempt to right a wrong not by alleviating the adverse consequences to oneself, but by diminishing the position of others. In other words, the notion of unjust enrichment is a comparative idea that draws on resentment and the desire …

"I Still Live In Guantanamo!" Human Rights Abuses Continue After Detainees Leave Guantanamo, Peter Honigsberg

Peter J Honigsberg

In November 2014, the U.S. government transferred Yemeni national Hussein Al-marfadi, from the Guantanamo Bay, Cuba detention center to the nation of Slovakia. He had never been charged with a crime, and had been cleared for release nearly five years before his transfer to Slovakia. Three months later, in February 2015, the Witness to Guantanamo project (W2G) interviewed Al-marfadi in Zvolen, a town in central Slovakia. Although physically and psychologically scarred from his 12 years of detention, Al-marfadi was an engaging, even-tempered and thoughtful man.

However, when W2G asked Al-marfadi about his life today, his composure and even-tempered tone transformed …

The Limits Of Property Reparations, Gregory S. Alexander

Gregory S Alexander

Human history is replete with examples of unjustified expropriations of property by conquering states and other transitory regimes. Only in modern times, however, have nations attempted systematically to remedy historical injustices by providing reparations to the dispossessed owners or their successors. From the aboriginal peoples of the Antipodes to the Native Americans of Canada and the U.S. to the European victims of the German and Soviet communism, groups of people who were stripped of their land and possessions by fraud or force are demanding, and in many cases getting, reparations for these injustices. The thesis of this paper is that …

Transcript: Advocacy Before Regional Human Rights Bodies: A Cross-Regional Agenda, Victor Abramovich, Charlotte De Broutelles, Santiago Canton, Paolo Carozza, Andrew Drzemczewski, Jonathan Fanton, Leonardo Franco, Felipe González, Claudio Grossman, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Bahame Tom-Mukirya Nyanduga, Diane Orentlicher, Fatsah Ouguergouz, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzón, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Manuel Ventura Robles, Pablo Saavedra

Paolo G. Carozza

No abstract provided.

Conference: Reparations In The Inter-American System: A Comparative Approach Conference, Ignacio Alvarez, Carlos Ayala, David Baluarte, Agustina Del Campo, Santiago A. Canton, Dean Claudio Grossman, Darren Hutchinson, Pablo Jacoby, Viviana Krsticevic, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Fernanda Nicola, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Francisco Quintana, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Alice Riener, Frank La Rue, Dinah Shelton, Ingrid Nifosi Sutton, Armstrong Wiggins

David Baluarte

This publication will enhance the understanding of what we call the law of reparations, developed in the Inter-American Court and Commission of Human Rights. Reparations have a special meaning for the victims of human rights violations and, in particular, the victims of mass and gross violations that took place in this hemisphere during the twentieth century. For those victims and their family members, reestablishing the rights as if no violation had occurred is not possible. Accordingly, to them, avoiding the repetition of those violations in the future is of paramount importance. In achieving that goal, what the victims want is …

The Duty To Make Amends To Victims Of Armed Conflict, Scott T. Paul

Scott T Paul

In the past decade, calls for monetary payments by warring parties to the civilians they harm have become significantly louder and more prominent. The law of armed conflict permits parties to harm civilians, so long as the harm is not excessive to the concrete and direct military advantage they anticipate gaining through an attack. This paper examines the current state of international law regarding duties owed to victims suffering harm as a result of lawful combat operations and discusses the moral obligations owed to them by the parties who cause them harm. The paper notes that civilians who suffer incidental …

Integrating Victims' Rights In The Indian Legal Framework, Saumya Uma

Dr. Saumya Uma

Transcript: Advocacy Before Regional Human Rights Bodies: A Cross-Regional Agenda, Victor Abramovich, Charlotte De Broutelles, Santiago Canton, Paolo Carozza, Andrew Drzemczewski, Jonathan Fanton, Leonardo Franco, Felipe González, Claudio Grossman, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Bahame Tom-Mukirya Nyanduga, Diane Orentlicher, Fatsah Ouguergouz, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzón, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Manuel Ventura Robles, Pablo Saavedra

Diane Orentlicher

No abstract provided.

Conference: Reparations In The Inter-American System: A Comparative Approach Conference, Ignacio Alvarez, Carlos Ayala, David Baluarte, Agustina Del Campo, Santiago A. Canton, Dean Claudio Grossman, Darren Hutchinson, Pablo Jacoby, Viviana Krsticevic, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Fernanda Nicola, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Francisco Quintana, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Alice Riener, Frank La Rue, Dinah Shelton, Ingrid Nifosi Sutton, Armstrong Wiggins

Fernanda G. Nicola

This publication will enhance the understanding of what we call the law of reparations, developed in the Inter-American Court and Commission of Human Rights. Reparations have a special meaning for the victims of human rights violations and, in particular, the victims of mass and gross violations that took place in this hemisphere during the twentieth century. For those victims and their family members, reestablishing the rights as if no violation had occurred is not possible. Accordingly, to them, avoiding the repetition of those violations in the future is of paramount importance. In achieving that goal, what the victims want is …

Transcript: Advocacy Before Regional Human Rights Bodies: A Cross-Regional Agenda, Victor Abramovich, Charlotte De Broutelles, Santiago Canton, Paolo Carozza, Andrew Drzemczewski, Jonathan Fanton, Leonardo Franco, Felipe González, Claudio Grossman, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Bahame Tom-Mukirya Nyanduga, Diane Orentlicher, Fatsah Ouguergouz, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzón, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Manuel Ventura Robles, Pablo Saavedra

Claudio M. Grossman

No abstract provided.

From Paris To London: The Legal History Of European Reparation Claims 1946-1953, Richard M. Buxbaum

Richard M. Buxbaum

The umbrella concept of Reparations, including its compensatory as well as restitutionary aspects, regretfully remains as salient today as it was in the 20th century. A fresh look at its history in that century, and how that history shapes today’s discourses, is warranted. It is warranted in particular because the major focus in recent decades has been on the claims of individual victims of various atrocities and injustices, generalized as the development of international human rights law by treaty, statute and judicial decision. One consequence of this development is that the historical primacy of the state both as agent for …

Conference: Reparations In The Inter-American System: A Comparative Approach Conference, Ignacio Alvarez, Carlos Ayala, David Baluarte, Agustina Del Campo, Santiago A. Canton, Dean Claudio Grossman, Darren Hutchinson, Pablo Jacoby, Viviana Krsticevic, Elizabeth Abi-Mershed, Fernanda Nicola, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón, Francisco Quintana, Sergio Garcia Ramirez, Alice Riener, Frank La Rue, Dinah Shelton, Ingrid Nifosi Sutton, Armstrong Wiggins

Darren L Hutchinson

This publication will enhance the understanding of what we call the law of reparations, developed in the Inter-American Court and Commission of Human Rights. Reparations have a special meaning for the victims of human rights violations and, in particular, the victims of mass and gross violations that took place in this hemisphere during the twentieth century. For those victims and their family members, reestablishing the rights as if no violation had occurred is not possible. Accordingly, to them, avoiding the repetition of those violations in the future is of paramount importance. In achieving that goal, what the victims want is …

Reparations: A Comparative Perspective, Fernanda G. Nicola

Fernanda G. Nicola

This article focuses on the treatment of reparations in recent jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the European Court of Justice (ECJ). In the so-called “prisoner cases,” Assanidze v. Georgia and Ilascu and Others v. Moldova and Russia, the ECHR moved beyond its previously limited approach to reparations by finding that continued detention of the lawsuit applicants would entail a prolonged violation of the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms and then asking the States to immediately release the prisoners. The author then turns to ECJ immigration cases Zhu v. Sec’y of …

From Radical To Practical (And Back Again?): Reparations, Rhetoric, And Revolution, Kaimipono D. Wenger

Kaimipono D Wenger

The story of reparations advocacy is a story of ideas. This Article discusses some of those ideas. It analyzes the history of slavery reparations advocacy since the Civil War and the role of different rhetorical approaches to reparations. It shows how reparations dialog over time has consisted of two major rhetorical strands: Practical Reparations arguments are those seeking concrete compensation within existing judicial or legislative systems, while Radical Reparations arguments are those that use the idea of reparations as a lens to suggest broad systemic changes to society. Each strand draws on different facets of reparations thought.

Recent court developments …

Property And Transitional Justice, Bernadette Atuahene

Bernadette Atuahene

Transitional justice is the study of those mechanisms employed by communities, states and the international community to deal with a legacy of systematic human rights abuses and authoritarianism in order to promote social reconstruction. There is a well developed transitional justice literature on how states can deal with past violations of civil and political rights, which discusses the value of truth commissions, and international and domestic prosecutions. The transitional justice literature on how to deal with past violations of property rights, however, is significantly less developed. The goal of this essay is to begin an important conversation about how transitional …

A No-Excuse Approach To Transitional Justice: Reparations As Tools Of Extraordinary Justice, David C. Gray

David C. Gray

It is sometimes the case that a debate goes off the rails so early that riders assume the rough country around them is the natural backdrop for their travels. That is certainly true in the debate over reparations in transitions to democracy. Reparations traditionally are understood as material or symbolic awards to victims of an abusive regime granted outside of a legal process. While some reparations claims succeed—such as those made by Americans of Japanese decent interned during World War II and those made by European Jews against Germany after World War II—most do not. The principal culprits in these …

Complementarity And Alternative Justice, Gregory S. Gordon

Gregory S. Gordon

Certain commentators believe that domestic resort to alternative justice mechanisms (ARMs), such as Uganda's "mato oput" (a local tribal rite) or truth commissions, can relieve the International Criminal Court of its obligation to prosecute under the complementarity principle. However, this literature provides only general suggestions for how the ICC could determine whether alternative mechanisms render a case inadmissible under the complementarity regime. This article proposes a concrete set of analytic criteria the ICC can use to formulate an admissibility test for conducting complementarity analysis in difficult cases of municipal reliance on ARMs. The admissibility test entails consideration and parsing of …

The Canadian Response To The Aboriginal Residential Schools:Lessons For Australia And The United States?, Julie Cassidy

Julie Cassidy

The common policy of the Australian, Canadian and United States governments of removing aboriginal children from their families and placing them in institutions is now well documented. This article considers the responses to the stolen generations in Australia, Canada and United States. A major focus of the article is the historic compensation package agreed to by the Canadian government. Whilst the Canadian federal government has not been without criticism on this issue, it must be applauded for its efforts to meet a peaceful solution to a tragic past. The political responses in Australia and United States and Canada are simply …

Remembering And Reconciliation: An International Law Perspective, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Most states are going through or have gone through periods of ‘transition’ which have involved a collective confrontation with past painful events. However, since the 1990s, there has been a proliferation of legal and non-legal mechanisms created to promote reconciliation and accountability in post-authoritarian or post-conflict societies. These mechanisms have been heavily influenced by (and have influenced) international law norms in the field of human rights, humanitarian law and international criminal law. Failure to address promptly and effectively the lingering legacy of gross violations of human rights law or serious violations of international humanitarian law impact on victims directly and …

Reparations For Cultural Loss, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Destruction, damage and dispossession of culture and heritage loom large in actions pursued by indigenous peoples at the international, regional and domestic levels. This chapter considers how the claims and remedies for cultural losses sustained by indigenous peoples, collectively and individually, push the existing boundaries of international law. First, it outlines how culture and its manifestations is conceptualized by indigenous peoples. Second, how claims for cultural loss are framed by expanding upon existing international human rights law and international humanitarian law is explained. Finally, it examines the application of recent developments at the international and regional levels to accommodate broader …

Should Or Must? Nature Of The Obligation Of States To Use Trade Instruments For The Advancement Of Environmental, Labor, And Other Human Rights, Stephen Powell

Stephen Joseph Powell

States have been careful to couch their human rights commitments in terms that avoid binding and measurable actions to ensure the human rights either of their own citizens or those in other countries. Despite the promise of a dozen U.N. treaties, states continue to equivocate as to measures necessary to meet critical individual needs. This essay argues that, nonetheless, the question whether economically powerful states may be held to human rights observance is not solely moral in nature. Instead, through a combination of treaties, custom, and historical facts, the human rights obligation of developed states has taken on penumbral legal …

Reparations: A Remedies Law Perspective, Darren Hutchinson

Darren L Hutchinson

This article provides a general overview of reparations discourse in the United States and offers suggestions concerning how advocates of reparations might frame their claims. The author discusses how remedies law might be a useful means of redress for litigants and examines some of the political and legal barriers to reparations in the United States. The barriers include the failure of opponents to treat remedies for gross human rights or civil rights deprivations as a public good, rather than as a series of private transactions that benefit or burden individuals. The author ultimately sets the litigation model aside as providing …

Responsibility For Historical Injustices: Reconceiving The Case For Reparations, Amy J. Sepinwall

Amy J. Sepinwall

Two opposing conceptions of responsibility animate the debate about reparations for slavery. Opponents of reparations espouse an individualist conception, and hold that one may be held responsible only for an action in which she participated directly, and only to the extent that her contribution caused harm. Since no contemporary citizen participated in slavery, opponents conclude that no contemporary citizen has a duty of repair. Supporters of reparations, or reparationists, adopt or develop theories of collective responsibility, according to which responsibility attaches to a group first and foremost, and then gets ascribed to the group's members derivatively. Reparationists thus argue that, …

Taking Conservatives Seriously: A Moral Justification For Affirmative Action And Reparations, Kim Forde-Mazrui

Kim Forde-Mazrui

Underlying the debate over affirmative action and reparations for black Americans is a dispute about the extent to which American society is responsible for present effects of past racial discrimination. Although much has been written on the subject, the scholarship too often sheds more heat than light, and tends to be dominated by extreme positions incapable of taking opposing claims seriously. This Article weighs in on this debate in a novel and constructive manner. The Article defends a societal obligation to remedy past discrimination by accepting, rather than dismissing, principles of conservatives who oppose affirmative action and reparations. Taking conservatives …

Reparations In South Africa: A Cautionary Tale, Erin Daly

Erin Daly

The South African experience with reparations is an important object lesson for any major effort to seek reparations to the descendents of slaves in the United States. However, the aspect of the TRC's reparations plan that has proved most problematic is the recommendation for monetary payments to "victims" of gross human rights abuses. Although emphasizing the importance of reparations to the victims, the TRC failed to ensure that reparations would be paid. Like the victims’ movements in South Africa, the American movement for reparations for victims and descendants of slavery should a range of monetary as well as non-monetary forms …

Reparations Theory And Postcolonial Puerto Rico: Some Preliminary Thoughts, Pedro A. Malavet

Pedro A. Malavet

Applying recent Critical Race Theory reparations discourse to inform Puerto Rico's transition to any one of the three legitimate post-colonial status options.