Law Commons^™

Nuclear Weapons, Elephants, Israel And The World Court, James J. Friedberg

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Limits Of Legality: Assessing Recent International Interventions In Civil Conflicts In The Middle-East, Feisal Amin Istrabadi

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Function And Dysfunction In Post-Conflict Justice Networks And Communities, Elena Baylis

Articles

The field of post-conflict justice includes many well-known international criminal law and rule of law initiatives, from the International Criminal Court to legal reform programs in Afghanistan and Iraq. Less visible, but nonetheless vital to the field, are the international staff (known as internationals) who carry out these transitional justice enterprises, and the networks and communities of practice that connect them to each other. By sharing information, collaborating on joint action, and debating proposed legal rules within their networks and communities, internationals help to develop and implement the core norms and practices of post-conflict justice. These modes of collaboration are …

Monitoring, Reporting, And Fact-Finding: Does The Human Rights Council Report On Human Rights In North Korea Provide A Template For The Sri Lankan Investigation?, Chris Jenks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

2014 has already heralded two significant developments related to monitoring, reporting, and fact-finding (MRF) mechanisms for collecting information on alleged international law violations. First, the Human Rights Council (HRC) published their “Report of the detailed findings of the commission of inquiry on human rights in the Democratic People’s Republic of Korea” in February. This report may provide a roadmap for the second important development, the HRC’s decision in March to investigate alleged international law violations during the final phase of the armed conflict in Sri Lanka. More broadly, both these efforts offer lessons for any group or body participating in …

From Contract To Legislation: The Logic Of Modern International Lawmaking, Timothy L. Meyer

Scholarly Works

The future of international lawmaking is in peril. Both trade and climate negotiations have failed to produce a multilateral agreement since the mid-1990s, while the U.N. Security Council has been unable to comprehensively respond to the humanitarian crisis in Syria. In response to multilateralism’s retreat, many prominent commentators have called for international institutions to be given the power to bind holdout states — often rising or reluctant powers such as China and the United States — without their consent. In short, these proposals envision international law traveling the road taken by federal systems such as the United States and the …

Principles Of International Law For Multilateral Development Banks: The Obligation To Respect Human Rights, Robert T. Coulter, Leonardo A. Crippa, Emily Wann

Free, Prior and Informed Consent: Pathways for a New Millennium (November 1)

41 pages.

"January, 2009"

www.indianlaw.org

Anticipatory Self-Defense And The Israeli-Iranian Crisis: Some Remarks, Charles J. Dunlap Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Role Of Foreign Authorities In U.S. Asylum Adjudication, Fatma E. Marouf

Scholarly Works

U.S. asylum law is based on a domestic statute that incorporates an international treaty, the U.N. Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees. While Supreme Court cases indicate that the rules of treaty interpretation apply to an incorporative statute, courts analyzing the statutory asylum provisions fail to give weight to the interpretations of our sister signatories, which is one of the distinctive and uncontroversial principles of treaty interpretation. This Article highlights this significant omission and urges courts to examine the interpretations of other States Parties to the Protocol in asylum cases. Using as an example the current debate over social …

The Emerging Restrictions On Sovereign Immunity: Peremptory Norms Of International Law, The U.N. Charter, And The Application Of Modern Communications Theory, Winston P. Nagan, Joshua L. Root

UF Law Faculty Publications

The article provides a fresh re-examination of the conceptual foundations of the sovereign immunity doctrine in the light of the changing character of sovereignty itself. This is done in the context of the changing expectations in international law generated by the UN Charter, and the development of human rights and humanitarian law. The article applies the innovative communications theories generated by the New Haven School to provide a more realistic and relevant approach to the issue of international law-making in this area. The article provides an overview of the emergence of changed expectations relating to the restrictions on the scope …

The Human Rights Of Indigenous Peoples: United Nations Developments, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Agency Of Risk: The Competing Balance Between Protecting Military Forces And The Civilian Population During Counterinsurgency Operations In Afghanistan, Chris Jenks

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Using both the International Security Assistance Force’s tactical directive on use of force in Afghanistan and doctrinal concepts from the US military’s counterinsurgency manual, this chapter explores the allocation of risk between the military force and Afghan civilian population. The chapter first reviews civilian and military casualty figures and then uses those numbers as a touchstone against which to consider each group’s perception of the risk they face.

Reflections On The Icj Advisory Opinion On Kosovo: Interpreting Security Council Resolution 1244 (1999), Sean D. Murphy

GW Law Faculty Publications & Other Works

In its 2010 advisory opinion on Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo, the International Court of Justice was called upon to interpret the meaning and legal effects of Security Council Resolution 1244, which had authorized the deployment of international military forces and civilian administration into Kosovo in the aftermath of NATO’s 1999 bombing campaign against Serbia. The Court’s treatment of Resolution 1244 entailed a rich mosaic of issues, some of which were specific to the situation of Kosovo, but others that have ramifications for the interpretation and application of Security Council …

The United Nations' Role In Haiti Cholera Outbreak, Lauren Carasik

Media Presence

No abstract provided.

Accountability And The Sri Lankan Civil War, Steven R. Ratner

Articles

Sri Lanka's civil war came to a bloody end in May 2009, with the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) by Sri Lanka's armed forces on a small strip of land in the island's northeast. The conflict, the product of long-standing tensions between Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils over the latter's rights and place in society, had begun in the mid-1980s and ebbed and flowed for some twenty-five years, leading to seventy to eighty thousand deaths on both sides. Government repression of Tamil aspirations was matched with ruthless LTTE tactics, including suicide bombings of civilian …

Beyond Ruggie’S Guiding Principles On Business And Human Rights: Charting An Embracive Approach To Corporate Human Rights Compliance, Robert C. Blitt

Scholarly Works

To what extent should or must a corporation contemplate international human rights law? Following a brief discussion of the increasing influence of transnational corporations and global business transactions, as well as the growth of the international human rights system, this Article uses the 2011 United Nations’ Guiding Principles on the effective prevention of, and remedy for, business-related human rights harm as a jumping-off point for addressing the most recent developments related to identifying and regulating business-related human rights practices. After identifying an emerging divide between endorsement and criticism of the Guiding Principles, the Article concludes with a forward-looking view, arguing …

Slides: Impacts Of Energy Deficits In Cooking, Illumination, Water, Sanitation, And Motive Power, Paul S. Chinowsky

2012 Energy Justice Conference and Technology Exposition (September 17-18)

Presenter: Dr. Paul Chinowsky, Director, Mortenson Center in Engineering for Developing Communities; Professor, University of Colorado

25 slides

International Human Rights Law And Social Movements: States' Resistance And Civil Society's Insistence, Kiyoteru Tsutsui, Claire Whitlinger, Alwyn Lim

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This review examines recent scholarship on the rise of international human rights law and proposes that social movements have played critical roles both in elevating the standards of human rights in international law and in leveraging these standards into better local practices. Institutionalization of universal human rights principles began in the immediate post–World War II period, in which civil society actors worked with powerful states to establish human rights as a key guiding principle of the international community and to ensure the actors' continuing participation in international human rights institutions. The subsequent decades saw various hurdles arise in international politics, …

Book Review, International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice (2010), Timothy L. Meyer

Scholarly Works

This essay reviews Ian Hurd’s International Organizations: Politics, Law, Practice. International law and international relations scholars are increasingly interested in the variation in the structures and powers of international organizations, as well as how that variation affects state decisions to comply with international law. Hurd’s book offers a nuanced overview of the relationship between the legal powers of international organizations and the political contexts in which they operate. The book uses eight case studies, including the United Nations, the World Trade Organization, the International Court of Justice, and the International Labor Organization, to assess how different political environments and institutional …

Libya: A Multilateral Constitutional Moment?, Catherine Powell

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Libya intervention of 2011 marked the first time that the UN Security Council invoked the “responsibility to protect” principle (RtoP) to authorize use of force by UN member states. In this comment the author argues that the Security Council’s invocation of RtoP in the midst of the Libyan crisis significantly deepens the broader, ongoing transformation in the international law system’s approach to sovereignty and civilian protection. This transformation away from the traditional Westphalian notion of sovereignty has been unfolding for decades, but the Libyan case represents a further normative shift from sovereignty as a right to sovereignty as a …

Haiti, Cholera, And The United Nations: Negligence And The Rule Of Law, Lauren Carasik

Media Presence

No abstract provided.

An Examination Of The Varying Role Of The United Nations In The Civil Wars Of Rwanda And El Salvador, Vanessa Jaramillo-Cano

Calvert Undergraduate Research Awards

The purpose of this work is to examine the efforts of the United Nations in the Post-Cold War era with special emphasis on peacekeeping missions. A comparative study of recent United Nations peacekeeping operations will be completed to identify the variables that encourage or discourage international (UN) involvement in cases of civil conflict. For the purpose of this work, civil conflict will be narrowly defined as a domestic conflict with two major armed groups (ie: civil wars). Two countries will be studied to explore the nature of the respective conflicts, the transitional methods used by the peacekeeping mission to return …

U.S. Foreign Policy And The Arab Spring: Ten Short-Term Lessons Learned, Paul Williams, Colleen Popken

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Implementing Legal Capacity Under Article 12 Of The Un Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities: The Difficult Road From Guardianship To Supported Decision-Making, Robert Dinerstein

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Anti-Trafficking Legislation In Sub-Saharan Africa: Analyzing The Role Of Coercion And Parental Responsibility, Ruby Andrew, Benjamin N. Lawrance

Fourth Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking, 2012

This article discusses the effect of US and international support for local laws to combat child trafficking in sub-Saharan African states. The annual ranking of African anti-trafficking measures, produced by the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (OMCTP) in conjunction with the UN Office on Crime and Drugs, not only provides an important source of data but also creates a powerful incentive for African states to effect legislative change.

We argue that, although the US supports criminalization of traffickers and the OMCTP espouses laws to deter parental inducement to support trafficking activities, the implementation of …

Legitimizing International Criminal Justice: The Importance Of Process Control, Nancy Amoury Combs

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Law Of Occupation And Un Administration Of Territory: Mandatory, Desirable, Or Irrelevant?, Steven R. Ratner

Other Publications

Governments and international organizations as well as academic commentators have remarked upon the similarities and differences between occupation of territory by States and administration of territory by the United Nations. Although formal administration of territory by the United Nations has been limited to a small number of cases, the possibility of future revival of this practice warrants consideration of the relevance of the law of occupation (hereafter LO) to this phenomenon. This paper attempts to sketch out the major issues in an attempt to guide the experts in their discussion.

The Us Veto Over Palestine's Un Membership, Timothy W. Waters

Articles by Maurer Faculty

While the United Nations is in debate over Palestinians’ request for UN membership, the US has already announced their decision to veto. But the over two thirds of Americans who are neither Jewish nor Evangelical should consider saying yes. It may not solve every problem but it could increase the prospects for successful negotiations between Palestine and Israel.

Development For The Past, Present, And Future: Defining And Measuring Sustainable Development, Max Cantor

Senior Honors Projects

In 1987, the United Nations released the Brundtland Report, which defined sustainable development as “development which meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.” While this definition provides a relatively stable theoretical base from which development economists and political scientists can begin to tackle issues surrounding sustainable development, the inherently amorphous nature of this definition has also created a fair amount of ambiguity in both the economic literature surrounding sustainable development and the subsequent attempts by economists to measure it.

Historically, those interested in the science of development have typically …

United Nations Peacekeeping Operations And Security And Reconstruction, Muna Ndulo

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Several studies show that despite recent increases in the number of minor conflicts, long-term trends suggest that international and civil wars are declining. Analyzing the causes of the improvement in global security since 1990, the 2006 Human Security Report argues that the United Nations played a critically important role in spearheading a huge upsurge of international conflict prevention, peacekeeping and peacebuilding activities. Although the number of wars has decreased, far too many remain — and there are still several places of instability around the globe that could easily turn into conflict areas. In August 2000, a famous UN report, the …

We Live In A Country Of Unhcr: The Un Surrogate State And Refugee Policy In The Middle East, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

Many gaps in the protection of refugees can be connected to a de facto transfer of responsibility for managing refugee policy from sovereign states to United Nations agencies. This phenomenon can be seen in dozens of countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia, where the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) or the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) manage refugee camps, register newly arrived asylum-seekers, carry out refugee status determination, and administer education, health, livelihood and other social welfare programs.

In carrying out these functions, the UN acts to a great …