Law Commons^™

“Aspectos Jurídicos Del Delito De Trata De Personas En Colombia: Aportes Desde El Derecho Internacional, Derecho Penal Y Las Organizaciones No Gubernamentales”, Andres Barreto, Beatriz Londoño, Antonio Varon, Andrea Mateus

Andres Barreto

La preocupación por el fenómeno de la trata de personas en el escenario internacional ha sido una constante para los Estados desde mediados del siglo XIX. En Colombia la legislación que condena el delito empezó su recorrido desde el Código Penal de 1980, en donde se castigaba con penas de prisión de 2 a 6 años a todo aquel que promoviere la entrada o salida del país de mujer o menor de edad para ejercer la prostitución. Sin embargo, la complejidad de las redes criminales de este crimen transnacional empezó a evidenciar que la trata no solo se cometía sobre …

Nothing But A Northern Lynching: The Death Of Fred Hampton Revisited, Susan Rutberg

Publications

No abstract provided.

Hope Over Experience?, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Writing about US human rights policy from the outside is always a disconcerting experience. All bets are off, and all assumptions are turned on their head. Assumptions from the South looking North are that, rhetoric aside, US interests rarely if ever feature human rights protection and promotion in first place. What’s more, they have very frequently featured the opposite: dirty tricks, torture and rendition were sadly familiar to students of Latin American history long before Guantanamo. The Clinton years went some way towards reining in the more blatant contradictions of the 1980s, but they also set in train the easy …

La Ley De Drogas Vigente Como Sistema Jurídico Paralelo, David Cordero Heredia

David Cordero Heredia

El artículo analiza como la política internacional anti drogas crea, en Ecuador, un sistema de reglas contrarias a la Constitución y a los tratados internacionales ratificados por el Estado.

Change We Can Believe In?, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

We were warned to temper our high hopes for a bold new Obama era of human rights. After all, President Obama would have “a lot on his plate”: a serious economic crisis, high unemployment, over forty million people without health insurance, “two wars,” global volatility. But it’s very hard not to be dismayed by some of the continuities from the Bush to the Obama administration, as well as by some Janus-faced policy decisions with damning human rights implications. When it comes to US-Latin America relations, such decisions include: professing support for progressive immigration reform while expanding regressive anti-immigration measures; claiming …

From Inspiring Hope To Taking Action: Obama And Human Rights, Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

While President George H. Bush spoke of a new world order, and his “misunderestimated” son mangled the English language at countless press conferences, with Barack Obama the USA now has a talented orator as a president. There is a new word order. But does the new and skillful rhetoric match the reality when it comes to human rights?

The Fiduciary Constitution Of Human Rights, Evan Fox-Decent, Evan J. Criddle

Faculty Publications

We argue that human rights are best conceived as norms arising from a fiduciary relationship that exists between states (or statelike actors) and the citizens and noncitizens subject to their power. These norms draw on a Kantian conception of moral personhood, protecting agents from instrumentalization and domination. They do not, however, exist in the abstract as timeless natural rights. Instead, they are correlates of the state’s fiduciary duty to provide equal security under the rule of law, a duty that flows from the state’s institutional assumption of irresistible sovereign powers.

December Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Obama's speech to the United Nations General Assembly (September, 2009).

and

Does Obama believe in human rights? By Bret Stephens. The Wall Street Journal. October 19, 2009.

The Statesman's Dilemma: Peace Or Justice? Or Neither?, Henry Krisch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Just as I sat down to comment on President Obama and human rights, I glanced today's (November 19, 2009) The New York Times and found several opinion essays-careful in fact, thoughtful in tone, reasonable in argument-critical of Obama's approach during his recent visit to China toward Chinese human rights violations (mainly concerning Tibet but including also imprisoned lawyers, internet censorship, and persecution of Falun Gong.) The essayists considered various tactics for exerting American pressure on China regarding human rights. Common to all of them was a tone of rueful admiration for the political and diplomatic skill with which China fended …

Freedom Of Religion And Discrimination- Two Important Uk Cases, Neil J. Foster

Neil J Foster

Two recent UK cases deal with the question of how the freedom of religion right interacts with laws prohibiting discrimination on the grounds of race or sexual orientation.

Ideologia E Utopias Nas Mais Recentes Constituintes Brasileira E Portuguesa: Algumas Linhas De Leitura, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Based upon a political compromise, in which « democratic socialists » and « social democrats » were the main protagonists, the ideology of Portuguese Constitution of 1976 was discrete, subtle. And ulterior constitutional revisions confirmed that fondamental aspect. Of course, utopia was present. But, even more present was the « hope principle ». We believe that the Brazilean constituent assembly, with the original importance of popular contributions, also had hope principle’s decisive influence. But the dinamics of the constituent assembly moderated, since the very beggining, the verbal signs of less discret ideologies. Utopia, neverthless, is very present in the aim …

The March To Copenhagen And The Quest For Climate Justice, Ondotimi Songi, Timipere Songi

Ondotimi Songi

Following events preceding the Copenhagen conference on climate change, the article looks at whether world leaders can seal a comprehensive, fair, effective and binding climate change deal. It traces efforts at addressing climate change from a policy and legal perspective noting that the discussion on climate change has focused on environmental and economic costs and suggesting that the issue be seen from a human rights and development perspective so as to realign strategies and programmes on mitigation and adaptation. From an African perspective, as a continent that is worst hit by climate change, it is noted that apart from insisting …

Unsex Cedaw: What's Wrong With "Women's Rights", Darren Rosenblum

International & Comparative Law Colloquium Papers

Although the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (“CEDAW” or the “Convention”) has succeeded in some respects, even its supporters acknowledge broad failures. CEDAW’s weakness draws on the titular mistaken diagnosis: “women” are not the issue&#;gender disparities are. The 1970’s drafting of CEDAW focused on bringing women to their place at the international law table. What’s wrong with women’s rights? In the international context, CEDAW attempts to empower women but fails to respect other gender inequality. As the preeminent treaty on gender inequality, CEDAW cannot succeed in creating gender equality if its scope remains limited …

Untold Truths: The Exclusion Of Enforced Sterilizations From The Peruvian Truth Commission's Final Report, Jocelyn E. Getgen

Cornell Law School Berger International Speaker Papers

This presentation argues that the exclusion of enforced sterilization cases from the Peruvian Truth Commission's investigation and Final Report effectively erases State responsibility and decreases the likelihood for justice and reparations for women victims-survivors of State-sponsored violence in Peru. In a context of deep cultural and economic divides and violent conflict, this presentation recounts how the State's Family Planning Program violated Peruvian women's reproductive rights by sterilizing low-income, indigenous Quechua-speaking women without informed consent. This presentation argues that these systematic reproductive injustices constitute an act of genocide, proposes an independent inquiry, and advocates for a more inclusive investigation and final …

International Human Rights : The Protection Of The Rights Of Women And Female Children In Africa : Theory And Practice, Eleazar Echezonachi Otiocha

Theses and Dissertations

Many governments all over the world have enacted laws and regulations to promote and protect the rights of women and female children. A lot of laws have been put in theory to give women equality with men. In reality or practice, many women all over the world still find it difficult to realize their rights. This study attempts to look at how far the laws on women rights, that is the law in books has become the law in practice/reality in many African states with Nigeria as a case study. This study acknowledges that in theory many African states have …

Droits Individuels Des Travailleurs Et Licenciement Collectif, Philippe Reyniers

Philippe Reyniers

The casenote criticises the "essentialist" approach of the European Court of justice in the definition of a collective right to consultation in the phase of restructuring. It defends a "functionalist" approach, where collective labour rights are individual rights exercised collectively.

Evidence In International Criminal Trials: Lessons And Contributions From The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Patrick Matthew Hassan-Morlai

Patrick Matthew Hassan-Morlai

The general aim of this paper is to contribute to the discourse on the development of a system of international criminal justice. In so doing, this paper will pay attention to one aspect – rules of evidence – and examine its role in ensuring the rights to fair trial. The examination is limited to discussing offences relating to the jurisdiction ratione materiae of the SCSL contained in Articles 2-5 of the SCSL Statute.

Human Rights Approach To Land Rights In Ethiopia, Belachew M. Fikre

Belachew M Fikre

No abstract provided.

The Hidden Costs Of Terror, Cath Collins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In this month’s featured article, former Peruvian president Alejandro Toledo (2001-2006) gives a thoughtful and insightful account of how post-atrocity accounting and reconstruction feels ‘from the top’. What can an incoming head of state possibly do or say that will redress and repair the social and human costs of decades of violence? What about the centuries of injustice and inequality that fueled the flames? In fact Toledo did perhaps as much as he could, and more than many thought he would be able to, in recognising and beginning to address the ethnic, class, and institutional faultlines that tore Peru apart …

The Peruvian Precedent, Katherine Hite

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In the early days of September 2009, former Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) president Salomón Lerner received a series of sick anonymous messages: “We will do to you what we did to your dogs.” Lerner’s two pet dogs had been fatally poisoned. The poisoning and the death threats against Lerner joined other vicious retaliations, including continuous attacks on another powerful human rights symbol, Lika Mutal’s “The Eye that Cries,” a sculpture in Lima that mourns the tens of thousands of Peruvian victims of internal armed conflict. In a twisted way, the poisoning, death threats, and attacks show that Peruvian …

November Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

Healing the Past, Protecting the Future. By Alejandro Toledo. Americas Quarterly. July 13, 2009.

From Atrocities To Security: A Parable From Peru, Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I have no expertise on the domestic politics of Peru, but I know that its often violent past shares much with its Latin American neighbours. Though not a practice confined to this region, I also know that events in the region have made notorious the chilling euphemism “disappearances.”

The Limits Of Executive Action For Human Rights, Henry Krisch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Between 2001 and 2006 Alejandro Toledo served as President of Peru. He entered office committed to, in his words, “restoring the democratic institutions that had suffered from a steady deterioration during the previous decade,” (that is, during the rule of former President Alberto Fujimori). Moreover, he took up the task of providing Peruvian society with “a full accounting of the atrocities that had occurred in previous decades.” This personal commitment to re-establishing a functioning democracy based on the rule of law, a commitment based in part on his participation in the anti-Fujimori demonstrations, lead him to seek an honest accounting …

A Short Comment On The 2009 Report Of The Un Special Representative Of The Secretary-General On The Issue Of Human Rights And Transnational Corporations And Other Business Enterprises, Jernej Letnar Cernic

Jernej Letnar Černič

A short comment on the 2009 report of the UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the issue of human rights and Transnational corporations and other business enterprises, Professor John Ruggie to the United Nations Human Rights Council, “Business and human rights: Towards operationalizing the “protect, respect and remedy” framework” AH/HRC/8/5, 22 April 2009.

The Torture Memos: The Case Against The Lawyers, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Refugee Crisis In America: Iraqis And Their Resettlement Experience, Georgetown University Law Center, Human Rights Institute

HRI Papers & Reports

No abstract provided.

A Human Rights-Oriented Approach To Military Operations, Federico Sperotto

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Counterinsurgency is the dominant aspect of US operations in Afghanistan, and since ISAF—the NATO-led security and assistance force—has assumed growing security responsibility throughout the country, it is also a mission for the Europeans.1 The frame in which military operations are conducted is irregular warfare, a form of conflict which differs from conventional operations in two main aspects. First, it is warfare among and within the people. Second, it is warfare in which insurgents avoid a direct military confrontation, using instead unconventional methods and terrorist tactics.

© Federico Sperotto. All rights reserved.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or …

Repression And Punishment In North Korea: Survey Evidence Of Prison Camp Experiences, Stephan Haggard, Marcus Noland

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The penal system has played a central role in the North Korean government’s response to the country’s profound economic and social changes. Two refugee surveys—one conducted in China, one in South Korea—document its changing role. The regime disproportionately targets politically suspect groups, particularly those involved in market-oriented economic activities. Levels of violence and deprivation do not appear to differ substantially between the infamous political prison camps, penitentiaries for felons, and labor camps used to incarcerate individuals for misdemeanors, including economic crimes. Substantial numbers of those incarcerated report experiencing deprivation with respect to food as well as public executions and other …

A Few Drops Of Oil Will Not Be Enough, Stephen James

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn provide a rich description of the various kinds of violence, deprivation, depredation and exploitation that women experience on a vast scale in the developing world. They write of sex trafficking, acid attacks, “bride burning,” enslavement, spousal beatings, unequal healthcare (something the USA still struggles with), insufficient food, gendered abortions and infant and maternal mortality. They are right to identify the education of women and girls as part of the solution to the widespread “gendercide.” However, their approach focuses too much on the capacity, indeed the virtue or heroism, of individual women. It does not take …

Sex And Slavery: An Analysis Of Three Models Of State Human Trafficking Legislation, Melynda H. Barnhart

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

No abstract provided.