Law Commons^™

Coercing Justice? Exploring The "Aspirations And Practice" Of Law As A Tool In Struggles Against Social Inequalities, Karen Schucher

PhD Dissertations

This dissertation examines the role of law as a tool in struggles against social inequalities, by tracing the history of Ontario’s human rights legislation and enforcement from the enactment of fair practices statutes in the 1950s through the restructuring of the enforcement regime in 2006. Ontario was the first Canadian province to pass anti-discrimination legislation and to establish a human rights commission enforcement process. This legislation and the commission enforcement process were the models for all other Canadian jurisdictions.

The dissertation approaches the role of law through the framework of tensions between the “aspirations” and the “practices” of law. On …

Rights And Responsibilities: What Are The Prospects For The Responsibility To Protect In The International/Transnational Arena?, Carolyn Helen Filteau

PhD Dissertations

The dissertation involves a study of the emerging international norm of ‘The Responsibility to Protect’ which states that citizens must be protected in cases of human atrocities, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and genocide where states have failed or are unable to do so. According to the work of the International Commission on the Responsibility to Protect (ICISS), this response can and should span a continuum involving prevention, a response to the violence, when and if necessary, and ultimately rebuilding shattered societies. The most controversial aspect, however, is that of forceful intervention and much of the thesis focuses on this aspect. …

An Evaluation Model For Non-Governmental Organizations Engaged In Advocacy, Nathalie Des Rosiers

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

The article proposes a model to evaluate the effectiveness of NGOs that engage in advocacy for compliance with international human rights and civil liberties standards or constitutional rules. The model draws on the analysis of social movement effectiveness, ombudsmen’s roles and the literature on the evaluation of human rights NGOs at the international level. It establishes ways to measure the legitimacy and effectiveness of advocacy NGOs. In particular, it suggests that transparency and independence must be constantly demonstrated, that factual accuracy must always be sought and that legal compliance must be shown to have moral and public interest resonance. The …

When Do Human Rights Treaties Help Asylum Seekers? A Study Of Theory And Practice In Canadian Jurisprudence Since 1990, Stephen Meili

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article supports a new theoretical approach to the utilization of human rights treaties in refugee status adjudications in domestic courts. The existing literature on treaty effectiveness is divided between several optimistic and pessimistic perspectives, none of which adequately predict the circumstances under which domestic courts in Canada reference treaties in ways that help refugees obtain relief. This new theoretical approach adds to the literature on treaty effectiveness in the litigation context by suggesting that the extent to which Canadian domestic courts reference treaties in ways that help refugees depends on several factors, including the manner in which those treaties …

The March Of Judicial Cosmopolitanism And The Legacy Of Enemy Combatant Case Law, Madalina Lulia Sontrop

LLM Theses

This thesis explores the concept of judicial cosmopolitanism and its prevalence in enemy combatant case law. The author draws upon the theoretical and philosophical underpinnings of cosmopolitanism and cosmopolitan law to describe judicial cosmopolitanism as form of legal discourse through which judges show a willingness to extend constitutional protections based on a contemporary, functional understanding of sovereign jurisdiction. The purpose of this work is to address the correlation between enemy combatant jurisprudence and the aforementioned understanding of judicial cosmopolitanism. It is argued that a march of judicial cosmopolitanism developed early in enemy combatant cases, and that it came to a …

Informal Transnational Police-To-Police Information Sharing: Its Structure And Reform, Michael Robert Walton

LLM Theses

This thesis examines the informal sharing of information and cooperation between police agencies across international borders, and how it is or should be informed by international human rights law. The author looks at how intelligence-led policing theory has affected transnational policing. A distinction is made between police actions made on domestic soil that have adverse consequences abroad and police actions made on foreign soil that have adverse consequences. The first category of cases is firmly within jurisdiction and covered by domestic and international legal obligations. The second category of cases introduces the concept of the extraterritorial application of international human …

The Right To Food And The Political Economy Of Third World States, Opeoluwa Adetoro Badaru

The Transnational Human Rights Review

Current global events validate the fact that beyond a theoretical analysis of rights discourse and food justice, there is a need to understand and propose ways to address the very fragile global food situation, and especially so in Third World states. At the peak of the high food prices in mid-2008, the world observed how the issue of access to food and the means to acquire food (in the larger context of other socio-economic needs) spurred riots from Egypt to Bangladesh and Mexico. And one cannot definitely say that we are out of the woods yet concerning rising food prices. …

Is Nigeria A Secular State? Law, Human Rights And Religion In Context, Osita Nnamani Ogbu

The Transnational Human Rights Review

Nigeria is a multi-ethnic and multi-religious state. The two major religions in the country are Islam and Christianity. Adherents of these two major religions take divergent positions on the question of the secularity of the Nigerian state. While most Christians argue for separation of the Nigerian state from religion, most Muslims advocate the fusion of religion, the state and the law. To many of them, the Sharia ought to govern the totality of the life of a Muslim from cradle to grave. For instance, the Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Alhaji Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, maintained that any call …

Balancing, Proportionality, And Human Rights Adjudication In Comparative Context: Lessons For Nigeria, Basil Ugochukwu

The Transnational Human Rights Review

What is the nature of the role that courts perform when they evaluate human rights complaints? Answering this question engages two related but contending values in the process of protecting human rights through judicial means. The first value is that persons are entitled to certain rights and freedoms that are either completely outside the controlling power of the state, organizations and others in the society, or which when they are infringed could trigger an application for judicial protection by the victims. The second value is that the state can impose limitations on certain rights and freedoms but only if it …

Adjudicating Human Rights In Transitional Contexts: A Nigerian Case-Study, 1999-2009 , Basil Emeka Ugochukwu

PhD Dissertations

While transitional justice and democracy literature bristles with the expectation that human rights conditions would improve with the progression from the “darkness” of a dictatorship to the “light” of democratic rule, Nigeria’s transition to civil rule in 1999 would seem to provide a sobering contra-reality. Democracy does not seem to have produced a better human rights environment in the post-transition Nigerian context. This dissertation answers the question why the restoration of civil rule in Nigeria has not translated to results in human rights practices that come close to matching the expectations of its citizens and the predictions of transitional justice …

Eying The Promised Land: The Wearisome Quest For An Effective Regional Human Rights Enforcement Mechanism In Africa, Nsongurua Udombana

The Transnational Human Rights Review

Regional human rights regimes complement national systems, which sometimes suffer from "[i]nept, inefficient, underresourced, or iniquitous governments incapable of, or perhaps even opposed to, assisting citizens' realization of their human rights". Regional systems also complement the global system, which often is problematic in achieving consensus due to multiplicity of states and the absence of homogeneity. "As far as their processes are concerned", notes Sarkin, "regional systems for many reasons are more accessible, cheaper for litigants, and more effective in the work they do than international courts". However, the national, regional and international regimes all share a common goal in protecting …

International Human Rights Fact-Finding Praxis In Its Living Forms: A Twail Perspective, Obiora C. Okafor

The Transnational Human Rights Review

International human rights fact-finding (hereinafter "IHRFF") has been defined, rather generously, as: A method of ascertaining facts through the evaluation and compilation of various information sources ... [which] serves to illuminate the circumstances, causes, consequences and aftermath of an event from a systematic collection of facts. Understood in this way, IHRFF is not a new activity. Rather, various organizations, groups, and entities have engaged in it for a very long time. Indeed, issues relating to its ways and means, conceptual and operational problems, and best practices have occupied the attention of many practitioners, and cringed the brows of many of …