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Full-Text Articles in Human Rights Law

Backlash Against International Courts In West, East And Southern Africa: Causes And Consequences, Karen J. Alter, James T. Gathii, Laurence R. Helfer Jun 2019

Backlash Against International Courts In West, East And Southern Africa: Causes And Consequences, Karen J. Alter, James T. Gathii, Laurence R. Helfer

James T Gathii

This paper discusses three credible attempts by African governments to restrict the jurisdiction of three similarly-situated sub-regional courts in response to politically controversial rulings. In West Africa, when the ECOWAS Court upheld allegations of torture by opposition journalists in the Gambia, that country’s political leaders sought to restrict the Court’s power to review human rights complaints. The other member states ultimately defeated the Gambia’s proposal. In East Africa, Kenya failed in its efforts to eliminate the EACJ and to remove some of its judges after a decision challenging an election to a sub-regional legislature. However, the member states agreed to …


Youth Activism, Art And Transitional Artist: Emerging Spaces Of Memory After The Jasmin Revolution, Arnaud Kurze Dec 2018

Youth Activism, Art And Transitional Artist: Emerging Spaces Of Memory After The Jasmin Revolution, Arnaud Kurze

Arnaud Kurze

This project explores the creation of alternative transitional justice spaces in post-conflict contexts, particularly concentrating on the role of art and the impact of social movements to address human rights abuses. Drawing from post-authoritarian Tunisia, it scrutinizes the work of contemporary youth activists and artists to deal with the past and foster sociopolitical change. Although these vanguard protesters provoked the overthrow of President Zine El Abidine Ben Ali in 2011, the power vacuum was quickly filled by old elites. The exclusion of young revolutionaries from political decision-making led to unprecedented forms of mobilization to account for repression and injustice under …


Counter-Terrorism And Human Rights: The Emergence Of A Rule Of Customary International Law From U.N. Resolutions, Joseph M. Isanga Mar 2018

Counter-Terrorism And Human Rights: The Emergence Of A Rule Of Customary International Law From U.N. Resolutions, Joseph M. Isanga

Joseph Isanga

This article is divided into four sections. Section I will discuss how a rule of customary international law generally develops, including discussions of development from conventional sources and the use of United Nations resolutions for finding a rule of customary international law generally. Section II will expound the treatment of and reliance upon the United Nations resolutions as a source of law by the International Court of Justice, in order to facilitate our discussion of an emerging rule of customary international law from resolutions. Section III will consider the limitations for using resolutions as binding statements of opinio juris. Finally, …


Foundations Of Human Rights And Development: A Critique Of African Human Rights Instruments, Joseph M. Isanga Mar 2018

Foundations Of Human Rights And Development: A Critique Of African Human Rights Instruments, Joseph M. Isanga

Joseph Isanga

This Article argues that, of the contemporary human rights theories, sustainable African development necessitates grounding human rights in complete alignment with the broader perspective of natural law theory, as opposed to narrower perspectives such as utilitarian, positivist, and kindred theories.3 Part I presents pertinent philosophical theories and modes of analysis in conjunction with general international legal jurisprudence. Part II then uses this philosophical analysis to examine specific African human rights instruments and jurisprudence. Part III considers African traditional human rights conceptions. Part IV recommends a natural law foundation for African development. [excerpt]


Standard Setting In Human Rights: Critique And Prognosis, Makau Mutua Nov 2017

Standard Setting In Human Rights: Critique And Prognosis, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

This article interrogates the processes and politics of standard setting in human rights. It traces the history of the human rights project and critically explores how the norms of the human rights movement have been created. This article looks at how those norms are made, who makes them, and why. It focuses attention on the deficits of the international order, and how that order - which is defined by multiple asymmetries - determines the norms and the purposes they serve. It identifies areas for further norm development and concludes that norm-creating processes must be inclusive and participatory to garner legitimacy …


Human Rights International Ngos: A Critical Evaluation, Makau Mutua Nov 2017

Human Rights International Ngos: A Critical Evaluation, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

Published as Chapter 7 in NGOs and Human Rights: Promise and Performance, Claude E. Welch, Jr., ed.

The Human rights movement can be seen in a variety of guises. It can be seen as a movement for international justice or as a cultural project for “civilizing savage” cultures. In this chapter, I discuss a part of that movement as a crusade for a political project. International nongovernmental human rights organizations (INGOs), the small and elite collection of human rights groups based in the most powerful cultural and political capitals of the West, have arguably been the most influential component of …


The Information Regulation Of Business Actors, Kishanthi Parella Jun 2017

The Information Regulation Of Business Actors, Kishanthi Parella

Kish Parella

A transnational legal order (TLO) is emerging regarding the role of businesses in respecting human rights. This legal order includes multistakeholder initiatives, international organization recommendations and guidelines, NGO certifications, and other voluntary instruments. Many of the norms within this TLO are nonbinding and therefore lack mandatory compliance; what they may possess is persuasive power, particularly when the norms are developed, endorsed, and managed by reputable organizations. It is that reputational, or legitimacy, advantage that matters for encouraging industry associations to comply with the nonbinding norms associated with these organizations. Industry associations and other business actors will gravitate more towards legitimacy …


Global Justice In The Anthropocene, Carmen G. Gonzalez May 2017

Global Justice In The Anthropocene, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Scientists believe the world has entered a new geological epoch in which human economic activity is the primary driver of global environmental change. Known as the Anthropocene, this epoch is characterized by human domination and disruption of Earth system processes essential to the planet’s self-regulating capacity. The environmental problems of the Anthropocene are inextricably intertwined with patterns of trade, finance, investment, and production that have created an enormous and growing economic gap between and within affluent and poor countries. These divisions have often paralyzed international law-making, resulting in deadlocks in environmental treaty negotiations and agreements characterized by ambiguity, lack of …


New Uri Journal Explores Sexual Exploitation, G. Wayne Miller, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Apr 2017

New Uri Journal Explores Sexual Exploitation, G. Wayne Miller, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

With large global reach already, the journal Dignity is first of its kind in the world. A new journal devoted to the broad examination of sexual exploitation, violence and slavery has been launched by a prominent University of Rhode Island professor and researcher Donna M. Hughes. Since its debut last year, the first-of-its-kind online journal Dignity has been a global success, with people from more than 100 countries downloading articles, according to URI. 


Uri Professor Launches Online Journal About Sexual Exploitation, Violence, Slavery, Donna M. Hughes Dr. Apr 2017

Uri Professor Launches Online Journal About Sexual Exploitation, Violence, Slavery, Donna M. Hughes Dr.

Donna M. Hughes

Sexual exploitation and violence are rampant throughout the world, and academics are rightly pushing the issue into the public eye through their research and articles. University of Rhode Island professor Donna M. Hughes is at the forefront of the movement with the launch of an online academic journal, “Dignity,” dedicated to publishing papers about sexual exploitation, violence and slavery. The journal is the first academic journal in the world to address global sexual exploitation and well on its way to success.


International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu Dec 2016

International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu

Carmen G. Gonzalez


On October 28, 2016, the Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems (“TLCP”) hosted a symposium to honor the late Professor Burns Weston, to celebrate the publication of International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015),  and to use the book as the foundation for further scholarly inquiry. The symposium featured an inspiring and enlightening series of panels and keynote addresses on a variety of topics including environmental justice and indigenous peoples, energy poverty and its disparate impact on women, violence against women in resource extractive industries, and North-South fisheries disputes.

The thesis of International Environmental Law …


International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu Dec 2016

International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu

Carmen G. Gonzalez


On October 28, 2016, the Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems (“TLCP”) hosted a symposium to honor the late Professor Burns Weston, to celebrate the publication of International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015),  and to use the book as the foundation for further scholarly inquiry. The symposium featured an inspiring and enlightening series of panels and keynote addresses on a variety of topics including environmental justice and indigenous peoples, energy poverty and its disparate impact on women, violence against women in resource extractive industries, and North-South fisheries disputes.

The thesis of International Environmental Law …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu Dec 2016

International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu

Carmen G. Gonzalez


On October 28, 2016, the Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems (“TLCP”) hosted a symposium to honor the late Professor Burns Weston, to celebrate the publication of International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015),  and to use the book as the foundation for further scholarly inquiry. The symposium featured an inspiring and enlightening series of panels and keynote addresses on a variety of topics including environmental justice and indigenous peoples, energy poverty and its disparate impact on women, violence against women in resource extractive industries, and North-South fisheries disputes.

The thesis of International Environmental Law …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu Dec 2016

International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu

Carmen G. Gonzalez


On October 28, 2016, the Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems (“TLCP”) hosted a symposium to honor the late Professor Burns Weston, to celebrate the publication of International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015),  and to use the book as the foundation for further scholarly inquiry. The symposium featured an inspiring and enlightening series of panels and keynote addresses on a variety of topics including environmental justice and indigenous peoples, energy poverty and its disparate impact on women, violence against women in resource extractive industries, and North-South fisheries disputes.

The thesis of International Environmental Law …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu Dec 2016

International Environmental Law, Environmental Justice, And The Global South, Carmen G. Gonzalez, Sumudu Atapattu

Carmen G. Gonzalez


On October 28, 2016, the Journal of Transnational Law & Contemporary Problems (“TLCP”) hosted a symposium to honor the late Professor Burns Weston, to celebrate the publication of International Environmental Law and the Global South (Cambridge University Press, 2015),  and to use the book as the foundation for further scholarly inquiry. The symposium featured an inspiring and enlightening series of panels and keynote addresses on a variety of topics including environmental justice and indigenous peoples, energy poverty and its disparate impact on women, violence against women in resource extractive industries, and North-South fisheries disputes.

The thesis of International Environmental Law …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …