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Full-Text Articles in Human Rights Law

Regional Projects Require Regional Planning: Human Rights Impacts Arising From Infrastructure Projects, Abby Rubinson Jan 2006

Regional Projects Require Regional Planning: Human Rights Impacts Arising From Infrastructure Projects, Abby Rubinson

Michigan Journal of International Law

Regional projects require regional planning to avoid potentially disastrous environmental and human rights abuses. Focusing on the Rio Madeira project in Brazil as a case study in the impacts of infrastructure projects, this Note identifies the harm anticipated from these projects and highlights the need for verification of official predictions of such harm. It then proceeds to a legal analysis, addressing the applicable international law, Brazilian law, and regional legal frameworks and outlining the negative legal consequences arising from inadequate impact assessments. In light of these negative legal implications, the Note concludes by illustrating the need to proceed with planning …


The Universal Declaration On Bioethics And Human Rights: Promoting International Discussion On The Morality Of Non-Therapeutic Research On Children, Anna Gercas Jan 2006

The Universal Declaration On Bioethics And Human Rights: Promoting International Discussion On The Morality Of Non-Therapeutic Research On Children, Anna Gercas

Michigan Journal of International Law

After describing the Declaration and its drafting history, this Note will summarize several international, national, and regional guidelines regarding children as research subjects. The Note then argues for a prohibition of non-therapeutic research on children and concludes that international human rights law offers the most appropriate basis for the development of regulations on human experimentation.


Of Federalism, Human Rights, And The Holland Caveat: Congressional Power To Iplement Treaties, Ana Maria Merico-Stephens Jan 2004

Of Federalism, Human Rights, And The Holland Caveat: Congressional Power To Iplement Treaties, Ana Maria Merico-Stephens

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article explores whether the Rehnquist Court's federalism doctrine, as elaborated during this last decade, should or ought to extend to the domestication of discrete provisions of ratified human rights treaties. It explores this question by examining the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (Covenant) and by considering the civil remedy provision of Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) as potential implementing legislation for the equality provisions of the Covenant. In the context of this inquiry, the discussion engages federalism, as developed by the current Court, on its own terms. That is, I do not seek here to defend it …


Beyond State Sovereignty: The Protection Of Cultural Heritage As A Shared Interest Of Humanity, Francesco Francioni Jan 2004

Beyond State Sovereignty: The Protection Of Cultural Heritage As A Shared Interest Of Humanity, Francesco Francioni

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this paper the author will try to explore the topic from a different perspective: i.e. the emergence of cultural heritage as part of the shared interest of humanity, with the consequent need for international law to safeguard it in its material and living manifestations, including the cultural communities that create, perform and maintain it. Culture in itself is not extraneous to the formation of the modern nation State. Especially in the history of nineteenth century Europe, culture as language, religion, literary and artistic traditions provided the cement and the legitimizing element to support the claim to independent statehood.


The Reality Of Private Rights, Duties, And Participation In The International Legal Process, Jordan J. Praust Jan 2004

The Reality Of Private Rights, Duties, And Participation In The International Legal Process, Jordan J. Praust

Michigan Journal of International Law

In a realistic and descriptive sense, international law is a complex and dynamic legal process profoundly interconnected with regional and domestic legal processes throughout the globe. There are no single sources or evidences of international law; no single set of participants; and no single arenas or institutional arrangements for the creation, invocation, application, change or termination of such law. Like all human law, it is full of human choice and rich in individual and group participation and inter-affectation. Awareness of this reality can have significant consequences with respect to identification of international legal norms, realistic meaning or content, remedies, and …


Sexual Slavery And The International Criminal Court: Advancing International Law, Valerie Oosterveld Jan 2004

Sexual Slavery And The International Criminal Court: Advancing International Law, Valerie Oosterveld

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article explores the advancement of the international crime of sexual slavery, from its initial inclusion in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court through further development in the delineation of the ICC's Elements of Crime document. This Article begins with a detailed exploration of the negotiation process that led to the inclusion of the crime of sexual slavery in the Rome Statute. The first Section describes the decision to include both sexual slavery and enforced prostitution as crimes, as well as the debate on listing sexual slavery as a crime separate from that of enslavement. Next, the Section …


Trafficking As A Human Rights Violation: The Complex Intersection Of Legal Frameworks For Conceptualizing And Combating Trafficking, Joan Fitzpatrick Jan 2003

Trafficking As A Human Rights Violation: The Complex Intersection Of Legal Frameworks For Conceptualizing And Combating Trafficking, Joan Fitzpatrick

Michigan Journal of International Law

The author will focus on three legal instruments: (1) the 2000 Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (the Trafficking Protocol); (2) the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA), enacted by the U.S. Congress in 2000; and (3) the regulations issued in 2002 by the U.S. Department of Justice to implement the T visa for trafficking victims. The U.S. response to trafficking illustrates the difficulties faced by human rights advocates in source, transit, and destination countries to insure that anti-trafficking and other migration …


Repairing The Legacy Of Ins V. Elias-Zacarias, Shayna S. Cook Jan 2002

Repairing The Legacy Of Ins V. Elias-Zacarias, Shayna S. Cook

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article examines the evolution of the nexus requirement in United States refugee law since the Elias-Zacarias decision. Part I discusses the Supreme Court's decision in Elias-Zacarias, identifying the choices the Court made among the arguments presented before it that resulted in the motive-oriented approach to nexus. This Part also delves into the Court's statement about the evidence required to demonstrate motive, concluding that the Court's treatment of the evidence before it foreshadows the confusion lower courts have demonstrated in evaluating evidence of motive. Part II looks at appellate decisions on the nexus issue since 1992, highlighting cases that …


Causation In Context: Interpreting The Nexus Clause In The Refugee Convention, Michelle Foster Jan 2002

Causation In Context: Interpreting The Nexus Clause In The Refugee Convention, Michelle Foster

Michigan Journal of International Law

The aim of this Article is to explore current approaches to identifying and applying the causation test inherent in the "for reasons of" clause and to attempt to devise a sui generis test appropriate to the unique aims and objects of the Convention. Part I begins by reviewing both the principles governing the causation analysis and their methods of application in different jurisdictions. Part II then proceeds to review the considerations that might inform the development of a causation standard in refugee law, including guidance that might be obtained from other areas of law, against the background of the need …


Persecution In The Fog Of War: The House Of Lords' Decision In Adan, Michael Kagan, William P. Johnson Jan 2002

Persecution In The Fog Of War: The House Of Lords' Decision In Adan, Michael Kagan, William P. Johnson

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this Article, we argue that the House of Lords' reasoning in Adan was seriously flawed. The House of Lords correctly recognized that evidence that minorities face a heightened risk of being persecuted can be sufficient to show a nexus to a Convention ground. Yet it erred when it went on to hold that only differentially at-risk individuals or groups can benefit from refugee status. If a person's risk of being persecuted is causally linked to his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, the nexus requirement is satisfied irrespective of whether the …


African Courts, International Law, And Comparative Case Law: Chimera Or Emerging Human Rights Jurisprudence?, Mirna E. Adjami Jan 2002

African Courts, International Law, And Comparative Case Law: Chimera Or Emerging Human Rights Jurisprudence?, Mirna E. Adjami

Michigan Journal of International Law

Though the potential creation of a supranational human rights court has brought international attention to the African human rights system, international law and human rights scholars rarely turn to African examples when studying the domestic application of international human rights norms. This Article seeks to fill that gap by analyzing cases from several Anglophone common law countries in sub-Saharan Africa that invoke international law and comparative case law as interpretive support in their national fundamental rights jurisprudence.


Dueling Fates: Should The International Legal Regine Accept A Collective Or Individual Pradigm To Protect Women's Rights?, Michigan Journal Of International Law Jan 2002

Dueling Fates: Should The International Legal Regine Accept A Collective Or Individual Pradigm To Protect Women's Rights?, Michigan Journal Of International Law

Michigan Journal of International Law

Transcript for Symposium held at the University of Michigan Law School on Saturday, April 6, 2002.


The Michigan Guidelines On The Internal Protection Alternative Jan 1999

The Michigan Guidelines On The Internal Protection Alternative

Michigan Journal of International Law

In many jurisdictions around the world, 'internal flight' or 'internal relocation' rules are increasingly relied upon to deny refugee status to persons at risk of persecution for a Convention reason in part, but not all, of their country of origin. In this, as in so many areas of refugee law and policy, the viability of a universal commitment to protection is challenged by divergence in state practice. These Guidelines seek to define the ways in which international refugee law should inform what the authors believe is more accurately described as the 'internal protection alternative.' It is the product of collective …


The Right To Return Under International Law Following Mass Dislocation: The Bosnia Precedent?, Eric Rosand Jan 1998

The Right To Return Under International Law Following Mass Dislocation: The Bosnia Precedent?, Eric Rosand

Michigan Journal of International Law

On the night of May 2, 1997, some twenty-five abandoned Serb houses were set on fire in the Croat-controlled municipality of Drvar, part of the Muslim-Croat Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina. It was clear from all the circumstances that Croats organized the arson of houses in Drvar to obstruct the return of the original Serb residents to the area. Croat authorities then made a concerted effort to resettle displaced Croats in Drvar in order to solidify a stretch of "ethnically-pure" territory adjacent to the Republic of Croatia. These displaced Bosnian Serbs are just a few of the estimated 2.3 million …


Victim Reparations In The Inter-American Human Rights System: A Critical Assessment Of Current Practice And Procedure, Jo M. Pasqualucci Jan 1996

Victim Reparations In The Inter-American Human Rights System: A Critical Assessment Of Current Practice And Procedure, Jo M. Pasqualucci

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part II of this article analyzes the statutory authority for reparations in the Inter-American system in light of the legislative history of the American Convention's reparations provision and compares that authority with that provided for in the European human rights system. Part III sets forth the Inter-American Court's procedures for determining reparations once State responsibility has been established. Part IV evaluates the parties who may receive reparations. Part V analyzes the types of reparations provided generally under international law and specifically in the Inter-American system. Part VI criticizes the Court's determination to grant only a small share of the reparations …


Sovereign Immunity And Violations Of International Jus Cogens - Some Critical Remarks, Andreas Zimmermann Jan 1995

Sovereign Immunity And Violations Of International Jus Cogens - Some Critical Remarks, Andreas Zimmermann

Michigan Journal of International Law

The scope of this article, like the one to which it responds, is limited. It does not purport to resolve any question relating to the municipal law of the United States, such as the interpretation of the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act. Instead, it considers the problem from a purely international law perspective. Furthermore, it does not indulge in a complete description of attempts made by the Federal Republic of Germany to pay compensation - as far as feasible - for all the blatant human rights violations committed by Nazi Germany in the period 1933-1945.


Death Penalty, Henry G. Schermers Jan 1995

Death Penalty, Henry G. Schermers

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of The Abolition of the eath Penalty in International Law by William A. Schabas


The Emptiness Of The Concept Of Jus Cogens, As Illustrated By The War In Bosnia-Herzegovina, A. Mark Weisburd Jan 1995

The Emptiness Of The Concept Of Jus Cogens, As Illustrated By The War In Bosnia-Herzegovina, A. Mark Weisburd

Michigan Journal of International Law

The aim of this article is neither to condemn departures from jus cogens nor to engage in verbal gymnastics designed to obfuscate the fact that the international community is treating or will treat "peremptory norms" as moralisms irrelevant in practical terms. Rather, this article seeks to show that the problem lies in the concept of jus cogens itself. More specifically, the article intends to make the case that the concept is intellectually indefensible - at best useless and at worst harmful in the practical conduct of international relations.


Israel's Forty-Five Year Emergency: Are There Time Limits To Derogations From Human Rights Obligations?, John Quigley Jan 1994

Israel's Forty-Five Year Emergency: Are There Time Limits To Derogations From Human Rights Obligations?, John Quigley

Michigan Journal of International Law

This article analyzes the permissibility of such a derogation under the Covenant and under general international law. Part I of this article outlines the historical development of Israel's declaration of a continuous state of emergency and its justification for detention without trial. Part II examines international rules on detention and derogation. Part III establishes a standard for declaring a state of emergency and applies this standard to Israel's declaration, with respect both to Israel's own territory and to the Palestinian territories occupied by Israel. Finally, Part IV inquires whether Israel will apply the Covenant as a matter of domestic law.


Note, The Convention For The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women: Radical, Reasonable, Or Reactionary?, Sarah C. Zearfoss Jan 1991

Note, The Convention For The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women: Radical, Reasonable, Or Reactionary?, Sarah C. Zearfoss

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Note will explore the merits behind these positions and attempt a resolution. If the potential effect of the Convention can only be to freeze and enshrine sex equality law as it currently exists, one who is interested in achieving changes in the law for the purpose of benefiting women will not want to put her energy into lobbying for ratification. It is therefore important to get past political strategies and determine what promise the Convention might hold for women in the United States. If the United States were to ratify the Convention, what changes, if any, would result?


Nurturin Rights: An Essay On Women, Peace, And International Human Rights, Barbara Stark Jan 1991

Nurturin Rights: An Essay On Women, Peace, And International Human Rights, Barbara Stark

Michigan Journal of International Law

This essay will explore the relationship between what many view as the two most urgent issues of our time: nurturing rights, and promoting peace.


The United States Should Withdraw Its Reservations To The Genocide Convention: A Response To Professor Paust's Proposal, Maria Frankowska Jan 1990

The United States Should Withdraw Its Reservations To The Genocide Convention: A Response To Professor Paust's Proposal, Maria Frankowska

Michigan Journal of International Law

A reiteration of Professor Paust's views on the topic, followed by an alternative course of action, and the international and domestic aspects of the withdrawal process.


Normative Surrender, Jerome B. Elkind Jan 1988

Normative Surrender, Jerome B. Elkind

Michigan Journal of International Law

It is submitted, at the risk of being accused of idealism, that those who most conspicuously don the mantle of realism are also guilty of normative sloppiness, a form of sloppiness which deserves the name "normative surrender" because it concedes large areas of the law to the will and whim of States. This article will examine the phenomenon of normative surrender and provide some examples of it.


The Law Of Belligerent Occupation And The Legal Status Of The Gaza Strip, Bob Labes Jan 1988

The Law Of Belligerent Occupation And The Legal Status Of The Gaza Strip, Bob Labes

Michigan Journal of International Law

Israel's presence in the Gaza Strip does, in fact, raise many interesting issues in international law, including questions concerning the law of belligerent occupation, and the law of self-determination. This note examines some of these questions. Part I of the Note discusses pertinent aspects of the law of belligerent occupation. It points out that among the features of the traditional concept of belligerent occupation is the existence of an armed conflict between the occupying state and the state whose territory is occupied. Part II examines the history of the Gaza Strip, in an attempt to determine whether it can be …