Human Rights Law Commons^™

A Right Without A Remedy: How One Cincinnatian's Story Illustrates Terrorism Victims' Inability To Obtain Compensation Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Christopher T. Colloton

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Promoting Gender Equity And Foreign Policy Goals Through Ratifying The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, Raj Telwala

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Reporting As Human Rights Governance, Margaret E. Mcguiness

Faculty Publications

Contrary to the view that the rejection of human rights treaty membership has left the United States outside the formal international human rights system, the United States has played a key role in international human rights governance through congressionally mandated human rights monitoring and reporting. Since the mid-1970s, congressional oversight of human rights diplomacy, which requires reporting on global human rights practices, has integrated international human rights law and norms into the execution of U.S. foreign policy. While the congressional human rights mandates have drifted from their original purpose to condition allocation of foreign aid, they have effectively embedded international …

Material Support Laws And Critical Race Theory, Nichole M. Pace

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

The paper examines terrorism designation and material support laws for structural racism using Critical Race Theory. Legislation concerning terrorist organizations continues to limit efforts of humanitarian organizations and refugee applicants. The impact of such legislation extends beyond the designated terrorist organizations to the communities and countries they inhabit. This article describes the legal statutes and issues related to terrorist designation and material support laws before defining Critical Race Theory. The article seeks to understand the structural racism involved in the defined statutes and procedures. Using Critical Race Theory, the article defines how material support laws and terrorist designation procedures are …

Comparing The Approaches Of The Presidential Candidates, Pierre-Richard Prosper, William W. Burke-White

All Faculty Scholarship

This is a panel discussion between Pierre Prosper, attorney at Arent Fox LLP and William Burke White, Deputy Dean at the University of Pennsylvania School of Law, comparing the approaches and priorities of U.S. presidential candidates Barack Obama and Mitt Romney regarding foreign policy.

You Say You Want A (Nonviolent) Revolution, Well Then What? Translating Western Thought, Strategic Ideological Cooptation, And Institution Building For Freedom For Governments Emerging Out Of Peaceful Chaos, Donald J. Kochan

Donald J. Kochan

With nonviolent revolution in particular, displaced governments leave a power and governance vacuum waiting to be filled. Such vacuums are particularly susceptible to what this Article will call “strategic ideological cooptation.” Following the regime disruption, peaceful chaos transitions into a period in which it is necessary to structure and order the emergent governance scheme. That period in which the new government scheme emerges is particularly fraught with danger when growing from peaceful chaos because nonviolent revolutions tend to be decentralized, unorganized, unsophisticated, and particularly vulnerable to cooptation. Any external power wishing to influence events in societies emerging out of peaceful …

The Right Side Of The Coin: Focus On The Human Rights Of People, Not The Failure Of States, Brooke Ackerly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

US policy toward failed states should focus on strengthening civil society and social movements so that people are better able to hold their leaders accountable.

The language of “failed states” disassociates foreign policy from international dialogue about human rights. Instead, “failed states” is a contemporary sound bite that connotes a lack of sovereignty, suggesting that intervention would not violate national sovereignty because in a failed state, there is none. Of course, we could have a similar cynicism about the use of human rights concerns to justify invasion. Certainly, states have tried to choose when to reference international human rights norms …

Immobilizing Conceptual Debates, Jonas Claes

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In “Think Again: Failed States,” James Traub argues that “state failure” is a failed concept. Prioritizing efforts to prevent or address state fragility, weakness, or failure may seem impractical given the conceptual breadth of this systemic challenge. Like globalization, human security, or climate change, state failure contains so many aspects that it becomes analytically useless. But the need to rethink this garbage-can concept—everything can be thrown in—does not keep us from addressing the litany of well-understood challenges subsumed within.

The Hearts And Minds Of The Citizens, Brooke Ackerly

Human Rights & Human Welfare

If the US contributes increased military support to Guatemala under the premise of curtailing the drug trade, it could inadvertently further destabilize this already politically unstable country. It certainly will not contribute to developing a sense of political alliance in the hearts and minds of its citizens. Concerns about destabilization in Guatemala (and Central America more generally) and the role of this destabilization in facilitating the drug trade have led the Economist to suggest that the solution is to increase military foreign aid to Guatemala.

Democracy Promotion In The Obama Administration: An Opportunity To Match Action To Rhetoric, Patrick J. Glen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article addresses whether and to what extent the Obama administration should continue the Bush administration policies relating to democracy promotion. The focus of the article is on the ADVANCE Act of 2007, a legislative enactment that institutionalized democracy promotion in the State Department. After explicating the key provisions of this Act, as well as their implementation status, the article addresses key critiques leveled at democracy promotion, as well as areas where the Obama administration can expand on what has been accomplished thus far in this field. In the end, democracy promotion should continue to be an integral component of …

The Advance Democracy Act And The Future Of United States Democracy Promotion Efforts, Patrick J. Glen

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article addresses whether and to what extent the Obama administration should continue the Bush administration policies relating to democracy promotion. The focus of the article is on the ADVANCE Act of 2007, a legislative enactment that institutionalized democracy promotion in the State Department. After explicating the key provisions of this Act, as well as their implementation status, the article addresses key critiques leveled at democracy promotion, as well as areas where the Obama administration can expand on what has been accomplished thus far in this field. In the end, democracy promotion should continue to be an integral component of …

International Human Rights At The Close Of The Twentieth Century, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

Speculates as to why the human-rights revolution is increasingly likely to dominate our foreign-policy attentions in the decades to come. Ventures some predictions, of particular interest perhaps to international lawyers, about where the cause of international human rights is heading.

The Duty Of States To Assist Other States In Need: Ethics, Human Rights, And International Law, Lawrence O. Gostin, Robert Archer

O'Neill Institute Papers

This article deals with a foreign policy question of extraordinary importance: What responsibilities do States have to provide economic and technical assistance to other states that have high levels of need affecting the health and life of their citizens? The question is important for a variety of reasons. There exist massive inequalities in health globally, with the result that poorer countries shoulder a disproportionate burden of disease and premature death. While poor countries have by far the greatest ongoing health needs, they also have the least capacity to meet those needs. In addition to the pervasive and debilitating effects of …

Aiding Whom? Competing Explanations Of Middle-Power Foreign Aid Decisions, Bethany Barratt Phd

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Paper presented at International Studies Association annual meeting Honolulu, Hawaii March 2005. I thank Sabine Carey, Christian Erickson, Scott Gartner, Miroslav Nincic, Steve Poe, and Randolph Siverson for excellent feedback on earlier versions of this research, and Richard Tucker for generously providing the Similarity of UN Policy Positions data.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission of the author. The editors cannot guarantee a stable URL for any paper posted …

Public Law, Private Actors: The Impact Of Human Rights On Business Investors In China Symposium: Doing Business In China, Diane F. Orentlicher, Timothy A. Gelatt

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Should companies invest at all in countries, like China, where severe human rights abuses are pervasive? If they do invest, should they restrict their operations to areas of the country that have a comparatively good human rights record? Are there basic principles that transnational companies should observe to ensure, at a minimum, that they do not become complicit in a host government's abrogation of universally-recognized human rights? Should such principles be enforced by Executive or congressional fiat, or should companies take primary responsibility for policing themselves? How can companies that wish to factor human rights considerations into their business decisions …

Human Rights As Rhetoric: The Persian Gulf War And United States Policy Toward Iraq, Kunal Parker, Peter M. Labonski

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Legal Implications Of The Refugee Crisis, R. K.L. Panjabi

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

CLOSING THE DOORS: THE FAILURE OF REFUGEE PROTECTION By David Matas with Ilana Simon Toronto: Summerhill Press 1989

David Matas is a Canadian lawyer who has served on a Task Force on Immigration Practices and Procedures, has participated in the Canadian Council for Refugees, and has spoken publicly on the refugee crisis. He has written a critical, provocative analysis of the response of the Western world to the refugee problem, with emphasis on the policies of the present Government of Canada. His aim is to expose the injustices of the legislative and procedural systems for refugees in Canada. He writes …

Terrorism, Law, And Our Constitutional Order, Christopher L. Blakesley

Scholarly Works

We have all suffered moments of vicarious terror over the past few years as we watched news accounts of terrorist incidents, such as the downing of Pan Am Flight 103 over Lockerbie, Scotland. There, some institution, government, or group used innocent children, women, and men as fodder for their “war.” Some have claimed that the pusillanimous carnage was in retaliation for the slaughter of equivalent innocents aboard the Iranian Air Bus, similarly destroyed by American forces during the summer of 1988. Others suggested that it was committed by those interested in thwarting prospects of peace in the Middle East.

Combatting …

Kennan And Human Rights, Gordon A. Christenson

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

This essay seeks understanding of his view of normative thinking in foreign policy, whether moral or legal, and the implications from the perspective of human rights in an unfriendly world. It criticizes his conceptual presuppositions to gain clarity, posing paradoxes and dilemmas regarding their normative quality within the present structure of international relations.

The Individual And International Law, Alona E. Evans

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Books Received, C. C. S.

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

APPLICABLE LAW IN INTERNATIONAL COMMERCIAL ARBITRATION By Julian D. M. Lew. Dobbs Ferry, New York: Oceana Publications,1978. Pp. 633.

COMPARATIVE LAW YEARBOOK Issued by The Center for International Legal Studies Germantown, Maryland: Sijthoff & Noordhoff, 1979. Pp. 300.

CONTEMPORARY INTERNATIONAL LAW: A CONCISE INTRODUCTION By Werner Levi Boulder, Colorado: The Westview Press, 1979. Pp.391.

DIRECT INVESTMENT AND DEVELOPMENT IN THE U.S. By Raymond J. Waldman Washington, D.C.: Transnational Investments, 1979.Pp. 413.

ENHANCING GLOBAL HUMAN RIGHTS Edited by J. I. Dominguez and others New York: McGraw-Hill, 1979. Pp. 270.

THE ETHNOGRAPHY OF LAW By Laura Nader Menasha, Wisconsin: American Anthropological Association, …