Human Rights Law Commons^™

Shedding New Light On Multinational Corporations And Human Rights: Promises And Limits Of “Blockchainizing” The Global Supply Chain, Chang-Hsien Tsai, Ching-Fu Lin

Michigan Journal of International Law

Over the last few decades, advances in transportation and production technology, in conjunction with economic globalization and the emergence of multinational corporations, have consolidated fragmented production processes into long and complex supply chains across jurisdictions. While there are benefits to such global supply chains (“GSCs”), the prevalence of human rights violations attributable to information asymmetry, as well as rule of law gaps between different jurisdictions, has been a constant challenge. Modern slavery, child abuse, harsh working conditions, low wages, and other problems have reoccurred in the factories of upstream suppliers in the global South and have been systemically ignored by …

How Transnationally Effective Are The Uk Migration Policies In Relation To Missing Migrants? A Transnational Law Perspective, Luke N. Eda

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

All over the world, several thousands of migrants go missing when they attempt to flee from war, violence, persecution, repressive regimes, systematic human rights violations, etc. Thousands die each year in deadly shipwrecks in a desperate attempt to enter Europe and the United Kingdom. In these instances of deaths and loss, international human rights law imposes duties on states to account for people missing in transnational migration and to respect the rights of members of their families. Despite such provisions, states sometimes deny that they have obligations to deal with cases of migrants reported missing in transnational migration until migrants …

Challenging Some Baseline Assumptions About The Evolution Of International Commissions Of Inquiry, Michael A. Becker

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Conventional accounts of the historical development of international commissions of inquiry reflect a progress narrative consisting of three propositions: (1) that recourse to inquiry bodies has increased dramatically in the post-Cold War era, (2) that inquiry bodies have evolved from mechanisms for "pure" fact- finding into quasi-judicial bodies that engage with international law, and (3) that the function of inquiry bodies has shifted from diplomatic dispute settlement to norm enforcement and accountability. Part I explains how this narrative simplifies and distorts the rich history of inquiry bodies in international affairs. Part II shows how the idea of a post-Cold War …

"Prevention Through Deterrence" Against Citizens: The Venezuela-Colombia Border During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Human Rights Implications, Andreina Negretti Benito

Honors Theses

This thesis analyses the human rights implications of the measures taken by the Venezuelan government at the Venezuelan-Colombian border during the COVID-19 pandemic. I will argue that the goal of these measures is preventing or impeding the return of citizens through "deterrence techniques" that have been historically used by other countries. This case's importance relies on the fact that, unlike other cases, the Venezuelan government uses these "techniques" against its own nationals, rather than against unwanted immigrants. The first chapter will provide an overview of the theoretical framework concerning migration, arguments regarding open borders, and human rights protections. This will …

Human Rights Violations Consequent To Transshipment Practices In Fisheries, Chelsey F. Marto

Ocean and Coastal Law Journal

Transshipment, the process of transferring catch from a small fishing vessel onto a larger fishing vessel far off shore, has been used to commit a variety of human rights abuses on the sea. Companies can get away with this because there is little to no oversight over the activities. Yet, there has been little to no incentive to change these practices, because companies are generally not penalized for these actions. The author proposes a variety of tactics be implemented in addressing these concerns. These include imposition of sanctions upon countries who allow for nefarious activities, increased video surveillance on board …

Forced Evictions, Homelessness, And Destruction: Summer "Games"? Olympic Violations Of The Right To Adequate Housing In Rio De Janeiro, Leigha C. Crout

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

This article details the violations of the right to housing that took place in preparation for the 2016 Summer Olympics held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Analyzed under the international, regional, and domestic instruments that enumerate this guarantee, including the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, the Charter and the Declaration of the Rights and Duties of the Organization of American States, and the Constitution of Brazil, the aim of this work is to draw attention to the systematic deprivation of one of the most central human rights in the name of the Games.

Terra Firma As Open Seas: Interpreting Kiobel In The Failed State Context, Drew F. Waldbeser

Indiana Law Journal

This Note will ultimately argue that, despite the expansive language in Kiobel, the Court’s reasoning does not necessarily foreclose all “foreign-cubed” claims. Suits alleging human rights violations originating from conduct that took place in failed states avoid the concerns the Court emphasized in Kiobel. The Court should allow jurisdiction for human rights offenses in failed states, despite their “foreign-cubed” nature, because the already existing rationale for allowing jurisdiction for international piracy offenses is highly analogous.

Part I of this Note explores the ATS jurisprudence leading up to and including Kiobel. Besides exploring the tensions and policy interests courts are grappling …

Samsāra To Nirvāna: What Would It Mean To Actually Free Tibet?, Leah Marie Shellberg

San Diego International Law Journal

For Mahayana Buddhists, samsara literally means “wandering-on,” but in theory, it refers to the cyclical nature of birth and re-birth characterized by suffering that a Buddhist must break out of in order to achieve nirvana, a state free of suffering. Since the occupation and incorporation of Tibet into the People’s Republic of China (“China”) in the late 1940s and early 1950s, the Tibetan people have experienced a far more intense form of metaphorical samsara at the hands of the Chinese administration. The term “genocide,” coined by Raphael Lemkin in the wake of the Holocaust, combines the ancient Greek word “genos” …

Amnesty Or Accountability: The Fate Of High-Ranking Child Soldiers In Uganda's Lord's Resistance Army, Stella Yarbrough

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In May 2013, Uganda surprisingly resurrected its amnesty provision for two more years after having let it lapse only a year earlier. Uganda's vacillation likely represents its competing desires to grant amnesty to low-level actors in the Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) and to end impunity for decades of gross human rights violations in accordance with international criminal law. However, instead of crafting an amnesty provision that would satisfy both of these needs, Uganda reinstated the same "blanket" amnesty, or all-inclusive pardon, found in the Amnesty Act of Uganda (2000) (Act). As a result, high-level LRA actors like Thomas Kwoyelo and …

Toward A Legal Theory On The Responsibility To Protect, Monica Hakimi

Articles

Over the past several decades, the central focus of international law has shifted from protecting only sovereign states to protecting individuals. Still, the worst imaginable human rights violations—genocides, ethnic cleansings, crimes against humanity, and systemic war crimes—occur with alarming frequency. And the international response is often slow or ineffectual. The most recent development for addressing this problem is the “responsibility to protect,” an idea that has received so much attention that it now goes simply by R2P. Almost all heads of state have endorsed R2P. The U.N. Secretary General has made R2P a top priority and issued multiple reports on …

Lessons From The Americas: Guidelines For International Response To Amnesties For Atrocities, Douglass Cassel

Douglass Cassel

Amnesty guidelines modeled on international law as defined by Latin American tribunals and treaties should be adopted and used by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and national governments involved in remedying human rights violations. The 10 guidelines are stringent and would rarely result in the granting of amnesty. They may better serve their function than treaties or customary laws be cause they are guidelines and not mandatory.

Patterns Of Anti-Muslim Violence In Burma: A Call For Accountability And Prevention, Andrea Gittleman, Marissa Brodney, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

In this report, the authors documents how persecution of and violence against the Rohingya in Burma has spread to other Muslim communities throughout the country. Physicians for Human Rights conducted eight separate investigations in Burma and the surrounding region between 2004 and 2013. PHR’s most recent field research in early 2013 indicates a need for renewed attention to violence against minorities and impunity for such crimes. The findings presented in this report are based on investigations conducted in Burma over two separate visits for a combined 21-day period between March and May 2013.

Massacre In Central Burma: Muslim Students Terrorized And Killed In Meiktila, Richard Sollom, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

This report details the results of a Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) investigation into the March 20 and 21, 2013, attacks on Muslim students, teachers, and residents in the Mingalar Zayyone quarter of Meiktila, a small town in central Burma.

A two-person team, the authors of the report, from PHR conducted 33 interviews about the attacks, which resulted in the deaths of at least 20 children and four teachers. The report details the attacks by the Buddhist mobs, provides evidence that local police officers were complicit in the crimes, and lists policy recommendations for the Burmese government and the international …

"At The Hospital There Are No Human Rights": Reproductive And Sexual Rights Violations Of Women Living With Hiv In Namibia, Aziza Ahmed

Faculty Scholarship

This report documents the ongoing stigma and discrimination of women living with HIV in Namibia, building on prior findings and investigations on the subject, such as the 2008 research conducted by the International Community of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (ICW) and the Namibian Women’s Health Network (NWHN). The report, based upon both desk research and a field mission, examines the human rights situation related to sexual and reproductive health of women living with HIV, including the gravity and ongoing nature of forced and coerced sterilizations in Namibia. The report also provides evidence of violations of informed consent in the context …

All Other Breaches: State Practice And The Geneva Conventions’ Nebulous Class Of Less Discussed Prohibitions, Jesse Medlong

Michigan Journal of International Law

With respect to the protections afforded by the Geneva Conventions, a great deal of ink has been spilled in recent years over the two-tiered system of tribunals employed by the United States in its prosecution of enemy combatants in the “war on terror.” Less discussed, though, is the wholly separate two-tiered system for sorting violators of the Geneva Conventions that emerges from the very text of those agreements. This stratification is a function of the Conventions’ distinction between those who commit “grave breaches” and those who merely commit “acts contrary to the provisions of the present convention” or “all other …

Weaponizing Tear Gas: Bahrain’S Unprecedented Use Of Toxic Chemical Agents Against Civilians., Richard Sollom, Holly G. Atkinson

Publications and Research

The Bahraini government’s response to the early 2011 pro-democracy protests was brutal, systematic, and violent. In addition to birdshot and rubber bullets, government law enforcement attacked unarmed protestors with toxic chemical agents including tear gas. The government’s crackdown on the medical profession was especially harmful, as security forces arrested and detained doctors, raided health facilities, and obstructed patients from receiving necessary care. This report’s findings are based on field research that the authors conducted in Bahrain (April 2012) to investigate excessive use of force by law enforcement officials since June 2011—the end of Bahrain’s state of emergency. The medico-legal team …

Free, Prior, Informed Consent: The Key To Self-Determination: An Analysis Of The Kichwa People Of Sarayaku V. Ecuador, Carol Y. Verbeek

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Domestic Legal Impediments To The Investigation And Prosecution Of Human Rights Violations: The Case Of Argentina, Fabián Raimondo

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Steve C. Ropp On Human Rights In Latin America: A Politics Of Terror And Hope. By Sonia Cardenas. Philadelphia, Pa: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. 256pp., Steve C. Ropp

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights in Latin America: A Politics of Terror and Hope. By Sonia Cardenas. Philadelphia, PA: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2010. 256pp.

The Future Of Corporate Accountability For Violations Of Human Rights, Christiana Ochoa

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Long Arm Of The European Convention On Human Rights And The Recent Development Of Issa V. Turkey, Tarik Abdel-Monem

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Soldiers Of Semipalatinsk: Seeking A Theory And Forum For Legal Remedy, Anne Miers Kammer

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment will address the unique dilemma of individuals in Kazakhstan whose health has been compromised by the former Soviet Union's 40-year period of nuclear testing on what is now Kazakhstan soil. The principal legal analysis of this Comment will focus on the availability of remedies (in the form of monetary damages available through legal resolution) to the citizens and/or state of Kazakhstan, and potential judicial forums in which to seek those remedies. Particular attention will be paid to the comparative likelihood of successful remedial legal action if pursued by a private class of Kazakhstan citizens versus action pursued by …

Is Truth In The Eye Of The Beholder? Objective Credibility Assessment In Refugee Status Determination, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

Credibility assessment is often the single most important step in determining whether people seeking protection as refugees can be returned to countries where they say they are in danger of serious human rights violations. Despite its importance, credibility-based decisions in refugee and asylum cases are frequently based on personal judgment that is inconsistent from one adjudicator to the next, unreviewable on appeal, and potentially influenced by cultural misunderstandings. Some of the people who need protection most are especially likely to have trouble convincing decision-makers that they should be believed.

This article sets out principles, standards, and criteria drawn from international …

Current Human Rights Concerns Arising From The Conflict And Peace Process In Northern Ireland, Jane Winter, Natasha Parassram Concepcion

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Revisiting The Balkan Crisis: A Un Question; The European Connection And The Us Solution, Jackson N. Maogoto

Jackson Nyamuya Maogoto

This Article examines the conflict in the former Yugoslavia which gave birth to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTFY). The ICTFY established the beginning of a new pattern in the genuine international implementation of international criminal and humanitarian law and the move back to the international model inaugurated at Nuremberg which had in the Cold War era been boldly supplanted by national prosecutions. The Article seeks to show that even this ad hoc tribunal was the by-product of international realpolitik. It was born out of a political desire to redeem the international community’s conscience rather than the …

International Law And The Problem Of Evil, A. Mark Weisburd

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

In response to recent violations of human rights, some within the international legal community have called not only for intervention but for the establishment of an international court with jurisdiction to hear claims against persons alleged to have committed those violations. This Article questions the premise that it is necessary, or even desirable, for the international legal community to mandate intervention in such circumstances.

First, the Article examines the authority for international intervention to forestall massive human rights violations. Using the recent examples including Kosovo and East Timor, the Author compares scholarly responses with respect to both the human rights …

Norm Internalization And U.S. Economic Sanctions, Sarah H. Cleveland

Faculty Scholarship

The fifty years since the adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights have seen a revolution in the promulgation and universalization of human and labor rights. Human rights conventions have proliferated in the areas of civil and political rights, social and economic rights, and the rights of women, children, minorities, and refugees. Many of these conventions have been ratified by a majority of the nations of the world. International monitoring of human and labor rights compliance is conducted by international institutions such as the U.N. Human Rights Commission and the International Labour Organization (ILO), by regional entities such as …

International Human Rights Standards On Sexual Violence Against Women As They Apply To Pornography, Claudia Giunta

LLM Theses and Essays

The United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women was held in Beijing in September 1995, and represented an important step towards the achievement of equality for women. At the Conference, the progress made towards equality was acknowledged, but it was also acknowledged that many goals have not been achieved yet, and that cultural changes of fundamental importance remain to be made. Indeed, in many countries the cultural approach to violence and discrimination against women is quite fatalistic; they believe violence against women cannot be solved by laws. However, this approach overlooks the role played by societies in tolerating practices of …

Lessons From The Americas: Guidelines For International Response To Amnesties For Atrocities, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

Amnesty guidelines modeled on international law as defined by Latin American tribunals and treaties should be adopted and used by the United Nations, the Organization of American States, and national governments involved in remedying human rights violations. The 10 guidelines are stringent and would rarely result in the granting of amnesty. They may better serve their function than treaties or customary laws be cause they are guidelines and not mandatory.

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.