Human Rights Law Commons^™

Silent Today, Conversant Tomorrow: Education Adequacy As A Political Question, Yeju Hwang

Northwestern University Law Review

When the Supreme Court declined to recognize the right to education as one fundamental to liberty, and thus unprotected by the U.S. Constitution, state courts took on the mantle as the next best fora for those yearning for judicial review of inequities present in American public schools. The explicit inclusion of the right to education in each state’s constitution carried the torch of optimism into the late twentieth century. Despite half a century of litigation in the states, the condition of the nation’s public school system remains troubling and perhaps increasingly falls short of expectations. Less competitive on an international …

Human Rights Without Borders, Christian Gonzalez Chacon

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

In the current global context, millions of people are forced to migrate

yearly for reasons ranging from persecution and violence, internal armed

conflicts, and forced displacement, to lack of employment and climate

change. In the Americas, we recently witnessed the phenomenon of the

“migrant caravans,” where thousands of people, mostly from the Northern

Triangle of Central America—El Salvador, Honduras, and Guatemala—

were willing to walk hundreds of miles to enter the U.S.-Mexico border to

escape poverty and violence in their countries. Another caravan of close to

10,000 migrants from the Northern Triangle of Central America including

Guatemala, El Salvador and …

Slapp Suits: An Encroachment On Human Rights Of A Global Proportion And What Can Be Done About It, Laura Lee Prather

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Freedom of expression is the underpinning of all other freedoms. Yet, increasingly, journalists, citizens, advocacy groups, whistleblowers, academics, and media organizations are being targeted and subjected to judicial harassment for informing the public about matters of public concern, denouncing authoritarian regimes, and exposing wrongdoing. These meritless lawsuits do not seek to right a wrong, but rather to silence and intimidate critics. They are known as “Strategic Lawsuits Against Public Participation” (“SLAPP” suits) and are on the rise globally. Because SLAPP suits are designed to inhibit ongoing investigations, stifle informed public debate, and prevent legitimate public interest reporting, they present a …

Climate Change, Corruption, And Colonialism: Solving The Conundrum With Regional Courts, Taylor Nchako

Northwestern University Law Review

It is no secret that climate change is the most pressing issue of our times. Global South countries, especially those in Africa, face challenges mitigating the worst impacts of climate change, adapting technological solutions, and continuing to develop their nation’s infrastructure and industry. Cameroon provides an archetypal example of the challenges many African countries face. Plagued by an economy that both exacerbates climate change and stands to collapse from it, Cameroon struggles with corruption that has roots in colonialism and neocolonialism. This corruption taints not only the forestry service and the executive branch, but the judiciary as well, leaving Cameroon’s …

The Rejection Of The Anti-Corruption Principle And Its Effect On Human Rights At Home, Juliet S. Sorensen

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

21st century scholarship analyzing the Framers’ treatment of corruption asserts that their incorporation of anti-corruption means in the Constitution should be interpreted as a framework to inform contemporary judicial review and jurisprudence. Led by Zephyr Teachout’s article “The Anti-Corruption Principle,” this school of thought asserts that the anti-corruption principle should be on par with separation of powers and freedom of expression, a guiding lodestar in interpreting the Constitution.

This article submits that the anti-corruption principle of constitutional interpretation is, in fact, a rights-based approach to corruption, equating freedom from corruption with the other rights and liberties enshrined in the Constitution. …

Promises And Pitfalls In Un Regulation Of Judicial Independence, Martha Kiela

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

This article investigates the current mechanisms and power of the UN to ensure judicial independence in the UN Member States. First, it surveys the UN bodies which play a role in creating international regulations for judicial independence and monitoring Member States’ compliance with them. Second, it analyzes the responses of these bodies to challenges to judicial independence by conducting case studies of Venezuela and Poland, and how these actions compare to those of other international organizations and tribunals. The central questions it seeks to answer are which mechanisms of review and enforcement have so far been the most effective in …

Debt And Dependence: Foreign Interference In Haiti And The Importance Of Non-State Actor Accountability, Sandra Wisner, Brian Concannon

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Colonialist policies and lending practices by foreign states and non-state actors have led to serious and wide-spread violations of Haitian individuals’ fundamental human rights. In particular, a series of loan conditions imposed by international financial institutions and their members states left Haiti vulnerable to increased food insecurity and a severely diminished social sector. This paper proposes that the imposition of such loan conditions constitutes a violation of foreign actors’ obligations under international law respecting economic, social, cultural, and political rights, as well as their extra-territorial obligations (ETOs) to take joint and separate action to promote and respect human rights beyond …

Treaties As A Tool For Native American Land Reparations, Hannah Friedle

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

"The only compensation for land is land."¹

Hundreds of treaties signed. Hundreds of treaties broken. The juvenile United States grew in size as independent Native nations ceded their territory through treaties. Thirsting for more land, the United States broke its promises and continued its manifest destiny westward. And what of tribes’ treaty rights to land? Some Native nations received financial compensation for treaty violations. But money is crumbs to many whose traditional homelands are still colonized.

Tribes are entitled to the land promised to them under treaties—instruments supposedly carrying the force of federal law. Land reparations are a partial …

Human Rights, Trans Rights, Prisoners’ Rights: An International Comparison, Tom Butcher

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

In this Note, I conduct an international comparison of the state of trans prisoners’ rights to explore how different national legal contexts impact the likelihood of achieving further liberation through appeals to human rights ideals. I examine the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Argentina, and Costa Rica and show the degree to which a human rights framework has been successful thus far in advancing trans prisoners’ rights. My analysis also indicates that the degree to which a human rights framework is likely to be successful in the future varies greatly between countries. In countries that are hesitant …

Managing Misinformation On Social Media: Targeted Newsfeed Interventions And Freedom Of Thought, Richard Mackenzie-Gray Scott

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Whether it is being told a particular politician consumes children, or drinking cow urine will cure your disease, or that Jimi Hendrix is alive and well living the good life in Drumnadrochit, misinformation affects societies in myriad ways. Its spread online via social media platforms raises questions concerning how it can be addressed. This article engages with a related problem: Can the use of targeted behavioral interventions on social media newsfeeds to reduce the spread of misinformation be reconciled with the human right to freedom of thought?

The Rise And Fall Of Section 502b, John Ramming Chappell

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The first major foreign policy legislation of the human rights revolution of the 1970s,1 Section 502B of the Foreign Assistance Act (FAA) is a latent oversight tool that Congress could use to promote human rights in U.S. security assistance. Section 502B may be the most potent provision of law regarding human rights and security assistance that has never been used. The provision prohibits U.S. security assistance to governments that engage in a consistent pattern of gross violations of human rights, requires the State Department to report on human rights issues, and provides Congress with a mechanism to enforce the statute’s …

A Chinese Law Wedge Into The Hong Kong Common Law System: A Legal Appraisal Of The Hong Kong National Security Law, Han Zhu

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

This paper is the first to comprehensively analyze the key legal controversies surrounding the Hong Kong National Security Law (NSL) and its implementation. Based on doctrinal analysis, case studies, and the most up-to-date statistics, this study centers on three categories of legal disputes: (1) the constitutionality and legality of the NSL; (2) the disputed content of the NSL; and (3) the legislative procedural issues involving the NSL. The study shows that the enactment of the NSL is not only an unprecedented crisis facing the “one country, two systems” framework, but also marks a culmination of the intersection and conflict between …

Submission Of Amici Briefs In Arbitration Related To Environmental Concerns: Developing A Better Framework For Their Consideration Under Icsid Rule 37(2), Clarissa Galaviz Lizarraga

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This note examines the consideration of amicus curiae briefs in international arbitration matters under the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (“ICSID”), specifically focusing on arbitration cases involving environmental concerns. The note explores trends in consideration of amicus briefs in environmental arbitration by taking a historical look at cases and the rationales behind the decisions of the tribunals to consider amicus briefs and raises concerns regarding a better, uniform approach to amicus briefs.

To achieve a better system of consideration of amicus briefs when environmental concerns are at play, given their public and ecologic interest, the author suggests reworking …

Empowering Women's Land Rights As A Climate Change Mitigation Strategy In Nigeria, Cate Baskin

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

This article focuses on the intersection between gender and land rights as they relate to climate change in Nigeria. Decisions about land use, such as biodiversity management and farming techniques, impact the quality of the land and peoples’ ability to live off it. This article will show that women are better situated to utilize techniques which sustain the land. Despite this, women have historically been denied land rights in Nigeria, creating a disconnect between the women who cultivate the land and the men who own it and leading to unsustainable use of agricultural land in Nigeria. Climate change is only …

Convergence & Conflict: Reflections On Global And Regional Human Rights Standards On Hate Speech, Evelyn Aswad, David Kaye

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

What is hate speech under international human rights law? And how do key international adjudicators interpret the law governing it? This Article seeks to illuminate two countervailing and under-reported trends: on the one hand, a growing consensus among U.N. experts and treaty bodies concerning interpretations of “hate speech” prohibitions in international law; and on the other, a failure of several regional human rights bodies to develop approaches to hate speech that are consistent with the U.N.’s universal standards. The Article begins by analyzing the U.N.’s approach to freedom of expression and hate speech and examining how, in the last decade, …

Professional Indifference?: How One Case Improves Protection For Immigrant Children In United States Detention Centers, Caitlin Fernandez Zamora

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

This Article discusses the case Doe 4 ex rel. Lopez v. Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center Commission. This case was a class action brought by unaccompanied immigrant children against the Shenandoah Valley Juvenile Center Commission under § 1983 protection for adequate medical care. The plaintiff class alleged that, among other things, the Commission failed to (i) provide adequate mental health care due to punitive practices; and (ii) implement trauma-informed care. The plaintiffs were immigrant children who fled their native countries due to harrowing circumstances, many of whom struggled with severe mental illness. The district court granted the defendant’s motion for summary …

The Healthcare Legacy Of The Mission Civilisatrice In Unincorporated U.S. Territories, Sam F. Halabi

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Individual and population health in unincorporated U.S. territories – American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands – lag terribly behind those in the 50 U.S. states and D.C. The populations in the territories – with drastically higher rates of poverty – suffer and die from chronic conditions like cancer, diabetes, and heart disease at far higher rates; must find facilities and doctors thousands of miles away for even moderately complex cases; and perpetually struggle to make access to basic services available. While scholars have long pointed to the disparate treatment of these populations …

Human Rights Council's Universal Periodic Review As A Forum Of Fighting For Borderline Recommendations? Lessons Learned From The Ground, Kazuo Fukuda

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Highly acclaimed as a key innovation of the United Nations Human Rights Council, the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) was created in 2006 as a cooperative, peer-review mechanism to shift away from the highly politicized Commission on Human Rights. Despite the significance and hope attached to the UPR, it has been conspicuously under-examined in the U.S. legal scholarship. And most relevant literature elsewhere has avoided directly addressing the fundamental question of exactly what the UPR’s added value is to the global human rights regime in terms of its direct contribution to improving human rights situations on the ground. This is mainly …

What Remains Of The Alien Tort Statute After Nestlé Usa, Inc. V. Doe?, Clara Petch

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Abstract

The Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which provides U.S. courts with jurisdiction over violations of the law of nations, has been a crucial mechanism for obtaining redress for international human rights abuses. However, over the past four decades, the Supreme Court has continually chipped away at the jurisdictional reach of the statute. Most recently, in June 2021, the Supreme Court addressed the scope of the ATS in two consolidated cases: Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe and Cargill, Inc. v. Doe. Plaintiffs were former trafficked and enslaved children forced to work on cocoa farms in Ivory Coast under grueling conditions. Plaintiffs …

Euphemism And Jus Cogens, G. Alex Sinha

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Jus cogens norms of international law encompass the most stringent prohibitions of the law of nations. They reflect a global—and typically moral—consensus about impermissible conduct so complete and forceful that no derogation is permissible under any circumstances. Yet states derogate nevertheless. Lacking any valid legal justification for violating jus cogens norms, derogating states instead seek to euphemize their unlawful conduct. Doing so appears at a glance to be a calculated choice that allows States to have their cake and eat it too—to acknowledge the peremptory norms that purportedly bind all sovereigns while acting freely in violation of those norms by …

Fighting The Resource Curse: The Rights Of Citizens Over Natural Resources, Leif Wenar, Jeremie Gilbert

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Respect for the rights of peoples over natural resources is crucial for the flourishing of communities and states. This article confirms that international law ascribes robust resource rights both to indigenous peoples and to citizens of independent states. These resource rights include indigenous peoples’ right to free, prior, and informed consent and citizens’ rights that resource revenues are never used corruptly but are used first to secure their means of subsistence. Resource rights are human rights, respect for which requires substantial reforms in the practices of corporations and investors as well as in the laws of resource-importing and resource-exporting states.

Constitutional Rights Without Effective And Enforceable Constitutional Remedies: The Case Of Ethiopia, Mizanie A. Tadesse

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The Constitution of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia guarantees a broad range of human rights in its Bill of Rights chapter. However, constitutional remedies for infringement of constitutional rights are rarely applied notwithstanding that the Constitution has been in enforcement for close to twenty-five years. The author of this article contends that lack of a clear and comprehensive Bill of Rights litigation procedure and lack of redress for violations of constitutional rights are contributing factors to the unacceptably low enforcement of the Bill of Rights via constitutional litigation. To augment his position and show the legal gaps and challenges …

Debunking The Deathbed Analysis: Exploring A New Approach To Article 3 Health Cases, Meredith Heim

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

This essay will explore Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR) as it has been applied to deportation cases of persons in poor health, with the ultimate goal of answering the following question: Whether the deportation of a person to a place where she or he will not receive adequate health care should constitute a violation of ECHR Article 3. Further, this article will suggest how the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and the national courts below them can better review such cases in order to provide more meaningful protection to those inflicted. In doing so, …

Dusting Off The Law Books: Recognizing Gender Persecution In Conflicts And Atrocities, Lisa Davis

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

War-time abuses against women, girls, lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer (LGBTIQ), non-binary and gender non-conforming persons are not new. They are as old as human history, appearing in modern international criminal law records as far back as World War II (WWII). In conflicts across the globe, from Iraq to Colombia, armed actors have perpetrated gender-based crimes amounting to persecution in an effort to reinforce oppressive, discriminatory gender narratives. Rarely documented when they happen, perpetrators are hardly ever held accountable for these crimes. As a result, the crimes are often excluded from consideration by international and domestic tribunals, and in …

Abandoning The Subjective And Objective Components Of A Well-Founded Fear Of Persecution, Grace Kim

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Current asylum law requires that asylum seekers prove that they have a “well-founded fear of persecution.” However, a “well-founded fear”—the evidentiary standard in asylum cases—has remained ambiguous and difficult to apply in asylum cases. In Cardoza-Fonseca, the Supreme Court held that an asylum seeker can establish a well-founded fear with less than a 50% probability of future persecution. Although the Supreme Court sought to clarify the meaning of a well-founded fear, the decision has complicated the evidentiary standard by implying that it consists of two parts: the subjective component and objective component. The “subjective” component—the asylum seekers’ subjective fear …

Disability Rights Are Human Rights: Pushing Ethiopia Towards A Rights-Based Movement, Sirak Akalu Iyassu, Fiona Mckinnon

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Official estimates suggest that 95 percent of Ethiopia’s disabled live under the poverty line and are unemployed. To get by, many must beg or depend on family and friends. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs, the ministry responsible for enforcing rights of disabled people, is a paper tiger, toothless at that. Recent data suggest that only one percent of Ethiopian buildings and roads are fully accessible to the disabled. Yet accessibility is not only a physical, but also a social, cultural, and political sine qua non—and so a matter of human rights.

Rights of Ethiopia’s disabled have been …

Introduction To Symposium, "Human Rights And Access To Justice In Ethiopia", Thomas Geraghty

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

No abstract provided.

Remedies For Human Rights Violations: A Reform Proposal For Addressing Victims Of Criminal Proceedings In Ethiopia, Abdi Jibril Ali

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

No abstract provided.

Conditions Of Human Rights In Ethiopia In The Aftermath Of Political Reform, Andinet Adinew Tesfaye, Endalkachew Abera Mekuriya

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

No abstract provided.

Multiple Legal Orders In Ethiopia: An Impediment On The Enforcement Of Women Rights, Daniel E. Alemayehu

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

No abstract provided.