International Humanitarian Law Commons^™

The Violent Persecution Of The Iranian Bahá’Í: A Call To Take A Human Capabilities Approach To Defining Genocide, Camilia R. Brown

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Iran is home to an estimated 300,000 members of the Bahá’í faith, a global religion that originated in Iran in the early nineteenth century. Since the faith’s inception, thousands of Bahá’ís have been killed, imprisoned, and tortured. Today, they are unable to attend colleges and universities, hold business licenses, bury their dead, or gather for worship. Since the Islamic Revolution in 1979, the current regime has worked to systemically impede the progress of the Bahá’í community. While hundreds of Bahá’ís have died at the hands of the current regime, the high threshold for bringing a case under the intent prong …

Indeterminacy In The Law Of War: The Need For An International Advisory Regime, Ariel Zemach

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Indeterminacy in the law of war exacts a severe humanitarian toll, and it is not likely to be reduced by the conclusion of additional treaties. The present article argues that the adverse consequences of this indeterminacy may be mitigated through a U.N. Security Council (SC) action establishing an international advisory regime and using the broad powers of the SC to provide incentives for states to subscribe to this regime voluntarily. States subscribing to the advisory regime (“operating states”) would undertake to follow the interpretation of the law of war laid out by international legal advisors. The advisory regime would represent …

At The Intersection Of Land Grievances And Legal Liability: The Need To Reconsider Contract Rights And Expectations At The Supranational Level, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lise Johnson, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

This Article explores how host governments’ legal obligations can affect or constrain their ability to address “land grievances,” which are defined as concerns raised by local individuals or communities in response to negative impacts of land-based investments. Obligations under international investment law, international human rights law, and investor-state contracts can be in tension or can directly conflict with one another, creating complexity for governments seeking to respond to land grievances. To explore the legal considerations that governments must navigate in this context, this Article considers several options that governments could pursue to respond to land grievances. In all of the …

Amicus Brief On Rights To Information And Public Participation In Colombia, Brooke Guven, Sam Szoke-Burke, Pedro Villegas

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

CCSI submitted an amicus brief to the Constitutional Court of Colombia concerning the Tutela hearing of Mansarovar Energy Colombia Ltd. v. Tribunal Administrativo del Meta (The Consulta Popular of Cumaral, Meta). The hearing concerned a challenge by Mansarovar Energy Colombia Limited of a municipal-wide referendum (the Consulta Popular) concerning whether or not the extraction of hydrocarbons should be permitted in the municipality of Cumaral. The municipality voted 97% against allowing the extraction of hydrocarbons.

CCSI’s brief focused on the international human rights law dimensions of the case, given that Colombia’s Constitution renders the government’s international human rights law obligations …

The Corporate Face Of The Alien Tort Claims Act: How An Old Statute Mandates A New Understanding Of Global Interdependence, Lorelle Londis

Maine Law Review

In the past thirty-five years, international human rights lawyers and, more recently, international environmental lawyers, have been invoking the Alien Tort Claims Act (ATCA) as a tool to prosecute human rights abuses committed abroad by transnational corporations (TNs) in U.S. federal courts. The ATCA provides: “The district courts shall have original jurisdiction of any civil action by an alien for a tort only, committed in violation of the law of nations or a treaty of the United States.” Although plaintiffs' lawyers have experienced some success in the human rights context, most claims of environmental abuses have failed. In all these …

Beyond War: Bin Laden, Escobar, And The Justification Of Targeted Killing, Luis E. Chiesa, Alexander K.A. Greenawalt

Luis Chiesa

Using the May 2011 killing of Osama bin Laden as a case study, this Article contributes to the debate on targeted killing in two distinct ways, each of which has the result of downplaying the centrality of international humanitarian law (IHL) as the decisive source of justification for targeted killings. First, we argue that the IHL rules governing the killing of combatants in wartime should be understood to apply more strictly in cases involving the targeting of single individuals, particularly when the targeting occurs against nonparadigmatic combatants outside the traditional battlefield. As applied to the bin Laden killing, we argue …

The Syrian Refugee Crisis And The European Union: A Case Study Of Germany And Hungary, Simone-Ariane Schelb

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis explores the impact of the Syrian refugee crisis on the Common European Asylum System. It evaluates the extent to which the European Union was able to implement a common asylum system, identifies discrepancies between different European countries, primarily Germany and Hungary, and briefly examines the roots of these differences. To this end, the structure of the international refugee protection regime and the German and Hungarian asylum systems are analyzed. Furthermore, the thesis explores how the governments of the two countries perceive the rights of refugees and how their views have affected their handling of the crisis. The case …

Legitimacy As An Assessment Of Existing Legal Standards: The Case Of The 2003 Iraq War, Charlotte Ku

Charlotte Ku

The Iraq war was a multiple assault on the foundations and rules of the existing UN-centered world order. It called into question the adequacy of the existing institutions for articulating global norms and enforcing compliance with the demands of the international community. It highlighted also the unwillingness of some key countries to wait until definitive proof before acting to meet the danger of the world's most destructive weapons falling into the hands of the world's most dangerous regimes. It was simultaneously a test of the UN's willingness and ability to deal with brutal dictatorships and a searching scrutiny of the …

The “Right To Remain Here” As An Evolving Component Of Global Refugee Protection: Current Initiatives And Critical Questions, Daniel Kanstroom

Daniel Kanstroom

No abstract provided.

Remembering An Abolitionist, Ambassador John R. Miller (May 23, 1938-October 4, 2017), Eleanor Kennelly Gaetan, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

A memorial for Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, John R. Miller (May 23, 1938-October 4, 2017). Ambassador Miller believed modern-day slavery, encompassing sex trafficking and forced labor, requires a principled global offensive that the United States is morally obligated to lead. In the four formative years he led the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2002 to 2006, John Miller set the office’s course as diplomatically aggressive and programmatically creative. He made the annual Trafficking in Persons report more than a bureaucratic submission, putting daring heroes at the center, and insisting on compelling …

Re-Imagining The Scope Of Children’S Legal Protection During Armed Conflicts Under International Law, Anaise Muzima

Master of Laws Research Papers Repository

The debate on the issue of child soldiers in international law has been mainly framed around the narrow question of whether child soldiers should be prosecuted or deemed innocent victims. This question, while essential, marginalized several considerations related to the multidimensional and intersecting identities and roles of child soldiers. Few scholars have investigated and evidenced the major gaps related to the legal protection of child soldiers in international law. While recognizing the potential related to the analysis on child soldiers’ criminal liability, this research proposes to focus on the examination of their vulnerabilities and to explore the legal foundations for …

Brief For Justice Richard J. Goldstone As Amicus Curiae In Support Of Petitioner, Sarah Paoletti

All Faculty Scholarship

Amicus curiae herein argue the present petition for a writ of certiorari should be granted as it rightly questions the very legitimacy of the military commission used to try Petitioner based on a theory of equality. International and comparative law further bolster Petitioner’s argument that the Military Commissions Act’s establishment of a segregated criminal justice system in which only non-citizens are subject to military commission jurisdiction violates the equal rights of Petitioner and all non-citizens subject to its jurisdiction.

Equality is a central principle undergirding human rights law that pre-dates the founding of the United Nations and the drafting of …

Cuba, Puerto Rico, The Civil Code, And The Problem Of Transculturation, Pedro A. Malavet

Florida Journal of International Law

Cuba, Puerto Rico, the Civil Code, and the Problem of Transculturation

The Resolution Of Conflicts Of Law - A View From Private International Law In Cuba., Taydit Peña Lorenzo

Florida Journal of International Law

The Resolution of Conflicts of Law - A View from Private International Law in Cuba.

Safeguards In The Cuban Legal System For The Promotion And Protection Of Foreign Investment, Marta Moreno Cruz

Florida Journal of International Law

Safeguards in the Cuban Legal System for the Promotion and Protection of Foreign Investment

Instruments Of Environmental Governance: A Guarantee Of Sustainability In Cuba, Dagniselys Toledano Cordero

Florida Journal of International Law

Instruments of Environmental Governance: A Guarantee of Sustainability in Cuba

General Overview Of Cuban Family Law Legislation, Ana María Álvarez-Tabío Albo

Florida Journal of International Law

General Overview of Cuban Family Law Legislation

Environmental Legislation And Institutional Framework In Cuba, Daimar Cánovas González

Florida Journal of International Law

Cuban environmental legislation was not born with the revolutionary process, at least in some of its aspects. Precursors exist from the nineteenth century, provisions related to natural resources, with a clear anthropocentric focus. The Hunting Act [Ley de Caza] of 1884 and the Hunting and Fishing Act [Ley de Caza y Pesca] of January 1909, classified species as useful or harmful, in accordance with a short-term and economic view, to such a point that those species changed place in the space of about 30 years.

In the 1930s, as a consequence of an international trend, the creation of areas under …

Praxis And The International (Human Rights) Law Scholar: Towards The Intensification Of Twailian Dramaturgy, Obiora C. Okafor

Obiora Chinedu Okafor

The article critically reflects on the role of the TWAILian international (human rights) law scholar in the socio-economic and political struggles which take place outside the academe; focusing, for the most part, on our role as scholars in advancing struggles in favour of subaltern Third World peoples from within or in concert with international institutions and various kinds of what I will refer to in this paper as “on-the-ground” activist groups (such as social movements and NGOs). The article begins by examining some of the various ideas and conceptions of praxis, so as to be clear from the outset as …

Unilateral Non-Colonial Secessions: An Affirmation Of The Right To Self-Determination And A Legal Exception To The Use Of Force In International Law, Ilya Berlin

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

Secession has contributed to nearly 50 intra-state armed conflicts around the world, and remains a complex issue in public international law. Over the past 72 years, several cases stand out as providing evidence of state practice with regards to invoking a successful right to unilateral secession: Bangladesh, Croatia, South Sudan, East Timor, Eritrea and Kosovo, to name a few. However, apart from invoking a right to secession, these cases also share a common factor that legitimized their independence: their Unilateral Non-Colonial (UNC) secessions became legal as a result of two factors: (i) an invocation of a right to self-determination which …

Comment On Us Trade And Investment Agreements Submitted To Ustr, Columbia Center On Sustainable Investment

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Comments to USTR Re: Review of US Trade and Investment Agreements (July 17, 2017): CCSI, in response to the United States Trade Representative’s request for public comment to inform its performance review of US trade and investment agreements, submitted Comments that focused on the impact that investment protection provisions, enforceable through investor-state dispute settlement, have on rights-compliant, inclusive sustainable development within the United States and abroad.

The Future Of U.S. Detention Under International Law: Workshop Report, International Committee Of The Red Cross (Icrc), Harvard Law School Program On International Law And Armed Conflict (Hls Pilac), Stockton Center For The Study Of International Law (U.S. Naval War College)

International Law Studies

The International Committee of the Red Cross Regional Delegation for the United States and Canada, the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, and the Stockton Center for the Study of International Law at the U.S. Naval War College recently hosted a workshop titled Global Battlefields: The Future of U.S. Detention under International Law. The workshop was designed to facilitate discussion on international law issues pertaining to U.S. detention practices and policies in armed conflict. Workshop participants included members of government, legal experts, practitioners and scholars from a variety of countries. This report attempts to capture the …

A Truck Stop Instead Of Saint Peter's: The Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act Is Not Perfect, But It Solves Some Of The Problems Of Sosa And Kiobel, Jonathan S. Tonge

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The Contribution Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone To The Law On Criminal Responsibility Of Children In International Criminal Law, Ana Paula Podcameni

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The revision of laws and the application of culpability to those most responsible for serious humanitarian law violations has functioned as a necessary condition for achieving peace in most post-war societies. However, there is an embarrassing silence when it comes to addressing the question of whether children are to be subjected to the principle of individual criminal responsibility. As morally controversial as it is, the question remains fundamental. Unfortunately, children have been involved in armed conflicts, as victims primarily, but not exclusively. Children are among those accused of having committed brutal and terrible international crimes in times of armed conflict …

Fragmented Wars: Multi-Territorial Military Operations Against Armed Groups, Noam Lubell

International Law Studies

Recent years have seen the emergence of significant legal debate surrounding the use of force against armed groups located in other States. With time, it has become clear that in many cases such operations are not confined to the territory of one other State, but expand to encompass multiple territories and often more than one armed group. This article examines multi-territorial conflicts with armed groups through the lens of several legal frameworks. Among other topics, it analyses the questions surrounding the extension of self-defense into multiple territories, the classification of the hostilities with the group and between involved States, the …

Space Weapons And The Law, Bill Boothby

International Law Studies

Outer space is of vital importance for numerous civilian and military functions in the modern world. The idea of a space weapon involves something used, intended or designed for employment in, to or from outer space to cause injury or damage to the enemy during an armed conflict. Non-injurious, non-damaging space activities that adversely affect enemy military operations or capacity, though not involving the use of weapons, will nevertheless be methods of warfare. Article III of the Outer Space Treaty makes it clear that international law, including weapons law, applies in outer space. Accordingly, the superfluous injury/unnecessary suffering and indiscriminate …

The Drone Question: Legality, Ethics, And The Need To Recognize Transnational Armed Conflict, Matthew T. Mueller

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

This work focuses on the legality and ethics of targeted killings via drones conducted by the United States. The first section of this work looks at the use of drone strikes by the U.S. government as they fall outside of the traditional notion of a zone of armed conflict, that being one that can be defined geographically and temporally, and explores whether these strikes could be considered legal under international humanitarian law and the international law of self-defense. This work assumes that an armed conflict exists between the United States and the non-state armed actors that have been targeted by …

Remarks Of Dr. Douglass Cassel, Notre Dame Law School Candidate (United States), Inter-American Commission On Human Rights Special Meeting Of The Oas Permanent Council, Douglass Cassel

Faculty Lectures and Presentations

Cassel briefly addresses four points:

• First, while the Commission must process cases, that is not its only mission. The case system is a means, not an end. The goal of the Commission is to contribute to the highest possible level of respect for human rights throughout the hemisphere.
• In addition, while the case system leads at times to adversarial relations, the proactive role is one in which the Commission and States can and should strive to work together toward common goals.
• His third point is that we need a Commission that serves the peoples of all OAS member States.
• Finally, …

Ties Of Separation: Analogy And Generational Segregation In North America, Australia, And Israel/Palestine, Hedi Viterbo

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This article takes analogy as both its mode and object of inquiry, to canvas the relationship between historical-geographical analogies and generational segregation (the large-scale separation of children and adults) from three complementary perspectives. First, due to restrictions recently introduced by the Israeli authorities, Palestinian prisoners have been prevented from reading popular study materials dealing with both Indigenous child removal and analogies concerning settler-indigenous relations in North America and Australia. This article revives the critical potential of this encounter with analogies and accounts by asserting an analogy between the removal of indigenous children to boarding schools in the United States and …

Truth Or Dare: A Framework For Analyzing Credibility In Children Seeking Asylum, Karen Smeda

Cornell Law Library Prize for Exemplary Student Research Papers

U.S. border agents detained at least 52,000 unaccompanied minors from only four Central American countries—Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras—in 2014, while 95,000 unaccompanied children sought asylum in Europe in 2015. Given the ongoing turmoil in various parts of the world, these numbers will likely rise. Children are narrowly escaping their native countries. With little help available from legal counsel and little time to gather supporting evidence, more children are relying on the gamble of a positive credibility assessment in an asylum application.

The stakes are high—either a new life in the United States, or probable fatality at home if …