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Genocide And Restitution: Ensuring Each Group's Contribution To Humanity, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

The protection of minorities in modern international law is intimately connected with and fueled the recognition of the crimes of persecution and genocide. Minority protection represented the proactive component of the international efforts to ensure the contribution of certain groups to the cultural heritage of humankind. Prohibition and prosecution of persecution and genocide represented the reactive element of these same efforts. The restitution of cultural property to persecuted groups by the international community was recognition that their ownership and control of these physical manifestations was necessary for the realization of this purpose.

In this paper, I consider the emergence, contraction …

Human Rights And Genocide: The Work Of Lauterpacht And Lemkin In Modern International Law, Part I, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

2008 marked the sixtieth anniversary of the adoption of the Genocide Convention and Universal Declaration of Human Rights by the UN General Assembly. These two instruments adopted and proclaimed by then newly formed world body on successive days, 9 and 10 December 1948 respectively, represent two sides of one coin. Born of the horrors of the 1930s and 40s, the United Nations Charter speaks of human rights and to the importance of the rule of law. The Genocide Convention and UDHR are integral to the pursuit of these aims.

The work of two international lawyers, Hersch Lauterpacht and Raphael Lemkin, …

Rising Temperatures: Rising Tides, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Transboundary environmental problems do not distinguish between political boundaries. Global warming is expected to cause thermal expansion of water and melt glaciers. Both are predicted to lead to a rise in sea level. We must enlarge our paradigms to encompass a global reality and reliance upon global participation.