Human Rights Law Commons^™

Nanotechnology And The International Law Of Weaponry: Towards International Regulation Of Nano-Weapons., Thomas A. Faunce, Hitoshi Nasu

Thomas A Faunce

The development of nanotechnology for military application is an emerging area of research and development, the pace and extent of which has not been fully anticipated by international legal regulation. Nano-weapons are referred to here as objects and devices using nanotechnology or causing effects in nano-scale that are designed or used for harming humans. Such weapons, despite their controversial human and environmental toxicity, are not comprehensively covered by specific, targeted regulation under international law. This article critically examines current international humanitarian law and arms control law regimes to determine whether significant gaps exist in the regulation of nanotechnology focused on …

Procreation, Harm, And The Constitution, Carter Dillard

Carter Dillard

This Essay provides relatively novel answers to two related questions: First, are there moral reasons to limit the sorts of existences it is permissible to bring people into, such that one would be morally prohibited from procreating in certain circumstances? Second, can the state justify a legal prohibition on procreation in those circumstances using that moral reasoning, so that the law would likely be constitutional?

These questions are not new, but my answers to them are and add to the existing literature in several ways. First, I offer a possible resolution to a recent debate among legal scholars regarding what …

Discourse Or Merely Noise? Regarding The Disagreement On Undocumented Migrants, Markus Gunneflo, Niklas Selberg

Markus Gunneflo

From Proclaiming To Realizing Human Rights -- An Indian Perspective, Rishabh Jogani

Rishabh Jogani

This article deals with human rights organisations and their organisational set up along with the indian perspective of the same.

Taking Prevention Seriously: Developing A Comprehensive Response To Child Trafficking And Sexual Exploitation, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

Millions of children are victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation each year. Governments have responded with a range of measures, focusing primarily on seeking to prosecute perpetrators of these abuses and offering assistance to select victims. These efforts, while important, have done little to reduce the incidence of these forms of child exploitation. This Article asserts that a central reason why efforts to date may not be as effective as hoped is that governments have not oriented their approaches properly toward prioritizing prevention - the ultimate goal - and addressing these problems in a comprehensive and systematic manner. Instead, …

Religion-Based Claims For Impinging On Queer Citizenship, Donn Short, Bruce Macdougall

Bruce MacDougall

Competing claims for legal protection based on religion and on sexual orientation have arisen fairly frequently in Canada in the past decade or so. The authors place such competitions into five categories based on the nature of who is making the claim and who is impacted, the site of the competition, and the extent to which the usual legal and constitutional norms applicable are affected. Three of the five categories identified involve a claim that a religion operate in some form in the public area so as to impinge on the usual protection of equality on the basis of sexual …

The U.N. Security Council Ad Hoc Rwanda Tribunal: International Justice, Or Judicially-Constructed “Victor’S Impunity”?, C. Peter Erlinder

C. Peter Erlinder

ABSTRACT The U.N. Security Council Ad Hoc Rwanda Tribunal: International Justice, or Juridically-Constructed “Victor’s Impunity”? Prof. Peter Erlinder [1] ________________________ “…if the Japanese had won the war, those of us who planned the fire-bombing of Tokyo would have been the war criminals….” [2] Robert S. McNamara, U.S. Secretary of State “…and so it goes…” [3] Billy Pilgrim (alter ego of an American prisoner of war, held in the cellar of a Dresden abattoir, who survived firebombing by his own troops, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr.) Introduction Unlike the postWW- II Tribunals, the U.N. Security Council tribunals for the former Yugoslavia [10] …

Das Virtudes Cívicas Clássicas Às Virtudes Pós-Modernas - Dos Tempos E Dos Modos, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Ao mesmo tempo que importa recuperar, na nossa memória e na educação, os grandes exemplos dos virtuosos heróis e sábios da Antiguidade Clássica, que a deseducação tem olvidado, não se pode esquecer que o mundo pós-moderno em que vivemos requer de nós aptidões, virtualidades, posicionamentos diferentes. Não para caminharmos no sentido de todos os demais, mas para respondermos com valor aos reptos do presente. Este artigo procura conciliar, pois, o legado clássico das virtudes cívicas, com algumas propostas inspiradas em autores recentes (como Italo Calvino e Alain Finkielkraut) para o séc. XXI

Direito, Utopia E Insularidade, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Não é por acaso que tantas utopias literárias se localizam ficcionalmente em ilhas. Não é por acaso que as utopias são uma espécie de descrição constitucional sem as amarras dos artigos de um código de direito político. Não é por acaso que as ilhas, parecendo uma prisão, rodeada de mar por todos os lados, são afinal sonhos de onde se pode sair, voando. Não só em sonhos oníricos, mas em sonhos que se podem tornar realidade. Este artigo desenvolve as ligações entre os aspectos literários, políticos e jurídicos das utopias na sua dimensão insular.

Virtude Da Constituição E Virtudes Republicanas, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

A virtude da Constituição é a sua essência e função. E a Constituição tem sempre uma virtude liberal-democrática, apesar de tudo. Conra tudo e contra todos, apesar por vezes mesmo de si própria e das intenções dos seus autores... Depois do “retorno” dos valores à política e ao Direito Constitucional, é a vez da volta das virtudes à discussão, designadamente pela via da ética constitucional ou republicana, de novo na ordem do dia em muitos países. Quais serão, então, as principais virtudes juspolíticas, constitucionais, ou republicanas? O presente artigo intenta também uma proposta de virtudes republicanas concretas para o nosso …

Instituições, Trabalho E Pessoas, Paulo Ferreira Da Cunha

Paulo Ferreira da Cunha

Os especialistas em doenças terminais sabem que ninguém tem saudades, quando abandona a vida, do trabalho que não fez. Tem saudades sim do tempo que não passou com familiares e amigos. A sociedade contemporânea, e algumas instituições "totais" estão a potenciar até ao expoente demencial a exploração e a despersonalização dos trabalhadores, designadamente proletarizando técnicos superiores e técnicos pensantes que, sem ócio criativo, deixarão de criar. É uma crise civilizacional, nada menos.

Régimen De Prisión Preventiva En América Latina: La Pena Anticipada, La Lógica Cautelar Y La Contrarreforma / Pre-Trial Detention Regime In Latin America: The Pre-Trial Punishment, Flight Risk And The Counter Reform, Claudio Fuentes Maureira

Claudio Fuentes Maureira

One of the main reasons that justified the criminal procedure reform in Latin America was the possibility to overcome and changed different practices that were very problematic. One of these complex situations was the excessive use of pre-trial detention in the context of criminal investigations; in particular, the abuse of this institution had a dangerous outcome when it comes to the protection of the human rights of the detainees.

From the mid 90’s onwards, most of the Latin American countries started a reform of their criminal institutions and proceedings. A considerable portion of the legal framework was heavily modified in …

Welcoming Women: Recent Changes In U.S. Asylum Law, Jillian Blake

Jillian Blake

No abstract provided.

Climate Change Consensus: Emerging International Law, Prof. Elizabeth N. Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This article focuses on emerging international law addressing climate change. Providing a background on international negotiations, it considers the greenhouse gas emissions targets needed to avert catastrophic climate change. Assessing the funding debate, this article concludes that agreement in Copenhagen must result in a comprehensive instrument with which to maintain global emissions below 350 parts per million of carbon dioxide. Multilateral coordination can develop an effective framework for climate stabilization.

Benefit Overpayments, The Common Law And Human Rights, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

This article examines the issue of benefits overpayments in UK social security law. Current estimates put the level of overpayments due to error (as opposed to fraud) at about £2 billion per annum. Concern about his issue has led to the publication of a DWP statement of strategy and an attempt by DWP to use the common law to recover overpaid benefits. The article looks at a number of recent court decisions which have important implications for UK practice.

Secretary Of State For Work And Pensions V. Sister Is, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

This case before the Upper Tribunal concerned the rules of the state pension credit (SPC) which, in effect, provide that ‘members of religious orders’ who are ‘fully maintained by their order’ have no entitlement to a state pension credit. As the Three-Judge Panel pointed out this is the rule ‘regardless of the actual amount of their income or their other circumstances’. The case concerned both the interpretation of these two phrases and – assuming the Panel found that they applied to the claimants – the compatibility of such an approach with the European Convention on Human Rights (the Convention issue).

Apuntes Generales Sobre La Libertad De Expresión En Internet, Germán M. Teruel Lozano

Germán M. Teruel Lozano

GENERAL NOTES ABOUT THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN INTERNET: This paper presents an overview of how Internet has revolutionized the setting of freedom of speech. In particular, it is focused in to main aspects: On one hand, the delimitation of freedom of expression in the new media, differentiating in particular between web pages dedicated to the dissemination of information, protected by the freedom of speech; and those that are intended to provide other telematics services, which should not have this protection. Secondly, it is also studied the legal status of this freedom when it is exercised through Internet.

Human Rights, Anti-Discrimination And Social Security Benefits: Recent Uk Case Law, Mel Cousins

Mel Cousins

Since the adoption of the Human Rights Act 1998, challenges to UK social security law on the basis of the European Convention on Human Rights have become common - especially under the anti-discrimination provisions of Article 14. However, few of these challenges have been successful and, in general, the English courts have shown a poor understanding of the principles of human rights law. The recent decisions of the European Court of Human Rights in Stec (2005) 41 EHRR SE 295 and the House of Lords in RJM (2008) UKHL 63 have clarified important issues including the material scope of the …