Digital Commons Network^™

Colombia, Travis Ning

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The events of September 11 continued of the pattern of redefinition in the conflict in Colombia. The complex war of today actually began decades ago as a small political struggle, which has gradually developed into a large-scale civil war. The continuation and growth of civil strife in Colombia witnessed the emergence of several organized anti-government guerrilla movements. Some of these groups have since been defeated or have integrated themselves into the recognized political system. Others have continued to violently challenge Colombian government authority. Currently, the two most significant anti-government insurgency groups are the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (FARC) and …

Pakistan, Susannah Compton, Toni Panetta

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Following armed hostilities in 1947-1949 between India and Pakistan, the region once known as the Princely State of Jammu and Kashmir was divided. The disputed territory continues to split relations between Pakistan and India and the threat of war has been a daunting force as recently as 2002.

The Usa Patriot Act, Toni Panetta

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The events of September 11, 2001 serve as the origin of the United States’ War on Terror as popularized by the Bush administration. Previously, American strategies to combat terrorism focused on attacks against its interests abroad, and support for other governments’ efforts to curb terrorist acts within their own boundaries. However, September 11 revealed vulnerability to violence by non-state actors within U.S. borders. In response, the United States reshaped its anti-terrorist strategies to prevent future attacks by targeting terrorists, foreign and domestic, known and potential.

The Status Of Detainees From The Iraq And Afghanistan Conflicts, Srividhya Ragavan, Michael S. Mireles

Faculty Scholarship

The paper is premised on the idea that the future course of international law will be impacted by the United States' ability to adhere to international treaties to which it is a signatory. Hence, the current administration bears a responsibility to avoid unwisely stretching, distorting, or avoiding the principles of international law for short-term gain in a manner that jeopardizes long-term sustainable policy. The United States should be wary of creating a dangerous precedent - not only for the world, but for itself. If the United States shirks from or misinterprets international legal principles, it leaves the forum open for …

Prosecuting Members Of The U.S. Military For Wartime Environmental Crimes, Eric Talbot Jensen, James J. Teixeira Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

War is inherently damaging to the environment. Though these deleterious actions are often attributed to "states" during times of armed conflict, they are normally the result of military operations conducted by members of the military who are carrying out orders from military superiors. While many have proposed systemic changes that affect how states can or should be held responsible, few have commented on the process of holding individual military personnel or commanders responsible for battlefield acts of environmental damage. This paper argues that there are sufficient laws and regulations in place to hold individuals and commanders in the United States …

Occupation Failures And The Legality Of Armed Conflict: The Case Of Iraqi Cultural Property, Mary Ellen O'Connell

The Ohio State University Moritz College of Law Working Paper Series

US Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld dismissed the looting of the Iraqi National Museum in April 2003 by remarking, “stuff happens.” In doing so, he gave an early indication that in planning to invade Iraq, the Bush Administration failed to take seriously the legal obligations of an occupying power. Occupying powers have a variety of binding legal obligations, including obligations to stop looting, protect cultural property, and protect persons in detention. Yet, the Administration sent a wholly inadequate force to fulfill those obligations, and, more seriously, the force received no direct and imperative orders to do so. As a result, …

Attacking Military Environmental Cleanup On Foreign Soil: Should Cercla Principles Apply?, Randon H. Draper

Buffalo Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Foreword: Rethinking Reconstruction After Iraq, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Foreword to a symposium held on March 12, 2004 by the UC Davis Journal of International Law & Policy. Entitled “Rethinking Reconstruction After Iraq,” the symposium was designated a regional meeting of the American Society of International Law and the American Branch of the International Law Association, and further was sponsored by the American National Section of the International Association of Penal Law and the International Human Rights Committee of the Bar Association of San Francisco.

The Patriot Act And Bush's Military Tribunals: Effective Enforcement Or Attacks On Civil Liberties?, John Lichtenthal

Buffalo Human Rights Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Legal Compliance: Surveying The Discipline, William C. Bradford

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

In The Minds Of Men: A Theory Of Compliance With The Laws Of War, William C. Bradford

ExpressO

Whether, and, if so, why states elect to comply with international law are now the most central questions within the international legal academy. A skein of theories has been woven over the last decade to explain and predict state compliance, and a number of factors, including, inter alia, a desire to generate reciprocity, an interest in reducing transaction costs, normative commitments, domestic considerations, the degree of domestic incorporation of international legal regimes, reputational concerns, and fear of punishment, are purported to be causally linked.

However, as the study of international legal compliance ["ILC"] has matured, intramural divisions have been compounded …

The War On Cyberterror: Why Australia Should Examine The U.S. Approach To Critical Infrastructure Protection, Elizabeth Tutmarc

Washington International Law Journal

As the global community focuses on detecting and fighting terrorism, defense strategists have identified the vulnerability of certain cybersystems. Traditional methods of defense and warfare, however, often do not apply to new technologies. Thus the cybercommunity is developing new standards for protecting computer resources against terrorist attack. From the perspective of national governments, much attention has been paid to the importance of secure "critical infrastructure." This category of computer-dependent resources includes sectors vital to the smooth and orderly operation of public society, such as transportation, communications, and food production. These sectors are becoming increasingly dependent on computers to function, and …

Human Rights And The Neo-Conservative Project: What’S Not To Like?, Tom J. Farer

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Hegemony, as neo-cons argued in the 1990s, is not the mere possession of dominating power but also the will to use it on behalf of a coherent project. In the Clinton years, hegemony was only latent. The catastrophe of September 2001 created the circumstances in which it could be made real. To what end? There is not yet a single comprehensive statement of the neoconservative project and its premises.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not …

From The Nuremberg Charter To The Rome Statute: Defining The Elements Of Crimes Against Humanity, Mohamed Elewa Badar

San Diego International Law Journal

The purpose of this study is to examine the past and present contours of the prohibition of "crimes against humanity", analyzing and scrutinizing the essential elements of this crime, with a view to obtaining and drawing together basic criteria that could eventually guide the adjudication of this offence. Furthermore, this clarification of "crimes against humanity" is particularly timely with respect to the soon functioning International Criminal Court (ICC).

The Media At The Tip Of The Spear, Kevin A. Smith

Michigan Law Review

Due largely to the first widespread availability of the telegraph, through which breaking stories could be transmitted to the presses in moments, the debut of the American war correspondent occurred during the Civil War. From their beginning, American war correspondents have frequently "embedded" with the troops on whom they reported. General Grant, for example, allowed his favorite New York Herald reporter to travel with his entourage, and even used him as a personal messenger. Reporters proved an important component of the war effort for both the North and the South. Papers on both sides proved willing providers of propaganda to …

Opposing Force Operations, United States Army

United States Army: Field Manuals

Opposing Force Operations, United States Army Field Manual FM 7-100.1

Sexual Slavery And The International Criminal Court: Advancing International Law, Valerie Oosterveld

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article explores the advancement of the international crime of sexual slavery, from its initial inclusion in the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court through further development in the delineation of the ICC's Elements of Crime document. This Article begins with a detailed exploration of the negotiation process that led to the inclusion of the crime of sexual slavery in the Rome Statute. The first Section describes the decision to include both sexual slavery and enforced prostitution as crimes, as well as the debate on listing sexual slavery as a crime separate from that of enslavement. Next, the Section …

Armed Conflict, Health And Human Rights, Alex Deraney, Hafsteinn Hafsteinsson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

This section highlights resources with information on health concerns that arise from armed conflict. It examines human rights violations as derived from health issues and the humanitarian efforts to alleviate them. The vast majority of available literature approaches conflict-related healthcare shortfalls in terms of intervention. Literature dealing with armed conflict and health as it applies to human rights is much harder to come by, which indicates the need for additional emphasis in this area.

Law, Human Rights, Realism And The “War On Terror”, J. Peter Pham

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Lesser Evil: Political Ethics in an Age of Terror by Michael Ignatieff. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2004. 212pp.

The War Against Iraq And The Future Of International Law: Hegemony Or Pluralism?, Andreas Paulus

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article is devoted to the question of the future relevance of international law at a time when the idea of a "rule of law" in international affairs seems to be waning. Why should the sole superpower look to international law in its quest for protection from dangers of weapons of mass destruction and terrorists? Is the European insistence on questions of legality, which was visible in the dramatic British attempts to secure some kind of Security Council backing and to advance international legal arguments for its participation in the invasion of Iraq, more than a fig leaf for a …

War Everywhere: Rights, National Security Law, And The Law Of Armed Conflict In The Age Of Terror, Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Both international and domestic law take as a basic premise the notion that it is possible, important, and usually fairly straightforward to distinguish between war and peace, emergencies and normality, the foreign and the domestic, the external and the internal. From an international law perspective, the law of armed conflict is triggered only when a armed conflict actually exists; the rest of the time, other bodies of law are applicable. Domestically, U.S. courts have developed a constitutional and statutory jurisprudence that distinguishes between national security issues and domestic questions, with the courts subjecting government actions to far less scrutiny when …

Legal And Policy Constraints On The Conduct Of Aerial Precision Warfare, Nathan A. Canestaro

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Focusing his historical analysis on World War II, Mr. Canestaro describes how the substantial legal and policy controls under which the U.S. military conducts its air campaigns meet or exceed the requirements of international treaties and the customary practice of states. Bombing technology has only recently developed to the point of allowing compliance with international legal standards, and the United States has implemented stringent measures in recent conflicts to minimize unintended civilian casualties in warfare. Mr. Canestaro demonstrates that because these self-imposed restrictions go beyond the point of mere compliance, they often constitute a disadvantage to the conduct of U.S. …

The Use Of Force And (The State Of) Necessity, Andreas Laursen

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

At the beginning of the twenty-first century, debates about international law and the use of force have gained new momentum. This is due to the armed conflicts in Kosovo, Afghanistan, and Iraq as well as the publication of two recent security strategies by the U.S. government. These strategies consider the possibility of preemptive use of force and have received considerable criticism from international law scholars. Professor Laursen asks whether the necessity excuse in international law allows for preemptive strikes of the sort envisioned by the U.S. security strategies. Following an examination of the status of the necessity excuse in international …

New Texas Ad Litem Statute: Is It Really Protecting The Best Interests Of Minor Children Third Annual Symposium On Legal Malpractice & Professional Responsibility: Comment., Mary E. Hazlewood

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract Forthcoming.

"When A Nation Is At War": A Context-Dependent Theory Of Free Speech For The Regulation Of Weapon Recipes, Liezl Irene Pangilinan

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Imperfect Justice: Looted Assets, Slave Labor, And The Unfinished Business Of World War Ii, Stuart E. Eizenstat

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

I want to tell you an improbable story about how fifty years after the end of World War II, long-forgotten victims of not only the greatest genocide in history, but of what we learned was also the greatest theft in history, finally achieved some belated, as I call it, imperfect justice. This includes: those who placed their most precious assets in the safest banking system in Europe--in Switzerland-to keep them out of Hitler's clutches (for fifty years after the war, they were unable to recover them); those who were forced into brutal slavery and forced labor at the hands of …

Shock And Awe: Does The First Amendment Protect A Media Right Of Access To Military Operations?, Karen C. Sinai

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

"Doublethink"Ing Privacy Under The Multi-State Antiterrorism Information Exchange, Thomas V. Burch

Scholarly Works

This Article examines the development of the Matrix program and analyzes its effect on what Justices Warren and Brandeis termed the individual's "right to be let alone." To understand the Matrix's effect on individual privacy, one must scrutinize the program in the context of United States history.From the Alien and Sedition Acts to the Red Squads of the 1960s and 1970.

Part II of this Article examines how civil liberties often suffer unnecessarily in times of national crisis. Part III then discusses how this truism applies in the current "war on terror" and details the development and operation of the …

Non-State Actors In The Nuclear Black Market: Proposing An International Legal Framework For Preventing Nuclear Expertise Proliferation & Nuclear Smuggling By Non-State Actors, Thomas V. Burch

Scholarly Works

While there are a number of disincentives that prevent states from participating in the nuclear black market, most of these deterrents do not apply to non-state actors. This article focuses on the difficulties this situation presents in a time of global terrorism. The author points out that terrorists already have the money, means and motive to build or purchase nuclear devises. In analyzing this issue the author proposes two options. First, member parties could amend one of all of several existing treaties of the subject. Second, the international community can draft a new treaty or convention on nuclear smuggling and …

The President's Power To Detain "Enemy Combatants": Modern Lessons From Mr. Madison's Forgotten War, Ingrid Wuerth

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article uses three sets of cases from the War of 1812 to illustrate three problems with how modern courts have approached the detention of "enemy combatants" in the United States. The War of 1812 cases show that modern courts have relied too heavily on deference-based reasoning, and have failed to adequately consider both international law and congressional authorization when upholding the detentions as constitutional. The War of 1812, termed "Mr. Madison's War" by contemporary opponents, was fought largely on our own territory against a powerful foreign enemy, making it an especially rich source for comparison to the modern war …