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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
Abusing The Authority Of The State: Denying Foreign Official Immunity For Egregious Human Rights Abuses, Beth Stephens
Abusing The Authority Of The State: Denying Foreign Official Immunity For Egregious Human Rights Abuses, Beth Stephens
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Government officials accused of human rights abuses often claim that they are protected by state immunity because only the state can be held responsible for acts committed by its officials. This claim to immunity is founded on two interrelated errors. First, the post-World War II human rights transformation of international law has rendered obsolete the view that a state can protect its own officials from accountability for human rights violations. Second, officials can be held individually responsible for their own actions even when international law also holds the states liable for those acts. This Article begins with an analysis of …
Forced To Flee And Forced To Repatriate? How The Cessation Clause Of Article 1c(5) And (6) Of The 1951 Refugee Convention Operates In International Law And Practice, Marissa E. Cwik
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
The purpose of refugee law is to provide international protection for vulnerable people who are denied state protection. In fulfilling this purpose, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and asylum states have different legal foundations and implementing materials. When terminating refugee status and protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the obligations and legal authorities of UNHCR and asylum states differ. The UNHCR implementing statute allows the facilitation of voluntary repatriation when refugees can return in safety and with dignity. In contrast, host states are able to mandate repatriation when a change in …
Italian Judges' Point Of View On Foreign States' Immunity, Elena Sciso
Italian Judges' Point Of View On Foreign States' Immunity, Elena Sciso
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
The Article gives an account of the most recent Italian practice as regarding foreign states' immunity from the jurisdiction of the forum state. In the absence of domestic laws regulating the matter, Italian courts thus far have been directly applying international customary law, making recourse to a progressive interpretation of international rules. In the past, Italian judicial practice together with the Belgian one gave a great contribution to the consolidation of the restrictive immunity theory. In the last few years, Italian courts have lifted immunity with respect to acts of a foreign state qualified as "acta iure imperii" in civil …
State Immunity And Human Rights: Heads And Walls, Hearts And Minds, Roger O'Keefe
State Immunity And Human Rights: Heads And Walls, Hearts And Minds, Roger O'Keefe
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article suggests that arguments against the availability of state immunity as a bar to civil actions alleging internationally wrongful ill-treatment abroad are not only destined to fall by and large on deaf ears but are also misdirected as a matter both of fairness and of the ultimate policy objectives of human rights advocates. It would make more sense for victims' interest groups to target the failure of allegedly responsible states to afford victims the opportunity of a remedy and the failure of victims' states of nationality to do enough to defend their nationals' interests.
Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar: A United States Government Perspective, Harold H. Koh
Foreign Official Immunity After Samantar: A United States Government Perspective, Harold H. Koh
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
I am delighted to speak here at Vanderbilt regarding the U.S. Government's perspective on Foreign Official Immunity after Samantar v. Yousuf.' In the Samantar case, the U.S. Supreme Court unanimously held that the immunity of foreign government officials sued in their personal capacity in U.S. courts, including for alleged human rights violations, is not controlled by the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act of 1976, but rather, by immunity determinations made by the Executive Branch. Let me break my topic today into three parts: first, the world of foreign official immunity as it existed before the Samantar case; second, the Supreme Court's …
Managing Forced Displacement By Law In Africa: The Role Of The New African Union Idps Convention, Won Kidane
Managing Forced Displacement By Law In Africa: The Role Of The New African Union Idps Convention, Won Kidane
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article provides a critical appraisal of the newly adopted African IDPs Convention. In particular, it offers a detailed analysis of the Convention's transformation of the UN Guiding Principles into legally binding rules for the management of the phenomenon of internal displacement in Africa. By definition, internally displaced persons (IDPs) are persons who have not crossed international frontiers and are citizens of the state within which they find themselves. Although their conditions may be similar to refugees, who are necessarily aliens to the host community, their legal status is not analogous. At the most basic level, there is no doctrinal …
From Ideology To Pragmatism: China's Position On Humanitarian Intervention In The Post-Cold War Era, Jonathan E. Davis
From Ideology To Pragmatism: China's Position On Humanitarian Intervention In The Post-Cold War Era, Jonathan E. Davis
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
This Article fills a gap in the literature by examining in depth China's state practice and official pronouncements in respect of nine post-Cold War cases typically cited by academics when considering the international legal status of humanitarian intervention. The majority of today's commentary and scholarship holds that the People's Republic of China's position on sovereignty and intervention remains inflexible and absolutist, much as it was for the PRC's first four decades. This Article contends that this view is outdated and overly simplistic: while China continues to champion a strong conception of state sovereignty in interstate relations, it has signaled a …
The Double-Helix Double-Edged Sword: Comparing Dna Retention Policies Of The United States And The United Kingdom, Erica S. Deray
The Double-Helix Double-Edged Sword: Comparing Dna Retention Policies Of The United States And The United Kingdom, Erica S. Deray
Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law
Forensic scientists have used DNA profiling technologies to link suspects to crimes since Alec Jeffreys first proposed the idea in the 1970s. Recognizing the potential for using DNA databases to solve crimes and to prevent future crimes, England and Wales attempted to greatly expand its DNA database by allowing for the collection and indefinite retention of DNA profiles from arrestees. The European Court of Human Rights, however, issued a ruling in 2008 in the case of S. & Marper v. United Kingdom, advising the United Kingdom to restrict use of DNA profiles from arrestees and to establish time frames for …
In Search Of Guidance: An Examination Of Past, Present, And Future Adjudications Of Domestic Violence Asylum Claims, Barbara R. Barreno
In Search Of Guidance: An Examination Of Past, Present, And Future Adjudications Of Domestic Violence Asylum Claims, Barbara R. Barreno
Vanderbilt Law Review
L-R- is a Mexican woman who applied for asylum in the United States in 2005. She is one of countless victims of gender-based violence, which in recent decades has become a matter of international concern and which policymakers around the world have taken steps to combat. The United States has been among the nations that have made eliminating gender-based violence a priority by passing such legislation as the Violence Against Women Act ("VAWA") and by creating two special forms of visas for victims of domestic violence. While great strides have been taken to protect immigrant women who are already in …