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Articles 31 - 60 of 177
Full-Text Articles in Law
After Atrocity: Optimizing Un Action Toward Accountability For Human Rights Abuses, Steven R. Ratner
After Atrocity: Optimizing Un Action Toward Accountability For Human Rights Abuses, Steven R. Ratner
Michigan Journal of International Law
It is a great honor for me to be here to deliver the John Humphrey Lecture. Humphrey led one of those lives within the UN that shaped what the organization has become today—as one of the first generation of UN civil servants, he was to human rights what Ralph Bunche was to peacekeeping, or Brian Urquhart to UN mediation. To read his diaries, so beautifully edited by John Hobbins, is to see a world that has in many ways vanished, a nearly entirely male club, mostly of Westerners, that hammered out new treaties and mechanisms over fine wine and cigars …
Testing Constitutional Pluralism In Strasbourg: Responding To Russia's "Gay Propaganda" Law, Jesse W. Stricklan
Testing Constitutional Pluralism In Strasbourg: Responding To Russia's "Gay Propaganda" Law, Jesse W. Stricklan
Michigan Journal of International Law
In 2013, the Russian Federation amended Federal Law No. 436-FZ, “On Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development” (2013 law), introducing language making illegal the public discussion—or, in the law’s words, “propagandization”—of what it called “non-traditional sexual relationships.” Undertaken during a period of increasing domestic and international hostility, the law was intended by the government to be a bold, two-fold rejection of supposedly “European” values: first, as resistance to the gay rights movement, which is presented as unsuitable for Russia; and second, as a means of further weakening the freedom of expression in Russia. On both …
Inciting Genocide With Words, Richard A. Wilson
Inciting Genocide With Words, Richard A. Wilson
Michigan Journal of International Law
During the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, observers emphasized the role of media propaganda in inciting Rwandan Hutus to attack the Tutsi minority group, with one claiming that the primary tools of genocide were “the radio and the machete.” As a steady stream of commentators referred to “radio genocide” and “death by radio” and “the soundtrack to genocide,” a widespread consensus emerged that key responsibility for the genocide lay with the Rwandan media. Mathias Ruzindana, prosecution expert witness at the ICTR, supports this notion, writing, “In the case of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, the effect of language was lethal . …
The International Human Rights Regime And Supranational Regional Organizations: The Challenge Of The Eu, Pauline Hilmy
The International Human Rights Regime And Supranational Regional Organizations: The Challenge Of The Eu, Pauline Hilmy
Michigan Journal of International Law
The global legal order as we know it today developed largely to accommodate and facilitate the modern state system that arose in the wake of the 1648 Treaty of Westphalia. As a result, international law consists primarily of international agreements1 and customary rules arising out of state practice and recognition.2 States still remain the primary subjects of international law today, but they are increasingly joined by other actors on the global stage, including international organizations and individuals–and the global legal order has struggled to adapt and adjust.
Reconstructing The Effective Control Criterion In Extraterritorial Human Rights Breaches: Direct Attribution Of Wrongfulness, Due Diligence, And Concurrent Responsibility, Vassilis P. Tzevelekos
Reconstructing The Effective Control Criterion In Extraterritorial Human Rights Breaches: Direct Attribution Of Wrongfulness, Due Diligence, And Concurrent Responsibility, Vassilis P. Tzevelekos
Michigan Journal of International Law
As one of the core elements of statehood, territory is inextricably linked to sovereignty. For this reason, jurisdiction is primarily territorial. In principle, the sphere of power of the sovereign state—including its competence to exercise legislative, judicial, and executive authority—applies within the confines of its own territory. Otherwise, the state risks interfering with the sovereignty of other states and thereby breaking one of the fundamental principles of Public International Law (PIL), that of sovereign equality. The principle of sovereign equality dictates that all assertions of jurisdiction have to be balanced with the sovereign rights of other states. This is why …
The Great Power Origins Of Human Rights, Seth Mohney
The Great Power Origins Of Human Rights, Seth Mohney
Michigan Journal of International Law
For years, historians depicted the history of human rights as the inexorable triumph of universal norms. This account underestimates both the historical and contemporary uncertainty surrounding many international human rights. As even casual observers must note, the tale of human rights progress is not littered with beneficent heads of state persuaded to pursue progress by the moral charge of universal norms. Instead, this history’s primary scenes feature struggles among great powers, peoples, and movements advancing diverse interests. Recognizing the complexity of human rights history, a new generation of historians has emphasized that human rights progress is not preordained, but rather …
Experiments In International Criminal Justice: Lessons From The Khmer Rouge Tribunal, John D. Ciorciari, Anne Heindel
Experiments In International Criminal Justice: Lessons From The Khmer Rouge Tribunal, John D. Ciorciari, Anne Heindel
Michigan Journal of International Law
Important experiments in international criminal justice have been taking place at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC or Court), a tribunal created by the United Nations and Cambodian Government to adjudicate some of the most egregious crimes of the Pol Pot era.2 The tribunal opened its doors in 2006, and although its work continues, its first seven years of operations provide an opportunity to evaluate its performance and judge the extent to which legal and institutional experiments at the ECCC have been successful to date. This Article will show that, in general, the ECCC’s most unique and …
Human Rights And The New Reality Of Climate Change: Adaptation's Limitations In Achieving Climate Justice , Zackary L. Stillings
Human Rights And The New Reality Of Climate Change: Adaptation's Limitations In Achieving Climate Justice , Zackary L. Stillings
Michigan Journal of International Law
In 2005, the Inuit of Canada and the United States filed a petition with the Inter American Commission on Human Rights, alleging that their respective governments had violated their human rights by failing to mitigate climate change harms. The Inuit alleged violations of several specific human rights, including the right to enjoy their culture; the right to enjoy and use the lands they have traditionally occupied; the right to use and enjoy their personal property; the right to health; the right to life, physical integrity, and security; the right to their own means of subsistence; and the right to residence …
An Evaluation Of The Prospects For Successful Implementation Of The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities In The Islamic World, Brenton Kinker
An Evaluation Of The Prospects For Successful Implementation Of The Convention On The Rights Of Persons With Disabilities In The Islamic World, Brenton Kinker
Michigan Journal of International Law
This note will examine the CRPD’s aspirations in light of Islamic law, comparing whether the two are—or can be—consistent. Part I will provide background on the CRPD, including the intent of the treaty, the negotiations leading to the final wording, and the solid obligations it contains for state parties. Part II examines the background of Shari’a and its provisions regarding disability. Part III compares the treatment of the disabled under Islamic law with that required by the CRPD in order to gage consistency. Where tensions exist, alternative interpretations of both Islamic law and the CPRD are proposed that might facilitate …
Humanity And National Security: The Law Of Mass Atrocity Response Operations, Keith A. Petty
Humanity And National Security: The Law Of Mass Atrocity Response Operations, Keith A. Petty
Michigan Journal of International Law
Among the greatest threats to global security is the slaughter of civilians. This is due to the inconsistent reaction of the international community to genocide and other atrocity crimes. Whether it was the slaughter of hundreds of thousands of Armenians in Turkey in 1915 or Rwandan Tutsis in 1994, mass murderers act with impunity when there is not a forceful response. Contrast these situations to Vietnam’s intervention in Cambodia in 1978 that put an end to the Khmer Rouge’s nightmarish killing fields, or the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO) intervention in Kosovo in 1999 that protected ethnic Albanians from Serb …
All Other Breaches: State Practice And The Geneva Conventions’ Nebulous Class Of Less Discussed Prohibitions, Jesse Medlong
All Other Breaches: State Practice And The Geneva Conventions’ Nebulous Class Of Less Discussed Prohibitions, Jesse Medlong
Michigan Journal of International Law
With respect to the protections afforded by the Geneva Conventions, a great deal of ink has been spilled in recent years over the two-tiered system of tribunals employed by the United States in its prosecution of enemy combatants in the “war on terror.” Less discussed, though, is the wholly separate two-tiered system for sorting violators of the Geneva Conventions that emerges from the very text of those agreements. This stratification is a function of the Conventions’ distinction between those who commit “grave breaches” and those who merely commit “acts contrary to the provisions of the present convention” or “all other …
The Michigan Guidelines On The Exclusion Of International Criminals
The Michigan Guidelines On The Exclusion Of International Criminals
Michigan Journal of International Law
With a view to promoting a shared understanding of the proper approach to Article 1(F)(a) exclusion from refugee status, we have engaged in sustained collaborative study and reflection on relevant norms and state practice. Our research was debated and refined at the Sixth Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law, convened in March 2013 by the University of Michigan’s Program in Refugee and Asylum Law. These Guidelines are the product of that endeavor, and reflect the consensus of Colloquium participants on how decision makers can best ensure the application of Article 1(F)(a) in a manner that conforms to international legal …
Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran
Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran
Michigan Journal of International Law
States of emergency are today one of the most serious challenges to the implementation of international human rights law (IHRL). They have become common practice and are associated with severe human rights violations as evidenced by the Arab Spring. The international jurisprudence on states of emergency is inconsistent and divergent, and what now constitutes a public emergency is ubiquitous. This trend is underpinned by excessive judicial deference and abdication of the legal review of states' often dubious claims of a state of emergency. The legal regime, as positively expressed in international human rights treaties, does not adequately reflect the underlying …
She Makes Me Ashamed To Be A Woman: The Genocide Conviction Of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 2011, Mark A. Drumbl
She Makes Me Ashamed To Be A Woman: The Genocide Conviction Of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 2011, Mark A. Drumbl
Michigan Journal of International Law
In the nearly twenty years since 1994, the international community and the Rwandan government have pushed to hold individual perpetrators accountable for the genocide. Judicialization has occurred at multiple levels. Over ninety persons-those deemed most responsible-have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), an ad hoc institution established by the U.N. Security Council in November 1994. Approximately ten thousand individuals have been prosecuted in specialized chambers of national courts in Rwanda. According to the Rwandan government, nearly two million people have faced neo-traditional gacaca proceedings conducted by elected lay judges throughout the country. Gacaca proceedings concluded in …
Sixth Colloquium On Challenges In International Refugee Law: Introduction, James C. Hathaway
Sixth Colloquium On Challenges In International Refugee Law: Introduction, James C. Hathaway
Michigan Journal of International Law
The goal of the Sixth Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law was to develop a principled and workable framework to guide the process of considering the exclusion from refugee status of persons believed to have committed international crimes.
Principled Exclusion: A Revised Approach To Article1(F)(A) Of The Refugee Convention, Jennifer Bond
Principled Exclusion: A Revised Approach To Article1(F)(A) Of The Refugee Convention, Jennifer Bond
Michigan Journal of International Law
The focus of this contribution is Article 1(F)(a), a section of the exclusion clause that has increased in both use and profile in recent years. Article 1(F)(a) applies to individuals who may be implicated in crimes against peace (more commonly known today as crimes of aggression), war crimes, or crimes against humanity as such crimes are defined in relevant international instruments. Where a decision maker finds that “there are serious reasons for considering that” an asylum seeker has committed one of these acts, the remainder of the Refugee Convention does not apply, and any protections to which the claimant would …
Is The Prosecution Of War Crimes Just And Effective? Rethinking The Lessons From Sociology And Psychology, Ziv Bohrer
Is The Prosecution Of War Crimes Just And Effective? Rethinking The Lessons From Sociology And Psychology, Ziv Bohrer
Michigan Journal of International Law
Should perpetrators of genocide, violent acts against civilians during war, or other massive violations of core human rights be punished? International criminal law (ICL) answers this question affirmatively, asserting that the punishment of such atrocities is just and that their effective prosecution can (and should) contribute to the prevention of such future acts. Moreover, an increasing attempt has been made in the international and domestic arenas to act in accordance with these assertions of ICL through the prosecution of war crimes. During the last two decades the role of ICL has become gradually more significant, and the fall of the …
Foreign Investment And Indigenous Peoples: Options For Promoting Equilibrium Between Economic Development And Indigenous Rights, George K. Foster
Foreign Investment And Indigenous Peoples: Options For Promoting Equilibrium Between Economic Development And Indigenous Rights, George K. Foster
Michigan Journal of International Law
The quotations above refer to distinct conflicts that are widely separated by time and geography but remarkably similar in other respects. The first describes events leading to the Black Hills War of 1876, in which the U.S. Army forced the Lakota Sioux and Northern Cheyenne onto reservations to make way for gold mining by non-Indians. The second describes a violent episode in a conflict between native groups and the Peruvian government, which began in 2009 when the government took steps to expand mining and oil operations by multinational enterprises (MNEs) in the Peruvian Amazon. In both cases, outside commercial interests …
Revisiting Extraterritoriality After Al-Skeini: The Echr And Its Lessons, Barbara Miltner
Revisiting Extraterritoriality After Al-Skeini: The Echr And Its Lessons, Barbara Miltner
Michigan Journal of International Law
On July 7, 2011, the European Court of Human Rights, sitting as a Grand Chamber, handed down two long-awaited judgments on the subject of the extraterritorial reach and scope of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR). In both Al-Skeini v. United Kingdom and Al-Jedda v. United Kingdom, the underlying issue was whether or not the United Kingdom was bound by its treaty obligations under the ECHR with regard to its military presence in Iraq. Al-Skeini involved the joined claims of six Iraqi nationals whose relatives were killed while allegedly under U.K. jurisdiction in Iraq; they claimed a lack of …
Toward A Unified Theory Of Professional Ethics And Human Rights, Jonathan H. Marks
Toward A Unified Theory Of Professional Ethics And Human Rights, Jonathan H. Marks
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article offers a novel account of the relationship between the ethical obligations of professionals and international human rights law and practice. The account is motivated by the role that professionals played in the Bush administration's "war on terror"-in particular, the global detention and interrogation regimes that incarcerated tens of thousands of detainees, and abused many of them. In the most extreme cases, professionals may have committed serious international crimes rendering them liable to criminal prosecution in foreign courts. Serious concerns have also been raised about the ethics of professionals' conduct. Psychologists were the principal architects of the aggressive detention …
Trafficking In Europe: An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of European Law, Saadiya Chaudary
Trafficking In Europe: An Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of European Law, Saadiya Chaudary
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Essay looks at the manifestation of various forms of human trafficking within Europe and analyzes the effectiveness of current European law provisions in combating trafficking and protecting victims. The Essay will accomplish this by examining recent and current cases before the European Court of Human Rights and the comparative gap between European standards and domestic procedures in the United Kingdom. The United Kingdom is a well-known destination state for trafficking victims' and consequently is required to meet obligations under international law toward a significant number of individuals who have been forced into exploitation in the United Kingdom.
Human Rights Legislation In The Arab World: The Case Of Human Trafficking, Mohamed Y. Mattar
Human Rights Legislation In The Arab World: The Case Of Human Trafficking, Mohamed Y. Mattar
Michigan Journal of International Law
In the Arab World, human rights legislation has not always enhanced human rights. In fact, many national laws have been adopted that restrict human rights. Some countries' laws regulating nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) do not allow NGOs to receive funding from foreign entities. Media laws impose various limitations on the press. Jordan is the only Arab nation to enforce a comprehensive law on combating violence against women. Jordan is also the only country that has a law on access to information. Despite these gaps in human rights legislation, many Arab countries have passed comprehensive laws to combat human trafficking since the …
Exporting Subjects: Globalizing Family Law Progress Through International Human Rights, Cyra Akila Choudhury
Exporting Subjects: Globalizing Family Law Progress Through International Human Rights, Cyra Akila Choudhury
Michigan Journal of International Law
In our popular culture and social consciousness, women are no longer the second-class citizens they used to be. Magazines, television advertisements, and billboards featuring women show us how we have achieved independence, wealth, desirability, and our intelligence. We are no longer the supporting role in movies and entertainment but stars in our own right. For this, we can thank both changing society and the unrelenting work of many women who refused to bring the coffee for the boss. The women's movement in the United States has made large gains for women through the use of social activism and legal action. …
An Emerging Norm - Determining The Meaning And Legal Status Of The Responsibility To Protect, Jonah Eaton
An Emerging Norm - Determining The Meaning And Legal Status Of The Responsibility To Protect, Jonah Eaton
Michigan Journal of International Law
The responsibility to protect, from its recent nativity in the 2001 report of the International Commission on Intervention and State Sovereignty (ICISS), is the latest round in an old debate pitting the principle of nonintervention in the internal affairs of states against allowing such intervention to prevent gross and systematic violations of human rights. Advocates for the concept see it as an important new commitment by the international community, injecting new meaning into the tragically threadbare promise to never again allow mass atrocities to occur unchallenged. ICISS offered the concept of responsibility to protect as a new way to confront …
Widening Our Lens: Incorporating Essential Perspectives In The Fight Against Human Trafficking, Jonathan Todres
Widening Our Lens: Incorporating Essential Perspectives In The Fight Against Human Trafficking, Jonathan Todres
Michigan Journal of International Law
In 2000, the international community formally launched the modern movement to combat human trafficking with the United Nations' adoption of the Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children, Supplementing the United Nations Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (Trafficking Protocol). With the Trafficking Protocol, the international community created a new cornerstone upon which to build a global initiative to combat this modem form of slavery. As the first major international treaty on human trafficking in half a century, the Trafficking Protocol represented a significant step forward. One hundred forty-seven countries are now party to the …
Successes And Failures In International Human Trafficking Law, Luis Cdebaca
Successes And Failures In International Human Trafficking Law, Luis Cdebaca
Michigan Journal of International Law
Professor Carr yesterday remarked that human trafficking is too often discussed only in theoretical or academic ways. I've spent most of my career in the field, where interactions with victims, traffickers, and defense attorneys are anything but theoretical. But as keynote speaker for an academic symposium this morning, I'm going to try to lay out a bit of the conceptual state of play from my current vantage point. The title of this symposium, "Successes and Failures in International Human Trafficking Law," is a bit binary. Perhaps, in the best diplomatic tradition, we can temper that to "Limitations and Opportunities in …
Designing Bespoke Transitional Justice: A Pluralist Process Approach, Jaya Ramji-Nogales
Designing Bespoke Transitional Justice: A Pluralist Process Approach, Jaya Ramji-Nogales
Michigan Journal of International Law
Although many scholars agree that contemporary transitional justice mechanisms are flawed, a comprehensive and unified alternative approach to accountability for mass violence has yet to be propounded. Like many international lawyers, transitional justice theorists have focused their assessment efforts on the successes and failures of established institutions. This Article argues that before we can measure whether transitional justice is working, we must begin with a theory of what it is trying to achieve. Once we have a coherent theory, we must use it ex ante, to design effective transitional justice mechanisms, not just to assess their effectiveness ex post. Drawing …
Identifying And Enforcing Back-End Electoral Rights In International Human Rights Law, Katherine A. Wagner
Identifying And Enforcing Back-End Electoral Rights In International Human Rights Law, Katherine A. Wagner
Michigan Journal of International Law
From Kenya to Afghanistan, Ukraine, the United States, Mexico, and Iran, no region or form of government has been immune from the unsettling effects of a contested election. The story is familiar, and, these days, hardly surprising: a state holds elections, losing candidates and their supporters claim fraud, people take to the streets, diplomats and heads of state equivocate, and everyone waits for the observers' reports. It is the last chapter of this story-the resolution-that remains unfamiliar and still holds the potential to surprise. The increasing focus on and importance of the resolution of contested elections, that resolution's link to …
Identity, Effectiveness, And Newness In Transjudicialism's Coming Of Age, Mark Toufayan
Identity, Effectiveness, And Newness In Transjudicialism's Coming Of Age, Mark Toufayan
Michigan Journal of International Law
This Article attempts to expose and problematize the ideological connections and normative commitments between these theoretical explanations of effectiveness and the pragmatic process-oriented proposals made in the 1990s when the United Nations was searching for ways to renew the discipline of international human rights law while avoiding the dual risks of politicization and Third World normative fragmentation. The liberal theory of effective supranational adjudication was the culmination of decade-long efforts by American liberal internationalists to provide a theoretical basis for and programmatic proposals towards achieving a more "effective" international human rights regime. Their theory aims at structuring the interface between …
Fifth Colloquium On Challenges In International Refugee Law. The Michigan Guidelines On The Right To Work., Penelope Mathew
Fifth Colloquium On Challenges In International Refugee Law. The Michigan Guidelines On The Right To Work., Penelope Mathew
Michigan Journal of International Law
An Explanatory Note covering the Fifth Michigan Colloquium on Challenges in International Refugee Law and the Right to Work.