Law Commons^™

Reforming Humanitarian Rescue, Brent J. Steele

Human Rights & Human Welfare

There is much to commend in Morton Abramowitz and Thomas Pickering’s article “Making Intervention Work.” They propose to reform the United Nations’ capacity for intervention with the creation of an autonomous U.N. force largely constituted with forces contributed by the Security Council’s member-states. If such a force were kept to a minimal operational mission, “a small rapid-deployment force with special engineering, logistical, medical, and police skills,” as the authors suggest, then I think this is a good idea. If such a force would, however, become more than this—an autonomous army of military personnel meant to intervene with force into any …

October Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Making Intervention Work.” by Morton Abramowitz and Thomas Pickering. Foreign Affairs. September/October 2008.

Has The Iraq War Torpedoed The “Responsibility To Protect”?, William F. Felice

Human Rights & Human Welfare

At a U.N. World Summit in 2005, the nations of the world approved the “responsibility to protect.” This emerging principle of international law, charges each individual state with the responsibility to protect its population from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity. If a nation fails to protect its populations from these barbarities, the nations of the world declared that they would act, through the Security Council, in accordance with the U.N. Charter, to stop the violence against innocents everywhere and protect imperiled peoples. In theory, Chapter VII of the U.N. Charter gives the member states the military …

The Responsibility To Protect And The Failure To Respond, Todd Landman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Commentators on global politics frequently observe the abject failure of states and global institutions to respond to local, regional, and global crises ranging from dramatic climatic events, humanitarian crises, warfare and violence, to the continuation of unsavoury rights-abusive regimes. In my own work in the field of the comparative politics of human rights, the types of observations that Abramowitz and Pickering make in this piece are all too common, and have led many in the past to make similar such observations that powerful states constantly engage in a grand human rights “double standard.”

Improving The Agents And Mechanisms Of Humanitarian Intervention, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

I agree with the broad thrust of Abramowitz and Pickering’s article. They rightly highlight the failings of the current agents and mechanisms of humanitarian intervention. The problem, however, is twofold. First, all the currently-existing interveners possess notable, and well-known, flaws. The U.N. and regional organizations suffer from serious shortfalls in funding and equipment. States frequently lack the commitment and willingness to act. And, although NATO’s operations in Bosnia and Kosovo raised hopes that it would be a willing and powerful humanitarian intervener, the reluctance of many of its members to commit troops in Afghanistan (where member states have clear interests) …

Exile: Why The Human Rights Council Will Not Work, Daniel J. Graeber

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Economist writes in an April 24th edition that the U.N.’s Human Rights Council, the predecessor to the sixty-year-old U.N. Commission on Human Rights, is a “one-sided Israeli-bashing” organization. The Economist argues that the inclusion of second- and third-tier countries from the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) and the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) makes it a forum for targeting offenses committed by the Israeli government against the Palestinian people.

June Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

"A Screaming Start: The UN and Human Rights." The Economist. April 24, 2008.

The Human Rights Council: A Failure In Global Governance, Eric K. Leonard

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“The UN and Human Rights: A Screaming Start,” makes several valid points of concern in regards to the recently formed Human Rights Council. As the article stipulates, in many ways the Council does not look radically different from its predecessor, the Human Rights Commission, in that it fails to provide membership regulations that would keep “not free” states of the Council (with only twenty-three out of forty-seven states defined as free) and it lacks the clout in the political hierarchy to truly accomplish anything of substance. However, the article does point out that the one mechanism that could prove useful …

The International Security Presence In Kosovo And The Protection Of Human Rights, Federico Sperotto

Human Rights & Human Welfare

On March 11th, 2000, two children who were playing in the neighborhoods of Mitrovica, Kosovo, got hurt by an “unexploded ordnance”. One of them died in the explosion, the other was severely injured. An inquire clarified that the ordnance was a “bomblet”, a part of a cluster bomb dropped during the 1999 NATO air campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

© Federico Sperotto. All rights reserved.

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 quoted or …

The Trafficking In Victims Protection Act: A Feasibility Assessment, Kristina Cummings, M.A.

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

The Dominican Republic And The Un Human Rights Treaty System, Luis Pomares

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Comparative Models Of Reporting Mechanisms On The Status Of Trafficking In Human Beings, Mohamed Y. Mattar

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A comprehensive approach to combating trafficking in human beings requires precise knowledge of the scope of the problem and constant evaluation of government responses. Reporting on the status of human trafficking achieves both goals. This Article is designed to examine the various human trafficking reporting mechanisms, including reports that states are required to submit to the United Nations as well as national reports whereby governments engage in a process of self-assessment. Comparative models from Europe and the United States will be examined. The Article analyzes reports released by interministerial task forces as well as congressional hearings held on progress made …

Prostituting Peace: The Impact Of Sending State's Legal Regimes On U.N. Peacekeeper Behavior And Suggestions To Protect The Populations Peacekeepers Guard, Alexandra R. Harrington

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Eric Pianowski On Trafficking In Humans: Social, Cultural And Political Dimensions Edited By Sally Cameron And Edward Newman. New York: United Nations University Press, 2008. 284 Pp., Eric Pianowski

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Trafficking in Humans: Social, Cultural and Political Dimensions edited by Sally Cameron and Edward Newman. New York: United Nations University Press, 2008. 284 pp.

United Nations Update, Brent D. Hessel

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

United Nations Update, Human Rights Brief

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.