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Flyer: 2023 Conference, University Of Dayton

Content presented at the Social Practice of Human Rights Conference

Promotional flyer: The University of Dayton Human Rights Center, the Centre for Human Rights of the Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, and the University of the Free State Centre for Human Rights, South Africa, jointly convene the 2023 Social Practice of Human Rights Conference and the 6th International Conference on the Right to Development, set for Nov. 2-4, 2023.

The call for proposals is now available, and submissions are open through May 8, 2023.

Law Library Blog (March 2023): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.

Policing Pregnancy "Crimes", Valena Beety, Jennifer Oliva

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization held that there is no right to abortion healthcare under the United States Constitution. This Essay details how states prosecuted pregnant people for pregnancy behaviors and speculative fetal harms prior to the Dobbs decision. In this connection, it also identifies two, related post-Dobbs concerns: (1) that states will ramp up their policing of pregnancy behaviors and (2) that prosecutors will attempt to substantiate these charges by relying on invalid scientific evidence. This Essay examines the faulty forensic science that states have used to support fetal harm allegations and reminds …

2023 Champions For Justice 1-27-2023, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Immigration Detention Abolition And The Violence Of Digital Cages, Sarah R. Sherman-Stokes

Faculty Scholarship

The United States has a long history of devastating immigration enforcement and surveillance. Today, in addition to more than 34,000 people held in immigration detention, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (“ICE”) surveils an astounding 296,000 people under its “Alternatives to Detention” program. The number of people subjected to this surveillance has grown dramatically in the last two decades, from just 1,339 in 2005. ICE’s rapidly expanding Alternatives to Detention program is marked by “digital cages,” consisting of GPS-outfitted ankle shackles and invasive phone and location tracking. Government officials and some immigrant advocates have categorized these digital cages as a humane “reform”; …

Transgender Erasure: Barriers Facing Transgender Refugees In Canada, Sean Rehaag, Alexandra Verman

All Papers

This paper explores the experiences of transgender refugee claimants in Canada’s refugee status determination system, using mixed methods: quantitative analysis of data obtained from the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB), reviews of published and unpublished decisions, country condition documentation packages and IRB guidelines, as well as interviews with refugee lawyers. Using these methods, we explore how credibility arises in transgender refugee claims, noting the impact of medicalization and country conditions materials on transgender claims, and drawing parallels between medical gatekeeping and credibility assessments in refugee claims. We identify potential explanations for low recorded numbers of transgender claims as rooted in …

The Intenational Crimial Court (Icc) As A Mechanism For Global Justice And Rule Of Law, Paolo Davide Farah

Book Chapters

Throughout history, institutions have been the chosen platforms for governing and regulating society. However, in the twenty-first century, with unprecedented connectivity and interdependence, working toward multilateral solutions for global challenges, whether in climate change through the UNFCCC or in trade via the World Trade Organization, has become increasingly complex. This rise in complexity within the international landscape has not been met with proportional attention to cooperation, conflict resolution, and harmonizing human values.

It is relevant to highlight the intersection between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and broader questions within international humanitarian law, (IHL) its interconnections and intertwinement with International Criminal …

Are Threats To Impose Financial Sanctions An Effective Approach For The United States To Protect Lgbtq Rights In Africa?, Ryan J. Mcelhose

Emory International Law Review Recent Developments

No abstract provided.

Fleeing The Land Of The Free, Jayesh Rathod

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This Essay is the first scholarly intervention, from any discipline, to examine the number and nature of asylum claims made by U.S. citizens, and to explore the broader implications of this phenomenon. While the United States continues to be a preeminent destination for persons seeking humanitarian protection, U.S. citizens have fled the country in significant numbers, filing approximately 14,000 asylum claims since 2000. By formally seeking refuge elsewhere, these applicants have calculated that the risks of remaining in the United States outweigh the bundle of rights that accompany U.S. citizenship. Given the United States’ recent flirtation with authoritarianism, and the …

The Public Voice Of The Defender, Russell M. Gold, Kay L. Levine

Articles

For decades police and prosecutors have controlled the public narrative about criminal law. The news landscape features salacious stories of violent crimes while ignoring the more mundane but far more prevalent minor cases that clog the court dockets. Defenders, faced with overwhelming caseloads and fear that speaking out may harm their clients, have largely ceded the opportunity to offer a counternarrative based on what they see every day. Defenders tell each other about the overuse of pretrial detention, intensive pressure to plead guilty, overzealous prosecutors, cycles of violence, and rampant constitutional violations-all of which inflict severe harm on defendants and …

Reflections On The Role Of The Panel, Charles Di Leva

Perspectives

Over the past thirty years, the World Bank and the Inspection Panel have had a supportive relationship regarding the principle of accountability, particularly as applied to the field of development finance operations and the role and responsibility of the Bank as a multilateral public sector financial institution. This relationship has been apparent in at least three key aspects: i) following the Bank’s lead, many development institutions around the globe have taken steps to improve their own accountability and developed independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) modeled on the Inspection Panel; ii) the Bank and other development institutions have been supporting the development …

The Critical Contribution Of Independent Accountability Mechanisms (Iams) To The Global Governance Paradigm, Owen Mcintyre

Perspectives

For several decades now, the environmental and social safeguard policies adopted by international financial institutions (IFIs), along with the related accountability frameworks provided by the independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs) established by each, have been at the very forefront of a global movement to extend good environmental and social governance values to the practice of international development finance. The complex of substantive and procedural standards of institutional conduct required under multilateral development bank (MDB) safeguard policies in respect of the assessment and implementation of bank-funded development projects or activities exemplifies the phenomenon of so-called “transnational” or “global” law - the rich …

Stop Threatening Nails With Wrenches: Why Military Contractor Misdeeds Abroad Should Be Handled Using The Uniform Code Of Military Justice Rather Than The Current Civilian First Strategy, Gwendolyn Savitz

Articles, Chapters in Books and Other Contributions to Scholarly Works

Many legal violations by military contractors are never addressed through the legal system. This is despite Congress having enacted two laws that attempt to hold contractors accountable for crimes committed abroad. The reason for this gap is that the military has adopted a civilian-first strategy where the primary choice of prosecution is delegated to the Department of Justice. This is a mistake. This article explains why the civilian-first strategy has been so unsuccessful and how the military can appropriately move to a military-first strategy. Doing so would provide the military better control over the Total Force, which is particularly important …

Rethinking 'What Counts' As Accountability, Jonathan Fox

Perspectives

The current accountability impasse suggests it may be time to rethink core concepts, as well as the field’s underlying theories of change. The idea of accountability is malleable, ambiguous — and contested. This fuzziness poses challenges for both theory and practice – how do we know what strategies bolster accountability – or whether accountability produces its expected effects? This think piece recognizes the challenge of defining ‘what counts’ as accountability, unpacks a longstanding theory of change - that sunshine is the best disinfectant - and considers some information-based reform initiatives to identify missing links in the causal chain between transparency …

Ending Violence In Development Finance Actions To Affirmatively Prevent And Stop Reprisals Against Rights Defenders, Gregory Berry

Perspectives

This Essay makes a case for stronger enforcement and implementation of zero-tolerance policies on reprisals within Development Finance Institutions. It argues that for DFIs to inculcate any hopeful vision of a just and inclusive transition to a sustainable future, they must begin by affirmatively cutting at the roots of reprisals. The essay particularly emphasizes two essential changes. First, Independent Accountability and Audit Mechanisms must be empowered to protect the safety of defenders by self-initiating investigations where there are credible concerns of reprisals, and by accepting anonymously submitted complaints. Second, DFIs must evolve to grow teeth for enforcing measures against retaliatory …

Collective Data Rights And Their Possible Abuse, Asaf Lubin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Renewing Freedom Of Expression, Part Two: From The Contextual Approach To Proportionality Balancing, Jamie Cameron

All Papers

This article continues the project to renew the Charter’s methodology of expressive freedom in two parts. Part One explained that the Court’s approach to s.2(b) decision making is skewed against expressive freedom and must be addressed holistically, under ss.2(b) and s.1. (see J. Cameron, “Resetting the Foundations: Renewing Freedom of Expression under Section 2(b) of the Charter”, in B. Bird and D. Ross, eds., Forgotten Foundations of the Canadian Constitution. (LexisNexis Canada, 2022). Part One provided a critique of the current methodology, addressed the meaning of freedom under s.2(b), proposed a revised standard of breach, and sketched a …

Conditions Of Confinement In Nova Scotia Jails Designated For Men: East Coast Prison Justice Society Visiting Committee Annual Report 2021-2022, Sheila Wildeman, Harry Critchley, Hanna Garson, Laura Beach, Margaret-Anne Mchugh

Reports & Public Policy Documents

This is the second Annual Report of the East Coast Prison Justice Society (“ECPJS”) Visiting Committee (“VC”).

The purpose of the ECPJS VC is to bring increased accountability and transparency to the Nova Scotia correctional system in light of human rights standards, domestic and international. While the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia provides human rights monitoring of conditions of incarceration experienced by women and non-binary people in federal prisons and provincial jails in the Atlantic region, and the federal Office of Correctional Investigator provides further oversight of conditions in federal prisons, there is no comparable independent oversight of …

Critical Pathways To Disability Decarceration: Reading Liat Ben-Moshe And Linda Steele, Sheila Wildeman

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

I consider how Liat Ben-Moshe’s Decarcerating Disability and Linda Steele’s Disability, Criminal Justice and Law: Reconsidering Court Diversion contribute to emerging conversations between critical disability studies and anti-carceral studies, and between disability deinstitutionalization and prison abolitionism. I ask: what if any role might law, or specifically rights-based litigation, play in resisting carceral state strategies and redirecting material and conceptual resources toward supports for diverse forms of flourishing? I centre my remarks on the special relevance of Ben-Moshe’s and Steele’s books to social movement activism in Atlantic Canada and critical reappraisal of Canada’s solitary confinement litigation.

'More Of The Same, But Worse Than Before': A Qualitative Study Of The Challenges Encountered By People Who Use Drugs In Nova Scotia, Canada During Covid-19, Emilie Comeau, Matthew Bonn, Sheila Wildeman, Matthew Herder

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Background

To learn about the experiences of people who use drugs, specifically opioids, in the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), in Nova Scotia, Canada during the COVID-19 pandemic through qualitative interviews with people who use drugs and healthcare providers (HCP). This study took place within the HRM, a municipality of 448,500 people. During the pandemic many critical services were interrupted while overdose events increased. We wanted to understand the experiences of people who use drugs as well as their HCPs during the first year of the pandemic.

Methodology

We conducted a qualitative study using semi-structured interviews with 13 people who use …

Implementing War Torts, Rebecca Crootof

Law Faculty Publications

Under the law of armed conflict, no entity is accountable for lawful acts in war that cause harm, and accountability mechanisms for unlawful acts (like war crimes) rarely create a right to compensation for victims. Accordingly, states now regularly create bespoke institutions, like the proposed International Claims Commission for Ukraine, to resolve mass claims associated with international crises. While helpful for specific and politically popular populations, these one-off institutions have limited jurisdiction and thus limited effect. Creating an international “war torts” regime—which would establish route to compensation for civilians harmed in armed conflict—would better address this accountability gap for all …

Climate Justice In The Anthropocene And Its Relationship With Science And Technology: The Importance Of Ethics Of Responsibility, Paolo Davide Farah, Alessio Lo Giudice

Articles

Climate change is a global phenomenon. Therefore, globalization is the necessary hermeneutical horizon to develop an analysis of the metamorphosis climate change could cause at a political, social, and economic level. Within this horizon, this Article shows how the relationship between the concept of the Anthropocene epoch and the request for justice allows for framing a climate-justice and intergenerational equity–focused political interpretation of the effects of climate change. In order to avoid reducing such an interpretation to merely an ideological critique of capitalism, the conception of climate justice needs to be grounded in a rational, ethical model. This Article proposes …

The International Legal Order And The Rule Of Law, Vivian Grosswald Curran

Articles

This article addresses whether international law today is capable of instituting the rule of law. It offers a renewed look at the internationalists who brought us modern international law, such as Lauterpacht, Cassin and Lemkin. They tenaciously worked at placing the individual’s right to life and to human dignity front and center in international law while also preserving peace among states. Their struggle began in earnest first in the interwar years after the “war to end all wars” (1918 – 1939), and then again in 1945 after yet another, still worse, world war had occurred, devastating Europe, but leaving the …

Visions For The International Decade Of Indigenous Languages 2022-2032, Kristen A. Carpenter, Andrew Cowell, Alexis Palmer

Publications

The United Nations General Assembly recently proclaimed the International Decade of Indigenous Languages ( "IDIL") from 2022-2032 to "to draw attention to the critical loss of indigenous languages and the urgent need to preserve, revitalize and promote indigenous languages and to take urgent steps at the national and international levels." The Decade is an opportunity to expose and address the severe loss of Indigenous Peoples' languages locally, regionally, and globally. It is a chance for the entire world community to gather together and commit to bringing Indigenous languages back from the brink of dormancy or extinction.

Freedom Of Expression: Values And Harms, Camden Hutchison

All Faculty Publications

When considering restrictions on socially disfavoured expression, the Supreme Court of Canada has often considered the targeted expression’s “value.” In the seminal cases of Ford v. Quebec and Irwin Toy Ltd. v. Quebec, the Supreme Court articulated the importance of expressive freedom by relating it to three core values: (1) seeking and attaining the truth; (2) participation in democratic institutions; and (3) diversity in forms of individual selffulfillment. Subsequent cases considering restrictions on expression have evaluated the extent to which the targeted expression advances these values. Ironically, although Ford and Irwin Toy embraced a broad conception of expressive freedom, the …

Thirty Years Of Community-Centered Accountability In International Development Key Developments At The World Bank Inspection Panel, Dilek Barlas

Perspectives

Through the lens of important cases, this essay reflects on major developments that occurred at the Panel during the tenure of the author as the Executive Secretary of the World Bank Inspection Panel and shows how the Panel has evolved to improve accessibility, has influenced overall development policies, and has become a catalyst for institutional change. The essay observes that the Panel’s success has largely been due to its structural and operational independence, reporting as it does directly to the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. However, there are challenges facing the Panel on certain issues, including most importantly its independence, …

Human Rights And Lawyer’S Oaths, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

Each lawyer in the United States must take an oath to be licensed to practice law. The first time a lawyer takes this oath is usually a momentous occasion in their career, marked by ceremony and celebration. Yet, many lawyer’s oaths today are unremarkable and irrelevant to modern law practice at best, and at worst, inappropriate, discriminatory, and obsolete. Drawing on a fifty-state survey of lawyer’s oaths in the United States, this article argues that it is past time to update lawyer’s oaths in the United States and suggests drawing on human rights to make lawyer’s oaths more accessible and …

Privatizing International Governance, Melissa J. Durkee

Scholarly Works

The theme of this panel is “Privatizing International Governance.” As the opening vignettes should make clear, public-private partnerships of all kinds are increasingly common in the international system. Since United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan's launch of the Global Compact in 2000, the United Nations has increasingly opened up to business entities. Now, the Sustainable Development Goals, the Global Compact, and the Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights all encourage engaging with business entities as partners in developing and executing global governance agendas. These partnerships are seen by some as indispensable to sustainable development, international business regulation, climate change mitigation, …

Towards The Abolition Of The Immigration Detention Of Children In The United States, Lauren E. Bartlett

All Faculty Scholarship

For over a decade, international human rights mechanisms have been calling for the prohibition of the detention of children based solely on immigration status. Human rights experts agree that the detention of children for immigration purposes is never in the best interests of the child, it leads to long-term harm, and it is a clear human rights violation. Until recently, the United States has detained hundreds of thousands of migrant children in cages each year and we have still not outlawed the inhumane practice. This article argues that engaging with international human rights mechanisms on this topic, including during the …

Legislated Ableism: Bill C-7 And The Rapid Expansion Of Medical Assistance In Dying In Canada, Isabel Grant

All Faculty Publications

This paper explores the recent expansion of medical assistance in dying to disabled people who are suffering intolerably but are not at the end of their lives. The paper argues that it is impossible to separate suffering caused by an irremediable disability and suffering caused by the impacts of systemic ableism, which include high rates of poverty, social isolation and exclusion for people with disabilities. The paper suggests that this expansion raises constitutional issues under s. 15 and s. 7 of the Charter because it is premised on a view that portrays disability as potentially worse than death and thus …