Law Commons^™

Asylum, Social Group Membership And The Non-State Actor: The Challenge Of Domestic Violence, Michael G. Heyman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the current approaches to asylum claims based on "social group" membership under the U.N. convention Relation to the Status of Refugees are deeply flawed. The Refugee Convention confers asylum on persons persecuted for their membership in a particular social group. Courts have struggled with the boundaries of the social group definition, and there appears to be no coherent way to reconcile all of the court decisions on what groups qualify as social groups under the Refugee Convention.

This Article suggests that courts adopt a consistent definition of what constitutes a social group. The definition proposed in …

The Qualities Of Mercy: Maximizing The Impact Of U.S. Refugee Resettlement, Daniel J. Steinbock

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Resettlement in the US. bestows a life changing benefit on thousands of overseas refugees. Because American refugee acceptance can never reach more than a tiny fraction of the world's millions of persecuted or oppressed, however, allocating this bounty requires the US. to choose the lucky few from the worthy many. Since the creation in 1980 of a permanent program of refugee resettlement, three different, and often conflicting, purposes have contended for its trove of immigration-like admissions slots. These are the removal of people from danger or hardship, the furtherance of a cluster of foreign policy objectives, and the facilitation of …

Reservations, Human Rights Treaties In The 21st Century: From Universality To Integrity, Pierrick Devidal

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis is a study of the question of the legality of reservations to international human rights treaties. The evolution of reservations law demonstrates that the system seek to promote universal adherence to multilateral treaties through flexible rules that reflects the superiority of national sovereignty in the international society. However, the flexibility of reservation law as codified in the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties has facilitated wide acceptance of multilateral treaties at the cost of their integrity. In the case of human rights treaties, this issue is of paramount importance considering the essentiality of a balance between integrity …

The Role Of Non-Judicial Mechanisms In Protecting Individual Rights : The China And Hong Kong Experiences, Ren Yue

CAPS Working Paper Series

This study intends to examine, from a socio-legal perspective, the different ways of individual rights protection in the Chinese Mainland and Hong Kong. The common misperception is that as Hong Kong Special Administrative Region is allowed to maintain its legal system inherited from the British colonial times, its residents enjoy more and wider individual freedoms than their Mainland compatriots. However, a comparison of relevant individual rights provisions of both Chinese Constitution and Hong Kong Basic Law finds that there is virtually no significant difference between them. The true differences of individual rights protection lie in various non-judicial mechanisms rooted in …

The New Imperialism: Violence, Norms, And The "Rule Of Law", Rosa Ehrenreich Brooks

Michigan Law Review

The past decade has seen a surge in American and international efforts to promote "the rule of law" around the globe, especially in postcrisis and transitional societies. The World Bank and multinational corporations want the rule of law, since the sanctity of private property and the enforcement of contracts are critical to modern conceptions of the free market. Human-rights advocates want the rule of law since due process and judicial checks on executive power are regarded as essential prerequisites to the protection of substantive human rights. In the wake of September 11, international and national-security experts also want to promote …

The Echr And States Of Emergency: Article 15 - A Domestic Power Of Derogation From Human Rights Obligations, Mohamed M. El Zeidy

San Diego International Law Journal

This study is divided into two sections. The first section is further divided into two subsections. The first subsection examines the problems in defining emergencies; in the second subsection, we will examine the preconditions required for a valid derogation. The second section determines the Strasbourg machinery for the protection of human rights. This section is also divided into four subsections. Each subsection examines separate case laws from the European Court of Human Rights. Finally, a conclusion will be deduced in the light of the former reviews.

Nigeria Since May 1999: Understanding The Paradox Of Civil Rule And Human Rights Violations Under President Olusegun Obasanjo, Philip C. Aka

San Diego International Law Journal

This Article seeks to understand why much of the hope for improved human rights has remained unrealized. It has four parts, in addition to this introduction and a conclusion. Part II provides a definition of human rights, the history of these rights in Nigeria, and the machinery that has evolved over the years, all the way up to the Obasanjo presidency, for the enforcement of these rights. Part III describes the practice of human rights in Nigeria before 1999. The section integrates General Obasanjo's role and it points to the legacy of British colonialism in Nigeria as a major factor …

Finding Fundamental Fairness: Protecting The Rights Of Homosexuals Under European Union Accession Law, Travis J. Langenkamp

San Diego International Law Journal

In tackling the issue of sexual orientation discrimination, the European Union must make significant efforts to conform or, perhaps, eradicate incongruous legislation within Applicant Countries. The difficulty of this endeavor is two-fold: first, in terms of the number and complexity of the laws of each Applicant Country; and, second, in the absence of any detailed and systematic documentation of sexual orientation discrimination within those same Applicant Countries. Compounding, if not confounding, such legitimate endeavors are the inconsistent anti-gay legislation prevalent within the present Member States. The stakes are high for Member States and Applicant Countries alike. Thus, the European Union's …

The New Leviathan, Dennis Patterson

Michigan Law Review

Reputation in any field is an elusive phenomenon: part notoriety, part honor, part fame, part critical assessment. Even in legal scholarship it has an uneven, unpredictable quality. It is hard to imagine a book by a law professor that has had more immediate impact on world leaders than Philip Bobbitt's The Shield of Achilles. Much of the national-security strategy devised by the U.S. administration after the September 11 attacks expresses ideas Bobbitt conceived long before; and from a different point on the political spectrum is the Archbishop of Canterbury, whose televised nationwide address in January explicitly took the book as …

State, Islam, And Religious Liberty In Modern Turkey: Reconfiguration Of Religion In The Public Sphere, Talip Kucukcan

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

New Impulses In The Interaction Of Law And Religion: A South Pacific Perspective, Don Paterson

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Achievements And Future Goals Of The Government Of Serbia In The Field Of Religious Freedom, Dusan Rakitic

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Brief Overview Of Law And Religion In The People's Republic Of China, Chen Huanzhong

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

New Impulses In The Interaction Of Law And Religion: The Fiji Human Rights Commission In Context, Shaista Shameem

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Conscientious Objection To War: Heroes To Human Shields, Alfred J. Sciarrino, Kenneth L. Deutsch

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Secularism And French Religious Liberty: A Sociological And Historical View, Jean Bauberot

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Standing With The Persecuted: Adjudicating Religious Asylum Claims After The Enactment Of The International Religious Freedom Act Of 1998, Craig B. Mousin

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Religious Liberty And French Secularism, Jacques Robert

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Right To Religious Freedom In Peru, Carlos Valderrama Adriansen

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Relationship Of Church And State In Belarus: Legal Regulation And Practice, Alexander Vashkevich

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unsavory White Omissions? A Review Of Uncivil Wars, David Boyle

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Response To Boyle's Comment, David Horowitz

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unexpected Racial Assertions: A Counter-Reply To David Horowitz, David Boyle

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unsavory Black Insinuations: A Reply To David Boyle, David Horowitz

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Dark Ages Of Islam: Ijtihad, Apostasy, And Human Rights In Contemporary Islamic Jurisprudence, David A. Jordan

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

From Hutchins Hall To Hyderabad And Beyond: A Comparative Look At Affirmative Action In Three Jurisdictions, Jason Morgan-Foster

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

United Nations Tribunals And Complicity In Human Rights Violations: The Assassination Of Zoran Djindjic, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article presents a hypothesis of untoward consequences through the reification of human rights.

Awaiting Doe V. Exxon Mobil Corp.: Advocating The Cautious Use Of Executive Opinions In Alien Tort Claims Act Litigation, Brian C. Free

Washington International Law Journal

In June 2001, eleven Indonesian villagers filed suit in a U.S. District Court against Exxon Mobil Corporation for its alleged complicity in human rights abuses in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The plaintiffs asserted jurisdiction and a cause of action pursuant to the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, both of which enable foreign nationals to bring international human rights claims in U.S. federal courts. The U.S. Department of State intervened in the suit, expressing its view that federal court adjudication of the plaintiffs' claims could complicate U.S. foreign policy. The State Department opinion raises concern …

Awaiting Doe V. Exxon Mobil Corp.: Advocating The Cautious Use Of Executive Opinions In Alien Tort Claims Act Litigation, Brian C. Free

Washington International Law Journal

In June 2001, eleven Indonesian villagers filed suit in a U.S. District Court against Exxon Mobil Corporation for its alleged complicity in human rights abuses in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The plaintiffs asserted jurisdiction and a cause of action pursuant to the Alien Tort Claims Act and the Torture Victim Protection Act, both of which enable foreign nationals to bring international human rights claims in U.S. federal courts. The U.S. Department of State intervened in the suit, expressing its view that federal court adjudication of the plaintiffs' claims could complicate U.S. foreign policy. The State Department opinion raises concern …

Foreword: Why Retry? Reviving Dormant Racial Justice Claims, Martha Minow

Michigan Law Review

Two familiar arguments oppose lawsuits and legislative efforts to address racial injustices from our national past, and a third tacit argument can be discerned. "Why open old wounds?": this question animates the first argument. The evidence is stale - this expresses the second argument. The third, less explicit objection reflects worries that exposing some gross and unremedied racial injustices from the past will reveal the scale of imperfections in the systems of justice and government and thereby undermine the legitimacy of those systems. To introduce the meticulous and passionate essays in this Colloquium, I elaborate and respond to each of …