Law Commons^™

Us Policy On Small Arms Transfers: A Human Rights Perspective, Susan Waltz

Human Rights & Human Welfare

From Somalia and Afghanistan to Bosnia, Haiti, Colombia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo, small arms and light weapons were a common feature of the human rights calamities of the 1990’s.

© Susan Waltz. All rights reserved.*

*A shorter version of this paper is published as “U.S. Small Arms Policy: Having It Both Ways,” in the Summer 2007 issue of World Policy Journal.

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 cited without express permission …

Eric K. Leonard On Atrocity, Punishment, And International Law By Mark A. Drumbl. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007. 316 Pp., Eric K. Leonard

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Atrocity, Punishment, and International Law by Mark A. Drumbl. New York, Cambridge University Press, 2007. 316 pp.

Standard Setting In Human Rights: Critique And Prognosis, Makau Wa Mutua

Journal Articles

This article interrogates the processes and politics of standard setting in human rights. It traces the history of the human rights project and critically explores how the norms of the human rights movement have been created. This article looks at how those norms are made, who makes them, and why. It focuses attention on the deficits of the international order, and how that order - which is defined by multiple asymmetries - determines the norms and the purposes they serve. It identifies areas for further norm development and concludes that norm-creating processes must be inclusive and participatory to garner legitimacy …

Communications Theory And World Public Order: The Anthropomorphic, Jurisprudential Foundations Of International Human Rights, Winston P. Nagan, Craig Hammer

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article seeks to integrate different strains of knowledge and enlightenment from contradictory and often contentious jurisprudential perspectives. Our approach is to use elements of modern jurisprudence as tools and markers for a more adequate description and intellectual justification of the foundations of modern human rights law. This focus integrates existing literature that surveys law-making outside the context of the State, including the law of non-State groups, such as Jewish Law and Gypsy Law. It also examines the relevance of communications theory to law generated (in a functional sense) by individual interaction on a face-to-face basis (which Professor Harold Lasswell …

Tinkering With Torture In The Aftermath Of Hamdan: Testing The Relationship Between Internationalism And Constitutionalism , Catherine Powell

Faculty Scholarship

Bridging international and constitutional law scholarship, the author examines the question of torture in light of democratic values. The focus in this article is on the international prohibition on torture as this norm was addressed through the political process in the aftermath of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Responding to charges that the international torture prohibition -- and international law generally -- poses irreconcilable challenges for democracy and our constitutional framework, the author contends that by promoting respect for fundamental rights and for minorities and outsiders, international law actually facilitates a broad conception of democracy and constitutionalism. She takes on the question …

The Limits Of International Human Rights Law And The Role Of Food Sovereignty In Protecting People From Further Trade Liberalization Under The Doha Round Negotiations, Wenonah Hauter

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

International free trade agreements under the auspices of the World Trade Organization (WTO) seriously undermine the international human right to adequate food. Conceivably, those deprived should be able to seek redress under Article 11 of the International. Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (ICESCR), which spells out the right to adequate food. Unfortunately, while the concept of the right to adequate food has developed substantially since its inception, its implementation has been slow. It is not a well-developed tool for individuals or the groups representing them to redress harms that will likely result from the current Doha Round negotiations …

Indigenous Law And Its Contribution To Global Pluralism, James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Sending The Self-Execution Doctrine To The Executioner, Aya Gruber

Publications

No abstract provided.

A Domestic Right Of Return?: Race, Rights, And Residency In New Orleans In The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina, Lolita Buckner Inniss

Publications

This article begins with a critical account of what occurred in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. This critique serves as the backdrop for a discussion of whether there are international laws or norms that give poor, black Katrina victims the right to return to and resettle in New Orleans. In framing this discussion, this article first briefly explores some of the housing deprivations suffered by Katrina survivors that have led to widespread displacement and dispossession. The article then discusses two of the chief barriers to the return of poor blacks to New Orleans: the broad perception of a race-crime nexus …

Destructive Ambiguity: Enemy Nationals And The Legal Enabling Of Ethnic Conflict In The Middle East, Michael Kagan

Scholarly Works

In the course of the Middle East conflict since 1948, both the Arab states and Israel have tended to take harsh measures against civilians based on their national, ethnic, and religious origins. This practice has been partially legitimized by a norm in international law that permits states to infringe the liberty and property interests of enemy nationals during armed conflict. Middle Eastern governments have misused the logic behind this theoretically exceptional rule to justify far-reaching measures that undermine the “principle of distinction” between civilians and combatants and erode the principle of non-discrimination that lies at the center of human rights …

Keynote Address: Indigenous Peoples And Their Mark On The International Legal System, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Babes With Arms: International Law And Child Soldiers, Timothy Webster

Faculty Publications

This article examines advances in preventing children from participating in armed conflict. It references international human rights treaties, UN Security Council resolutions and jurisprudence from international courts to chart the course by which recruiting child soldiers became an international crime. At the same time, it calls on UN bodies – and the states that comprise them – to implement some of the many resolutions and veiled threats leveled at various groups and militias that use child soldiers.

The U.N. Disability Convention: Historic Process, Strong Prospects And Why The U.S. Should Ratify, Tara J. Melish

Journal Articles

On December 13, 2006, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously adopted the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. The Convention is historic and path-breaking on several levels, both in protection terms for the world's 650 million persons with disabilities who may now draw upon its provisions in defense of their internationally-protected rights, and in relation to the unprecedented level of civil society input and engagement in the negotiation process. This sustained and constructive engagement has given rise to a dynamic process of dialogue, cooperation, and mutual trust that will fuel monitoring and implementation work, at national and international …

A Theory Of Expressive International Law, Alex Geisinger, Michael A. Stein

Vanderbilt Law Review

What is the "pull of international society" and how does it influence the willingness of States to enter into or comply with international law? Since Grotius first identified the concept that States seek esteem from the broader global community, its parameters have proven illusive. Nonetheless, the notion remains central to discussions of why States comply with international agreements.

Understanding the reputational mechanism that impels State compliance is especially important to human rights treaties. Unlike other regimes, States that ratify and abide by the terms of these instruments receive neither reciprocal nor immediate benefits.

Consequently, the desire for international esteem is …