Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
- Institution
Articles 1 - 13 of 13
Full-Text Articles in Law
Promises To Keep: Diplomatic Assurances Against Torture In Us Terrorism Transfers, Human Rights Institute
Promises To Keep: Diplomatic Assurances Against Torture In Us Terrorism Transfers, Human Rights Institute
Human Rights Institute
“Diplomatic assurances” are promises not to torture. They are sought when transferring a detainee from the custody of one government to another. Not surprisingly, they are sought from governments that typically torture.
This report surveys the law and practice of assurances in the US and, comparatively, in Canada and Europe. It is the culmination of a long-term engagement by Columbia’s Human Rights Clinic and its faculty to research and support advocacy on diplomatic assurances. That process has involved advocacy with Swedish NGOs, support for research by Human Rights Watch, FOIA requests with the ACLU and collaborative efforts with UN mechanisms. …
Hybrid Courts: Examining Hybridity Through A Post-Colonial Lens, Elizabeth M. Bruch
Hybrid Courts: Examining Hybridity Through A Post-Colonial Lens, Elizabeth M. Bruch
Law Faculty Publications
No abstract provided.
"A Guantanamo On The Sea": The Difficulties Of Prosecuting Pirates And Terrorists, Eugene Kontorovich
"A Guantanamo On The Sea": The Difficulties Of Prosecuting Pirates And Terrorists, Eugene Kontorovich
Faculty Working Papers
As a surge in pirate attacks in the seas around the Horn of Africa threatens to seriously damage international trade, the nations of the world have refused to enforce international law against these criminals. The dozens of nations patrolling the Gulf of Aden have ample legal authority to detain and prosecute pirates. Yet the United States and other navies have, as a matter of policy, been releasing apprehended pirates because of the difficulty of detaining or successfully prosecuting them. These fears are not unwarranted. As this Essay shows, while on the one hand international law requires all nations to fight …
International Human Rights At The Close Of The Twentieth Century, Anthony D'Amato
International Human Rights At The Close Of The Twentieth Century, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
Speculates as to why the human-rights revolution is increasingly likely to dominate our foreign-policy attentions in the decades to come. Ventures some predictions, of particular interest perhaps to international lawyers, about where the cause of international human rights is heading.
Human Rights As Part Of Customary International Law:A Plea For Change Of Paradigms, Anthony D'Amato
Human Rights As Part Of Customary International Law:A Plea For Change Of Paradigms, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
The question for us international lawyers is how, and how much of, public sentiment for human rights has been transformed into binding international law.
The Relation Of The Individual To The State In The Era Of Human Rights, Anthony D'Amato
The Relation Of The Individual To The State In The Era Of Human Rights, Anthony D'Amato
Faculty Working Papers
I address the question of the relation of the individual to the state and, in so doing, invoke Hegel, the preeminent philosopher of relationships. As students of international law, we should look forward to achieving the complex synthesis implicit in Hegel's philosophy: to promote the human rights of all persons in the natural context of the unique nation in which they live. Examines a legal problem that highlights this interrelatedness: Frolova v. Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.
From Kosovo To Catalonia: Separatism And Integration In Europe, Christopher J. Borgen
From Kosovo To Catalonia: Separatism And Integration In Europe, Christopher J. Borgen
Faculty Publications
In July 2010 the International Court of Justice rendered its Advisory Opinion on the legality of Kosovo's declaration of independence and the Constitutional Court of Spain rendered an opinion concerning the autonomy of Catalonia. Two very different cases, from very different places, decided by very different courts. Nonetheless, they each provide insights on the issue of separatism in the midst of European integration. Does the Kosovo opinion open the door for other separatist groups? Does the process of European integration increase or undercut separatism? In addressing these questions, this article proceeds in three main parts. Part A briefly recaps the …
Rethinking International Women's Human Rights Through Eve Sedgwick, Darren Rosenblum
Rethinking International Women's Human Rights Through Eve Sedgwick, Darren Rosenblum
Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications
Since the death of Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, I have wanted to honor her memory, and this panel is the perfect venue. Sedgwick's foundational understandings of sexuality, gender, and identity set the stage for much of my work and that of those I admire. My own work looks at how the state regulates gender in the “public” sphere. I attempt to challenge the tensions and intersections among international and comparative notions of equality and identity. Group identity constructions vary across cultural lines and conflict with liberal notions of universalist constitutionalism and equality. My current work, Unsex CEDAW: What's Wrong with Women's …
Dynamic Federalism In Human Rights Treaty Implementation, Johanna Kalb
Dynamic Federalism In Human Rights Treaty Implementation, Johanna Kalb
Articles
In response to the growing academic and political movement that opposes the direct incorporation of treaties into domestic federal law, numerous scholars have proposed that states take on an increased role in the domestic interpretation and implementation of international human rights treaties. The focus of this scholarship to date has been to locate doctrinal gaps where state legislatures and courts may act without intruding in areas of traditionally federal jurisdiction. Thus far, however, little effort has been directed towards modeling an affirmative obligation for state participation in treaty implementation, despite the fact that state action is arguably required, both pragmatically …
Human Rights For Hedgehogs?: Global Value Pluralism, International Law, And Some Reservations Of The Fox, Robert D. Sloane
Human Rights For Hedgehogs?: Global Value Pluralism, International Law, And Some Reservations Of The Fox, Robert D. Sloane
Faculty Scholarship
This essay, a contribution to the Boston University Law Review’s symposium on Ronald Dworkin’s forthcoming book, Justice for Hedgehogs, critiques the manuscript’s account of international human rights on five grounds. First, it is vague: it fails to offer much if any guidance relative to many of the most difficult concrete issues that arise in the field of international human rights law and policy - precisely the circumstances in which international lawyers might benefit from the guidance that moral foundations supposedly promise. It is also troubling, and puzzling given Dworkin’s well-known commitment to the right-answer thesis, that his account of human …
Treaties As Law And The Rule Of Law: The Judicial Power To Compel Domestic Treaty Implementation, William M. Carter Jr.
Treaties As Law And The Rule Of Law: The Judicial Power To Compel Domestic Treaty Implementation, William M. Carter Jr.
Articles
The Supremacy Clause makes the Constitution, federal statutes, and ratified treaties part of the "supreme law of the land." Despite the textual and historical clarity of the Supremacy Clause, some courts and commentators have suggested that the "non-self-executing treaty doctrine" means that ratified treaties must await implementing legislation before they become domestic law. The non-self-executing treaty doctrine has in particular been used as a shield to claims under international human rights treaties.
This Article does not seek to provide another critique of the non-self-executing treaty doctrine in the abstract. Rather, I suggest that a determination that a treaty is non-self-executing …
International Human Rights Law In Japan: The View At Thirty, Timothy Webster
International Human Rights Law In Japan: The View At Thirty, Timothy Webster
Faculty Publications
Japanese courts have become increasingly open to the use of international human rights law in the past two decades. This paper examines several of the key decisions that reflect the judiciary's embrace of international law, particularly in the areas of criminal procedure and minority rights. I argue that the judiciary has eclipsed the other branches of government as the primary disseminator of human rights norms in Japan.
Embedded International Law And The Constitution Abroad, Sarah H. Cleveland
Embedded International Law And The Constitution Abroad, Sarah H. Cleveland
Faculty Scholarship
This Essay explores the role of "embedded" international law in U.S. constitutional interpretation, in the context of extraterritorial application of the Constitution. Traditional U.S. understandings of the Constitution's application abroad were informed by nineteenth-century international law principles of jurisdiction, which largely limited the authority of a sovereign state to its geographic territory. Both international law and constitutional law since have developed significantly away from strictly territorial understandings of governmental authority, however. Modern international law principles of jurisdiction and state responsibility now recognize that states legitimately may exercise power in a number of extraterritorial contexts, and that legal obligations may apply …