Law Commons^™

Un-Torturing The Definition Of Torture And Employing The Rule Of Immigration Lenity, Irene Scharf

Faculty Publications

In the first three sections, I examine the background of the Convention in the context of international human rights instruments (Section I); the context for a critique of the CAT’s definition of torture, given the legislative history of the Convention and an existing statute that could aid in correcting the misinterpretation adversely affecting CAT enforcement (Section II); and the adverse international implication of the United States’ restrictive meaning of torture (Section III). In a concluding section (IV), I offer possible solutions to the problem, invoking a robust principle of Immigration Lenity to prevent the return of potential torture victims to …

Freedom From Food: On The Need To Restore Fdr’S Vision Of Economic Rights In America, And How It Can Be Done, Evgeny Krasnov

Evgeny Krasnov

Within the U.S. policy discourse, it has long been taken for granted that the body of human rights law does not—and should not—include economic rights, which include the right to adequate food, shelter, and health care. This is an irony of history, since the origins of modern-day economic rights law lie in the policies advocated by the U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

This Article argues that (1) the common justifications for neglecting economic rights are not sound; (2) there is a pressing need to recognize economic rights in the United States; and (3) the best way to do so is …