Law Commons^™

Taking Responsibility Under International Law: Human Trafficking And Colombia’S Venezuelan Migration Crisis, Luz Estella Nagle, Juan Manuel Zarama

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

For more than six million Venezuelans, crossing international borders has become imperative to ensuring security and a livelihood that their country has failed to assure. These migrants and refugees, particularly young women and children, are vulnerable to many depredations, criminal acts, and the risk of becoming trafficking victims for forced labor and sexual slavery. This article focuses on State responsibility for migrant populations and analyzes conditions in Venezuela that caused a massive migration, the conditions in Colombia as a host State, the uncertain status of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, and human trafficking and its impact on the migrant population.

Non-State Actors "Under Color Of Law": Closing A Gap In Protection Under The Convention Against Torture, Anna R. Welch, Sangyeob Kim

Faculty Publications

The world is experiencing a global restructuring that poses a serious threat to international efforts to prevent and protect against torture. The rise of powerful transnational non-state actors such as gangs, drug cartels, militias, and terrorist organizations is challenging states’ authority to control and govern torture committed within their territory.

In the United States, those seeking protection against deportation under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) must establish a likelihood of torture at the instigation of or by consent or acquiescence of a public official acting in an official capacity or other person acting in an official capacity. However, what is …

Torture In Our Schools?, Leila Nadya Sadat

Scholarship@WashULaw

America’s kids are not okay. As gun violence surges and politicians dither, school shootings are traumatizing a generation of youth. While only one manifestation of America’s gun violence crisis, school shootings are shocking in their ferocity, the senseless and random nature of the violence, and their impact upon millions of young, captive, and vulnerable individuals. This Essay makes the claim that the suffering of America’s school children from uncontrolled gun violence may be significant enough in scale and kind to rise to the level of ill-treatment under international law, violating U.S. treaty obligations and customary international law. If so, their …

Sovereign Authority And Rule Of Law: The Effect Of U.S. Use Of Torture On Political Legitimacy, Sydney Bradley

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Governmental sovereignty is created and maintained by mutual respect for the rule of law by the government and citizens. To maintain legitimacy, a government must act within the bounds of the contract that created it. Otherwise, the relationship founded by said contract would be nullified, as would the duties and obligations that flow from that relationship. Torture exemplifies an ultra vires act used by the United States to show the consequences of over-extended authority on political legitimacy and the rule of law. Founded on the philosophies of Hugo Grotius, Thomas Hobbes, and Christine Korsgaard, this research investigates the nature of …

Institutionalization And Torture Of People With Disabilities In Mexico: A Case For Holding States Responsible For Crimes Against Humanity, Priscila Rodriquez

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Amicus Curiae Observations By Public International Law & Policy Group, Situation In The Democratic Republic Of The Congo, Milena Sterio, Michael P. Scharf, Paul R. Williams

Law Faculty Briefs and Court Documents

The Public International Law & Policy Group (“PILPG”) offers the following amicus curiae observations pursuant to the Decision No. ICC-01/04-02/06-2569. PILPG is willing to appear before the Court if it would assist. Prof. Paul R. Williams, Dean Michael P. Scharf, Prof. Milena Sterio, Dr. Brianne McGonigle Leyh, Dr. Julie Fraser, Jonathan Worboys, Eian Katz, Raghavi Viswanath, Nicole Carle, Alexandra Koch, Isabela Karibjanian, and Olivia Wang contributed to these observations.

Submission To The United Nations Universal Periodic Review Of Yemen, Mwatana Organization For Human Rights, Human Rights Clinic, Cairo Institute For Human Rights Studies, International Federation For Human Rights (Fidh), Gulf Centre For Human Rights (Gchr)

Human Rights Institute

Mwatana for Human Rights (Mwatana), the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic (the clinic), Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR) submit this report to inform the examination of Yemen during its third Universal Periodic Review (UPR). This submission focuses on international human rights and humanitarian law violations by the Government of Yemen and by the armed group Ansar Allah (the Houthis).

Arbitration And Protection Under The Un Convention Against Torture And Other Cruel, Inhuman, Degrading Treatment, Or Punishment, Nicole M. Hogan

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

This article will discuss the UN Convention Against Torture, and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (“Convention”), and how arbitration can be used to best serve victims who were subjected to treatment that is prohibited under the Convention. Part II will give a background on the Convention. Part III will introduce the arbitration provision that is included in Article 30 of the Convention, which is important to the foundation of this article. Additionally, this section will discuss how arbitration works as an Alternative Dispute Resolution procedure, and will highlight some of the benefits of arbitration over litigation. Part …

Sequencing Peace And Justice In Syria, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of individuals and the displacement of millions. Efforts to refer the Syrian situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) have consistently failed despite well-documented reports about the commission of serious crimes in Syria, including the use of chemical weapons against civilians, torture, the use of child soldiers, and crimes of sexual violence.

This Article explores whether the dual goals of peace and justice can be reconciled in the Syrian context and how these goals may be properly sequenced in order to potentially achieve long-lasting peace in …

Judge Posner's Road Map For Convention Against Torture Claims When Central American Governments Cannot Protect Citizens Against Gang Violence, Steven H. Schulman

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

The Civil Redress And Historical Memory Acts Of 2029: A Legislative Proposal, William J. Aceves

Faculty Scholarship

During the extant “War on Terror,” U.S. and foreign nationals who did not engage in hostilities were detained and mistreated abroad by the United States or by other countries with the acquiescence of the United States. These individuals were accused of being terrorists or were suspected of associating with terror groups, but they were, in fact, innocent. They were eventually released and were never charged by the United States with any crime. Despite their innocence, the United States has failed to provide them with any form of redress for their mistreatment. The Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations refused to apologize …

Ilhan, Nura, Radwa, Ziagull And Children, Ilhan, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Ilhan, his wife Nura, and their children resided near Kabul, in a region where both the Taliban and ISIS were active. As Shias, Ilhan’s family faced numerous menaces, including threats from ISIS that they would be beheaded if they did not display ISIS flags. Ilhan’s sister Radwa, who is deaf and mute, was forced to marry a regional leader. In addition to being threatened on religious grounds, Ilhan’s family was also threatened by an elder of their town. Out of desperation, Ilhan’s family sold their house appliances, escaped Afghanistan, and arrived at the …

How International Law Can Eradicate Torture: A Response To Cynics, Juan E. Mendez

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Closing Plenary: Preventing Torture In The Fight Against Terrorism, Claudio Grossman

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Implementing Human Rights In Closed Environments Through The United Nations Convention Against Torture, Claudio Grossman

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Closed environments pose a major challenge to the full and effective implementation of human rights norms and conventions. However, many conventions contain mechanisms that can be used to further advance implementation of human rights in those closed environments. The United Nations Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment (the Convention) has several mechanisms in place that play an important role in enforcing and implementing human rights obligations. Along with the creation of a supervisory organ, the Committee against Torture (the Committee), the Convention provides a framework for: State Party reporting and concluding observations (COBs) under …

Implementing Human Rights In Closed Environments Through The United Nations Convention Against Torture, Claudio M. Grossman

Claudio M. Grossman

All Other Breaches: State Practice And The Geneva Conventions’ Nebulous Class Of Less Discussed Prohibitions, Jesse Medlong

Michigan Journal of International Law

With respect to the protections afforded by the Geneva Conventions, a great deal of ink has been spilled in recent years over the two-tiered system of tribunals employed by the United States in its prosecution of enemy combatants in the “war on terror.” Less discussed, though, is the wholly separate two-tiered system for sorting violators of the Geneva Conventions that emerges from the very text of those agreements. This stratification is a function of the Conventions’ distinction between those who commit “grave breaches” and those who merely commit “acts contrary to the provisions of the present convention” or “all other …

Panel Iv: Challenges To Proving Cases Of Torture Before The Committee Against Torture, Juan E. Mendez

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

The Dark Sides Of Convergence: A Pro-Civilian Critique Of The Extraterritorial Application Of Human Rights Law In Armed Conflict, Naz K. Modirzadeh

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

The Object Of Torture Is Torture: Extraordinary Renditions To Jordan And Human Rights In The War On Terror, Kat Mitchell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Hassan Saleh bin Attash, a Yemeni national, was just seventeen at the time of his September 2002 arrest in Pakistan. The young man spent four days in a Karachi prison before being taken to a United States-run prison in Kabul, where he was held and allegedly tortured through the middle of September. He was then rendered to Jordan.

Much Ado About Non-State Actors: The Vanishing Relevance Of State Affiliation In International Criminal Law, John Cerone

San Diego International Law Journal

Much has been made recently of the deficiencies of international law in grappling with violence perpetrated by non-state actors. From transnational terrorist networks to private security contractors (PSCs), organizations that are not officially part of the apparatus of any state are increasingly engaged in protracted episodes of intense violence, giving rise to questions of accountability under international law. Does international law provide rules applicable to such conduct? While the repression of crime, especially that perpetrated by non-state actors, has traditionally been left to the internal law of states, most international jurists will point to the ancient rules of international law …

Institutionalizing Torture: The Case Of Hospitals And Prisons In China, Leighann Mcchesney

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has a notorious reputation, especially within the international human rights community, concerning its state-implemented practices of torture. Although the government of China has been charged by many international organizations with having a gruesome human rights record, on anything from freedom of speech to freedom of religion, the accusations of state-sanctioned torture undoubtedly have caused some of the strongest reactions around the world. This article seeks to address the various manifestations of torture that take place inside two of the most prominent public institutions in China: the prisons and the mental hospitals. By utilizing these …

Starting From Here, Ashley R. Deeks

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Luncheon Address International Legal Public Diplomacy, John B. Bellinger Iii

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

The Ethics Of Torture, Rebecca Evans

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Torture: Does It Make Us Safer? Is It Ever OK? A Human Rights Perspective. Edited by Kenneth Roth and Mindy Worden. New York: The New Press, 2005. 201 pp.

“I’M Just Talking About The Law”: Guantánamo And The Lawyers, Marten Zwanenburg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Guantánamo: The War on Human Rights by David Rose. New York: The New Press, 2004.

Treatment And Interrogation Of Detained Persons, David E. Graham

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Military Commissions - Kangaroo Courts?, Charles H.B. Garraway

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Christina M. Cerna On The Torture Papers: The Road To Abu Ghraib. Edited By Karen J. Greenberg And Joshua L. Dratel. Cambridge, Ma: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 1249 Pp., Christina M. Cerna

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Torture Papers: The Road to Abu Ghraib. Edited by Karen J. Greenberg and Joshua L. Dratel. Cambridge, MA: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 1249 pp.