Law Commons^™

Corporate Accountability In Transitional Justice: Reflections On An Ongoing Social Lab (Roundtable), Tatiana Devia, Avery Kelly, Kaushik Sunder Rajan

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This roundtable describes and reflects upon the Corporate Liability and Sustainable Peace (CLASP) Lab, a “social lab” convened to advance corporate accountability in post-conflict and transitional justice settings around the world. Launched in February 2021, the CLASP Lab is a virtual forum in three languages, bringing together more than 40 lawyers and community activists from 25 countries in Latin America, Africa and the Middle East to share experiences and devise strategies for holding corporations accountable for human rights violations, as part of processes of transitional justice.

Contesting Human Rights Defenders At The Un Human Rights Council, M. Joel Voss

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Human rights defenders are being increasingly targeted across the globe. The rise of nationalist, populist regimes is of great concern to both human rights defenders and those that advocate for the rights of defenders. The problem is not only of domestic concern. The UN Human Rights Council, the UN’s preeminent human rights institution, is also seeing an increasing number of attacks on defenders, both in formal settings like discussions on resolutions and the Universal Periodic Review process and informally, through threats to participants at the Council.

This paper attempts to better understand and predict which states will both try to …

Ethics And Methods Of Human Rights Work: Exploring Both Theoretical And Practical Approaches, Shayna Plaut, Maritza Felices Luna, Christina Clark Kazak, Neil Bilotta, Lara Rosenoff Gauvin

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This workshop will explore both theoretical and practical approaches to methodologies and ethics as it relates to human rights work.

The goal of the workshop is to create a dynamic space that encourages participants to share and learn from our own experiences navigating the messiness of human rights ethics and methods. We specifically address formal education and systems and structures so that we may all design, do and teach research and practice related to human rights in a more critical and sustainable manner. We recognize the tensions of creating research, programs and advocacy that is seen as “legitimate” to educational …

International Surrogacy Arrangements: A Human Rights Case, Marisa Araújo

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The scientific development in Artificial Reproductive Technology (ART), especially IFV solutions, are promoting the development of our reproductive options. Surrogacy is now one of these solutions and new ethical and legal problems arise.

Domestic Laws have the most different positions. If there are countries that admit surrogacy arrangements, even commercial ones like the Florida State in the USA (and the particular case of India); others criminalize these procedures and others, like the UK (and Portugal), have a middle term position.

Considering the frontier zone in which surrogacy takes its place, the debate is more exuberant since the concrete legal solution …

The Rise Of ‘Right-Wing’ Human Rights Rhetoric: A Palestinian & Israeli Case Study, Leah Wilson

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Human rights are historically understood as ‘liberal’ rhetoric, yet the following study will present an unprecedented turn by an Israeli ‘right-wing’ organization to human rights language and methodologies as a means to advance their goals. For context, the study will review how ‘liberal’ organizations in the region have employed rights-based frameworks, dating back to the rise of the first intifada in the late 1980’s. Specifically, the study focuses on three organizations that utilize the Israeli court system for their work: ACRI (Association for Civil Rights in Israel), Adalah (The Legal Centre for Arab Minority Rights in Israel), and HaMoked. Human …

The Human Right To A Healthy Environment: Pushing The Boundaries In The Inter-American System, Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The connection between the environment and human rights is not a surprising one. The enjoyment of human rights depends on a person’s ability to live free from interference and to have his or her rights protected. The interdependence of human rights and the protection of the environment is manifested in the full and effective enjoyment of the rights to life, highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, adequate standard of living, adequate food, clean water and sanitation, housing, culture, freedom of expression and association, information and education, participation, effective remedies, and the rights of indigenous peoples. Without adequate access …

Decolonizing Human Rights: Sovereignty. Disruption. Tactics., A. Kayum Ahmed

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Despite its emancipatory potential, human rights remains locked in a form of epistemic coloniality that defers to Euro-American knowledge and reinforces anthropocentric exceptionalism. In order to employ human rights as a source of emancipation, human rights must itself be emancipated—it must be decolonized. Drawing on the notion of 'decoloniality' as a framework that advances radical possibilities by delinking from structural racism, patriarchy and class embedded in capitalism and Western modernity, a typology of human rights as sovereignty, disruption, and tactics is developed as a way of understanding human rights from the position of the colonized.

A New Future? The Catholic Church, Grassroots Justice, And Accountability, Regina Menachery Paulose

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Between the 1970s and 1980s, Guatemalans, particularly the indigenous populations, were targets of a state-sponsored genocide. Several years after the genocide, Catholic Bishop Juan Gerardi of Guatemala City took the lead in creating the Recovery of Historical Memory Project which was an independent investigation into the events of the genocide. Gerardi was murdered before the report was made public. This paper will briefly discuss Gerardi’s work and his contribution to local justice in Guatemala. The author will then explore what contributions the Catholic Church could make in creating similar fact-finding missions. Could a grassroots mechanism such as the one Gerardi …

Gender, Displacement And Transitional Justice, Sinead Mcgrath

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In the past fifteen years, there has been huge emphasis on the need for gendered mechanisms dealing with both forced migration and peacebuilding. The UN landmark resolution on Women, Peace and Security (S/RES/1325) and the gender-mainstreaming of the 1951 Refugee Convention have urged all actors to increase the participation of women in peacebuilding and their protection in instances of displacement. An underdeveloped link between these issues has not been addressed by the academic community, particularly when looking at societies in transition and the relationship of displaced women to international migration organisations in the context of transitional justice. This study aims …

Invisible Women: Syrian Victims Of Gender-Based Violence As A Particular Social Group In U.S. Asylum Law, Sarah Dávila-Ruhaak

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In the midst of the worst humanitarian crisis of our time, in Syria, we have seen extreme suffering by millions who have been summarily executed, tortured, imprisoned, raped, starved, and bombed with chemical weapons. Specifically, we have seen that women have been the target of gender-based violence in the conflict by and with the acquiescence of the Assad regime forces and by opposition groups.

Women have been human shields; hostages for the bargaining of prisoner release; and victims of sexual violence and exploitation, forced marriage, and other forms of violence such as honor killings.

This gender-based violence has rendered women …

Factors Affecting Domestic Refugee Policy Development: An Analysis Of South Korea’S Case, Yun Ju Kang

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Asia is no exception to the global refugee crisis. The number of asylum-seekers in Asian countries has escalated very quickly in recent years. In the United States, President Trump's recent executive orders suspended refugee admissions, and hostile immigration policy sparked the controversy about refugees.

The rising number of refugees and migrants from the Middle East, Africa, and South Asia created political conflicts inside the European countries. The refugee issue has emerged as a global problem.

How is the world dealing with these refugee situations? What are the common barriers in designing humanistic refugee policy, and what is the best way …

The Socialization Of Human Rights As An Inroad To Protect Sacred Space, Leonard Hammer

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Serious problems exist for cultural heritage protection, and these problems are even more serious when accounting for the protection of sacred space and holy places. The lack of effectiveness of the majority of existing international norms and institutions will be reviewed in this paper, which shall then turn to potential sources for entrenching protection of scared space within states.

The paper shall rely on the human right to freedom of religion or belief as the basis for upholding sacred space given an emerging broader understanding of the right within the human rights framework.

The paper shall principally focus on the …

Mass Displacement Of Destitute People: A Trigger For Non-Refoulement Protection?, Bernardo De Souza Dantas Fico, Leticia Machado Haertel

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

This paper focuses on two problems around the mass displacement of people in extreme poverty: the characterization of such people as refugees and the application of the non-refoulement principle to mass displacements.

Extreme poverty is causal to grave human rights violations such as deprivation of water, of food, and of an adequate standard of living. These circumstances may reach a degree in which life in a country is unbearable — forcing people to move in order to enhance their likelihood of survival.

The classic understanding of the non-refoulement obligation, as enshrined in the 1951 Refugee Convention, forbids states from returning …

Faith-Based Approaches To Asylum: New Appeals To Accountability? Using Faith-Based Principles As Soft Law, Jinan Bastaki

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Can a faith-based approach encourage states to provide greater protection for those seeking refuge and asylum? In response to the fleeing of Syrian refugees to Turkey, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated numerous times that the Turkish were the anṣār — an Arabic word loosely translated as ‘supporters’ or ‘champions’ — of the Syrian refugees, making the reference to the people of the city of Medina who offered refuge and a home to Prophet Muhammad and his followers fleeing the persecution of Mecca.

The reference to the anṣār of Muhammad gives the impression that Turkey’s act of welcoming …

Global Income Inequality And The Potential For Global Democracy: A Functionalist Analysis, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The thesis that I wish to develop in this chapter is that a functionalist view of the development of global institutions suggests that the structural inequalities in global income that were a primary cause of the global economic crisis of 2008, and that continue to endanger the world economy, have the potential to provide the political preconditions for a global regime that can help redress those inequalities. To do so, however, such a regime must empower the less economically well off through representation, and the regime itself must have the practical ability to influence global economic policy. Such a regime, …

Climate Change Geoengineering: Philosophical Perspectives, Legal Issues, And Governance Frameworks, William C. G. Burns, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The international community is not taking the action necessary to avert dangerous increases in greenhouse gases. Facing a potentially bleak future, the question that confronts humanity is whether the best of bad alternatives may be to counter global warming through human-engineered climate interventions. In this book, eleven prominent authorities on climate change consider the legal, policy, and philosophical issues presented by geoengineering. The book asks: When, if ever, are decisions to embark on potentially risky climate modification projects justified? If such decisions can be justified, in a world without a central governing authority, who should authorize such projects and by …

Cutting The Gordian Knot: How And Why The United Nations Should Vest The International Court Of Justice With Referral Jurisdiction, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The International Court of Justice — the global system's oldest and most venerable tribunal — has failed to meet its full potential. This is in large measure due to the requirement that the Court may only assert jurisdiction over states with their consent, which is often withheld. To help correct for this failure, this article proposes that the Court be given a referral jurisdiction. Referral jurisdiction would empower the Court to issue advisory opinions on interstate disputes without the requirement of state consent. Standing in the way of nonconsent-based jurisdiction, however, is the problem of the Gordian Knot: The world's …

A Global Parliament: Essays And Articles, Andrew L. Strauss, Richard A. Falk

School of Law Faculty Publications

Democracy is the guiding principle for fairly and peacefully making community decision at the local, provincial, and national levels of human society. In this compilation of works, Falk and Strauss argue for a practical approach to now finally extending democratic decision-making to the global system.

Climate Change Litigation: Opening The Door To The International Court Of Justice, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In March 2003, I wrote an article for the Environmental Law Reporter surveying potential international judicial forums where victims of global warming could bring lawsuits. In the ensuing six years, numerous lawsuits have been brought in the United States and in other countries, and environmentalists can now celebrate their first significant victory. In April 2007, based upon its finding that greenhouse gases are pollutants under Section 202(a)(1) of the U.S. Clean Air Act, the Supreme Court in Massachusetts v. EPA held that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to regulate greenhouse gases.

Though we are still in …

Symposium: Envisioning A More Democratic Global System: On The First Branch Of Global Governance, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

For those interested in democratizing global governance, the threshold question of whether to pursue a popularly elected global parliament is often one of political feasibility. This article compares the potential achievability of four different strategic approaches to initiating a global parliament: Amendment of the United Nations Charter; Creation by the United Nations General Assembly as a Subsidiary Organ; Civil Society Organized Elections; And Interstate Treaty Process. The article concludes with a short discussion of how a global parliament could contribute to a more peaceful global order.

Considering Global Democracy: An Introduction To The Symposium 'Envisioning A More Democratic Global System', Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

This introduction to the symposium "Envisioning a More Democratic Global System," held at Widener University School of Law in the spring of 2006, provides a conceptual overview of symposium papers published in Volume 13:2 of the Widener Law Review. The papers fall into two groups. As a reference point for understanding how the democratization of the international system can occur, the first group examines the process of democratization at the national level. The second group of papers forward and assess specific proposals for democratizing the global system with a particular emphasis on the proposal for a global parliament.

Papers discussed …

The Deeper Challenges Of Global Terrorism: A Democratizing Response, Andrew L. Strauss, Richard A. Falk

School of Law Faculty Publications

The audacious and gruesome terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, along with the military response, have been the defining political events of this new millennium. The most profound challenge directed at the international community, and to all of us, is to choose between two alternative visions. What we call the traditional statist response emphasizes 'national security' as the cornerstone of human security. Centralization of domestic authority, secrecy, militarism, nationalism, and an emphasis on unconditional citizen loyalty, to her or his state as the primary organizing feature of international politics are all attributes of this approach.

We …

Overcoming The Dysfunction Of The Bifurcated Global System: The Promise Of A Peoples Assembly, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

Richard Falk and I have proposed that the time is ripe for global civil society to take the lead and initiate a popularly representative Global Peoples Assembly (GPA).1 The tremendous growth in the commitment to, and practice of, democracy in domestic settings2 juxtaposed against globalization's large-scale transfer of political decision making to international institutions3 has made the almost complete lack of democracy at the international level the most glaring anomaly of the global system today.

Because states are unlikely to initiate the democratization of the international order, the task of beginning the drive for the first GPA necessarily falls to …

The Case For Utilizing The World Trade Organization As A Forum For Global Environmental Regulation, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In his article "Environmental Policy in the New World Economy," Alan Miller discusses the environmental implications of globalization. Recognizing that the flow of international private capital to developing countries is far more significant than international development assistance, he questions how we can use public policy to maximize the positive environmental effects of private investment. Miller suggests the need to find strategies that utilize market forces to benefit the environment.

This article heeds Alan Miller's call by suggesting new approaches to thinking about the potential for the World Trade Organization (WTO) to play a positive environmental role.

In this article, my …

Where America Ends And The International Order Begins: Interpreting The Jurisdictional Reach Of The U.S. Constitution In Light Of A Proposed Hague Convention On Jurisdiction And Satisfaction Of Judgments, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

The recently concluded Hague Convention on Choice of Courts Agreements is the culmination of over a decade of negotiations. While the convention is very modest in what it attempts to accomplish, many observers see it as a first step toward achieving greater global uniformity of rules regarding jurisdiction and satisfactions of judgments. To the extent the United States Constitution governs the international ambit of United States jurisdiction in international cases, there is the potential for conflict between the Constitution and international treaty rules. A treaty found to be in conflict with the Constitution would likely be held invalid — at …

Beyond National Law: The Neglected Role Of The International Law Of Personal Jurisdiction In Domestic Courts, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

When one of the parties is foreign in civil personal jurisdiction cases, United States courts have assumed it appropriate to overlook international jurisdiction law and apply solely United States constitutional, statutory and common law doctrines related to jurisdiction. Courts in other countries likewise apply their own domestic doctrines of jurisdiction in international cases. Applying both positivist and normative methodologies, this article makes the theoretical case that the international law of personal jurisdiction should be applied in domestic courts.

A Global Paradigm Shattered: The Jurisdictional Nihilism Of The Supreme Court’S Abduction Decision In Alvarez-Machain, Andrew L. Strauss

School of Law Faculty Publications

In the United States v. Alvarez Machain, the United States Supreme Court held that the United States could exercise criminal jurisdiction over a Mexican doctor who was abducted by agents of the American government from his office in Mexico and transported to the United States. As the Court's first international law decision after the end of the cold war, this case set the stage for how it would approach the domestic application of international law in the post cold war era. Despite the importance of the case, the Supreme Court failed to articulate the conceptual understanding of the relationship between …