Law Commons^™

Indigenus Peoples' Rights At The Intersection Of Human Rights And Intellectual Property Rights, Chidi Oguamanam

Chidi Oguamanam

Exploration of the interface between human rights (HRs) and intellectual property rights (IPRs) is a venture still at a gestational stage. One of the major challenges of that initiative is how to map indigenous peoples’ rights into the discourse. Indigenous peoples’ rights pose significant challenges to both HRs and IPRs jurisprudence. Not only is there a clarity gap over indigenous peoples’ rights in the international bill of rights. Indigenous people’s rights are analogous misfits to any head of conventional HRs as well as conventional IPRs. Overall, indigenous people’s rights are a source of irritation to both HRs and IPRs. The …

Direct Participation In Hostilities From Cyberspace, Collin Allan

Collin Allan

As demonstrated by the cyber attacks against Georgia in 2008 and the cyber attacks against Aramco in 2012, civilians are increasing their participation in armed conflicts through cyber attacks. In 2009, the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) published a document on how to determine when a civilian’s participation in armed conflict reaches the necessary level to render him or her targetable by one of the parties to the conflict. The Tallinn Manual was published this year to provide legal guidance in cyber situations. While professionals have written in this area previously, it is the first time that experts …

Speech Along The Atrocity Spectrum, Gregory S. Gordon

Gregory S. Gordon

In the abstract, speech may have much intrinsic value with its power to facilitate democracy, self-actualization, and good will. But, in certain contexts, it can also be quite deleterious, spawning division, ignorance, and hatred. Within the crucible of atrocity, speech may be similarly Janus-faced. Its power to prevent mass violence is indubitable. But its capacity for enabling mass violence is similarly unquestionable. So the issue arises: when and how may speech work for good or ill in relation to atrocity? This Article grapples with that question. And, in doing so, it finds that the relationship between speech and atrocity should …

Consent And Self-Determination In Human Rights Lawmaking, Vijay Padmanabhan

Vijay M Padmanabhan

A range of actors have advocated and implemented changes in how international human rights law is made and interpreted to reduce a State’s control over the content of its human rights obligations. Such efforts are premised on the view that State consent is an impediment to development of human rights. This article argues, however, that State consent is essential to the protection of the human right of self-determination, a right which guarantees people collective control over their political, economic, social and cultural development. Thus, efforts to expand international human rights without State consent themselves infringe upon a human right.

Because …

Reclassifying "Terrorists" As Victims: Integrating Terrorism Analysis Into The Particular Social Group Framework Of Asylum, Emily Naser-Hall

Emily Naser-Hall

After the September 11th terrorist attacks at the hands of al-Qaeda operatives who slipped through the cracks of the US immigration system, immigration and asylum law became increasingly focused on ensuring that potential terrorists are not allowed into the United States. The USA PATRIOT Act and its subsequent legislation created what has become an unyielding bar to admission for any individual who is a member of a terrorist organization or who has committed terrorist activities. While the terrorism bar developed in response to real or perceived threats to US national security and has recently regained public light with the trial …

The Push To Criminalize Aggression: Something Lost Amid The Gains?, Mark A. Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

The International Criminal Court has jurisdiction over the crime of aggression, but the Rome Statute fails to define the crime. A Special Work- ing Group on the Crime of Aggression, however, has made considerable progress in developing a definition. The consensus that has emerged favors a narrow definition. Three characteristics animate this consensus: (1) that state action is central to the crime; (2) that acts of aggression involve inter- state armed conflict; and (3) that criminal responsibility attaches only to very top political or military leaders. This Article normatively challenges this consensus. I argue that expanding the scope of the …

International Law Colloquia, Spring 2006 Series, Roger Alford, Laura Dickinson, Mark Drumbl, Karen Knop, Diane Orentlicher, Brad Roth, Edward Swaine

Mark A. Drumbl

Spring 2006 Presenters: February 10: Laura A. Dickinson (University of Connecticut School of Law), Democracy and Trust February 17: Mark A. Drumbl (Washington and Lee University School of Law), Atrocity and Punishment February 24: Karen Knop (University of Toronto Faculty of Law), Enemies and Outlaws: War and the Public/Private Citizen March 3: Brad R. Roth (Wayne State University Department of Political Science), State Sovereignty, International Legality, and Moral Disagreement April 7: Diane Orentlicher (American University Washington College of Law), Whose Justice? Reconciling Universal Jurisdiction with Democratic Principles April 14: Roger P. Alford (Pepperdine University School of Law), Foreign Relations as …

Intellectual Property, Ag-Biotech And The Right To Adequate Food: A Critical African Perspective, Chidi Oguamanam

Chidi Oguamanam

Recent transformations in agricultural innovations have resulted in the consolidation of intellectual property rights in the agricultural arena resulting in an ongoing struggle for the control of plant genetic resources. For many developing countries, especially in Africa, traditional and communal-based artisanal farmers are the producers of over three quarters of regional food supply. But contemporary techno-legal transformations in agriculture undermine the critical role of these informal actors in a manner that aggravates the state of regional food insecurity in Africa. The aspirations of African countries to implement their obligations in regard to the right to adequate food under the International …

Is Torture Justified In Terrorism Cases?: Comparing U.S. And European Views, Stephen P. Hoffman

Stephen P. Hoffman

This essay discusses issues of torture and some of the philosophical underpinnings. First, I define torture as it is used in international and human rights law. Then, I discuss three primary theories of torture: deontology, consequentialism, and threshold deontology. After setting this groundwork, I introduce particular issues in terrorism cases such as the “ticking bomb” scenario, which is often used to argue that torture may be appropriate and possibly required when done to save many lives. This invariably must include a discussion of the necessity doctrine, the legal doctrine allowing an individual to take extraordinary — even illegal — measures …

“Germans Are The Lords And Poles Are The Servants”: The Trial Of Arthur Greiser In Poland, 1946, Mark Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

No abstract provided.

Process For The Dispossessed: Procedural Rights From Magna Carta To Modern International Law, Mark Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

No abstract provided.

Imfing With Your Economic Rights: The Greek Tragedy Of The Eurozone, James C. Brady

James C Brady

While international human rights law promulgates that economic, social and cultural rights (economic rights) be supported just as fervently as civil and political rights, the reality is, they are not. The Greek debt crisis and resulting austerity measures demonstrate how a growing world economy is having an increasingly large impact on economic rights. States treat economic rights obligations similar to how businesses treat risk – that is, states seek to reduce their obligations like businesses seek to reduce their risk. As a result, economic rights remain second fiddle to their civil/political counterpart and a victim of supranational monetary monoliths like …