Law Commons^™

The Role Of Human Rights Indicators In Assessing Compliance With The Un Convention On The Rights Of People With Disabilities, Arlene S. Kanter

Georgia Law Review

In recent years, international human rights treaties have come under attack for failing to fulfill their promise. While it may be true that human rights treaties have not realized their full potential in every case, there is little discussion about how to measure the impact of treaties. This Article explores the ways in which we measure compliance with human rights treaties, focusing on the Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD entered into force in 2008. Since then, 188 States Parties have ratified it. In addition, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights recently …

Opening Speech, Claudio Grossman

American University Law Review

Good morning and good afternoon, depending on your time zone. It is a great pleasure to introduce this conference on “Sea Level Rise and International Law: Assessing its Impacts on the Americas.” Sea level rise is a pressing global challenge that could generate catastrophic effects, including in the Americas, which are surrounded by four oceans: the Arctic, the Antarctic, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. Several of the countries in the Region could suffer disproportionately from the consequences of this serious phenomenon. The implications for States and people all over the world are devastating, making rising sea levels a matter of …

International Law In The Boardroom, Kishanthi Parella

Scholarly Articles

Conventional wisdom expects that international law will proceed through a “state pathway” before regulating corporations: it binds national governments that then bind corporations. But recent corporate practices confound this story. American corporations complied with international laws even when the state pathway broke down. This unexpected compliance leads to three questions: How did corporations comply? Why did they do so? Who enforced international law? These questions are important for two reasons. First, many international laws depend on corporate cooperation in order to succeed. Second, the state pathway is not robust, then or now. It is therefore vital to identify alternatives to …

Discussant Commentary On The Twenty-Fourth Annual Grotius Lecture, Karima Bennoune

American University Law Review

I express my sincere thanks to the American Society of International Law and the International Legal Studies Program at American University Washington College of Law for the invitation to be this year’s commentator. It is indeed an honor to respond to Judge Charlesworth’s erudite Grotius Lecture: “The Art of International Law.”

Just getting to say Judge Hilary Charlesworth alone is very meaningful. She is only the fifth woman judge out of 110 total judges on the International Court of Justice (ICJ) so far. Thanks to hard work by feminist international lawyers like her, there is finally an uptick in women’s …

The International Criminal Court’S Arbitrary Exercise Of Its Duties Under The Rome Statute To The Benefit Of Western Global Supremacy, Azadeh Shahshahani, Sofia Veronica Montez

Human Rights Brief

The International Criminal Court (ICC) is a constituent institution of the United Nations (UN) that investigates and prosecutes perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and the crime of aggression. Established in 1998 by the Rome Statute, the ICC may open an investigation through referrals by state parties to the Statute; referrals by the UN Security Council; or the prosecutor’s own initiative. Additionally, non-party states may extend qualified jurisdiction to the ICC to prosecute cases within their territories, setting the scope of investigations and prosecutions as well as the dates they shall encompass.

The Rome Statute assigns various other …

End Crime With Harm? Castration For Sexual Offenders In Hong Kong, Max Hua Chen

San Diego International Law Journal

The issue of post-conviction treatment of sex offenders has been the subject of debate and changes to State legislation, particularly in respect of paedophile offences. One such treatment method is through chemical or physical castration on either a mandatory or a voluntary basis. In this regard, some States have implemented these measures for certain paedophile offences. Hong Kong (HK) has no such laws in place. Researchers such as William Winslade and his colleagues highlighted that whilst paedophilia may not be a stringently defined condition, it is one which involves a “reinforcing [pattern] of sexual behaviors,” with the result that sexual …

Long Live Joint Criminal Enterprise: With A Particular Reference To Tadić’S Interactive Construction Between “The Beast” And Specific Direction, Miguel Ângelo Loureiro Manero De Lemos

San Diego International Law Journal

The idea that Joint Criminal Enterprise, in particular its extended version, contravenes fundamental principles of criminal law has gained track. Thus, not only did the International Criminal Court distance itself from the construct but, today, the widely held view is that the extended version should be discarded, not least because it is not grounded in customary international law. This Article challenges that view. While addressing scholarly criticism towards Joint Criminal Enterprise, and demonstrating why the “beast” is a solid construction, it argues that prosecutors and judges must look past the written provisions of the Statute of the International Criminal Court …

‘I Will Control Your Mind’: The International Regulation Of Brain-Hacking, Thibault Moulin

San Diego International Law Journal

In the near future, the use of neurotechnologies—like brain-computer interfaces and brain stimulation—could become widespread. It will not only be used to help persons with disabilities or illness, but also by members of the armed forces and in everyday life (e.g., for entertainment and gaming). However, recent studies suggested that it is possible to hack into neural devices to obtain information, inflict pain, induce mood change, or influence movements. This Article anticipates three scenarios which may be challenging in the future—i.e., brain hacking for the purpose of reading thoughts, remotely controlling someone, and inflicting pain or death—and assesses their compliance …

Rurality As An Intersecting Axis Of Inequality In The Work Of The U.N. Treaty Bodies, Amanda Lyons

Washington and Lee Law Review

Rurality intersects with other identities, power dynamics, and structural inequalities—including those related to gender, race, disability, and age—to create unique patterns of human rights deprivations, violations, and challenges in rural spaces. Therefore, accurately assessing human rights and duties in rural spaces requires attention to the dynamics of rurality in a particular context, the unique nature of diverse rural identities and livelihoods, the systemic forces operating in and on those spaces, and the intersections with other forms of structural discrimination and inequality.

Although much of the work of the U.N. treaty bodies has in fact addressed human rights situations in rural …

A New Framework For Digital Taxation, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim, Karen Sam

Articles

The international tax regime has wide implications for business, trade, and the international political economy. Under current law, multinational enterprises do not pay their fair share of taxes to market countries where profits are generated because market countries are only allowed to tax companies with a physical presence there. Digital companies, like Google and Amazon, can operate entirely online, thereby avoiding market country taxes. Multinationals can also exploit existing tax rules by shifting their profits to low-tax jurisdictions, thereby avoiding taxes in the residence country where their headquarters are located.

Recently, a global tax deal was reached to tackle these …

Tax Harmony: The Promise And Pitfalls Of The Global Minimum Tax, Reuven Avi-Yonah, Young Ran (Christine) Kim

Articles

The rise of globalization has become a double-edged sword for countries seeking to implement a beneficial tax policy. On one hand, there are increased opportunities for attracting foreign capital and the benefits that increased jobs and tax revenue brings to a society. However, there is also much more tax competition among countries to attract foreign capital and investment. As tax competition has grown, effective corporate tax rates have continued to be cut, creating a “race-to-the-bottom” issue.

In 2021, 137 countries forming the OECD/G20 Inclusive Framework on BEPS passed a major milestone in reforming international tax by successfully introducing the framework …

The United Nations And Human Rights Non-Governmental Organizations (Ngos) - Seventy-Five Years Of Consultations, Collaboration, And Contributions (1945-2000), George E. Edwards

Pace International Law Review

At the San Francisco Conference where the United Nations Charter was negotiated, participants and observers included representatives of “societies and organizations”—non-governmental organizations (NGOs). The precise number and identities of those NGOs is unclear, but 42 of the participants were consultants to the U.S. delegation that successfully lobbied for the Charter to include an official relationship between the U.N. and NGOs, and the promotion and protection of human rights. NGOs thus had a profoundly positive impact on the creation of the United Nations. For the first 75 years of the U.N.’s existence, NGOs have played an invaluable role in supporting the …

United Nations At 75 And The Challenges Facing International Law, Ved Nanda

Pace International Law Review

On September 21, 2020, the Member States celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of the founding of the United Nations. In the Declaration marking the occasion, world leaders recounted the achievements of the body, including catalyzing decolonization, promoting and protecting human rights, working to eradicate disease, helping mitigate dozens of conflicts, and saving lives through humanitarian action. They also enumerated challenges the world faces, such as “growing inequality, poverty, hunger, armed conflicts, terrorism, insecurity, climate change, and pandemics.” These challenges, the Declaration said, are interconnected and can only be addressed through reinvigorated multilateralism, which, it emphasized, “is not an option but a …

The Un At 75: Success Stories From The Trusteeship System, Mark E. Wojcik

Pace International Law Review

The seventy-fifth anniversary of the United Nations offers an opportunity to review its many contributions to world peace, development, human rights, and the rule of law. Among the purposes stated in its Charter, the United Nations sought “[t]o develop friendly relations among nations based on respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples . . . .” The promotion of “self-determination of peoples” fell to the U.N. Trusteeship Council, one of the six organs of the United Nations. The Trusteeship Council suspended its work on November 1, 1994, one month after the Republic of Palau, the last …

The Icc Should Not Encourage Occupation, Uri Weiss

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Law School News: Distinguished Research Professor: John Chung 05-24-2020, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Modern Peace Keeping In Africa: Lessons From Nigeria, Solomon Hailu

College of Arts and Cultural Studies Faculty Research and Scholarship

Solomon Hailu, "Modern Peace Keeping in Africa: Lessons from Nigeria," The Journal of African Policy Studies, Volume 26 No. I, 2020, pp. 69-86

Different approaches to conflict resolution and peacekeeping in African failed states have taken the centre stage of this analysis. These approaches are based not merely on theory or doctrine but on the self-perceived interests of the stakeholders in peacekeeping inside Africa. The Western powers have repeatedly expressed the view that they will not commit their armed forces to resolve African conflicts. The West's desire to place responsibility on African states, rather than sharing it, will not bring …

Transnational Perspectives On The Paris Climate Agreement Beyond Paris: Redressing American Defaults In Caring For Earth’S Biosphere, Nicholas A. Robinson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Anxiety about the fate of human civilization is rising. International Law has an essential role to play in sustaining community of nations. Without enhancing International Environmental Law, the biosphere that sustains all nations is imperiled. Laws in the United States can either impede or advance global environmental stewardship. What is entailed in such a choice?

The biosphere is changing. At a time when extraordinary technological prowess allows governments the capacity to know how deeply they are altering Earth's biosphere, nations experience a perverse inability to cooperate together. The Arctic is melting rapidly, with knock on effects for sea level rise …

How Two Sunken Ships Caused A War: The Legal And Cultural Battle Between Great Britain, Canada, And The Inuit Over The Franklin Expedition Shipwrecks, Christina Labarge

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evolving Conceptions Of Sovereignty As Applied To Membership In International Organizations, Luke C. Radice

CMC Senior Theses

In the current international climate, both nations and individuals increasingly question both the validity and necessity of international organizations. This paper seeks to answer some of those questions, and to determine why countries choose to surrender significant portions of the national power that they are afforded under traditional perceptions of “Westphalian sovereignty”. This question is answered through an analysis of historical political thought on the concept of Sovereignty, then is applied to two case studies: the United Nations and the European Union, in which the benefits and downsides of surrendering sovereignty are discussed. Ultimately, this thesis concludes that the concept …

International Standards Concerning Education In The Field Of Human Rights And Their Significance In The Contemporary Period, Sh.P. Safarova

Review of law sciences

the article is devoted to the issues of human rights education. The author gives an overview of international documents on human rights education, notes the role and importance of human rights education, as well as the need for its development in Uzbekistan. Human rights education is important for developing a culture of human rights in society and for raising the legal culture in general. The importance of human rights education ensures the correct understanding and interpretation of international human rights standards, and this is a necessary condition for their effective application. The first efforts in this direction were made within …

International Law: Legal Aspects Of The Protection Of Women’S Rights In Un System, A.B. Xayrulina

Review of law sciences

аrticle analyses the international mechanisms for the protection of women’s rights, the elimination of all forms of discrimination against women, to create and improve the effectiveness of national mechanisms for the advancement of women at the highest political level, as well as the importance of UN activities in resolving this problem.

"Cerd-Ain" Reform: Dismantling The School-To-Prison Pipeline Through More Thorough Coordination Of The Departments Of Justice And Education, Lisa A. Rich

Lisa A. Rich

In the last year of his presidency, President Barack Obama and his administration have undertaken many initiatives to ensure that formerly incarcerated individuals have more opportunities to successfully reenter society. At the same time, the administration has been working on education policy that closes the achievement gap and slows the endless flow of juveniles into the school-to-prison pipeline. While certainly laudable, there is much more that can be undertaken collaboratively among executive branch agencies to end the school-to-prison pipeline and the endless cycle of people re-entering the criminal justice system.

This paper examines the rise of the school-to-prison pipeline through …

International Lobbying Law, Melissa J. Durkee

Scholarly Works

An idiosyncratic array of international rules allows nonstate actors to gain special access to international officials and lawmakers. Historically, many of these groups were public-interest associations like Amnesty International. For this reason, the access rules have been celebrated as a way to democratize international organizations, enhancing their legitimacy and that of the rules they produce. But a focus on the classic public-law virtues of democracy and legitimacy produces a theory at odds with the facts: The international rules rules also offer access to industry and trade associations like the World Coal Association, whose principal purpose is to lobby for their …

A North-South Struggle: Political And Economic Obstacles To Sustainable Development, Imrana Iqbal, Charles Pierson

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Legal Status Of Drones Under Loac And International Law, Vivek Sehrawat

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs

No abstract provided.

Reflections On The Report Of The Un Secretary General’S High Level Panel On Access To Medicines, Frederick M. Abbott

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

Chemical Weapons And Other Atrocities: Contrasting Responses To The Syrian Crisis, Tim Mccormack

International Law Studies

Why has the use of chemical weapons in Syria engendered such a substantive multilateral response in stark contrast to almost every other egregious international law violation perpetrated against the civilian population? Various theories have been offered but the explanation has little to do with humanitarian concerns for Syrian victims and is more readily explicable by unusual (in the Syrian context) alignment of U.S. and Russian national interests. Bashar al-Assad was convinced to accede to the Chemical Weapons Convention, to surrender his stockpiles of chemical weapons and to co-operate with international investigators deployed under UN Security Council auspices amid a cacophony …

Complexity Analysis: A Preliminary Step Toward A General Systems Theory Of International Law, James L. Hildebrand

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

"Cerd-Ain" Reform: Dismantling The School-To-Prison Pipeline Through More Thorough Coordination Of The Departments Of Justice And Education, Lisa A. Rich

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

In the last year of his presidency, President Barack Obama and his administration have undertaken many initiatives to ensure that formerly incarcerated individuals have more opportunities to successfully reenter society. At the same time, the administration has been working on education policy that closes the achievement gap and slows the endless flow of juveniles into the school-to-prison pipeline. While certainly laudable, there is much more that can be undertaken collaboratively among executive branch agencies to end the school-to-prison pipeline and the endless cycle of people re-entering the criminal justice system.

This paper examines the rise of the school-to-prison pipeline through …