Law Commons^™

Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: The 2010 Report By The Un Special Representative On Business And Human Rights, Jernej Letnar Cernic

Jernej Letnar Černič

The relationship between human rights law and business has emerged in recent years as one of the most topical to be discussed and put on the agenda almost worldwide. The activities of corporations in this globalized environment have often served as the catalyst for human rights violations; due to the lack of institutional protection, some corporations are able to exploit regulatory lacunae and the lack of human rights protection. On 9 April 2010 Professor John Ruggie, the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary General on human rights and transnational corporations and other business enterprises, submitted his fifth Report under …

Legal Analysis Of Petroleum Investment In An International Conflict Zone: Southern Sudan, Barrie Hansen

Barrie Hansen JD (Hons), LLM

The "resource curse" is a term that was coined to describe the problems that inevitably occur in developing countries with significant resource wealth. Little academic attention has been given to the legal issues which may permit an American resource investor to safely make an investment in a developing country. The article addresses the spectrum of legal issues that have arisen in one particular "conflict zone" and how the investor may structure their investment to maximize their real return whilst avoiding the legal hazards of investing in a conflict zone.

International Civil Religion: Respecting Religious Diversity While Promoting International Cooperation, Amos Prosser Davis

Amos Prosser Davis

International civil religion grounds moral claims that permeate and transcend traditional religious paradigms. Given the inevitability of international interactions – interactions that cross geographic, religious, and cultural boundaries – our global society is in need of a universally endorsable framework that undergirds the United Nations international human rights regime. International civil religion provides that framework.

Numerous scholars and moral theorists have incrementally discerned the parameters of civil religion including, inter alia, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Alexis de Tocqueville, Robert Bellah, Martin Marty, and Harold Berman. The tenets of international civil religion infuse the diplomatically drafted United Nations covenants and conventions on human …

Human Trafficking: Iraq - A Case Study, Ali Allawi

Ali Allawi

The accompanying Article explores the issue of human trafficking and sexual exploitation in postwar Iraq. It attempts, in three steps to firstly identify the issue of human trafficking and how it pertains to Iraq, secondly to examine Iraq’s international legal obligations to address the human rights violations and human trafficking issues, and lastly, recommend implementable solutions that the Iraqi government can take to meet its international obligations and remedy the problem at hand. The Article sheds new light on the growing humanitarian crisis in post war Iraq and brings awareness of the monumental challenges that face both the government and …

Introduction: The New Collective Security, Peter G. Danchin, Horst Fischer

Peter G. Danchin

Whether viewed as a socio-legal project gently civilizing states away from an older politics of diplomacy, deterrence, self-help and legitimate warfare, or as an institutional project establishing a collective security system premised on the rule of law, the primary purpose of the United Nations today remains the maintenance of international peace and security and the abolition of the “scourge of war.” In March 2003, the U.S. and its allies invaded Iraq, a member State of the United Nations, in order to disarm it and change the regime of Saddam Hussein. The war shook the United Nations and leading capitals around …

Never Say Never: Searching For Common Ground Between Muslim And Western Nations On The Issues Of Human Dignity And Human Rights, Travis Weber

Travis Weber

Travis Weber 3736 Silina Drive Virginia Beach, VA 23452 703-470-5411 tsweber@gmail.com May 4, 2010 To Whom It May Concern: Enclosed is an abstract for my article, entitled Never Say Never: Searching for Common Ground Between Muslim and Western Nations on the Issues of Human Dignity and Human Rights. My article examines the gap between Islamic and Western views of human rights, explores how this gap developed, and briefly reviews how different theories of jurisprudence would approach this gap. Due to the current world-wide increase in religious activity, including the prominence of Islam, and the version of morality that Islam brings …

How Many Global Deaths From Arms? Reasons To Question The 740,000 Factoid Being Used To Promote The Arms Trade Treaty, David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant, Joanne D. Eisen

David B Kopel

Currently, the United Nations is drafting an Arms Trade Treaty to impose strict controls on firearms and other weapons. In support of hasty adoption of the Treaty, a UN-related organization of Treaty supporters is has produced a report claiming that armed violence is responsible for 740,000 deaths annually. This Article carefully examines the claim. We find that the claim is based on dubious assumptions, cherry-picking data, and mathematical legerdemain which is inexplicably being withheld from the public. The refusal to disclose the mathematical calculations used to create the 740,000 factoid is itself cause for serious suspicion; our own calculations indicate …

Collaborative Community-Based Natural Resource Management, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

This article analyzes the importance of increasing civil society actor access to and influence in international legal and policy negotiations, drawing from academic scholarship on governance, conservation and environmental sustainability, natural resource management, observations of civil society actors, and the authors’ experiences as participants in international environmental negotiations.

Emerging Law Addressing Climate Change And Water, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

The World Economic Forum recognizes that while restrictions on energy affect water systems and vice versa, energy and water policy are rarely coordinated. The International Panel on Climate Change predicts that wet places will become wetter and dry places will become dryer. Transboundary water, energy and climate coordination can occur through international consensus building.