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Advancing Racial Justice And Human Rights: Rights-Based Strategies For The Current Era, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

On June 1, 2018, the Human Rights Institute convened its 15th annual CLE Symposium on Human Rights in the United States, a signature event of the Human Rights Institute’s Bringing Human Rights Lawyers’ Network. The day-long event brought together more than 150 leading U.S. lawyers, activists, and academics, along with federal and local government representatives to share strategies to advance racial justice within a domestic and global context increasingly hostile to human rights.

This report highlights key takeaways and themes from the Symposium, drawing from speakers’ remarks and their advocacy. It also serves as a basic human rights primer, describing …

Human Rights Recommendations To The United States: A Desk Reference For State And Local Human Rights Agencies, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

State and local human rights and human relations agencies play a pivotal role in promoting and protecting human rights across the country. Indeed, state and local agencies work on a daily basis to foster equality and eradicate discrimination. Through education, monitoring, and addressing human rights issues, they ensure the ability of the United States to make human rights a reality in local communities.

To assist state and local agencies in doing this work, this resource distills the core human rights principles that fall under the jurisdiction of many state and local agencies, and offers guidance to strengthen the culture of …

Implementing Recommendations From The Universal Periodic Review: A Toolkit For State And Local Human Rights And Human Relations Commissions, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

The United States’ international leadership in promoting human rights around the world is strengthened by state and local officials’ efforts to employ and advance human rights close to home. Indeed, state and local human rights and human relations commissions can play a pivotal role in help- ing the U.S. meet its own human rights obligations by ensuring fairness, dignity and opportunity for all in their communities.

This Toolkit provides information about a recent review of the United States’ human rights record under the United Nations’ Universal Periodic Review (“UPR”), which revealed a number of areas in which the United States …

The Role Of The United States Senate Concerning "Self-Executing" And "Non-Self-Executing Treaties", Lori Fisler Damrosch

Faculty Scholarship

This essay concerns a pattern in treaty actions of the U.S. Senate which tends to weaken the domestic legal effect of treaties. Under this pattern, the Senate qualifies its consent to U.S. ratification of the treaty with a declaration or other condition to the effect that the treaty shall be non-self-executing, or otherwise expresses its intention that the treaty shall not be used as a direct source of law in U.S. courts. Such qualifications, referred to hereinafter as "non-self-executing declarations," give rise to important questions about the place of the affected treaties within the fabric of U.S. law, especially in …

Politics Across Borders: Nonintervention And Nonforcible Influence Over Domestic Affairs, Lori Fisler Damrosch

Faculty Scholarship

It is time for a fresh look at the norm of nonintervention in domestic affairs, as applied to nonforcible efforts to influence another state's internal politics. The existence of such a norm is widely proclaimed, and it is commonly assumed to be a legal obligation rather than a mere practice of comity or aspirational objective. For governments, scholars and international organs alike, the "rule" against interference in internal politics seems to be an article of faith; but despite the frequency of its incantation in international discourse, how the norm applies to nonforcible conduct is inadequately understood.

This article considers the …