Law Commons^™

Anthropology, Human Rights, And Legal Knowledge: Culture In The Iron Cage, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

In this article, I draw on ethnography in the particular zone of engagement between anthropologists, on the one hand, and human rights lawyers who are skeptical of the human rights regime, on the other hand. I argue that many of the problems anthropologists encounter with the appropriation and marginalization of anthropology's analytical tools can be understood in terms of the legal character of human rights. In particular, discursive engagement between anthropology and human rights is animated by the pervasive instrumentalism of legal knowledge. I contend that both anthropologists who seek to describe the culture of human rights and lawyers who …

Introducing Discipline: Anthropology And Human Rights Administrations, Iris Jean-Klein, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

Anthropologists engage human rights administrations with an implicit promise that our discipline has something unique to offer. The articles in this special issue turn questions about relevance and care so often heard in the context of debates about human rights outside in. They focus not on how anthropology can contribute to human rights activities, but on what anthropological encounters with human rights contribute to the development of our discipline. They ask, how exactly do we render the subject relevant to anthropology? Reflecting on some ways anthropologists in this field have dispensed care for their subjects, the authors highlight two modalities …

Rights Inside Out: The Case Of The Women's Human Rights Campaign, Annelise Riles

Annelise Riles

This essay traces the relationship between activists and academics involved in the campaign for “women’s rights as human rights” as a case study of the relationship between different classes of what I call “knowledge professionals” self-consciously acting in a transnational domain. The puzzle that animates this essay is the following: how was it that at the very moment at which a critique of “rights” and a reimagination of rights as “rights talk” proved to be such fertile ground for academic scholarship did the same “rights” prove to be an equally fertile ground for activist networking and lobbying activities? The paper …

Post Scriptum To Law Making In A Global World: From Human Rights To A Law Of Mankind, Olivier Moreteau

Olivier Moréteau

No abstract provided.

Global Laws, Local Lives: Impact Of The New Regionalism On Human Rights Compliance, Stephen J. Powell, Patricia Camino Pérez

Stephen Joseph Powell

Continuation of the brisk pace of international economic growth with its necessarily increased use of natural resources—often at unsustainable levels—and its higher levels of pollution—often at the cost of citizen health—combine with the rules of the global trading system to threaten human rights to health, to freedom from forced or child labor, to non-discrimination, to a fair wage, to a healthy environment, even to democratic governance and participation in the political process. As a result, in recent years a growing number of economists begrudgingly acknowledge the incontrovertible—although presently dysfunctional—linkage between trade and human rights and the need to integrate these …

Should Or Must?: Nature Of The Obligation Of States To Use Trade Instruments For The Advancement Of Environmental, Labour, And Other Human Rights, Stephen J. Powell

Stephen Joseph Powell

This article examines whether customs, treaties, and historical facts have caused the ethical human rights obligations of economically powerful states to assume a legal quality. The author argues that the legal quality of these obligations may arise from the global harm principle of international law and human rights obligations found in treaties. As a consequence, states may be held accountable for the human rights violations of transnational corporations. Further, the author examines the possibility of pursuing claims under the U.S. Alien Tort Statute for torts committed in violation of international treaties as another avenue for enforcing human rights obligations.

Protecting Human Rights: The Approach Of The Singapore Courts, Jack Tsen-Ta Lee

Jack Tsen-Ta LEE

The Constitution is the supreme law of Singapore, but have the courts unnecessarily limited their role of upholding the Constitution? This article is based on a speech delivered at an event at the Conrad Centennial Singapore on 4 December 2014 entitled The Role of the Judiciary in the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights organized by the Delegation of the European Union to Singapore to commemorate Human Rights Day.

Piercing The Prison Uniform Of Invisibility For Black Female Inmates, Michelle S. Jacobs

Michelle S Jacobs

In Inner Lives: Voices of African American Women In Prison, Professor Paula Johnson has written about the most invisible of incarcerated women — incarcerated African American women. The number of women incarcerated in the United States increased by seventy-five percent between 1986 and 1991. Of these women, a disproportionate number are black women. The percentages vary by region and by the nature of institution (county jail, state prison or federal facility), but the bottom line remains the same. In every instance, black women are incarcerated at rates disproportionate to their percentage in the general population. In Inner Lives, Professor Johnson …

U.S. Immigration Law And The Traditional Nuclear Conception Of Family: Toward A Functional Definition Of Family That Protects Children's Fundamental Human Rights, Shani M. King

Shani M. King

Although the paramount purpose of United States immigration law is not to protect the integrity of family, U.S.immigration law does explicitly aim to do so in certain circumstances. The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) includes family reunification provisions, for example, which allow United States citizens and lawful permanent residents to petition for family members who live in other countries to join them in the United States. Even the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA), often described as a draconian statute, technically allows otherwise removable "aliens" to remain in the United States if removal would result in …

Children And Immigration: International, Local, And Social Responsibilities, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol, Justin Luna

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

This essay focuses on the human rights of immigrant children, regardless of the legality of their presence within U.S. borders, especially with respect to health, education, and welfare. In that context, the work explores, as the title suggests, the international, local, and social/cultural normative standards that structure the responsibilities -- independently and collectively, that proverbial village -- with respect to children's well-being. We develop these ideas in three parts. First, we address the foundations of the human rights idea and specifically enumerate the particular normative notions, including international treaties that govern children's lives. Next, we discuss immigration in the United …

Culture, Nationhood, And The Human Rights Ideal, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol, Sharon E. Rush

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

This paper was written as a part of a Symposium on Culture, Nation, and LatCrit (Latina/o Communities and Critical Race) Theory and focuses on the concept of voice and silence. Part I locates the works in the axis of silence and power. Part II explores how critical theory and international human rights norms can be used to develop a methodology to analyze and detect the exclusion or silencing of voices. A paradigm is developed that, by internationalizing voice, serves as a useful tool to explore power-based silencing. In Part III, the article illustrates how the proposed paradigm can focus the …

On Disposable People And Human Well-Being: Health, Money And Power, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

The foundational premise of this essay is that health and well-being are human rights issues. My focus on this theme, specifically within the human rights paradigm, is new, passionate, and personal. On December 15, 2005, just three months before the conference that prompted the writing of this essay, I lost my partner of over 20 years. She fought a valiant, strong, and dignified fight against cancer--a journey I traveled with her. During that time I learned much about health systems and health care. Most saliently, notwithstanding the reality of the extraordinarily good care she ultimately received, I realized there is …

Sexual Labor And Human Rights, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol, Jane E. Larson

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

In this Article, we engage the current human rights debate that dichotomizes prostitution either as a modern form of slavery or as the exercise of the right to work. This framework effectively sets up a coercion/consent polarity. These poles raise fundamental human rights issues; both the prohibition against slavery and the right to work are matters addressed by and central to the international human rights paradigm. Yet we argue in this Article that the human rights issues raised by prostitution cannot properly be studied nor moved towards meaningful resolution in the context of the prevailing polarity. Prostitution in its current …

María Lugones's Work As A Human Rights Idea(L), Berta E. Hernández-Truyol, Mariana Ribeiro

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

The work of Maria Lugones can be utilized to focus on the same ideas of human reality articulated in the human rights framework. She engages the complexity of humans -- the indivisibility of their identity components -- through her concepts of hybridity/multidimensionality. Similarly, Lugones captures the human need for self-determination -- a right embedded in the human rights framework -- in her work on autonomy, agency, and self-care. Finally, her quest for an antisubordination ideal, like the human rights mandate for equality and nondiscrimination, comes to life in her call for the recognition of and respect for the equality of …

Sex And Globalization, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

For some time now, I have focused on a mission to bring together the separate discourses of the human rights and trade fields -- certainly not to blend them, but to raise awareness of their myriad interconnections. Indeed, human rights and trade are interlocking pieces of the puzzle we call international law and cannot possibly remain sequestered in the "splendid isolation" in which they have existed since their inception as disciplines. In any study of globalization, especially if one endeavors to pursue its benefits for all persons, not just the elite around the world, one must be aware of and …

Using Torture Against Women, Juliet Schiller

Juliet A Schiller

According to Juan E. Mendez, UN Special Rapporteur on Torture, more than half the countries that formulate the United Nations use torture. Torture is considered to be one of the most serious violations of international laws. It is classified as a crime against humanity and as a war crime. Women are at greater risk for organized violence compared to men. According to Amnesty International, women are frequently singled out for torture in armed conflicts because of their role as educators and symbols of the community. This essay presents research into the practice of torture against women in the form of …

The International Law Of Migrant Smuggling, Anne T. Gallagher Ao, Fiona David

Anne T Gallagher

Human Rights, Women, And Third World Development, Winston E. Langley

Winston E. Langley

As part of the effort to inaugurate a new international socio-political order after World War II, international emphasis was given to certain moral and legal entitlements we have come to call human rights. That emphasis initially found its most forceful expression in the Charter of the United Nations, which not only asserts its members' faith in fundamental human rights, in the dignity and worth of the human person, as well as in the equal rights of men and women of all nations, but also recites its members' commitment to employ international machinery for the promotion of the social and economic …

From Kiobel Back To Structural Reform: The Hidden Legacy Of Holocaust Restitution Litigation, Leora Bilsky, Rodger D. Citron, Natalie R. Davidson

Rodger Citron

This paper offers a new approach to the issue of transnational corporate liability for human rights violations and more generally an inquiry into the place of domestic legal experiences in theorizing about transnational law. Grounded in a study of the Holocaust restitution litigation of the 1990s, we explain corporate liability as a type of bureaucratic liability and explore in depth the relationship between the Holocaust litigation and the theory of structural reform litigation developed in the U.S. to address the bureaucratic structure of rights violations. We read the restitution litigation in light of pluralist reformulations of structural reform, in which …

Religious Freedom Is A Human Right -- For Family Businesses Too, Paolo Carozza

Paolo G. Carozza

Paolo Carozza posted "Religious Freedom is a Human Right -- For Family Businesses Too" in Congress Blog the Hill's Forum for Lawmakers and Policy Professionals on April 3, 2014.

Is ‘Human Rights’ The Right Approach For Protecting The Interests Of Forest-Dependent People?, Prakash Kashwan

Prakash Kashwan

Nature conservation is often promoted in the name of the greater good of humanity. However, in a large number of cases, nature conservation is associated with increased militarization of resource control (see the select bibliography below). International conservation organizations have responded to such concerns by developing proposals for what they refer to as ‘rights-based approaches to conservation’. Some of the biggest conservation organizations have also come together to form the Conservation Initiative on Human Rights (CIHR), which is a consortium of international conservation NGOs that seek to improve the practice of conservation by promoting integration of human rights in conservation …

The Door Ajar: The Life Of The Alien Tort Statute Before And After Kiobel V. Royal Dutch Petroleum, Matthew K. Toyama

Matthew K. Toyama

Since the April 2013 Supreme Court decision of Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum, the future of international human rights litigation in U.S. federal courts flounders in a quagmire of complex precedent and wants a light in the darkness. This paper seeks to find the foundation of the relationship of the law of nations to at least one sovereign state, the United States, then investigates the life of a major liaison in this regard, the Alien Tort Statute, and explores the viability of the ATS as a channel for international human rights litigation moving forward. Consistent judicial opinion, contextual and textual …

"They Are Our Brothers, And Christ Gave His Life For Them": The Catholic Tradition And The Idea Of Human Rights In Latin America, Paolo G. Carozza

Paolo G. Carozza

No abstract provided.

Fundamental Rights, Moral Law, And The Legal Defense Of Life In A Constitutional Democracy, Martin Rhonheimer, Paolo G. Carozza

Paolo G. Carozza

Article by Martin Rhonheimer, translated by Paolo G. Carozza.

The Catholic Church, Human Rights, And Democracy: Convergence And Conflict With The Modern State, Paolo G. Carozza, Daniel Philpott

Paolo G. Carozza

This book chapter traces the history of the Catholic Church's relationship to the modern state, focusing on the idea of sovereignty and the development of human rights and democracy. It argues that the Catholic Church's relationship to human rights and democracy in the modern world can only be understood as reflective of both a historical convergence and a persistent tension and ambivalence. The first part argues for this dual theme in the development of Catholic doctrine, where today, as over the past several centuries, the Church's conception of the common good yields both an embrace of human rights and democracy …

The Judicial Expansion Of American Exceptionalism, Rachel Lopez

Rachel E. López

In the modern era, there is a growing sentiment that when the gravest human rights violations occur, the international community has a “responsibility to protect” the victims if the victims’ own government is unwilling or unable to do so. While much of the scholarship on the responsibility to protect focuses on the international community’s ability to engage in military intervention, the doctrine actually provides a menu of options that intervening States can employ to prevent serious abuses of human rights, including, notably for the purposes of this article, legal accountability in judicial fora. States thus have greater latitude than ever …

Adjudicating Trips For Development, Molly Land

Molly K. Land

No abstract provided.

The Life And Times Of Targeted Killing, Markus Gunneflo

Markus Gunneflo

Against the background of the ongoing shift in the perception of the legality and legitimacy of extraterritorial lethal force in counterterrorism, my doctoral thesis analyses the emergence of so-called “targeted killing” in the history of Israel and the US, as well as in international law. It finds that the relationship between targeted killing and law, particularly international law, is not a straightforward case of more or less determinate and legally binding norms being applied to state measures adopted in situations of insecurity (in this case, those of the second Intifada and 9/11) but rather one of a much longer and …

Human Rights Frames In Ip Contests, Molly Land

Molly K. Land

No abstract provided.

Rtop's Second Pillar: The Responsibility To Assist In Theory And Practice In Solomon Islands, Charles Hawksley, Nichole Georgeou

Nichole Georgeou

This paper explores the implementation of a regional capacity-building program in Solomon Islands, a state that experienced significant violence and political tension between 1998 and 2003. The July 2003 intervention of the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands (RAMSI) is a useful and relevant case study for understanding the operationalization of Pillar II of RtoP, which the authors have termed the “Responsibility to Assist” (RtoA). While RAMSI has not consciously adopted RtoP language in its operations, the rationale for the intervention included humanitarian as well as wider regional security concerns. The mission’s emphasis on developing the state’s capacities in policing …