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Standard Setting In Human Rights: Critique And Prognosis, Makau Mutua Nov 2017

Standard Setting In Human Rights: Critique And Prognosis, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

This article interrogates the processes and politics of standard setting in human rights. It traces the history of the human rights project and critically explores how the norms of the human rights movement have been created. This article looks at how those norms are made, who makes them, and why. It focuses attention on the deficits of the international order, and how that order - which is defined by multiple asymmetries - determines the norms and the purposes they serve. It identifies areas for further norm development and concludes that norm-creating processes must be inclusive and participatory to garner legitimacy …


Just Back From The Human Rights Council, Makau Mutua Nov 2017

Just Back From The Human Rights Council, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

The piece critically looks at the transition from the UN Commission on Human Rights to the UN Human Rights Council in 2006 and questions whether the change is one of substance or form. It argues that the same paralysis that dogged the Commission will continue to afflict the Council because power politics and regional blocs - fueled by the global asymmetries of power - will not go away. The piece also contends that the charge by the West that the Commission was utterly compromised by the Third World was without merit because it was the one forum where developing could …


Critical Race Theory And International Law: The View Of An Insider-Outsider, Makau Mutua Nov 2017

Critical Race Theory And International Law: The View Of An Insider-Outsider, Makau Mutua

Makau Mutua

This article contends that international law, like national law, is captive to the racial biases and hierarchies that hide injustice under the pretext of legal neutrality and universality. It argues that international law is tormented by racist and hegemonic asymmetries that govern the international order. The piece posits that international law could benefit greatly from the method of critical race theory in unpacking the pathologies of power and race that define it. It focuses on the use of international law to conceive and buttress the exploitation and marginalization of the North by the South. It calls for a reconstruction of …


Beyond Westphalia: Competitive Legalization In Emerging Transnational Regulatory Systems, Errol E. Meidinger Nov 2017

Beyond Westphalia: Competitive Legalization In Emerging Transnational Regulatory Systems, Errol E. Meidinger

Errol Meidinger

Published as Chapter 7 in Law and Legalization in Transnational Relations, Christian Brütsch & Dirk Lehmkuhl, eds.

This paper analyzes several emerging transnational regulatory systems that engage, but are not centered on state legal systems. Driven primarily by civil society organizations, the new regulatory systems use conventional technical standard setting and certification techniques to establish market-leveraged, social and environmental regulatory programs. These programs resemble state regulatory programs in many important respects, and are increasingly legalized. Individual sectors generally have multiple regulatory programs that compete with, but also mimic and reinforce each other. While forestry is the most developed example, similar …


Balancing Security And Liberty In Germany, Russell A. Miller Oct 2017

Balancing Security And Liberty In Germany, Russell A. Miller

Russell A. Miller

Scholarly discourse over America’s national security policy frequently invites comparison with Germany’s policy. Interest in Germany’s national security jurisprudence arises because, like the United States, Germany is a constitutional democracy. Yet, in contrast to the United States, Germany’s historical encounters with violent authoritarian, anti-democratic, and terrorist movements have endowed it with a wealth of constitutional experience in balancing security and liberty. The first of these historical encounters – with National Socialism – provided the legacy against which Germany’s post-World War II constitutional order is fundamentally defined. The second encounter – with leftist domestic radicalism in the 1970s and 1980s – …


Prosecuting Those Bearing 'Greatest Responsibility': The Lessons Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Charles Chernor Jalloh Aug 2017

Prosecuting Those Bearing 'Greatest Responsibility': The Lessons Of The Special Court For Sierra Leone, Charles Chernor Jalloh

Charles C. Jalloh

This Article examines the controversial article 1(1) of the Statute of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) giving that tribunal the competence “to prosecute those who bear the greatest responsibility” for serious international and domestic crimes committed during the latter part of the notoriously brutal Sierra Leonean conflict. The debate that arose during the SCSL trials was whether this bare statement constituted a jurisdictional requirement that the prosecution must prove beyond a reasonable doubt or merely a type of guideline for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion. The judges of the court split on the issue. This paper is the …


Ending Impunity The Case For War Crimes Trials In Liberia, Charles Chernor Jalloh, Alhagi Marong Aug 2017

Ending Impunity The Case For War Crimes Trials In Liberia, Charles Chernor Jalloh, Alhagi Marong

Charles C. Jalloh

This paper argues that Liberia owes a duty under international law to investigate and prosecute the heinous crimes, including torture, rape and extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians, committed in that country by the various warring parties in the course of 14 years of brutal conflict. The authors evaluate the options for prosecution, starting with the possible use of Liberian courts. They argue that even if willing, the national courts are unable to render credible justice that protects the due process rights of the accused given the collapse of legal institutions and the paucity of financial, human and material resources in …


A Race Approach To International Law (Rail): Is There A Need For Yet Another Critique Of International Law, Ediberto Román Jun 2017

A Race Approach To International Law (Rail): Is There A Need For Yet Another Critique Of International Law, Ediberto Román

Ediberto Roman

This work reviews an important shortcoming of the dominant public international paradigm and the recent methodical responses to that edifice. Specifically, this article argues that issues of race have not been significantly addressed in international law discourse. In particular, this Article notes that in the theoretical discourse some writers have discussed race, but the thrust of the discourse marginalizes the importance of race. In the practice of international law, people of color are affected but rarely recognized in policy debates. Additionally, this work attempts to explain how a discourse that positions race at the center of the discourse increases the …


Tears In Heaven: Religiously And Culturally Sensitive Laws For Preventing The Next Pandemic, Eloisa C. Rodriguez-Dod, Aileen Maria Marty, Elena Maria Marty-Nelson Feb 2017

Tears In Heaven: Religiously And Culturally Sensitive Laws For Preventing The Next Pandemic, Eloisa C. Rodriguez-Dod, Aileen Maria Marty, Elena Maria Marty-Nelson

Eloisa C Rodríguez-Dod

This Article argues that laws created to curtail the spread of deadly contagious diseases need to be drafted and implemented in ways that maximize acceptance of an affected communities’ cultural and religious beliefs. When laws are put in place that are inconsistent with community mores, the overall goal of stopping an epidemic is threatened. Communities often distrust government and other relief organizations who mandate rules and regulations that impinge their religious and cultural beliefs; thus, these regulations geared at helping communities can paradoxically undermine the goal of preventing the spread of infectious disease. This Article focuses on the need for …


Courts, Sovereign Immunity, And Credible Commitment In Sovereign Debt Markets, W. Mark C. Weidemaier Dec 2016

Courts, Sovereign Immunity, And Credible Commitment In Sovereign Debt Markets, W. Mark C. Weidemaier

W. Mark C. Weidemaier

This essay revisits the role of legal enforcement in sovereign debt markets. The conventional view, which has long held sway in the economic literature, is that the law of sovereign immunity denies creditors effective legal remedies when governments do not repay their debts. To many observers, weak legal enforcement is problematic, for effective legal remedies would facilitate credible repayment commitments and thereby increase access to credit. Though substantially correct, this perspective is also flawed. The assumption that creditors lack effective legal remedies implicitly treats sovereign immunity law as a set of mandatory rules. In fact, sovereign lenders can and do …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …


Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez Dec 2016

Environmental Racism, American Exceptionalism, And Cold War Human Rights, Carmen G. Gonzalez

Carmen G. Gonzalez


Environmental justice scholars and activists coined the terms “environmental racism” to describe the disproportionate concentration of environmental hazards in neighborhoods populated by racial and ethnic minorities. Having exhausted domestic legal remedies (or having concluded that these remedies are unavailable), communities of color in the United States are increasingly turning to international human rights law and institutions to challenge environmental racism.

 

However, the United States has ratified only a handful of human rights treaties, and has limited the domestic application of these treaties through reservations and declarations that preclude judicial enforcement in the absence of implementing legislation. Indeed, …