Law Commons^™

Childsoldiers,Slavery, And The Trafficking Of Children, Susan W. Tiefenbrun

Susan W Tiefenbrun

Despite a proliferation of international human rights treaties, labor laws, and humanitarian laws that should provide children with special protection from abduction into child soldiering, the trafficking of children and their use as soldiers is increasing. This paper will examine the relationship of human trafficking, slavery, and child soldiering. Part I will examine the root causes of the development and expansion of child soldiers. Part II will examine the international and domestic laws that protect against the use of children as soldiers. Part III will examine two literary representations of the use of child soldiers and the significant insights such …

Debt To Odious Finance: Avoiding The Externalities Of A Functional Odious Debt Doctrine, Christiana Ochoa

Christiana Ochoa

Christiana Ochoa* Abstract The Odious Debt Doctrine has limped along in the legal imagination for over 100 years and by some estimates even since Aristotle. In recent years, and particu-larly in recent months, legal theorists and practitioners have attempted to define the contours and details of this controversial and undeveloped doctrine. This Article looks at the generally agreed upon characteristics of the odious debt doctrine and considers the spill-over effects and externalities that would ensue if this doctrine were ever made regularly operative. Many commentators have noted the in-creased costs of borrowing and lending that would result from the doctrine. …

The Unfinished Business Of American Democracy, Ezequiel Lugo

Ezequiel Lugo

For the last two decades, U.S. courts have been using customary international law (CIL) when dealing with human rights claims. Recently, the Supreme Court has used international law to decide cases involving constitutional rights. However, U.S. courts have not used CIL to address the right to vote, one of the most fundamental human rights. This Article surveys evidence of the right to vote as CIL and concludes that the right to vote has become a norm of CIL. It cannot, however, be directly incorporated into U.S. law because of previous judicial decisions. Nevertheless, the U.S. can comply with this norm …

Interview With Heitam Maleh, Marcel Stuessi

Marcel Stüssi

This is a previously unpublished interview on democracy and religious liberty in Syria.

Transitional Justice And Post-Conflict Israel/Palestine: Assessing The Applicability Of The Truth Commission Paradigm, Ariel Meyerstein

Ariel Meyerstein, JD, PhD

This thought experiment examines whether transitional justice has a place in the Israeli-Palestinian post-conflict and, at the same time, what attempting to fit the Israeli-Palestinian conflict into the transitional paradigm can teach us about the limits and possibilities of the transitional justice paradigm. In particular, the Israeli-Palestinian context presents challenging issues regarding the large beneficiary and collaborator classes in both societies. The article concludes by observing that history has proven truth commissions not to be panaceas, but that they offer a limited, inherent “procedural value” to post-conflict societies by instantiating new political dynamics between former political enemies.

Intercountry Adoption And Poverty: A Human Rights Analysis, David M. Smolin

David M. Smolin

This Article explores the question of whether intercountry adoption is an effective, appropriate, or ethical response to poverty in developing nations. As a matter of methodology, this fundamental question of adoption ethics is explored through the lens of international human rights law. This Article specifically argues that, where the birth parents live under or near the international poverty standard of $1 per day, family preservation assistance must be provided or offered as a condition precedent for accepting a relinquishment that would make the child eligible for intercountry adoption.

Database Sui Generis Right: The Need To Take The Public's Right To Information And Freedom Of Expression Into Account, Estelle Derclaye

Estelle Derclaye

No abstract provided.

Protecting The Public Trust And Human Rights In The Great Lakes, Melissa K. Scanlan

Melissa K. Scanlan

No abstract provided.

Smoke And Mirrors Or Science? Teaching Law With Computers - A Reply To Cass Sunstein On Artificial Intelligence And Legal Science, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

The article explores the possibilities and limits of AI for teaching and modeling law.

Human Rights And Civil Litigation In United States Courts: The Holocaust- Era Cases, Samuel P. Baumgartner

Samuel P. Baumgartner

This is a comment on an article by Professor Burt Neuborne, in which he describes in detail the Holocaust assets litigation against Swiss, German, Austrian, and French corporations. In the comment, I attempt to put that litigation episode into the larger context of human rights enforcement through civil litigation in United States courts as seen from a theoretical concept drawn from international relations theory. I then try to gain some insights into such civil human-rights litigation from the Holocaust cases.

I conclude that the Holocaust-era litigation has done considerable good by creating a vast pool of assets for distribution among …

End-Of-Life And The Good Society, Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler, Sylviane Colombo

Dr. Reuven (Ruvi) Ziegler

The article offers a tentative proposal for legislation which explicitly recognizes a legal right to receive palliative care treatment in Israel

The Birth Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights, Michael Cooper

Michael D. Cooper, Esq.

This short article, written for an audience of U.S. based social science teachers, reviews the historical circumstances surrounding the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which the United Nations General Assembly adopted on December 10, 1948. The narrative focuses attention on the negotiating process and, in particular, Eleanor Roosevelt’s role as Chair of the U.N. Commission on Human Rights, which drafted the landmark document.

Rising Temperatures: Rising Tides, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Transboundary environmental problems do not distinguish between political boundaries. Global warming is expected to cause thermal expansion of water and melt glaciers. Both are predicted to lead to a rise in sea level. We must enlarge our paradigms to encompass a global reality and reliance upon global participation.

Lessons From Malcolm X: Freedom By Any Means Necessary, Ali Khan

Ali Khan

It is no secret that Malcolm's doctrine of freedom by any means necessary generates fear. It advocates the use of force in an attempt to gain social justice which poses a threat to law and order of the society. This concept is particularly disturbing to those who control the means of change. This idea, however, is also disturbing to those who prefer non-violence even when they are subjected to injustice, those who have resigned themselves to failure, and to those who have been filled with fear ever since they were babies. Malcolm understood the impact of his militancy, and he …