Law Commons^™

Women And Children Last: The Prosecution Of Sex Traffickers As Sex Offenders And The Need For A Sex Trafficker Registry, Geneva Brown

Law Faculty Publications

Sex trafficking is a moral and legal tragedy that affects thousands in the United States and abroad. The U.S. State Department estimates that human traffickers bring between 14,500 and 17,500 persons annually into the United States for various avenues of exploitation, including involuntary servitude and forced prostitution. Human traffickers are highly organized into criminal syndicates that reap exponential profits exploiting vulnerable women and children. Individual states struggle to prosecute traffickers and must rely on federal prosecution of trafficking enterprises. International cooperation with local law enforcement is essential in combating trafficking, especially in the sex trade. This Article proposes that an …

Is International Law Really Law? Theorizing The Multi-Dimensionality Of Law, Elizabeth M. Bruch

Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Her Choice, Her Problem: How Having A Choice Can Diminish Family Solidarity, Richard Stith

Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores a little-noticed dimension of abortion and assisted suicide (or voluntary euthanasia): how choosing to reject those options can have a negative impact on the legally authorized choosers. Women who refuse abortion may be blamed for their choice by boyfriends, neighbors, employers, and others. Similarly, infirm or dying persons may find family and other caregivers upset by their refusal to agree to assisted suicide when voluntary death seems the sensible option. Finally, the author questions whether a life chosen as an option can ever have the dignity of a life simply accepted, i.e., whether the child a mother …

Amicus Curiae Brief On The Practice Of Cumulative Charging Before International Criminal Bodies Submitted To The Appeals Chamber Of The Special Tribunal For Lebanon Pursuant To Rule 131 Of The Rules Of Procedure And Evidence, Susana Sacouto

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

On 7 February 2011, President of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL), Antonio Cassese, issued a general invitation to, inter alia, nongovernmental organizations and academic institutions to submit briefs on specic issues related to the 15 preliminary questions addressed to the judges of the Appeals Chamber pursuant to Rule 68(G) of the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE). On 11 February 2011, the War Crimes Research Oce (WCRO) of the American University Washington College of Law submitted an amicus curiae brief under Rule 131 of the RPE addressing the specific question of whether cumulative charging is an accepted practice before …

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Convergences And Divergences In International Legal Norms On Migrant Labor, Chantal Thomas

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This essay will argue that even where disparate treaties converge doctrinally, they may diverge normatively and that normative divergence may be significant in its own right. Section I of this essay seeks to chart out an initial such analysis, conducting a concise comparison of particular rules affecting migrant workers from different realms of international law. Section I concludes with both a graphic representation of doctrinal convergences and divergences, and a further discussion the doctrinal relationships among treaties as elucidated through consideration of hypothetical legal disputes.

Section II considers the normative implications of divergent rule systems. In particular, Section II raises …

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

UF Law Faculty Publications

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 …

Unsex Cedaw, Or What's Wrong With Women's Rights, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I discusses why CEDAW continues to be relevant as the primary source of international law on sex discrimination. Until the advent of the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), CEDAW was the most widely-subscribed international treaty. Some of the draft language of CEDAW reflects the tension between category and identity and how "women" won the debate. Part II contrasts CEDAW with the Convention for the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD). It points to the identitarian focus of CEDAW as a core reason for its failures. Had CEDAW reflected a category focus, as CERD did, it would more …

Engaging The Legal Academy In Disaster Response, Rachel A. Van Cleave, Davida Finger, Laila Hlass, Anne S. Hornsby, Susan S. Kuo

Publications

More than six years ago, volunteer lawyers, law students, and law faculty from the Gulf Coast and around the country provided assistance to communities devastated by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and the systemic failures of their own government. The volunteers provided much-needed support at a time when existing legal institutions were completely overwhelmed. Through their participation, the law students learned important firsthand lessons about the lack of equality in society, the possibility of redress through law, and the limitations of law.

Disasters present challenges and opportunities for law schools and other academic institutions with social justice missions because they expose …

The Fifth Freedom: The Constitutional Duty To Provide Public Education, Areto Imoukhuede

Faculty Scholarship

“The fifth freedom is freedom from ignorance. It means that every[one], everywhere, should be free to develop his [or her] talents to their full potential – unhampered by arbitrary barriers of race or birth or income.” Lyndon B. Johnson This article argues that education is a fundamental human right that the U.S. Supreme Court has failed to recognize because of the Court’s bias towards negative, rather than positive rights. Viewed from the limited perspective of rights as liberties, the concern with declaring a fundamental right to education is that education legislation would be strictly scrutinized, thus causing the undesired result …

Rule Of Law In Haiti Before And After The 2010 Earthquake, James D. Wilets, Camilo Espinosa

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Islam In The Secular Nomos Of The European Court Of Human Rights, Peter G. Danchin

Faculty Scholarship

Since 2001 the European Court of Human Rights has decided a series of cases involving Islam and the claims of Muslim communities (both majorities and minorities) to freedom of religion and belief. This Article suggests that what is most interesting about these cases is how they are unsettling existing normative legal categories under the ECHR and catalyzing new forms of politics and rethinking of both the historical and theoretical premises of modern liberal political orders. These controversies raise anew two critical questions for ECHR jurisprudence: first, regarding the proper scope of the right to religious freedom; and second, regarding the …

A Return To Lüth, Peter E. Quint

Faculty Scholarship

In the following brief essay, which is based on a paper delivered at the 2009 Annual Meeting of Americal Society of Comparative Law, the author revisits the Lüth case, one of the central decisions of German constitutional law.

The Limited Case For Permitting Sme Procurement Preferences In The Wto Agreement On Government Procurement, John Linarelli

Scholarly Works

This is a chapter in the book, Sue Arrowsmith & Robert D. Anderson, The WTO Regime on Government Procurement: Challenge and Reform (Cambridge University Press, 2011). The chapter puts under scrutiny public procurement policies designed to benefit SMEs per se, as small or medium sized enterprises, and to evaluate whether the GPA (and hence possibly other trade agreements liberalizing procurement markets) should be more accommodating to these policies, even though these policies might restrict international trade. The chapter also evaluates whether the GPA should be more accommodating to policies designed to benefit firms controlled by individuals who belong to historically …

How Leadership In International Criminal Law Is Shifting From The United States To Europe And Asia: An Analysis Of Spending On And Contributions To International Criminal Courts, 55 St. Louis U. L.J. 953 (2011), Stuart K. Ford

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Currency Of Love: Customary International Law And The Battle For Same-Sex Marriage In The United States, 14 U. Pa. J.L. & Soc. Change 53 (2011), Sonia Bychkov Green

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

We Don't Want Dollars, Just Change: Narrative Counter-Terrorism Strategy, An Inclusive Model For Social Healing, And The Truth About Torture Commission, 6 Nw. J. L. & Soc. Pol'y 1 (2011), Kim D. Chanbonpin

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

In 2007, Professor Eric K Yamamoto acknowledged that reparations theory and practice had reached a crossroads and called for a new strategic framework that reparations advocates could utilize in working to achieve redress for social and historical wrongs. This Article attempts to answer Yamamoto's call. In it, I situate my proposal for a truth commission to redress the post-9/11 torture program in a new Inclusive Model for Social Healing. In the past, reparations advocates have relied on litigation-a strategic model that excludes participants other than the named parties-to

obtain redress. By increasing the number of stakeholders in a reparations scheme, …

African Customary Law, Customs, And Women's Rights, Muna Ndulo

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The sources of law in most African countries are customary law, the common law and legislation both colonial and post-independence. In a typical African country, the great majority of the people conduct their personal activities in accordance with and subject to customary law. Customary law has great impact in the area of personal law in regard to matters such as marriage, inheritance and traditional authority, and because it developed in an era dominated by patriarchy some of its norms conflict with human rights norms guaranteeing equality between men and women. While recognizing the role of legislation in reform, it is …

The Human Element: The Impact Of Regional Trade Agreements On The Human Rights And The Rule Of Law, Claudio Grossman

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Transitional Justice, Peace, And Prevention, Juan E. Mendez

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

Transparency In The Administration Of Laws: The Relationship Between Differing Justifications For Transparency And Differing Views Of Administrative Law, Robert Vaughn

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.

A Realist Defense Of The Alien Tort Statute, Robert Knowles

Law Faculty Publications

This Article offers a new justification for modern litigation under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), a provision from the 1789 Judiciary Act that permits victims of human rights violations anywhere in the world to sue tortfeasors in U.S. courts. The ATS, moribund for nearly 200 years, has recently emerged as an important but controversial tool for the enforcement of human rights norms. “Realist” critics contend that ATS litigation exasperates U.S. allies and rivals, weakens efforts to combat terrorism, and threatens U.S. sovereignty by importing into our jurisprudence undemocratic international law norms. Defenders of the statute, largely because they do not …

Human Rights Are Mutual Obligations: The Perceptions Of Pakistani Muslim Women About Rights And Freedom, Rashida Qureshi

Book Chapters / Conference Papers

No abstract provided.

Notes In Defense Of The Iraq Constitution, Haider Ala Hamoudi

Articles

This paper is a defense of sorts of the Iraqi constitution, arguing that the language used in it was wisely designed to allow some level of flexibility, such that highly divided political forces could find incremental solutions to the deep rooted sources of division that have plagued Iraqi society since its inception. That Iraq has found itself in such dreadful political circumstances since constitutional ratification is therefore not a function of the open ended constitutional bargain, but rather of the failure of Iraqi legal and political elites to make use of the space that the constitution provided them to develop …

Should Juries Give Reasons For Their Verdicts?: The Spanish Experience And The Implications Of The European Court Of Human Rights Decision In Taxquet V. Belgium, Stephen C. Thaman

All Faculty Scholarship

This article discusses the Belgian jury system and the decision in Taxquet v. Belgium and then explores to what extent a requirement of reasoned judgments will affect the survival of European juries. It focuses on Spain, where the jury is required to give reasons for its verdicts, and where a lively high-court jurisprudence has developed addressing the quality and sufficiency of jury reasons. This article suggests that it might be appropriate for jury courts in the United States to in some way justify their decision of guilt, in order to minimize the amount of completely innocent persons who have been …

An Analysis Of China’S Human Rights Policies In Tibet: China’S Compliance With The Mandates Of International Law Regarding Civil And Political Rights, Richard Klein

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Slavery And The Law In Atlantic Perspective: Jurisdiction, Jurisprudence, And Justice, Rebecca J. Scott

Articles

The four articles in this special issue experiment with an innovative set of questions and a variety of methods in order to push the analysis of slavery and the law into new territory. Their scope is broadly Atlantic, encompassing Suriname and Saint-Domingue/Haiti, New York and New Orleans, port cities and coffee plantations. Each essay deals with named individuals in complex circumstances, conveying their predicaments as fine-grained microhistories rather than as shocking anecdotes. Each author, moreover, demonstrates that the moments when law engaged slavery not only reflected but also influenced larger dynamics of sovereignty and jurisprudence.

Paper Thin: Freedom And Re-Enslavement In The Diaspora Of The Haitian Revolution, Rebecca J. Scott

Articles

In the summer of 1809 a flotilla of boats arrived in New Orleans carrying more than 9,000 Saint-Domingue refugees recently expelled from the Spanish colony of Cuba. These migrants nearly doubled the population of New Orleans, renewing its Francophone character and populating the neighborhoods of the Vieux Carre and Faubourg Marigny. At the heart of the story of their disembarkation, however, is a legal puzzle. Historians generally tell us that the arriving refugees numbered 2,731 whites, 3,102 free people of color, and 3,226 slaves. But slavery had been abolished in Saint-Domingue by decree in 1793, and abolition had been ratified …

The Limits Of Constructivism: Can Rawls Condemn Female Genital Mutilation?, Andrew Koppelman

Faculty Working Papers

The strategy for coping with value pluralism that Rawls has proposed is to permit political decisions, at least with respect to basic rights, to depend only on those goods that can be inferred from the bare requirements of respectful relations between persons. His account offers such a parsimonious conception of the good that it cannot cognize some atrocities. I focus on one extreme human rights case: the practice of female genital mutilation (FGM), which, it is well established, violates basic human rights. Doubtless Rawls was appalled by the practice. Yet his theory cannot generate a basis for condemning it. A …

Indonesia’S Refusal To Share Influenza Virus Specimens With The World: Reviving The Arguments For Justice In Influenza Pandemic Preparedness, Meena Krishnamurthy, Matthew Herder

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Indonesia’s December 2006 decision to stop sending influenza virus specimens to the World Health Organization’s Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN) captured international attention. At the time, the H5N1 subtype of influenza A virus was predicted to be the basis for the next pandemic. While many accused Indonesia - the country most afflicted by the virus - of putting the rest of the world in peril by withholding virus samples, Indonesia maintained that GISN was unjust for failing to ensure equitable access to vaccines developed using those samples. The H5N1 pandemic threat eventually waned, yet international negotiations to create a just …