Law Commons^™

Feeling Good Or Doing Good: Inefficacy Of The U.S. Unilateral Sanctions Against The Military Government Of Burma/Myanmar, Thihan M. Nyun

Thihan M Nyun

No abstract provided.

Liberty At The Altar Of Security, Aaron J. Shuler

Aaron J Shuler

No abstract provided.

Litigation Or Legislation: Protecting The Rights Of Internally Displaced Persons In Colombia, Jennifer Easterday

Jennifer Easterday

One of the most pressing and often overlooked consequences of over 40 years of fighting in Colombia is internal displacement. Approximately 3.8 million people have been displaced in Colombia since 1985, nearly 10% of its population. This is the second worst IDP crisis in the world, second only to Sudan. IDPs in Colombia suffer egregious violations of their basic human rights everyday.

In this Article, I analyze Colombian policy and legislation concerning IDPs, and how the continuing deprivation of rights resulting from displacement has been litigated in the Colombian court system. By considering the parameters of each attempt to protect …

The Liberalizing Effects Of Tort: How Corporate Complicity Liability Under The Alien Tort Statute Advances Constructive Engagement , Richard Herz

Richard Herz

Does allowing U.S. corporations to evade liability for abetting human rights abuses such as genocide or torture ultimately promote democratic reform in countries with repressive regimes? In suits recently filed under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), the Bush Administration has claimed that it does. It has filed briefs opposing liability, asserting that liability would limit the U.S. government’s ability to adopt a “constructive engagement” policy of using U.S. private sector investment to promote democracy and human rights. This Article challenges the Administration’s position.

The Administration’s argument has inserted the long-running policy debate regarding the efficacy of “constructive engagement” into the …

Prostituting Peace: The Impact Of Sending State’S Legal Regimes On U.N. Peacekeeper Behavior And Suggestions To Protect The Populations Peacekeepers Guard, Alexandra R. Harrington

Alexandra R. Harrington

Abstract: Prostituting Peace: The Impact of Sending State’s Legal Regimes on U.N. Peacekeeper Behavior and Suggestions to Protect the Populations Peacekeepers Guard, Alexandra R. Harrington, Esq.

Prostitution has many meanings. It’s most obvious meaning is in the context of selling sexual relations for monetary or other gain. However, it is not only in this way that people can be prostituted and, certainly, it is possible to prostitute things other than people. Many nations and societies have outlawed the act of prostitution in its transactional sense. Prostitution of commonly held human values has also been theoretically outlawed within the international community, …

Representing Children Representing What?, Annette Ruth Appell

annette appell

This essay reflects on how lawyering for children relates to the personhood of children and youth. More concretely, it critically explores the role of children’s lawyers in promoting the individual and systemic interests of their youthful constituents. At a time when children are increasingly viewed as rights-holders, provided with attorneys, and subject to coercive state intervention and restriction, questions regarding who speaks for children and how children’s voice informs discussions about childhood, dependency, family and community are particularly cogent. On behalf of individual, and classes of, children, lawyers are actively engaged in the creation, definition and promotion of rights regarding …

Two Crises Of Confidence: Securing Non-Proliferation And The Rule Of Law Through Security Council Resolutions, Vik Kanwar

Vik Kanwar

This timely article describes the powers of the United Nations Security Council as they have developed in the field of non-proliferation, and demonstrated in recent resolutions, and goes on to propose a normative framework based on the model of reciprocal “confidence-building” measures to ensure the legality and legitimacy of these resolutions.

Recent proliferation crises (concerning Iran, North Korea, and non-state proliferation networks) have led the Council draw upon various sources-- express and implied powers under the UN Charter, powers granted by specific treaties, and an unusual degree of international consensus-- to expand its powers. This paper attempts to transcend false …

A Realistic Evaluation Of Climate Change Litigation Through The Lens Of A Hypothetical Lawsuit, Shi-Ling Hsu

Shi-Ling Hsu

Several dozen cases that can be classified as "climate change litigation" have been filed worldwide, and legal scholars have already generated a considerable amount of writing on the phenomenon. The debate and scholarship has sometimes gotten ahead of itself, reflecting on the normative implications of outcomes that are still speculative at this point. This article seeks to ground this debate by analyzing the actual legal doctrines that may serve as bases for liability, and seeks to make a realistic evaluation of the likelihood of success of these types of suits. Climate change litigation, in its various forms, raises issues of …

The Holocaust, Museum Ethics, And Legalism, Jennifer Kreder

Jennifer Kreder

The attached article is a provocative analysis of the “Holocaust art movement.” The movement has led to significant and controversial restitutions from museums. This article focuses on two emotionally driven claims refused by the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum: One to recover a suitcase stolen from a murdered man, and the other to recover watercolors a woman was forced to paint for Josef Mengele to document his pseudo-scientific theories of racial inferiority and his cruel medical experiments. These claims provide insightful case studies to examine the emotional and ethical aspects of such disputes uncomplicated by the monetary issues in many of the …

Human Rights And Gun Confiscation, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

This Article addresses a human rights problem which has been generally ignored by the advocates of firearms confiscation: the human rights abuses stemming from the enforcement of coercive disarmament laws.

Part I conducts a case study of the U.N.-supported gun confiscation program in Uganda, a program which has directly caused massive, and fatal, violations of human rights. Among the rights violated have been those enumerated in Article 3 (“the right to life, liberty and security of person” ) and Article 5 (“No one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment”) of the Universal …

The Human Right Of Self-Defense, David B. Kopel, Paul Gallant, Joanne D. Eisen

David B Kopel

The United Nations Human Rights Council has declared that there is no human right to self-defense. Moreover, the Council has ordered all governments to enact very restrictive gun laws (more severe than those of Washington, D.C., or New York City, for example), and has declared that failure to enact such laws constitutes a human rights violation. Further, the HRC states that it is a human rights violation for a government to allow person to use a firearm in self-defense against a rapist or other criminal who is not attempting homicide.

This Article critically examines the HRC's claims by analyzing the …

Is There A Relationship Between Guns And Freedom? Comparative Results From 59 Nations, David B. Kopel, Carlisle Moody, Howard Nemerov

David B Kopel

There are 59 nations for which data about per capita gun ownership are available. This Article examines the relationship between gun density and several measures of freedom and prosperity: the Freedom House ratings of political rights and civil liberty, the Transparency International Perceived Corruption Index, the World Bank Purchasing Power Parity ratings, and the Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom. Although exceptions can be found, the data show a statistically significant relationship between higher levels of gun ownership and lower corruption, greater economic freedom, and greater prosperity. The cause and effect relationships appear to operate in both directions; that is, …

Dhimmitude And Disarmament, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

Under shari'a law, non-Muslims, known as dhimmi, have been forbidden to possess arms, and to defend themselves from attacks by Muslims. The disarmament is one aspect of the pervasive civil inferiority of non-Muslims, a status known as dhimmitude. This Essay examines the historical effects of the shari'a disarmament, based on three books by Bat Ye'or, the world's leading scholar of dhimmitude. As Ye'or details, the disarmament had catastrophic consequences, extending far beyond the direct loss of the dhimmi's ability to defend themselves. The essay concludes by observing how pretend gun-free zones on college campuses turn the adults there into 21st …

Poisoned Milk And The Poisoning Of Democracy: Some Cautions About China Trade And Taiwan Sovereignty, David B. Kopel

David B Kopel

This Paper examines some of the benefits and dangers of Taiwan's deepening economic ties to China.

In brief, the expansion of cross-Strait economic relations has benefited Taiwan economically, but may pose serious dangers to Taiwan's democratic sovereignty. China's rising Comprehensive National Power - which aims to suppress Taiwan's sovereignty and self-government - has been significantly enhanced by investment from Taiwan itself. China's trade policies are directed for political purposes, particularly for drawing the people of Taiwan into a subordinate relationship with the Chinese dictatorship.

China's strategy has already succeeded in imposing self-censorship on many Taiwanese voices, including many businesses and …

The Disruption Of Marital Eharmony: Distinguishing Mail-Order Brides From Online Dating In Evaluating "Good Faith Marriage", Brandon N. Robinson

Brandon N. Robinson

ABSTRACT In today’s society, more and more people are turning to the information superhighway to find love. No longer confined to the girl or boy “next door,” many of today’s single men and women can connect with potential soul mates across the globe with the simple click of a button, symbolizing yet another consequence of a world community that is quickly becoming smaller and more interconnected. Once an international “match” has been made, the U.S. citizen can begin the complicated process of bringing his newfound loved one to the States. The IMO industry has a much more sinister underbelly, however, …

When “Fear Of Persecution…” Requires Deportation: “Catch 22” False-Document Prosecutions After A Grant Of Asylum, Peter Erlinder

C. Peter Erlinder

No abstract provided.

The Curse Of Ethnic Belonging: An Analysis Of Kenya’S 2007 Post-Elections Conflicts In The Light Of Democracy And Human Rights, Morris K. Mbondenyi

Morris K Mbondenyi

No abstract provided.

Improving The Substance And Content Of Civil And Political Rights Under The African Human Rights System, Morris K. Mbondenyi

Morris K Mbondenyi

No abstract provided.

Is Florida Still A State? The Implications Of The Abrogation Of The Adams-Deonis Treaty On Florida's Status Under International Law., William Pena Wells

william pena wells

The United States acquired the Spanish colonies of East and West Florida in 1819 by virtue of the Adams-deOnis Treaty. At the close of the Spanish American War of 1898, the United States and Spain signed a treaty which “abrogated” and "annulled” all prior treaties, including the Adams-deOnis Treaty. This article proposes that having handed over sovereignty of the Florida territory, the United States merely occupies the area as a colonial power, subject to the provisions of the United Nations Charter, which provides for territorial self-determination of colonial peoples.

Swimming Upstream: Pre-Release Detainees In The Face Of Rising Bonds, Craig R. Novak

Craig R. Novak

Investigating a persistent thread discussed among immigration law practitioners, this Article explores whether or not bond determination amounts are increasing beyond what most non-criminal immigrants can raise, and therefore they are effectively incarcerated. Concluding affirmatively that immigration judges are dramatically raising the amount of bonds, the Article explores the background of pre-release bonds and bail and the spirit and nature of them in both criminal and immigration law.

Yet, although a case is made that the bond determination amounts are against the spirit of pre-release, the question remains as to why, and under what policies are people, some of whom …

Explosive Road From Dublin: The Legal Flaws In The Convention To Ban Cluster Munitions And Recommendations For Their Cure., Alexandra R. Harrington

Alexandra R. Harrington

In a popular Irish folk song, the hero leaves his boyhood home in the Irish country

side and takes the “rocky road to Dublin” in order to sail to a new life in a new country. However hopeful the hero is throughout his journey, when he arrives at his destination he finds that it is not as hospitable as he had expected. Despite its light-hearted beat, this song is oddly prophetic for an analysis of the Convention to Ban Cluster Munitions.

In May, 2008, the Convention to Ban Cluster Munitions (“Cluster Munitions Convention”) was adopted by a group of one-hundred …