Law Commons^™

The Urgent Reawakening Of The Assyrian Question In An Emerging Iraqi Federalism: The Self-Determination Of The Assyrian People, Paul A. Isaac

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This article introduces the contemporary significance of the Assyrian Question--the longstanding inquiry over the rights of a small religious and ethnic minority in Iraq. Recently, Assyrians have been violently targeted and disproportionately driven from postwar Iraq in massive numbers, threatening to obliterate their presence from their ancestral homeland forever. Addressing their legal rights, the author argues that Assyrians are an indigenous people under international law and are, therefore, entitled to the full exercise of their political, social, and cultural self-determination. The article surveys the international law of self-determination alongside provisions of Iraqi law that have been created to protect Assyrians. …

"Remnants Of Past Troubles:" Self-Government Among Territories, Alan Tauber

Alan Tauber

The United Nations has declared 2001-2010 the Second Decade for the Elimination of Colonialism. In order to achieve this goal, the 16 remaining non-self-governing territories identified under Article 73 of the UN Charter must achieve self-government. But how is the UN to determine when that goal has been achieved? It is the argument of this article that the current definitions promulgated by the UN fail to provide any clear guidance, and conducts an empirical analysis, utilizing Qualitative Comparative Analysis, to compare non-self-governing territories and self-governing territories. It finds that the UN’s lists of factors of self-government fail to provide an …

Is Today The Day We Free Electroconvulsive Therapy?, Mike Jorgensen

Mike Jorgensen

ABSTRACT IS TODAY THE DAY WE FREE ELECTROCONVULSIVE THERAPY? By Mike E Jorgensen Electroconvulsive Therapy, or “ECT,” has become increasingly more popular to treat certain mental illnesses, especially severe depression and pseudo dementia. The stigma it suffered due to prior barbaric type applications in the past are largely historic, and most medical professionals will agree that ECT is safe today, has very minimal side effects, not inherently abusive, and no long- term detriments. Yet, with the increase in popularity and the safe applications, ECT is still treated archaically under the law and the legislative restraints are causing an indigent, elderly …

Blood Quantum And Equal Protection, Rose Cuison Villazor

Studio for Law and Culture

Modern equal protection doctrine treats laws that make distinctions on the basis of indigeneity defined on blood quantum terms along a racial/political paradigm. This dichotomy may be traced to Morton v. Mancari and more recently to Rice v. Cayetano. In Mancari, the Supreme Court held that laws that privilege members of Native American tribes do not constitute racial discrimination because the preferences have a political purpose – to further the right to self-government of tribes. Rice v. Cayetano crystallized the juxtaposition of the racial from the political nature of indigeneity by invalidating a law that privileged Native Hawaiians. That …

Indigenous Self-Determination And The State, Shin Imai

Aboriginal Policy Research Consortium International (APRCi)

The right of indigenous self-determination is now accepted at both the national and international level, but the exercise of the right to self-determination does not connote any specific institutional arrangement. This chapter, from the forthcoming book, Indigenous Peoples and the Law: Comparative and Critical Perspectives (Hart Publishing, Oxford), describes a variety of arrangements in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the United States. Indigenous people have the greatest political autonomy in the sovereignty/self-government model found in the United States and in the latest self government agreements from Canada. The self- administration/self-management model provides for indigenous entities to deliver social services and …

Self-Determination And Cultural Rights, Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Ana Filipa Vrdoljak

Self-determination has broadly two components: one relates to participation and the other concerns identity. Until recently, contemporary discourse on self-determination has largely centred on the former. Yet, from its earliest conceptions, self-determination has been inextricably tied to notions of identity of peoples - and cultural rights. This paper examines the evolving link between self-determination and cultural rights in modern international law. By detailing this often tandem, sometimes overlapping, development, it is argued that the reformulation and reinforcement of self-determination in recent decades has had an accompanying impact upon cultural rights.

Not Just The Peace Pipe But Also The Lance: Exploring Different Possibilities For Indigenous Control Over Criminal Justice, David Milward

Dr. David Milward

This article will exploring whether contrasts between restorative and punitive models of criminal justice inform an ideological struggle between Western and Indigenous approaches of criminal justice as Indigenous communities strive for greater control over criminal justice. The answer to this question will be examined in light of considerations for Indigenous control over justice. One concern by Western states is that Indigenous justice must strike the proper balance beteen community safety and offender healing. This paper contends that for self-determination to be effective, Indigenous leaders must include and consider the community at large when making decisions over criminal justice.

Indigenous Self-Determination: A Global Perspective, David E. Wilkins

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

The concepts of self-determination and sovereignty, from an Indigenous perspective, embrace values, attitudes, perspectives, and actions. Of course, as a result of the historical phenomenon known as colonialism, in which expansive European states sought to dominate the rights, resources, and lands of aboriginal people worldwide, one cannot discuss Indigenous self-determination and sovereignty without some corresponding discussion of how states and their policy makers understand these politically charged terms as well.

I have been thinking, acting, researching, and writing on these two vital concepts, intergovernmental relations, critical legal theory, and comparative Indigenous politics for nearly two decades. Along with this, I …

Improving Native American Access To Federal Funding For Economic Development Through Partnerships With Rural Communities, Joanna M. Wagner

American Indian Law Review

No abstract provided.

Indian Nations And The Federal Government: What Will Justice Require In The Future? Claims Against The Sovereign 20th Jusicial Conference Of The United States Court Of Federal Claims, Charles Wilkinson

Publications

No abstract provided.

Interpretive Sovereignty: A Research Agenda, Kristen A. Carpenter

Publications

In federal Indian law, the treaty operates as our foundational legal text. Reflecting centuries-old historical political arrangements between Indian nations and the United States, treaties remain vital legal instruments that decide dozens of legal cases each year. Yet, these treaties--originally drafted in English by the federal government, following negotiations with tribal representatives who usually spoke their own languages--present a number of ambiguities for contemporary courts. The dominant model of treaty interpretation is one in which judges interpret treaties in a manner they they believe to reflect Indians' understanding of treaty terms and, more generally, to promote the interests of Indian …