Law Commons^™

To The Court Of Last Resort: A Prosecutorial Roadmap In The Aftermath Of State Violence In Chile And Colombia, David F. Scollan

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

A great deal of academic research and writing has been done on the most glaring examples of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But, only a small cadre of authors have endeavored to identify the ‘lower limit’ of when state action qualifies as these heinous acts. This Note strives to add to that area of legal scholarship aimed at bringing instances of in-country state perpetrated violence out from the behind the veil of sovereign police action and into the spotlight to call them what they are: crimes worthy of international condemnation and punishment. Specifically, this Note unpacks two spasms of …

Un País Invertido: The Current Immigration Regime Of Colombia, Magdalena Hendrickson

Honors Theses

Throughout its turbulent history, Colombia has seen drastic changes in structure and administration. From military coups to shaky coalitions, the country’s infamous instability has long forced its citizens to find better prospects elsewhere. However, with the rise of the Maduro administration in Venezuela, Colombia faced a massive new flow of migrants and was forced to rectify current circumstances without properly addressing its internal issues beforehand. Despite its historical status as a nation of emigrants, Colombia marks a new norm for the rest of the globe. As new issues like climate change and increased armed conflict grow worldwide, countries on the …

Reining In The “Third Path”: Rethinking The War Powers Resolution And Private Security Contractors, Brian T. Warren

Washington and Lee Law Review

From the American Revolution to the War in Afghanistan, the United States has hired private contractors to perform a myriad of tasks, from feeding the troops to researching hypersonic missile defense systems. Following the collapse of the Soviet Union, however, the nature of work performed by these contractors began to shift. No longer were contractors relegated solely to unarmed tasks. From the jungles of Colombia to the deserts of Iraq, armed contractors—known as Private Security Contractors (PSCs)—have guarded American military bases, protected heads of state, assaulted enemy compounds, and more.

Using PSCs is not without risk. Incidents like the Nisour …

The Mexican Civil Code Of 1928 And The Social Function Of Property In Mexico And Latin America, M.C. Mirow

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Human Rights Approach To Climate-Induced Displacement: A Case Study In Central America And Colombia, Camila Bustos, Juliana Vélez-Echeverri

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The past decade was the warmest decade ever recorded. As climate impacts intensify, numbers of people displaced and in need of relocation increase. International law has yet to adapt to a changing climate and its implications for those most vulnerable. Experts still debate whether the existing refugee regime could provide a solution for those displaced by climate across international borders, while national governments continue to reckon with the domestic implications of internal displacement fueled by climate impacts. In this article, we apply a human rights lens to climate induced displacement, drawing from two case studies to highlight the human rights …

Implementing Nature's Rights In Colombia: The Arato And Amazon Experiences, Camila Bustos, Whitney Richardson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Nature's rights approaches are being developed as an alternative legal means to enable justice for nature and, oftentimes, humans, too. This study examines Colombia's two seminal court-ordered nature's rights approaches which recognize ecosystems-the Atrato River Basin (2016) and the Colombian Amazon (2018)-as a legal subject with rights to protection, maintenance, conservation, and restoration. Developed as remedies for human rights violations, both cases offer opportunities to explore variations in nature's rights approaches and the relationship between efforts to enable justice for humans and nature. We build on existing scholarly engagement with the cases by contributing a detailed archival study on their …

Taking Responsibility Under International Law: Human Trafficking And Colombia’S Venezuelan Migration Crisis, Luz Estella Nagle, Juan Manuel Zarama

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

For more than six million Venezuelans, crossing international borders has become imperative to ensuring security and a livelihood that their country has failed to assure. These migrants and refugees, particularly young women and children, are vulnerable to many depredations, criminal acts, and the risk of becoming trafficking victims for forced labor and sexual slavery. This article focuses on State responsibility for migrant populations and analyzes conditions in Venezuela that caused a massive migration, the conditions in Colombia as a host State, the uncertain status of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, and human trafficking and its impact on the migrant population.

If The Government Says So, It Must Be Right: An Analysis On The Impact Of Government Issued Force Majeure Certificates, Verónica Orantes

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

In March 2020, the world came to a halt with the beginning of the Covid–19 pandemic. The pandemic’s worldwide im-pact resulted in endless business transactions becoming im-possible or impracticable to perform. The China Council for the Promotion of International Trade issued force majeure certificates for its national business parties to excuse their performance under cross–border transactions. This note explores how the excuses for the performance of a contract work under Common Law and Civil Law systems and how each system would react to the parties invoking force majeure under a force majeure certificate issued by a government agency.

Trick Or Treat? How A U.S. Patent Over A Method For Processing Sugarcane Wrongly Alarmed The Colombian Panela Industry, Carter Ostrowski

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Comparing Experiences Of Constitutional Reforms To Enshrine The Right To Water In Brazil, Colombia, And Peru: Opportunities And Limitations, Lara Côrtes, Camila Gianella, Angela M. Páez, Catalina Vallejo Piedrahíta

Public Administration Faculty Research

In this paper we compare recent efforts towards the constitutionalization of the right to water in Brazil, Colombia, and Peru to understand the opportunities and limitations related to the attempts to enhance access to piped water to the highest normative level. Peru passed a constitutional amendment in 2017 while Brazil and Colombia have seen much right-to-water activism but have not succeeded in passing such reforms. We explore the role of the existing domestic legal frameworks on drinkable water provision and water management towards the approval of constitutional amendments. We find that all three countries have specialized laws, water governing institutions, …

"Prevention Through Deterrence" Against Citizens: The Venezuela-Colombia Border During The Covid-19 Pandemic And Human Rights Implications, Andreina Negretti Benito

Honors Theses

This thesis analyses the human rights implications of the measures taken by the Venezuelan government at the Venezuelan-Colombian border during the COVID-19 pandemic. I will argue that the goal of these measures is preventing or impeding the return of citizens through "deterrence techniques" that have been historically used by other countries. This case's importance relies on the fact that, unlike other cases, the Venezuelan government uses these "techniques" against its own nationals, rather than against unwanted immigrants. The first chapter will provide an overview of the theoretical framework concerning migration, arguments regarding open borders, and human rights protections. This will …

Colombia, Un Refugio Cercano Pero No Accesible Para Los Venezolanos, Diana Maria Tovar Rojas

Master's Theses

The non-application of the International Protection mechanisms, such as the non-recognition of the determination of refugee status to the migrant population victims of forced migration, not only aggravates the conditions of vulnerability of the migrants because the State does not respond adequately to their specific needs but also because the State is violating what is stipulated in the International Human Rights Law and ignoring its responsibilities acquired by having signed instruments of the International Protection Regime. Despite the fact that Colombia is the largest recipient of Venezuelan migrants in Latin America due to its geographical proximity, it is also one …

Coin Doctrine Is Wrong, M. Chris Mason

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

Counterinsurgency does not increase the legitimacy of, or support for, central governments engaged in internal conflicts. Recent research shows quantifiable degrees of government legitimacy, national identity, and population security are necessary precursors and accurate predictors of a government’s ability to outlast a civil uprising. Because the first two predictors—government legitimacy and national identity—can be measured and do not increase during a conflict, the probability of government failure in most cases can be accurately predicted when the conflict starts.

The Chemical War On Drugs: Why A U.S.-Backed Program To Fumigate Coca Fields In Colombia Would Violate The Right To Health, Lily Baron

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Uber Case, Competition Law Implications In Europe And Latin America: Defenders Of The Old Economy Versus Advocates Of The Digital Revolution, Lavinia Meliti

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Caso Uber, Las Implicaciones De La Ley De Competencia En Europa Y América Latina: Defensores De La Vieja Economía Versus Promotores De La Revolución Digital, Lavinia Meliti

ILSA Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Second Chance On Earth: Understanding The Selection Process Of The Judges Of The Colombian Special Jurisdiction For Peace, Santiago Pardo Rodríguez

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

For over fifty years, Colombia has faced a bloody and cruel civil conflict. Some of the most conservative studies have estimated that the total death toll of the war may be 220,000. The weight of this number heavily lies on the civilian population. It is estimated that around 81% of those killed in the conflict are non-combatant civilians. This represents, according to the data collected by the government’s Center for National Memory, around 180,000 civilian victims. In other words, as a civilian, the probability of being a victim in the Colombian conflict was nine times higher than a military or …

Narcotraffic As Connected Political Crime In Colombia: The Farc Case, Andrea Mateus-Rugeles, Paula C. Arias

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction, Colin Crawford, Daniel Bonilla Maldonado

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The papers gathered in this volume analyze access to justice in Latin America, Europe, and North America from a philosophical, legal, and sociological perspective. In these three regions of the world, as in the rest of the globe, liberal democracies face a troubling gap between the normative and the descriptive: the access to justice promises made by the legal and political system are not fully realized in practice. The studies collected here, therefore, share two baseline assumptions. First, the right of access to justice is fundamental in a liberal state. Access to justice ensures that citizens are able to defend …

The Mandarins Of The Law: Pro Bono Legal Work From A Comparative Perspective, Daniel Bonilla Maldonado

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

In Part I, I present the elements that form the standard global concept of pro bono work. Pro bono work is a global phenomenon defined by, and based on, a transnational discourse. In the first section of Part I, I argue that this transnational discourse conceptualizes pro bono work as a set of institutionalized free legal services that lawyers voluntarily provide to people with few financial resources or to protect the public interest. In the three following sections, I specify and analyze the concepts of subject, time, and space that this understanding of pro bono work creates, to present the …

Pro Bono Work In Colombia: How Can It Help Broaden, Equalize, And Ensure Access To Justice, Ana Bejarano Ricaurte

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This article does not discuss whether pro bono programs should exist in Colombia, or whether they cause positive transformation in the legal profession. These issues are examined in other types of legal literature, and this author departs from the standpoint of viewing this type of work as a positive practice within the legal culture. The main thesis of this article is that pro bono work is still developing in Colombia, both in its numbers of participating attorneys and clients, as well as in the ways it is affecting the legal culture. As important as it might be, the work of …

The Legal Fiction Of The Right To Defense In The Colombian Criminal Justice System, Manuel Iturralde

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

In the first section of the article, I will discuss Omar's case to show why he did not have a fair trial, and particularly how his rights to access to justice and to defense were infringed, both by the public defense he was provided and by the judges that decided his case.

In the second section, I will show that Omar's case is a tellingillustration of the features of the Colombian criminal justice system, which systematically and disproportionately sentences and imprisons marginalized and poor people-in great measure because they lack the financial resources to pay for better and more motivated …

The Icc In Latin America: An Old Friend With New Challenges, Naomi Roht-Arriaza

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Taming The Prince: Bringing Presidential Emergency Powers Under Law In Colombia, Andrea Scoseria Katz

Scholarship@WashULaw

Can courts check presidential power exercised in a crisis — and should they? The case of Colombia, which recently turned on its head a history of presidential overreach and judicial rubber-stamping, provides an answer in the affirmative. As in much of Latin America, throughout Colombia’s post-independence history, bloodshed fueled authoritarian tendencies, with presidents exploiting the need for “order” to centralize power. One critical weapon in the presidential toolkit was the power to declare a state of emergency. During the twentieth century, these decrees became a routine pretext for the President to govern unilaterally, acquiesced to by the legislature and rarely …

Inter-American System Coverage

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Políticas En Respuesta A La Migración Ilegal Discurso Frente Al Mercado Laboral De Colombianos En Estados Unidos En El Periodo 2009 - 2019, Juan Sebastian Gaona Valencia, David Rene Otero Gomez

Negocios y Relaciones Internacionales

A partir de los años 80, se dio un fenómeno de migración por parte de la comunidad latinoamericana hacia Estados Unidos, la cual generó conflictos sociopolíticos entre las autoridades migratorias estadounidenses, los migrantes y los trabajadores locales. Muchas de estas migraciones de carácter ilegal influyeron de manera sistemática en la agenda de los diferentes gobiernos de Estados Unidos. La presente investigación analizó las repercusiones en el mercado laboral de colombianos en Estados Unidos, a partir de las políticas en respuesta a la migración ilegal, entre 2009 – 2019. Por esta razón se caracterizaron los cambios en las políticas que afectan …

Linkages To The Mining Sector In Colombia, Nicolas Maennling, Perrine Toledano

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

At the request of the Colombian Government and with the support of GIZ, CCSI prepared a policy brief focused on linkages from the mining sector in Colombia. The brief gives an overview of existing regulatory requirements, government policies and company programs to foster economic and infrastructure linkages. Based on the findings, the brief provides suggestions for next steps if the government is to develop a more comprehensive linkage creation program.

Venezuela Crisis Humanitaria Y Recepción De Migrantes En Colombia: Creciente Xenofobia Ante Los Migrantes Venezolanos, Viviana Andrea Moreno Calderón, Jesica Alexandra Silva Quintero

Negocios y Relaciones Internacionales

La crisis humanitaria que se evidencia en Venezuela, trae consigo consecuencias que motivan a la población a migrar en busca de oportunidades a otros países, por esta razón, se genera una migración masiva a los países fronterizos, uno de ellos Colombia, en donde gracias a esta coyuntura ha surgido un fenómeno de xenofobia hacia los venezolanos. Dada esta situación, se considera importante determinar los factores socioeconómicos que han generado dicha xenofobia, debido a la violación de derechos de los migrantes que se estaría presentando por esta situación. Para cumplir con este objetivo primero se indagará sobre la crisis humanitaria que …

Dignity Takings And Dignity Restoration: A Case Study Of The Colombian Land Restitution Program, Diana Esther Guzmán-Rodríguez

Chicago-Kent Law Review

Over the past 50 years, Colombia has experienced intense socio-political violence associated with its internal armed conflict. As a result of this violence, long and complicated processes of land dispossession have taken place throughout the country, and more than seven million people have been internally displaced. Currently, the Colombian state is implementing a Land Restitution Program, which aims to restitute the dispossessed lands and to transform deep inequalities associated with massive forced displacement. This case study on both the complexities of the land takings in Colombia and the Land Restitution Program’s ambitious goals contributes to strengthening the socio-legal concepts of …

Plata O Plomo: Effect Of Mexican Transnational Criminal Organizations On The American Criminal Justice System, Mark M. Mcpherson

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming