Human Rights Law Commons^™

Negotiating And Mediating Peace In Africa , Nancy Erbe, Chinedu Bob Ezeh, Daniel Karanja, Neba Monifor, George Mubanga, Ndi Richard Tanto

Pepperdine Dispute Resolution Law Journal

Last year, a law review solicited my thoughts about, in their words, pushing the envelope with social justice and negotiating peace in a world dominated by power and violence. Taking their language literally, one must ask how to effectively address contemporary obstacles to ensure that the message and, most importantly, the means of justice are truly delivered to those in need. One answer-which may seem obvious to readers but is actually much too rare in practice-is to work with, empower, and support the conflict work of the community members themselves. This article introduces the plans of five African professionals, demonstrating …

Anti-Trafficking Legislation In Sub-Saharan Africa: Analyzing The Role Of Coercion And Parental Responsibility, Ruby Andrew, Benjamin N. Lawrance

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 4th (2012)

This article discusses the effect of US and international support for local laws to combat child trafficking in sub-Saharan African states. The annual ranking of African anti-trafficking measures, produced by the US State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons (OMCTP) in conjunction with the UN Office on Crime and Drugs, not only provides an important source of data but also creates a powerful incentive for African states to effect legislative change.

We argue that, although the US supports criminalization of traffickers and the OMCTP espouses laws to deter parental inducement to support trafficking activities, the implementation of …

Victim Participation At The International Criminal Court And The Extraordinary Chambers In The Courts Of Cambodia: A Feminist Project, Susana Sacouto

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

The question this Article poses is whether victim participation--one of the most recent developments in international criminal law--has increased the visibility of the actual lived experience of survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in the context of war, mass violence, or repression. Under the Rome Statute, victims of the world's most serious crimes were given unprecedented rights to participate in proceedings before the Court. Nearly a decade later, a similar scheme was established to allow victims to participate as civil parties in the proceedings before the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC or Extraordinary Chambers), a court created …

Updates From The International And Internationalized Criminal Courts, Claire Grandison, Sofia Vivero, Andra Nicolescu, Danielle Dean, Benjamin Watson

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Promising Criminal Justice Practices In Human Trafficking Cases: A County-Level Comparitive Overview (2005-2010) With An Emphasis On Cases Involving Children, Angela Inzano

Center for the Human Rights of Children

The aim of the project is to review and analyze other similarly sized counties as Cook County, with large, metropolitan centers across the country, in order to identify best practice, challenges and efforts that have led to successful case outcomes. This research project identifies and synthesizes cases from 2005-2010 that involved human trafficking and developed at county-level law enforcement agencies and task forces across the United States. Where possible, cases involving minors will be high-lighted, in order to address distinct issues facing children who have been victimized by human trafficking. Best practices in victim identification, case investigation, perpetrator prosecution, and …

Prosecutorial Discretion In Assisted Dying In Canada: A Proposal For Charging Guidelines, Jocelyn Downie, Ben White

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

English Abstract: An Expert Panel of the Royal Society of Canada and a Select Committee of the Québec National Assembly both recently recommended the issuance of permissive guidelines for the exercise of prosecutorial discretion on voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide and “medical aid in dying” respectively. It seems timely, therefore, to propose a set of offence-specific guidelines for how prosecutorial discretion should be exercised in cases of voluntary euthanasia and assisted suicide in Canadian provinces and territories. We take as our starting point the only existing guidelines of this sort currently in force in the world (i.e. the British Columbia …

A Social Psychology Model Of The Perceived Legitimacy Of International Criminal Courts: Implications For The Success Of Transitional Justice Mechanisms, 45 Vand. J. Transnat'l L. 405 (2012), Stuart K. Ford

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

There is a large body of literature arguing that positive perceived legitimacy is a critical factor in the success of international criminal courts, and that courts can be engineered in such a way that they will be positively perceived by adjusting factors such as their institutional structure and outreach efforts. But in many situations the perceived legitimacy of international criminal courts has almost nothing to do with these factors. This Article takes the latest research in social psychology and applies it to survey data about perceptions of international criminal courts in order to understand how affected populations form attitudes about …

Book Review: Gary Botting, Extradition Between Canada And The United States (Ardsley: Transnational Publishers, 2005), Robert Currie

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Both domestic and international laws regarding the extradition of fugitive criminal offenders are in a state of flux throughout the world. The current legal landscape reflects tension between the interest of state authorities in promoting “security,” on the one hand, and increasing recognition that human rights obligations are at play, on the other. Gary Botting’s book, Extradition Between Canada and the United States, successfully addresses this tension by way of a detailed examination of what is probably the most integrated extradition partnership outside the European Union.

Sexual Assault Cases In The Supreme Court Of Canada: Losing Sight Of Substantive Equality?, Emma Cunliffe

All Faculty Publications

The equality guarantee contained in section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has prompted reforms that protect women as complainants in sexual assault cases. This article considers the effectiveness of these reforms. Part 2 supplies a history of the relationships between consent, trial procedure, and substantive equality in sexual assault law. The author argues that substantive equality has had a significant effect on both substance and procedure. Part 3 examines the impact of these reforms by considering the extent to which substantive equality has infused judicial reasoning and fact determination in contested sexual assault cases. Specifically, the …

Human Trafficking Victim Identification: Should Consent Matter, 45 Ind. L. Rev. 483 (2012), Samuel Vincent Jones

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

It is widely accepted that human trafficking is a global phenomenon that poses a significant problem within the United States. Despite its wealth and sophisticated law enforcement paradigms, the United States is the third largest destination country for human trafficking victims. In fact, human trafficking in the United States is increasing. Scholars have advanced a myriad of reasons to explain this problem. For example, some have pronounced the conscious neglect of men and boys in the investigation, reporting, and publicity of human trafficking a serious impediment to progress in combating trafficking. The ease with which corporations avoid prosecution under the …

How The Internet Is Used To Facilitate The Trafficking Of Humans As Sex Slaves, Cheryl Page

Journal Publications

Human trafficking is, sadly, a part of the fabric of the 21st century global community, but it has different goals than those of sex trafficking. One expert defines human trafficking as “‘an opportunistic response’ to the tension between the economic necessity to migrate . . . and the politically motivated restrictions on migration”. To give an idea of how widespread sex trafficking is, understand that it is now more profitable for criminals to sell women for sex than it is to sell drugs. Drugs are disposable and finite. Women can be resold over and over and over again. These “commodities” …

Where Liberty Lies: Civil Society And Individual Rights After 9/11, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Had someone told you, on September 11, 2001, that the United States would not be able to do whatever it wanted in response to the terrorist attacks of that day, you might well have questioned their sanity. The United States was the most powerful country in the world, and had the world’s sympathy in the immediate aftermath of the attacks. Who would stop it? Al Qaeda had few friends beyond the Taliban. As a historical matter, Congress and the courts had virtually always deferred to the executive in such times of crisis. And the American polity was unlikely to object …

Juveniles Convicted As Adults: An Annotated Bibliography Of Current Research., Brenda V. Smith, Jaime Yarussi

Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Articles

This publication compiles case law, new stories, reports and helpful sites on the issue of juveniles convicted as adults (as of 2012).

Bringing Nuremberg Home: Justice Jackson's Path Back To Buffalo, October 4, 1946, John Q. Barrett

Faculty Publications

During one permanently consequential decade in the history of the United States and the world, United States Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson delivered three major lectures at the University of Buffalo. The last of these was Jackson's May 9, 1951, James McCormick Mitchell Lecture, "Wartime Security and Liberty under Law," which inaugurated this distinguished lecture series. Justice Jackson's first formal lecture at the University of Buffalo occurred on February 23, 1942, halfway through his first year as a Supreme Court Justice and just twelve weeks after the attack on Pearl Harbor brought the United States into World War II. …

Torture And The War On Terror: The Need For Consistent Definitions And Legal Remedies, Linda Carter

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Surviving Castle Rock: The Human Rights Of Domestic Violence, Max D. Siegel

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critically examines the U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Town of Castle Rock v. Gonzales and its broader implications for domestic violence survivors' rights. It argues that the Court's adherence to a "Negative Constitution," which limits government obligations to citizens, fails to protect vulnerable populations and violates international human rights standards. The article advocates for incorporating international law into U.S. jurisprudence to address systemic failures in responding to domestic violence.

From Smith To Smickle: The Charter's Minimal Impact On Mandatory Minimum Sentences, Debra Parkes

All Faculty Publications

This paper attempts to assess the impact that the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms has had, and may have in the near future, on mandatory minimum sentences and their legislated proliferation. To answer those questions, the paper first briefly reviews the Supreme Court of Canada case law on the constitutionality of mandatory minimum sentences. The next two sections will outline the approach taken in the recent Smickle decision in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice before moving on to argue that courts should subject the purported goals, justifications and implications of mandatory minimum sentences to a more searching form …

Reflections From The International Criminal Court Prosecutor, Fatou B. Bensouda

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Today I would like to introduce the idea of a new paradigm in international relations, which was introduced by the work of the drafters of the Rome Statute and the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC): this idea is that of law as a global tool to contribute to the world's peace and security. This idea first surfaced with the belief that the power of law has the capacity to redress the balance between the criminals who wield power and the victims who suffer at their hands. Law provides power for all regardless of their social, economic, or political …

"U" Stands For Underutilization: The U Visa's Vulnerability For Underuse In The Sex Trafficking Context, Erin Bistricer

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The U Visa, established in 2000 under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization, was designed to provide legal status to victims of certain crimes, including sex trafficking, without fear of deportation. However, its implementation has been hindered by significant challenges, including delayed regulations, confusion among applicants, and reliance on law enforcement cooperation, which can be a barrier for traumatized victims. While the U Visa offers more flexibility than the T Visa by covering a broader range of crimes and requiring a lower standard of proof, its effectiveness is limited by factors such as annual caps, inadequate state anti-trafficking laws, …

The Manual Scavenging Problem: A Case For The Supreme Court Of India, Samuel D. Permutt

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note addresses the persistent issue of manual scavenging in India, a practice where predominantly Dalit women and girls clean human waste under deplorable conditions. Despite legal prohibitions, the practice continues due to caste-based discrimination and inadequate sanitation infrastructure. The author argues that the Supreme Court of India, through Public Interest Litigation (PIL), can effectively tackle this issue by implementing a three-step solution to eradicate manual scavenging.

Migrant Smuggling: Canada's Response To A Global Criminal Enterprise: With An Assessment Of The Preventing Human Smugglers From Abusing Canada's Immigration System Act (Bill C-4), Benjamin Perrin

All Faculty Publications

Migrant smuggling is a dangerous, sometimes deadly, criminal activity which cannot be rationalized, justified, or excused. From both a supply and demand side, failing to respond effectively to migrant smuggling and deter it will risk emboldening those who engage in this illicit enterprise, which generates proceeds for organized crime and criminal networks, funds terrorism and facilitates clandestine terrorist travel; endangers the lives and safety of smuggled migrants, undermines border security, with consequences for the Canada/U.S. border, and undermines the integrity and fairness of Canada’s mmigration system. Introduced in Parliament in June, 2011, the Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration …

Flying Into The Future: Drone Warfare And The Changing Face Of Humanitarian Law, Michael A. Newton

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Before we consider the specifics of drone warfare, we must remember two predicate points. Firstly, the discipline of international criminal law has never been healthier as the era of accountability is irreversibly underway. While the challenges of administering justice in the midst of profound political and personal passions remain, there is no current shortage of young and inspired advocates who wish to contribute. Furthermore, they do so against the backdrop of a developed discipline. It cannot be forgotten that the discrete discipline that we term international criminal law, and that many of us teach in our law schools, has taken …

Prisoner-On-Prisoner Sexual Harassment: The Prevalence, Severity, And Lack Of Legal Recourse, Jayla Burton

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

International Criminal Court's Protection Of Women: The Hands Of Justice At Work, Tina R. Karkera

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Liberal Legal Norms Meet Collective Criminality, John D. Ciorciari

Michigan Law Review

International criminal law ("ICL") tends to focus on the same question asked by the Cambodian survivor above: who was ultimately most responsible? Focusing on the culpability of senior leaders has powerful appeal. It resonates with a natural human tendency to personify misdeeds and identify a primary locus for moral blame. It also serves political ends by putting a face on mass crimes, decapitating the old regime, and leaving room for reconciliation at lower levels. But what happens when smoking guns do not point clearly toward high-ranking officials? And how can the law address the fact that most atrocities are committed …

The International Control Of Illegal Drugs And The U.N. Treaty Regime: Preventing Or Causing Human Rights Violations?, Daniel Heilmann

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The international drug control regime, established to preserve human health and welfare, faces criticism for prioritizing criminalization and punishment over education, harm reduction, and human rights. The regime's prohibition-oriented approach, while comprehensive, is challenged by modern human rights standards and the evolving illegal drug market. The article examines whether the regime remains effective and aligned with contemporary human rights principles, emphasizing the need to balance control measures with human rights protections.

Addressing Human Trafficking Along The United States-Mexico Border: The Need For A Bilateral Partnership, Rocio Garza

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The note argues that human trafficking along the U.S.-Mexico border is a complex issue rooted in economic disparities, weak legal frameworks, and the challenges of distinguishing trafficking from smuggling. It advocates for a bilateral partnership between the United States and Mexico to address the transnational nature of the crime, emphasizing the need for coordinated efforts in prosecution, victim protection, and prevention.

The Girl Next Door: A Comparative Approach To Prostitution Laws And Sex Trafficking Victim Identification Within The Prostitution Industry, Gail M. Deady

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Ruckus In The Caucasus: A Case Against Mikheil Saakashvili For Crimes Against Humanity In The August War, Yancy Cottrill

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

While the world's attention was focused on the fireworks display of the 2008 Olympic Games in China, the citizens of South Ossetia were watching the sky too. Only their sky was being lit up by warfare. At 7:30 p.m. on August 7, 2008, Georgian President Mikheil Saakashvili, held a televised speech promising the Ossetians a ceasefire and unlimited autonomy.' At 11:00 p.m., Saakashvili ordered the Georgian Army to launch an offensive on Tskhinvalli, the capital of South Ossetia. Over the next five days, the civilians of South Ossetia and Abkhazia would be directly targeted by the Georgian forces and forcibly …

And Death Shall Have No Dominion: How To Achieve The Categorical Exemption Of Mentally Retarded Defendants From Execution, J. Amy Dillard

All Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the Court’s categorical exclusion of mentally retarded defendants from execution and explores how trial courts should employ procedures to accomplish heightened reliability in the mental retardation determination; it maintains that if a mentally retarded defendant is subjected to a death sentence then the Atkins directive has been ignored. To satisfy the Atkins Court’s objective of protecting mentally retarded defendants from the “special risk of wrongful execution,” the article explores whether trial courts should engage in a unified, pre-trial competency assessment in all capital cases where the defendant asserts mental retardation as a bar to execution and how …