Human Rights Law Commons^™

Beyond Policy: Overcoming Challenges In Prosecuting Gender Persecution At The International Criminal Court, Yvonne M. Dutton, Milena Sterio

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Provisional Release At International Criminal Courts And Tribunals – Lessons Learned?, Ava Schuster, Göran Sluiter

FIU Law Review

This article builds on Professor Meghan Fairlie’s earlier critique of pre-trial detention practices at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Fairlie identified significant shortcomings in safeguarding the right to liberty and the presumption of innocence of detainees, arguing that the Tribunal’s approach was inconsistent with international human rights law (IHRL). Fifteen years later, how has the International Criminal Court (ICC) addressed these concerns? While the Rome Statute introduces notable improvements, including an explicit commitment to IHRL, the Court’s practice still heavily favors detention over liberty. A key issue remains the ICC’s reliance on State cooperation for provisional …

Harvesting Humans, Joanmarie Ilaria Davoli

Belmont Law Review

This Article examines allegations of systematic forced organ harvesting by the People’s Republic of China and argues that existing U.S. federal criminal law provides an underutilized mechanism to deter American participation in that industry. Tracing the historical development of China’s transplant system—from the use of executed prisoners to the alleged targeting of prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs—the Article situates organ procurement practices within broader human rights and genocide concerns. It contends that despite congressional hearings, resolutions, and proposed sanctions, meaningful deterrence has been limited. The Article advances a novel enforcement theory: prosecution of U.S. persons under …

Resistance: The Mura Struggle Against Canadian Potash Mining In Brazil’S Amazon, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr), Federal University Of Rio Grande Do Sul, Graduate Program In Law (Ppgd/Ufrgs), International Human Rights Program (Ihrp), University Of Toronto Jackman Law, Observatory Of Socio-Environmental Law And Human Rights In The Amazon (Odsdh/Ufam)

CLIHHR Reports & Policy Submissions

A comprehensive human rights and environmental report documenting the Mura Indigenous people’s resistance to Brazil Potash’s Autazes Potash Project in the Brazilian Amazon. The report details environmental risks, human rights violations, failures in consultation processes, litigation history, corporate accountability, and the ongoing struggle for land demarcation.

An Ecofeminist Approach To Climate Risks, Angela Hefti

Michigan Journal of International Law

Climate change poses significant risks to the human right to life. However, international adjudicators have either neglected to examine right to life claims in the context of climate risks or dismissed them as prospective and speculative. International human rights bodies have long applied the standard of imminence to determine whether a threat to the right to life exists and the extent to which it constitutes a violation. In climate change cases, this standard has hardened, requiring a tight temporal connection between climate risks and a violation of the right to life. This article argues that failing to recognize the impact …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Corporate Governance Speech, Sarah C. Haan

Seattle University Law Review

The State has always regulated the intra-firm communications that make corporate governance possible, most commonly by mandating disclosures of information by a corporation to its shareholders. Some such laws are labeled “securities regulation,” but securities regulation is a broad category that extends to speech by actors who are outside the corporate enterprise as well. Also, the conventional securities regulation category does not capture all such laws; other examples, including informationforcing mandates, can be found in state corporate law. This Article uses the term “corporate governance speech” to describe the communications among shareholders, directors, and officers through which corporate governance is …

Green Dividends: A Case Study In Green Dividends And The Conditions For Private Ordering Solutions, Anne M. Tucker

Seattle University Law Review

This Essay introduces a novel private ordering solution to facilitate corporate investments in pro-social and environmental initiatives: Green dividends. Green dividends are an optional increase in shareholder dividends that are returned to the company to be reinvested in environmental initiatives or kept by a shareholder.

Green dividends pose an alternative to the current gridlocked debate that corporations can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, and shouldn’t even try to act in pro-social or environmental ways. Turning the common refrains on their head converts each narrative into an element for a successful private ordering solution: authority, accountability, shareholder buy-in, and government- backed enforcement. With Green …

Does Climate Disclosure Work To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Emerging Evidence Suggests Cautious Optimism, Cynthia A. Williams

Seattle University Law Review

Significant regulatory resources have been spent developing global, voluntary climate and sustainability disclosure standards, such as the TCFD, TNRD, and ISSB’s Sustainability and Climate Disclosure standards, or domestically required disclosures, such as in the EU and in the U.S. Thus, it is important to evaluate whether this disclosure, particularly voluntary, qualitative disclosure, will have the power to shift the allocation of capital, will have a significant effect on the management of climate risk within firms, and ultimately will reduce climate change risk and biodiversity loss.

In this Article, several interrelated questions will be discussed. First, what does the empirical evidence …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

The Legal Ramifications Of Israel’S Destruction Of Gaza’S Healthcare System, Serene Mistkawi

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This Comment argues that Israel’s attacks on the medical infrastructure of Gaza are a violation of international law because hospitals are protected zones and medical personnel are civilians. To Israel’s response that Hamas is attack-ing from hospitals, thereby rendering them legitimate targets, this Comment presents a number of responses: (1) there is little to no evidence that Hamas is doing this; (2) even if Hamas is doing this, the military gains from attacking hospitals are outweighed by the civilian deaths; (3) even if Hamas is doing this and there is significant military gain from attacking hospitals, the interna-tional rules have …

Defining A Field And Building A Human Rights In Patient Care Community, Tamar Ezer

Articles

No abstract provided.

Countries As Laboratories: Reflections On Sierra Leone’S Amended Anti-Human Trafficking Law, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Sierra Leone’s improved anti-trafficking laws align with global norms, but enforcement remains weak due to socio-economic realities and Western deterrence mismatches, limiting effective prosecution despite recent legislative reforms.

Reimagining The Asylum Law In India: A Study On The Duty Of Of Non-Refoulement, Siddeeqa Iram

National Law School of India Review

The right of refugees to seek asylum is undisputedly provided by international instruments but traditionally, the right to grant asylum has been the prerogative of the state concerned. States have a duty of non-refoulement under Article 33 of the Refugee Convention, prohibiting the expulsion or return of refugees. Given the correlation between International Human Rights Law and International Refugee Law, non-refoulement comprises non-rejection at the frontiers as well. Despite the principle being a part of customary international law, due to the ambiguity prevailing in its application, it is constantly flouted by the member-states. Further, as the principle of non-refoulement includes …

Anti-Discrimination At The Icj: Ukraine, Palestine And The Freedom To Advocate For Human Rights In Canada, Faisal Bhabha

Articles & Book Chapters

In 2024, the ICJ released two judgments that dealt, at least in part, with the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination (“ICERD”). This is an opportune moment to (1) examine doctrinal developments in international law pertaining to racial discrimination arising from these two judgments; and (2) consider the possible practical implications of these developments. The question that is considered in this paper is whether the ICJ rulings can offer a legal counter-weight to the domestic political pressures that prevent Canada from being clear, credible and consistent in opposing all international human rights abuses.

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Corporate Scenarios: Drawing Lessons From History, Madison Condon

Seattle University Law Review

As corporations are increasingly pressed to reveal information about their exposure to climate-related risks, they are often asked to undertake and disclose the outcome of “scenario analysis.” In this exercise, corporations, including financial institutions, examine how their business would fare under different pathways the future may take. One oft-used scenario, for example, is the International Energy Agency’s “Net-Zero by 2050: A Roadmap for the Energy Sector.” This Essay presents a history of the use of scenarios as a corporate planning tool, particularly in the oil industry, arguing that it is key for understanding our present moment and the role of …

Dark Accounting Matter, Colleen Honigsberg

Seattle University Law Review

Physicists calculate that approximately 85% of the matter in the universe is composed of “dark matter” that “does not absorb, reflect, or emit electromagnetic radiation and is therefore difficult to detect.” The S&P 500 currently trades at a price-to-book value of 4.2, suggesting that book value accounts for less than 20% of the S&P 500’s market value. The remaining 80% appears nowhere in these firms’ balance sheets—it is invisible to contemporary accounting techniques and constitutes “dark accounting matter.”

Some “dark accounting matter” is composed of factors commonly described as components of “ESG.” Human capital, for example, is an intangible asset …

Worker Protection Or Commercial Facilitation: The British Empire, Labor Governance And The Gradual Invisibilization Of Labor Coercion During The Age Of High Imperialism, Christopher Roberts, Michelle Ong

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

This article considers labor governance and coercive labor practices in the British Empire between the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In particular, it focuses its attention on several major commissions of inquiry undertaken around the British Empire in the period, as well as reforms that took place alongside those inquiries. In part, the article concludes these reforms were motivated by protective purposes, demonstrating some degree of genuine concern with workers’ well-being. More significantly, however, it finds these reforms were motivated by British imperial desire to ensure stable labor supplies, enhance the legitimacy of the British Empire, and establish more …

Inge Viermetz, Woman Acquitted At Nuremberg, Diane Marie Amann

FIU Law Review

Conventional narratives tend to represent the post-World War II international criminal proceedings as a men’s project, thus obscuring the many women who participated, as lawyers, journalists, analysts, interpreters, witnesses, and defendants. Indeed, two women stood trial before Nuremberg Military Tribunals. This article examines the case of the only woman found not-guilty: Inge Viermetz, who had been an administrator at Lebensborn, the Nazi SS adoption and placement agency. The article outlines the prosecution’s child-taking case against Viermetz, as well as her successful gendered self-portrayal as a conventionally feminine caregiver. With references to Professor Megan A. Fairlie, at whose memorial symposium it …

Data Injustice In Global Justice, Asaf Lubin, Cherry Tang

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In May 2020, the United Nations Secretary-General unveiled a sweeping “Data Strategy for Action by Everyone, Everywhere,” seeking to unlock the UN’s “full data potential.” The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor followed suit, declaring in 2023 its intent to acquire advanced cyber forensic tools so as to hold the “widest range of digital evidence globally.” Across international institutions, data-driven governance has become the norm, with humanitarian agencies and tribunals transforming into “data hubs and information clearinghouses.” This Article critiques the unfettered datafication of global justice by international courts and organizations. These entities have aggressively expanded their data-driven operations …

The Effectiveness Of The Hague Convention In Addressing International Child Abduction, Areej A. Dakelallah Althubiti

Theses and Dissertations

Parental child abduction is a growing concern fueled by immigration, cross-cultural marriages, evolving family dynamics, and gaps in the implementation and enforcement of developed international frameworks. This study examines the effectiveness of and challenges to the enforcement of the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction (HCCA), which was developed to address this problem. Specifically, the goal of this research is to assess the effect the HCCA has had on parental kidnapping, analyze its effectiveness in resolving international custody disputes, and identify the legal and practical obstacles that inhibit implementation. While the prevalence of parental kidnapping continues …

A Human Right To A Sustainable Climate?, Ottavio Quirico

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Is a fundamental right to a sustainable climate progressively being recognized globally? Climate change is triggering parallel progressive developments in the human rights arena at both the domestic and international levels. Firstly, it is fostering an extensive interpretation of first- and second-generation human rights, protecting collective environmental interests rather than individual entitlements. Secondly, climate change has decisively accelerated the evolution of first and second generation human rights into a third generation right to a sustainable environment. Thirdly, emerging evidence discloses the possibility of conceiving a specific human right to a sustainable climate. This Article explores the trajectory of climate rights …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Reparations For Civilian Victims In Ukraine And Gaza: Legal Frameworks, Normative Debates, And Implementation, Chiara Giorgetti

Law Faculty Publications

Reparations for the victims of armed conflict and mass human rights violations are a cornerstone of international law. Yet, as recent conflicts in Ukraine and Gaza illustrate well, reparations remain a difficult subject and raise important questions regarding the scope of State responsibility, the rights of individual victims, and the availability of appropriate mechanisms for adjudicating claims. [...]

Land Back To Right Of Return: Proposing Paths Forward In Palestine, Melanie Kallah

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis presents a parallel case study of the settler colonial histories of Canada and Palestine. The Land Back Movement was first analyzed to determine what conditions enabled the success of Indigenous land restitution in Canada. Subsequently, a cross-analysis with Palestine was conducted to ascertain whether the same enabling conditions could facilitate Palestinian land restitution, known as the Right of Return.

Book Review, Rumyana Van Ark Et Al., Children’S Rights, ‘Foreign Fighters’, Counter-Terrorism: Children Of Nowhere (2024), Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

The focus of Children’s Rights, ‘Foreign Fighters’, Counter-Terrorism: Children of Nowhere is on foreign fighters who join terrorist groups, ISIS, and other entities engaged in armed conflict in Syria and Iraq. Counterterrorism measures, and the threats of terrorist attacks, have triggered a degradation and distortion of law. I have noted this following the 9/11 attacks and the concomitant refusal to treat children associated with terrorist groups as protected child soldiers. Whereas child soldiers in distant African conflicts are largely seen in the centers of global power as ‘faultless, passive victims’ of a pathological society, child terrorists taken as disruptive of …

Crafting An Exception To The Principle Of Non-Intervention To End Military Coups, Ronnie R. Gipson Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

Oftentimes, when a foreign state refuses to get involved when another country is subjected to a military coup, the foreign state uses the principle of non-intervention as the reason for inaction. The principle of non-intervention in those instances takes on the role of becoming a shield against preserving or protecting human rights. Specifically, in Myanmar, the principle of non-intervention is being used as a weapon by the military junta, allowing it to strengthen its grip on the levers of power and crush any fledgling opposition to its rule with unimaginable cruelty and violence. This article advances the premise that a …

Preventing Chemical And Biological Attacks: Enhanced Threats Requiring Enhanced Solutions, Alex Elliot Ottoni-Belval

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Chemical weapons (CW) and biological weapons (BW) are becoming more dangerous for experts to employ and more accessible to amateurs. Despite CW and BW attacks throughout history that killed and maimed millions of people, the international community has failed to establish meaningful consequences to prevent them. Agreements such as the Chemical Weapons Convention and the Biological Weapons Convention vow to eliminate and reduce the effects of CWs and BWs but lack respected response precedents and capabilities. The limited and inconsistent enforcement has inadvertently allowed CWs and BWs to become plausible weapons, especially to gain asymmetric advantages, while modern developments exasperate …

Rights As Remedies: Using Latin American Legal Channels To Halt U.S. Border Externalization, Natalie Lerner

Lewis & Clark Law Review

The first Trump Administration saw intense border crackdowns and a ramping up of restrictions on asylum. While some of these policies shifted under President Biden, many were recreated under new names. The second Trump Administration has functionally closed the border and deported asylum seekers to third countries such as Costa Rica and Panama, leaning heavily on Latin American countries to accept expelled migrants. As U.S. courts fail to preserve asylum law domestically, international law, as integrated into the constitutions of Latin American countries, can provide a valuable litigation tool to block those countries from participating in the U.S. border externalization …