Human Rights Law Commons^™

Domestic Violence In The Haitian Culture And The American Legal Response: Fanm Ayisyen Ki Gen Kouraj, Mary Clark

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women And The Status Of Implementation On The Right To Health Care In Nigeria, Aniekwu Nkolika Ijeoma

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Inheritance Law In Tanzania: The Impoverishment Of Widows And Daughters, Tamar Ezer

Articles

No abstract provided.

Lifting Our Veil Of Ignorance: Culture, Constitutionalism, And Women's Human Rights In Post-September 11 America, Catherine Powell

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

While we live in an Age of Rights, culture continues to be a major challenge to the human rights project. During the drafting of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) in the 1940s and during the Cold War era, the periodic disputes that erupted over civil and political rights in contrast to economic, social and cultural rights could be read either explicitly or implicitly as a cultural debate.

Gender has figured prominently in this perceived culture clash, for example, with the Bush administration's use of Afghan women as cultural icons in need of liberation--a claim that helped justify the …

Taking The Stand: The Lessons Of The Three Men Who Took The Japanese American Internment To Court, Lorraine K. Bannai

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Modern Day Slavery In Our Own Backyard, Ellen L. Buckwalter, Meredith S. Salvaggio, Susan L. Pollet, Maria Perinetti

ExpressO

Trafficking in persons is one of the fastest growing areas of international criminal activity. Each year an estimated 600,000 – 800,000 human beings are bought, sold or forced across the world’s borders. Approximately 2.5 million men, women and children are victims of trafficking at any point in time throughout the world. Approximately 14,500 – 17,500 individuals are trafficked annually into the United States, making the United States the third largest destination country in the world for victims of human trafficking.

In order to fight trafficking in the United States effectively, legislation at the state level, in addition to the federal …

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

The Prohibition Of Widespread Rape As A Jus Cogens, Dean Adams

San Diego International Law Journal

This Comment explains why the prohibition of widespread rape should be recognized as a jus cogens through analyses of the failure of existing international legal instruments, advances within international law towards the universal prohibition of widespread rape, and policy reasons for classifying widespread rape as a jus cogens. In doing so, this comment will demonstrate the particular timeliness of this topic by reviewing the use of widespread rape in several countries through the 1990s, the widespread rape presently occurring in Kenya, and the emerging reports from Iraq of rape committed at the hands of the Saddam Hussein regime. Finally, this …

The W Visa: A Legislative Proposal For Female And Child Refugees Trapped In A Post-9/11 World, Marisa S. Cianciarulo

Working Paper Series

This article addresses an urgent humanitarian crisis affecting unaccompanied or abused refugee children and widowed, divorced, abandoned or abused female heads of refugee households. Such women and children suffer the consequences of the post-9/11 U.S. refugee resettlement backlog more severely than the general refugee population. They are far more at risk of life-threatening harm such as trafficking, sexual exploitation and rape. Moreover, they are far less likely to present a threat to U.S. national security than many people who are able to secure visas to the United States quickly and with fewer background checks. Despite their vulnerability and lack of …

The Evolving, Yet Still Inadequate, Legal Protections Afforded Battered Immigrant Women, Indira K. Balram

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.

Workers' Rights In The Mexican Maquiladora Sector: Collective Bargaining, Women's Rights, And General Human Rights: Law, Norms, And Practice, Joshua M. Kagan

Florida State University Journal of Transnational Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

The Peruvian Truth And Reconciliation Commission’S Treatment Of Sexual Violence Against Women, Julissa Mantilla Falcón

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Protecting Children And Their Mothers: The Millennium Development Goals Push Lofty Heath Targets, Frank Pigott

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Promoting Gender Equality Through Global Education Targets- The Third Millennium Development Goal, Nisha Thakker

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Global Sex Trafficking And The Trafficking Victims Protection Act Of 2000: Legislative Responses To The Problem Of Modern Slavery, Rosy Kandathil

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Human trafficking is becoming the fastest growing criminal activity in the world. Generally, trafficking is defined as the transportation of persons across international borders for labor purposes, by means of force, fraud, or coercion. Commerce directly related to human slavery yields approximately $7-$10 billion a year, trailing only behind drugs and weapons trade for international profit. According to recent congressional findings, over 700,000 human beings are trafficked across international borders each year, including approximately 50,000 women and children into the United States. Women and girl children are the primary targets for sexual exploitation into prostitution, pornography, sex tourism, and other …

Pornography As Trafficking, Catharine A. Mackinnon

Michigan Journal of International Law

In material reality, pornography is one way women and children are trafficked for sex. To make visual pornography, the bulk of the industry's products, real women and children, and some men, are rented out for use in commercial sex acts. In the resulting materials, these people are then conveyed and sold for a buyer's sexual use. Obscenity laws, the traditional legal approach to the problem, do not care about these realities at all. The morality of what is said and shown remains their focus and concern. The injuries inflicted on real people to make the materials, or because they are …

Law Is Not Enough, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

In 1995, the United Nations reported “in no society today do women enjoy the same opportunities as men.” The condition and status of women worldwide was one of social, political, educational, legal, and economic inequality. Ten years later, women's economic disparities persist. In Gender Injustice: An International Comparative Analysis of Equality in Employment, Dr. Anne-Marie Mooney Cotter focuses on women's global inequality in employment. The book's in-depth examination of women's second-class, subordinated status in the workplace around the world provides invaluable insights into the complexities of gender inequality.

The Lengthening Shadow Of Androcentrism, Bryan K. Fair

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critiques Harvard President Lawrence H. Summers' hypotheses on the underrepresentation of women in high-end science and engineering jobs, arguing that his views are based on stereotypes and overlook historical and systemic factors. The author contests Summers' points, emphasizing that gender disparities stem from deeply entrenched male privilege and legal structures rather than women's choices or aptitude. The analysis highlights the role of historical discrimination and legal cases in perpetuating gender caste.

Female Circumcision In Africa: Procedures, Rationales, Solutions, And The Road To Recovery, Shayla Mcgee

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Ictr And Justice For Rwandan Women, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

In this article, I hope to spring from the discussion of the ICTR's gender jurisprudence to a broader conversation that touches on the relationship between this jurisprudence and life for Rwandan women today. In particular, I'd like to consider three questions: What do both the gender jurisprudence and the jurisprudence at large of the ICTR mean to women, individually and collectively, in Rwanda? How do other modalities of accountability that operate in postgenocide Rwanda respond to gender violence and promote gender equality? What is the situation of Rwandan women today?

Outside The Law: Intersex, Medicine And The Discourse Of Rights, Jo Bird

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that the legal system perpetuates the erasure of intersex individuals by constructing intersex as a medical rather than a legal issue, leading to human rights violations. It contends that the law requires individuals to fit into a binary sex classification to be recognized as fully human, thereby denying intersex people legal visibility and protection. The article advocates for the recognition of intersex as a legal category to address the systemic discrimination and violence intersex individuals face, particularly in medical practices.

Distracted Attentions: Intersexuality And Human Rights Protections, Morgan Holmes

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article argues that the medicalization of intersex conditions, often justified under an "emergency" rationale, undermines the autonomy and human rights of intersex individuals, particularly children. It critiques the framing of intersex as a medical emergency, which allows clinicians to bypass informed consent and prioritize the interests of families and medical professionals over those of the intersex individual. The article advocates for a shift in approach, emphasizing human rights protections and the need to respect the autonomy of intersex persons.

Out Of The O.R. And Into The Streets: Exploring The Impact Of Intersex Media Activism, Sharon E. Preves

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

Babies are born intersexed, with ambiguous genitalia or other reproductive anatomical features, every day. Physical sexual ambiguity occurs frequently, affecting approximately one in 2000 births. Most infants born intersexed are surgically and hormonally altered to reflect the sexual anatomy associated with "standard" female or male sex assignment. This article explores the mobilization and methods of intersex individuals and their allies to destigmatize intersexuality and to alter the medical treatment they receive. I explore the intersex movement's use of mass media as a strategic activist tool and the implications of this mobilization for cultural and medical reform, arguing that media attention …

Approaching Critical Mass: An Exploration Of The Role Of Intersex Allies In Creating Positive Education, Advocacy And Change, Moonhawk River Stone M.S.

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The purpose of this article is to explore the role of allies working on behalf of intersex people. The article approaches this exploration from various perspectives that have informed the author's ally work with intersex issues for more than ten years. First, the author begins with the personal perspective and the way in which the author became an ally of intersex people. Second, the article discusses the perspective of psychological trauma, the tapestry of which is interwoven through all aspects of intersex history and experience. Third, the author delineates ally attitudes, behaviors, and tasks that are important when one is …

Same Sex Marriage And Its Implications For Employee Benefits: Proceedings Of The 2005 Meeting Of The Association Of American Law Schools Sections On Employee Benefits, And Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity Issues, Maria O'Brien, Constance Hiatt, Shannon Minter, Teresa S. Collett

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Maria O'Brien Hylton*: Welcome to this session on "Same Sex Marriage and its Implications for Employee Benefits." I'm Maria Hylton and I will introduce our speakers and moderate the program.

Our first speaker is Constance Hiatt, who is a partner with the Hanson Bridgett law firm here in San Francisco. She represents mostly large employers and large employee benefit plans, including the State of California's 401(k) and 457 plans as well as the University of California's benefits office. So, she has extensive experience in the employee benefits area and she came to us, to me really, through several …

Instructions In Inequality: Development, Human Rights, Capabilities, And Gender Violence In School, Erika George

Michigan Journal of International Law

This Article argues that the international community's gender equality targets will not be realized by 2015 because the problems associated with sexual violence against girls in schools are situated at an intersection of contested conceptual divides between human rights (civil and political liberties) and development aims (social and economic needs). Cracks in the conceptual foundations of both the liberal and utilitarian theories of justice and equality, which support traditional human rights advocacy and economic development plans, respectively render each approach inadequate to fully identify and address the grave danger sexual violence and harassment in schools pose to educational equality. In …

Banned And Enforced: The Immediate Answer To A Problem Without An Immediate Solution, Alison W. Manhoff

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

India has banned the use of ultrasound technology to determine the sex of a fetus for more than a decade. Despite this ban, India's 2001 census showed that for every one thousand boys under the age of six there are only 927 girls. There is speculation that this striking gender imbalance is largely the result of the abortion of fetuses discovered to be female after a sex determination ultrasound or amniocentesis procedure. Traditionally, the desire not to have a female child is viewed as a consequence of the dowry system that is prevalent in India. Commentators often propose efforts to …

The Impact Of International Human Rights Developments On Sexual Minority Rights, Arthur S. Leonard

Articles & Chapters

The Supreme Court's decision in Lawrence v. Texas (2003) marked the first time that tribunal took notice of how foreign and international courts were dealing with the civil rights claims of lesbians and gay men as part of its discussion of American constitutional law. If this evinces a new openness by the Court to looking at such external sources in gay rights cases, what would it find on the major legal issues now facing the LGBT community in the United States? This article summarizes developments abroad on legal recognition of same-sex partners (including for purposes of immigration status) and military …

Paradoxes Of Health And Equality: When A Boy Becomes A Girl, Noa Ben-Asher

ExpressO

This paper is about an unusual child custody dispute between the parents of a six-year-old child and the child welfare services of Franklin County, Ohio. The conflict emerged when the child’s parents complied with their male child’s professed desire to be treated as a girl by attempting to enroll the child in the first grade as a girl. The paper treats this case as an exemplary test-case of contemporary co-dependence between scientific-medical discourse and liberal-rights discourse. The paper analyzes the positions of the two sides of the custody dispute according to the classic modern distinction between mind and body. On …

“Which One Of You Did It?” Criminal Liability For “Causing Or Allowing” The Death Of A Child, Lissa Griffin

ExpressO

No abstract provided.