Human Rights Law Commons^™

Engaging Human Rights Norms To Realize Universal And Equitable Health Care In Massachusetts, April Jakubec, Mariah Mcgill, Gillian Macnaughton

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Massachusetts health care law served as the model in 2010 for the federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA). In 2006, Massachusetts adopted sweeping health care reforms. The law sought to increase health care insurance coverage for residents of Massachusetts by:

(1) Mandating that all adults in the state have health care insurance unless an affordable option was not available;

(2) Expanding Medicaid;

(3) Creating a new program of subsidized private insurance for low- and moderate-income residents; and

(4) Establishing a transparent health care insurance market exchange.

Previous studies on the Massachusetts health care reforms of 2006 have analyzed …

Where Do We Go From Here? Charting Perceptions Of The Impact Of The Human Rights City Boston Resolution, Kostas Koutsioumpas, Maggie Schneider, Matthew Annunziato

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

In 1948, the United Nations adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) as a common standard of achievement and called upon every individual and organ of society to promote the rights enshrined in the document. The UDHR has been applied in many ways around the world, including by the international Human Rights Cities movement, which began in Rosario, Argentina, in 1997.

Today more than two dozen Human Rights Cities have formed around the globe, including at least nine in the United States (Washington, DC; Eugene, OR; Pittsburgh, PA; Chapel Hill, NC; Columbus, IN; Jackson, MI; Seattle, WA; Mountain View, …

Building Academic/Practitioner Teams For Human Rights Projects: Examples, Lessons Learned, And Pitfalls To Avoid, Theresa Harris

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

Academics are increasingly interested in getting out of their classrooms and labs to contribute their knowledge, expertise, and resources to help communities develop evidence-based policies. In addition to post-election initiatives such as the March for Science and 314 Action, many academics are joining “without borders”-type programs and organizations that connect academics with opportunities to volunteer their time and talents for “social good.”

One of the longest-running of these is On-call Scientists, an initiative of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) that connects human rights organizations with pro bono scientists across all fields — life, physical, behavioral, and …

Rowan Clerk In Romania To Discuss Same-Sex Marriage, The Morehead News

Media Collection

No abstract provided.

Leveraging Academic Law Libraries To Expand Access To Justice, Paul Jerome Mclaughlin Jr.

Library Faculty Publications

Academic law libraries are in a unique position to help citizens gain access to the court system and legal information. By creating clinics that focus on helping pro se patrons find and complete legal forms, academic law libraries would not only benefit their schools but also the justice system.

Book Review: The Killing Of Death: Denying The Genocide Against The Tutsis, Kee En Chong

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Remembering An Abolitionist, Ambassador John R. Miller (May 23, 1938-October 4, 2017), Eleanor Kennelly Gaetan, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

A memorial for Ambassador-at-Large to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, John R. Miller (May 23, 1938-October 4, 2017). Ambassador Miller believed modern-day slavery, encompassing sex trafficking and forced labor, requires a principled global offensive that the United States is morally obligated to lead. In the four formative years he led the State Department’s Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons, 2002 to 2006, John Miller set the office’s course as diplomatically aggressive and programmatically creative. He made the annual Trafficking in Persons report more than a bureaucratic submission, putting daring heroes at the center, and insisting on compelling …

Research Offers Tough Love To Improve Human Rights Practices, Joel Pruce

Political Science Faculty Publications

We know what it means to practice a skill such as juggling or dancing, but what does it mean to "practice" human rights?

Contributions to OpenGlobalRights (OGR), since its inception, have gravitated around critique of human rights practices by focusing on advocacy and activism, cultivating debates that address the contemporary dilemmas facing human rights movements worldwide. The launch of OGR four years ago is a symptom of what I’ve referred to elsewhere as a “practice turn” in the scholarly field of human rights—one that takes human rights practice as its subject, forges space for scholar-practitioner collaboration and communication, and focuses …

The Evolution Of The European Union's Asylum Policy Through The 2015 Migrant Crisis, Roshni J. Sopariwalla

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

Since 2015, an unexpected number of migrants have rushed to the European Union in hopes of improving their lives. Contrary to their expectations, asylum-seekers realized that the EU is neither prepared nor willing to host them. This paper follows the progression of the EU’s asylum policies, beginning with the 1951 Geneva Convention and the principle of non-refoulement. After establishing the criteria necessary for a migrant to be legally recognized as a refugee, the paper will look at how the EU evaluates individual applications for asylum. Through the lens of the 2015 Migrant Crisis, this paper highlights the shortcomings of the …

Femmes, Migration, Et Prostitution En Europe: Il N’Est Pas Question De “Travail De Sexe”, Anna Zobnina

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Myanmar’S Desperate Need To Escape Clutches Of Fear, Tan K. B. Eugene

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan opined in a commentary that the recent escalation of the ethnic conflict in Myanmar’s Rakhine State drives home the hard truth that much remains unchanged despite the country’s tentative transition to a democracy. The latest surge in ethno-violence seems timed to coincide with the release of a report last week by an advisory commission led by former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan.Associate Prof Tan noted that the spectre of even more conflict, violence and division will only derail Myanmar’s democratic transition and integration into the international community, to its collective peril. It could …

Introduction To Dignity Special Issue: Freedom From Sexploitation, Lisa L. Thompson, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

It Can't Wait: Exposing The Connections Between Forms Of Sexual Exploitation, Dawn Hawkins

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Inextricably Bound: Strip Clubs, Prostitution, And Sex Trafficking, Dan O'Bryant

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Why We Must Oppose The Full Decriminalization Of Prostitution, Taina Bien-Aime

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Amend The Communications Decency Act To Protect Victims Of Sexual Exploitation, Samantha Vardaman

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Today's Porn: Not A Constitutional Right; Not A Human Right, Patrick Trueman

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Beyond Vulnerability: Refugee Women’S Leadership In Jordan, Widad Hassan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While both men and women are affected by conflicts and humanitarian crises, 80 percent of the world’s refugees and internally displaced persons are women and children, indicating that women experience conflict and war differently. The emphasis on women’s vulnerability during conflicts and humanitarian crises leads to their exclusion from leadership roles and decision-making on humanitarian programs and issues that impact them. Though women experience numerous socio-cultural barriers to exercising leadership in humanitarian settings, they have taken on important roles in emergency response and in refugee camps. This paper traces the progress of UN and humanitarian agencies recognition and development of …

Israel And Palestine- An Analysis Of The 2014 Israel-Gaza War From A Genocidal Perspective, Shannon M. Culverwell

Senior Honors Projects, 2010-2019

During the 2014 Israel-Gaza War, approximately 2,251 Palestinians and 73 Israelis were killed as a result of the fifty-one day long conflict. As the deadliest and most destructive conflict since 1948, the international community has widely condemned the actions taken by Israeli and Palestinian actors throughout the conflict. Despite international condemnation, currently the International Criminal Court (ICC) is the only institution conducting a criminal investigation into the recent conflict. Upon Palestine accession into the Rome Statute in June of 2015, the ICC opened a preliminary examination regarding alleged crimes committed in the occupied territory of Palestine since June 13, 2014. …

Judge Posner's Road Map For Convention Against Torture Claims When Central American Governments Cannot Protect Citizens Against Gang Violence, Steven H. Schulman

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Immigrating While Trans: The Disproportionate Impact Of The Prostitution Ground Of Inadmissibility And Other Provisions Of The Immigration And Nationality Act On Transgender Women, Luis Medina

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

The Plight Of Undocumented Female Migrants: Identifying Structural Factors That Contribute To The Proliferation Of Sex Trafficking And The Failings Of International Law, Hannah K. Valles

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

The aim of this thesis is to investigate the conditions at two specific border zones, the United States-Mexico border and the Mexico-Guatemalan border, that render undocumented female migrants vulnerable to abduction or recruitment into sexual exploitation. In addition to exploring the factors that expose women to trafficking networks, the study scrutinizes the legal failings of the international law-making community with regards to the safeguarding of women whose socio-economic conditions and environment of perpetual violence prompt their extralegal international movement. The paper provides an overview of the social, economic, and historical factors that underpin the flourishing of sex trafficking operations in …

Sensors Everywhere: Using Satellites And Mobile Phones To Reduce Information Uncertainty In Human Rights Crisis Research, Christoph Koettl

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article critically reviews the use of ICTs for human rights crisis research. While focusing on two specific technologies—satellite imagery and mobile phone technology—it proposes a general framework for analyzing the added value of ICTs. The author suggests that their added value in mass atrocities research arises from their ability to reduce information uncertainty, a challenge that is exacerbated in the digital age. This is different from delivering “truth”, an inaccurate description that only leads to unfulfilled expectations and hopes. The article is written from a practitioner’s perspective, drawing from the work of a global human rights watchdog, thus avoiding …

Jurisdiction, Privacy, And Ownership: Dna Technology And Field Dynamics In Conflict-Related Mass Fatalities, Stefan Schmitt, Dallas Mazoori

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

This article explores the dynamics and challenges of undertaking human identifications in states experiencing armed conflict or emerging therefrom. It emphasises the integral role of the State in human identifications and the need for the legal acts of the State in identifying an individual and confirming their death to be integrated into any humanitarian response to repatriating the dead. Conflict-related mass fatalities occur in uncontrolled circumstances, making DNA-based human identifications necessary. In states lacking the necessary forensic infrastructure, the promise of expedited human identifications through outsourcing DNA work can lead to the State abdicating the necessary jurisdiction and scientific transparency …

Legal Status Of Drones Under Loac And International Law, Vivek Sehrawat

Penn State Journal of Law & International Affairs (2012 - Present)

No abstract provided.

Constructed Borders And Conditional Belonging: Refugee Narratives In Literature And Law, Rachel C. Wilson

English Honors Projects

Merging literary criticism and political theory, this project explores the representations of refugees in contemporary fiction and human rights law. Through a close reading of reports and press releases published by human rights organizations, I trace how NGOs’ moral and expert authority creates a narrow emphasis on refugees’ fear and victimhood. As novels by Dave Eggers, Susan Choi, Caryl Phillips, and Chris Cleave show, literature is not bound by the same constraints. These novels reveal the internal borders that continue to compromise refugees’ belonging after resettlement. Employing a metanarrative that considers the uses and limits of its own project, literature …

Paese Di Accoglienza: Il Successo Di Un Modello Innovativo Di Accoglienza Dei Richiedenti Asilo In Italia, Isabela Arena Secanechia

Senior Capstone Theses

This work discusses Italy's migrant reception system including its flaws and their effects. Furthermore, this work explores an alternative, sustainable model of migrant reception created in Riace, Calabria, that has been successful in varying towns across Italy. Ultimately, this work argues that this system, which is beneficial to both Italians and incoming migrants — specifically asylum seekers — can and should be implemented nationally to counter the current flawed system.

Twenty Reasons To Publish In Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Cracking The Toughest Nut: Colombia's Endeavour With Amnesty For Political Crimes Under Additional Protocol Ii To The Geneva Conventions, Marie-Claude Jean-Baptiste

Notre Dame Journal of International & Comparative Law

After years of negotiations, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia have reached an unprecedented peace agreement. The agreement, rooted in transitional justice, contains a strong and nuanced focus on political amnesty for rebel forces. The scope and nature of the agreement has garnered international attention and praise. Of particular interest is whether the amnesty provision under the peace agreement is compatible with international law. This legal brief tracks the contours of existing international law on amnesty for political crimes—specifically under Additional Protocol II to the Geneva Conventions—to analyze this compatibility. The conclusion is that all relevant …

Introduction: Symposium On The Social Practice Of Human Rights, Richard K. Ghere

Political Science Faculty Publications

This volume of Public Integrity presents a symposium of five articles related to human rights that (a) introduce readers to the general origin and nature of human rights conversation, (b) characterize how these norms are conveyed in the current digital age, or (c) depict how local governments and nonprofit agencies confront matters of human rights. Nonetheless, in publishing this symposium, PI “pushes the envelope” in asserting that human rights questions legitimately qualify as matters germane to the study and practice of public administration. Readers could, after all, maintain that, notwithstanding the aspirational appeal of human rights, international norms fall well …