Human Rights Law Commons^™

Speaking Of Secession: A Theory Of Linguistic Secession, Sami M. Dudar

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

A Balancing Act? The Rights Of Donor-Conceived Children To Know Their Biological Origins, Brigitte Clark

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Book Review: Reimagining Child Soldiers In International Law And Policy By Mark A. Drumbl., Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Book review of Reimagining Child Soldiers in International Law and Policy by Mark A. Drumbl(New York: Oxford Univ. Press, 2012).

A Janus Look At International Criminal Justice, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Invoking the name of Janus, the Roman god who looked simultaneously at the past and the future, this article examines international criminal justice at a watershed moment, when a number of 20-year-old ad hoc tribunals were winding down even as the International Criminal Court was entering its teen years. First explored are challenges posed by politics – that is, the need to secure cooperation from states and from the U.N. Security Council – and economics – that is, the need to work within budgetary constraints. The article then surveys significant developments in each of a half-dozen international criminal courts and …

Children And The First Verdict Of The International Criminal Court, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Child soldiers were a central concern in the first decade of the International Criminal Court; indeed, the court’s first trial, Prosecutor v. Lubanga, dealt exclusively with the war crimes of conscripting, enlisting, and using child soldiers. This article compares the attention that the court has paid to children – an attention that serves the express terms of the ICC Statute – with the relative inattention in post-World War II international instruments such as the statutes of the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals. The article then analyzes the Lubanga conviction, sentence, and reparations rulings. It recommends that the ICC focus attention on …

From Fragmentation To Constitutionalization, Harlan G. Cohen

Scholarly Works

This short essay, prepared for a panel on “The Impact of a Wider Dissemination of Human Rights Norms: Fragmentation or Unity?,” explores the connection between two popular, but seemingly contradictory discourses in international law: fragmentation and constitutionalization. After disentangling and categorizing the various types of fragmentation international law may be experiencing, the essay focuses in on one form in particular, the “fragmentation of the legal community.” This most radical version of fragmentation, the essay argues, has spurred a number of responses, many of which suggest the beginnings of a constitutional conflicts regime for international law. The essay ends by suggesting …

Politics And Prosecutions, From Katherine Fite To Fatou Bensouda, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Based on the Katherine B. Fite Lecture delivered at the 5th Annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs in Chautauqua, New York, this essay examines the role that politics has played in the evolution of international criminal justice. It first establishes the frame of the lecture series and its relation to IntLawGrrls blog, a cosponsor of the IHL Dialogs. It then discusses the career of the series' namesake, Katherine B. Fite, a State Department lawyer who helped draft the Charter of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg and who was, in her own words, a "political observer" of the proceedings. The essay …

Human Rights And Counterterrorism: A Contradiction Or Necessary Bedfellows?, Amos N. Guiora

Georgia Law Review

Ten years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, questions
remain regarding the relationship between human rights
and counterterrorism. The historical track record of the
Executive Branch, Supreme Court, and Congress in this
vein is troubling. While the contradiction suggested in
this Essay's title need not be the case, it is, nevertheless,
the persistent reality in American history.
This Essay assesses the current relationship between
human rights and counterterrorism. In doing so, it
reflects on wartime measures implemented by presidents
throughout U.S. history and recommends a way forward
that facilitates more effective protection of human rights

without impinging on legitimate national security …

Beyond The Guantánamo Bind: Pragmatic Multilateralism In Refugee Resettlement, Melissa J. Durkee

Scholarly Works

The international refugee protection system is under threat. States weary of increased refugee flows and preoccupied with national security increasingly exploit legal gaps or avoid refugee law altogether. The U.S. approach to resettlement of Guantánamo detainee refugees exemplified this trend. Yet, in the Guantánamo context, U.S. avoidance of international refugee law put the executive in a bind that it could not easily escape: Because the U.S. executive was unwilling to assume the political cost of resettling the refugee detainees domestically, it resorted to peddling them for resettlement to foreign states while, at the same time, mounting a robust legal defense …

Indestructible Unalienable Rights, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Popular Media

Perhaps the sublimest achievement of the Western World is the development of the notion that all human beings have immutable, imperishable basic rights, rights that trump all other interests, rights that cannot be denied or trampled upon except through injustice and barbarity. These rights of individuals include political rights, civil rights, and social rights.

Noah's Curse And Paul's Admonition: Civil Rights, Religious Liberty, Gay Equality, William Eskridge, Jr.

Sibley Lecture Series

"Noah's Curse and Paul's Admonition: Civil Rights, Religious Liberty, Gay Equality" is the title of the University of Georgia School of Law’s 106th Sibley Lecture to be delivered by Yale Law School Garver Professor of Jurisprudence William Eskridge Jr. His presentation will take place March 18 at 3:30 p.m. in classroom A of the School of Law. Admission to the event is free, and all are welcome to attend.

Should equal rights for gay people give way to liberties for religious people? According to Eskridge, a similar question was posed a generation ago – Should equal rights for people of …

Portraits Of Women At Nuremberg, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

This essay reflects ongoing research that investigates women who played roles in war crimes trials at Nuremberg, Germany, and situates those women within the context of social developments during the post-World War II era. Based on an autumn 2009 presentation at the Third International Humanitarian Law Dialogs, the essay builds upon the “Women at Nuremberg” series posted at IntLawGrrls blog. The essay mentions women who were defendants, journalists, or witnesses; however, it focuses on some of the women, mostly Americans, who served as prosecutors at Nuremberg.

Finding A Balance: Creating An International Exhaustion Requirement For The Alien Tort Statute, Lauren E. Holtzclaw

Georgia Law Review

Foreign victims of human rights violations have several available forums for redress. Some victims file suit under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), which grants federal courts the jurisdiction to provide redress to victims of egregious human rights violations. The ATS does not have an express exhaustion requirement, and the U.S. Supreme Court has not directly addressed this issue. The Court recently indicated, however, that it might consider a local or international exhaustion requirement. Many scholars advocate a local exhaustion requirement,but this fails to provide the best chance of redress to victims of human rights abuses. Additionally, a local exhaustion requirement …

The Course Of True Human Rights Progress Never Did Run Smooth, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

As the United States moves toward the inauguration in January 2009 of a new President, greater attention is paid to what the country might do to restore and reinforce its traditional role as a leader in the promotion of human rights. This essay warns against any assumption that innovation alone will assure greater enforcement of rights; its points of reference are not only the current administration, but also one long past, that of President John F. Kennedy. Rather than jump to embrace new, global concepts like responsibility to protect, therefore, it argues for careful pursuit of local change. It then …

Universal Human Rights And Threat To International Peace And Security: The United Nations' Obligation To Intervene, Godfrey Mhlanga

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis seeks to establish the following:

• The nexus between the origins of the state and the universality of Human Rights
• That abuse of Human Rights is a threat to international peace and security, and
• It is an obligation for the international community under the auspices of the United Nations (UN) to intervene in the ‘internal affairs’ of a state which violates Human Rights.

The paper focuses on the paramountcy of Human Rights and argues that the doctrine of state sovereignty and cultural relativism undercut the essence and universality of Human Rights. The paper puts into perspective the interpretation of …

Promoting Ethical Standards In Globalized Drug Trials Through Market Exclusion, Fazal Khan

Popular Media

With the increasing accessibility of cheap internet communication, human research subjects and concerned citizens in developing nations can be empowered to effectuate much of the surveillance and monitoring activities of clinical drug trials. For instance, WHO could maintain a multilingual website for the reporting of alleged ethical violations. A credible report could then prompt WHO officials to obtain a sworn statement from the reporter, which would then trigger an investigation into the alleged ethical abuses. Verified reports of ethical abuses can then be taken into account by drug regulatory agencies when determining whether a drug should obtain market approval.

Punish Or Surveil, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

This Article endeavors to paint a fuller picture of previous practice and present options than is often present in debates about the United States' antiterrorism measures. It begins by describing practices in place before the campaign launched after September 11, 2001. The Article focuses on punishment, the first prong of the policy long used to combat threats against the United States. Ordinary civilian and military courts stood ready to punish persons found guilty at public trials that adhered to fairness standards, and national security interests not infrequently were advanced through such courts. That is not to say that courts were …

The Land Of The Free: Human Rights Violations At Immigration Detention Facilities In America, Caitlin J. Mitchel

LLM Theses and Essays

In America today, aliens who commit even minor visa violations can be detained in one of many immigration detention facilities throughout the U.S. These detainees may be transferred to a facility far away from their homes, families, and attorneys. While imprisoned in these detention facilities, some detainees are treated as and housed with criminals. Their substantive and procedural rights are limited and their human rights are violated. The U.S. laws that should protect them are the very laws that strip them of their rights to court proceedings, challenges of decisions regarding detention, and judicial review. By issuing substantial reservations, declarations, …

Comfort Women: Human Rights Of Women From Then To Present, Jinyang Koh

LLM Theses and Essays

This paper discusses the human rights of women through the atrocities in the Japanese comfort system during World War II. Approximately 100,000 military sexual slaves, so-called "comfort women", were recruited coercively, raped and mostly killed under the control of the Japanese government and military. The stance of Japan which has denied any legal liability in this matter affects severely the retrogression of the human rights of women. In order to ameliorate the human right at both international and domestic levels ultimately, it is significant to observe the facts of the comfort women issue, to analyze the legal liabilities of the …

International Legal Standards Governing The Use Of Child Soldiers, Dorcas B. Mulira

LLM Theses and Essays

This paper seeks to analyze the international laws governing the use of children in armedconflict. Despite the prohibition of the use of child soldiers in armed conflict in internationallaw, States and non-State actors continue to actively recruit, abduct, and directly use children,some as young as eight, in hostilities. International humanitarian law's limited scope prevents itfrom protecting the worldÕs most vulnerable children, child soldiers, while human rightsinstruments adopted to make up for these limitations lack enforcement mechanisms, thereforerendering the much-needed protection for child soldiers inadequate. As development ofinternational law concerning child soldiers progresses on paper, progress on the ground lagsbehind, thus …

Representing Saddam Hussein: The Importance Of Being Ramsey Clark, Lonnie T. Brown, Jr.

Georgia Law Review

This Article examines the professional life of former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark in an effort to understand the many controversial representations and causes that he has undertaken during his post-government career. Professor Brown does so through the vehicle of perhaps Ramsey Clark's most perplexing client choice-deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. Although Hussein had other competent attorneys prepared and willing to represent him, Ramsey Clark nevertheless felt compelled to volunteer his services to the defense team. Why would he do so, and was his decision an ethically proper one under the circumstances? These are the specific questions that this Article …

Human Rights And Due Process Of Law, Donald E. Wilkes Jr.

Popular Media

One of our constitutional rights, the right to due process of law, is terra incognita to most Americans, even though it is one of the most important constitutional rights. This article discusses the history of this fundamental right.

Enforcement Of Human Rights Under Regional Mechanisms: A Comparative Analysis, Fekadeselassie F. Kidanemariam

LLM Theses and Essays

This is a study about the protection of human rights by regional human rights bodies. The thesis identifies the major regional human rights protection systems i.e. the African human rights system, the inter-American human rights System and the European human rights system. The paper examines the types of mechanisms employed by each regional system and examines each mechanism. The three major mechanisms dealt with in this work are inter-state complaints, state reporting, country reports, finally individual complaints, and execution of the judgments rendered by these regional bodies. The thesis analyzes the procedures involved in each of these mechanisms and examines …

Abu Ghraib, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

This article posits a theoretical framework within which to analyze various aspects of post-September 11 detention policy - including the widespread prisoner abuse that has been documented in the leaks and official releases that began with publication of photos made at Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison. Examined are the actions of civilian executive officials charged with setting policy, of judicial officers who evaluated it, and military personnel who implemented it. Abuse has been attributed to failures of training or planning. The article concentrates on a different failure, the failure of law to keep lawlessness in check. On September 11, law's map …

Rhetoric Or Rights?: When Culture And Religion Bar Girls' Right To Education, Elizabeth Chamblee Burch

Scholarly Works

Women account for almost two-thirds of the world's illiterates. In the year 2000, the World Education Forum met in Dakar, Senegal and set goals to (1) eliminate gender disparities in primary and secondary education by 2005, and (2) achieve gender equality in education by 2015. Two months before 2004, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) reported that sixty percent of the 128 countries that attended the Dakar Conference would not meet these goals. The report attributed the failure to sharp discrimination against girls in social and cultural practices.

The report failed to mention that social and cultural …

Guantánamo, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

This article addresses not only offshore detainees at Guantánamo and elsewhere, but also the two Americans and one Qatari held in the United States as enemy combatants. It focuses on the critical issues in U.S. litigation - extraterritoriality and deference - yet also examines the scope of detention and the propriety of proposed special tribunals. After demonstrating that in the wake of September 11, 2001, no U.S. constitutional precedent governed these issues, the article then looks to norms drawn from international humanitarian and human rights law to aid decision. The Supreme Court increasingly consults such external norms as persuasive authority; …

Reservations, Human Rights Treaties In The 21st Century: From Universality To Integrity, Pierrick Devidal

LLM Theses and Essays

This thesis is a study of the question of the legality of reservations to international human rights treaties. The evolution of reservations law demonstrates that the system seek to promote universal adherence to multilateral treaties through flexible rules that reflects the superiority of national sovereignty in the international society. However, the flexibility of reservation law as codified in the Vienna Convention of the Law of Treaties has facilitated wide acceptance of multilateral treaties at the cost of their integrity. In the case of human rights treaties, this issue is of paramount importance considering the essentiality of a balance between integrity …

Capital Punishment: Corporate Criminal Liability For Gross Violations Of Human Rights, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

These remarks were presented on February 24, 2001, in a panel concluding a conference entitled "Holding Multinational Corporations Responsible Under International Law" at Hastings College of the Law, San Francisco, California.

A Trade/Human Rights Linkage By The United States: Is Enforcing Human Rights By Use Of Trade Sanctions Effective?, Blaise Omondi Odhiambo

LLM Theses and Essays

Universally held basic human rights must remain separate from political rights. Such basic human rights are those that are so universal that all societies, systems, nations, and ideology could, and do espouse them. Conversely, political rights are those that are dependent upon compatibility with the system of government in place and arc therefore far less likely to gamer universal support. An effective multilateral enforcement mechanism can only succeed if there are universal agreement and acceptance of the protected rights. Accordingly, at the outset of such a mechanism, only basic human rights may be enforced through trade sanctions. Once such a …

The Impact Of Modernization And Development On Muslim Women In Egypt: A Legal Perspective, Mazahir Muhammed Ata El-Sid

LLM Theses and Essays

This study examines the effectiveness of the modernization theory in Egypt, a developing Muslim society. As in the case of other developing societies, Egypt's modernization is uneven. Therefore, I will examine modernization as it relates to Muslim women in Egypt in as far as they vary in their exposure to the modernizing influences of advanced technology. Egypt has experienced a variety of social, judicial, economic, demographic, and political modifications. These changes have greatly affected Muslim women in Egypt and their family life. Not all of the issues underlying modernization will be addressed in this research. Type of family structure and …