Human Rights Law Commons^™

Does The Death Penalty Require Death Row? The Harm Of Legislative Silence, Marah Stith Mcleod

Journal Articles

This Article addresses the substantive question, "Does the death penalty require death row?" and the procedural question, "Who should decide? In most capital punishment states, prisoners sentenced to death are held, because of their sentences alone, in far harsher conditions of confinement than other prisoners. Often, this means solitary confinement for the years and even decades until their executions. Despite a growing amount of media attention to the use of solitary confinement, most scholars and courts have continued to assume that the isolation of death-sentenced prisoners on death row is an inevitable administrative aspect of capital punishment. To the extent …

Book Review, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

Reviewing Federico Fabbrini, Fundamental Rights in Europe: Challenges and Transformations in Comparative Perspective (2014)

Fabbrini’s study sheds valuable light on the dynamics that shape the interactions among multiple levels of human rights protection in Europe, and on the consequences for rights protection that tend to ensue. Less successful is his outsized confidence in a comparative approach, especially as applied to political and juridical communities as distinct as the USA and Europe. While the imperfect comparisons yield useful insights, Fabbrini at times overstates their import.

International Legal Protections For Migrants And Refugees: A Response To Father Brennan, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

Father Brennan’s Essay, “Human Rights and the National Interest: The Case Study of Asylum, Migration, and National Border Protection,” is a complex legal and ethical analysis of refugee law. This Commentary focuses on one aspect of the international law relevant to the Essay, namely, state obligations to migrants. Father Brennan’s main argument that migrants and refugees may be turned back, so long as the action respects human rights law, is consistent with the human right to life. Justly stopping migrants and refugees requires states to stop them before they enter either international waters or the state’s territorial waters. Further, Father …

What Is The Future Of Transitional Justice?, Makau Wa Mutua

Journal Articles

This piece explores and critiques the project of transitional justice. It has been more than a quarter of a century since transitional justice burst onto the global stage. Over the years it has come to be billed as a panacea for addressing deeply embedded social and political dysfunction after periods of mass repression and violence. Many theorists and policy makers have argued that it is a key bridge to sustainable peace, democracy and human rights. But the historical record is not clear about a direct causal relationship between transitional justice mechanisms and specific outcomes in post-conflict societies. In some cases, …

Human Rights Provisions In Free Trade Agreements: Do The Ends Justify The Means?, Meredith Kolsky Lewis

Journal Articles

Numerous Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) contain provisions imposing human rights-related obligations, particularly in the case of agreements between the European Union and a developing country (often a former colony). Such obligations often consist of hortatory “best endeavors” language rather than legally binding provisions. Even the small number of provisions that are binding are very rarely enforced. Furthermore, even if an FTA features human rights-related provisions, it may contain other terms that have negative implications for human rights. Thus, including human rights provisions in FTAs will not necessarily result in better human rights outcomes. There are additional reasons to be cautious …

Grounding Human Rights In Natural Law, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

Of the published reviews of Natural Law and Natural Rights, one of the most, and most enduringly, influential was Ernest Fortin's review-article "The New Rights Theory and the Natural Law" (1982). The present essay takes the occasion of that review's latest republication to respond to its main criticisms of the theory of natural law and natural or human rights that is articulated in Natural Law and Natural Rights. The response deals with a number of fundamental or strategically important issues: the freedom of thought and/or the intellectual autonomy and integrity of work within an intellectual tradition that overlaps with a …

The Anglo-Latin Divide And The Future Of The Inter-American System Of Human Rights, Paolo G. Carozza

Journal Articles

A former President of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Paolo Carozza draws on his personal experience to identify and propose solutions for a key flaw in the Inter-American Human Rights System: the division between English-language member states and states with Latin-based languages. Terming this division "The Anglo-Latin Divide," Carozza traces the division not only to linguistic difference, but also to differences in legal traditions. He explains how the differences between Anglo tradition of common law and the Latin tradition of civil law manifest in both substantive and procedural divides within the Inter-American Human Rights system, including in sensitive areas …

Suing Americans For Human Rights Torts Overseas: The Supreme Court Leaves The Door Open, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

If American citizens or corporations commit gross violations of human rights against foreign victims on foreign shores, can the victims sue the Americans for damages in United States federal courts? Until recently the answer was clearly yes. However, following the diverse opinions in the Supreme Court’s 2013 ruling in Kiobel v. Royal Dutch Petroleum Co., the question has divided lower courts to date.

This Article argues that, as a matter of both domestic and international law, and under both the majority and minority rationales in Kiobel, federal courts can and should hear tort suits against American nationals for human rights …

The Future Of Human Rights Litigation After Kiobel, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

This Article begins from the premise that the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) no longer serves a useful purpose in litigating human rights claims. As others have argued in this issue, that premise may not be correct. Assuming it is, however, one should anticipate that human rights lawyers will pursue alternative avenues for relief.

The Priority Of Persons Revisited, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

This essay, in the context of a conference on justice, reviews and reaffirms the main theses of “The Priority of Persons” (2000), and supplements them with the benefit of hindsight in six theses. The wrongness of Roe v. Wade goes wider than was indicated. The secularist scientistic or naturalist dimension of the reigning contemporary ideology is inconsistent with the spiritual reality manifested in every word or gesture of its proponents. The temporal continuity of the existence of human persons and their communities is highly significant for the common good, which is the point and measure of social justice, properly understood. …

Book Review, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

LIBERTY & SECURITY, authored by Human Rights Law Professor Conor Gearty, is a book that is relevant and fills a void through the question it explores. Gearty, while admitting that the terms liberty and security are susceptible to a host of meanings, does not seek in this book to define a more precise meaning for these terms. Rather, the book focuses on the “for how many” question (p.2). Gearty asks and answers whether liberty and security are “to be for all or just the few?”

A Response To Harel, Hope, And Schwartz, John M. Finnis

Journal Articles

A seminar held in the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in December 2012 discussed critical comments by Alon Harel, Simon Hope, and Daniel Schwartz on themes and theses in Human Rights and Common Good, volume III of Collected Essays of John Finnis (Oxford University Press, 2011). Revised versions of these comments, and of the response I gave at this seminar, are now published in the Jerusalem Review of Legal Studies. The Response retains the informal and engaged character of this very good academic occasion. Section I considers Harel’s thesis that judicial review of legislation can be defended because my “in-authenticity” …

Defining The Badges And Incidents Of Slavery, Jennifer Mason Mcaward

Journal Articles

Most agree that Section Two of the Thirteenth Amendment empowers Congress to legislate regarding the “badges and incidents of slavery.” Few, however, have explored in depth the precise meaning of this concept. The goal of this Article is to provide a historical and conceptual framework for interpreting and identifying the badges and incidents of slavery. It examines the original public meaning of the terms “badge of slavery” and “incident of slavery” as well as how the “badges and incidents” concept has been incorporated into and used in Thirteenth Amendment jurisprudence. It considers several analytical variables from historical, jurisprudential, and policy …

The Catholic Church, Human Rights, And Democracy: Convergence And Conflict With The Modern State, Paolo G. Carozza, Daniel Philpott

Journal Articles

The author traces the history of the Catholic Church's relationship to the modern state, focusing on the idea of sovereignty and the development of human rights and democracy. It argues that the Catholic Church's relationship to human rights and democracy in the modern world can only be understood as reflective of both a historical convergence and a persistent tension and ambivalence. The first part argues for this dual theme in the development of Catholic doctrine, where today, as over the past several centuries, the Church's conception of the common good yields both an embrace of human rights and democracy and …

Jacques Maritain, Man And The State (1951), Richard W. Garnett

Journal Articles

From the Article

Jacques Maritain was one of the twentieth century’s most important and influential Christian philosophers and political thinkers. That said, his work, thought, and aspirations were not limited by the boundaries of any particular academic disciplines or traditions. His was, as Professor Brennan has observed, a “quest to understand the whole of reality, created and redeemed.” A great scholar of the medieval accomplishments of the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, Maritain’s distinctive Christian Humanism shaped the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Second Vatican Council, and the writing of the late Pope John Paul II.

Ngo Standing And Influence In Regional Human Rights Courts And Commissions, Lloyd Hitoshi Mayer

Journal Articles

This article explores the extent to which nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) have standing to bring claims in the European, Inter-American, and African human rights enforcement systems, examines the degree to which NGOs in fact bring such cases, and analyzes the ramifications of NGO involvement in these systems. Part I of this article considers how NGOs can be involved in the European Court of Human Rights, the Inter-American Human Rights Commission and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights. As detailed in this part, while …

Re-Examining Customary International Law And The Federal Courts: An Introduction, Anthony J. Bellia Jr.

Journal Articles

Legal scholars have debated intensely the role of customary international law in the American federal system. The debate involves serious questions surrounding the United States's constitutional structure, foreign relations, and human rights. Despite an impressive body of scholarship, the debate has stood at an impasse in recent years, without either side garnering a consensus. This symposium–Re-examining Customary International Law and the Federal Courts–aspires to help advance the debate over the status of customary international law in the federal courts.

The symposium received thoughtful and constructive contributions from Professors Curtis A. Bradley, Bradford R. Clark, Andrew Kent, Carlos M. Vizquez, and …

Women Lawyers, Women’S Rights In Senegal: The Association Of Senegalese Women Lawyers, Judy Scales-Trent

Journal Articles

L'Association des Femmes Juristes Sénégalaises (The Association of Senegalese Women Lawyers) has been working to improve the lives of women in Senegal for almost forty years. In a predominantly Muslim country where most women do not even attend high school, these women have used their legal skills to make change. With little money, no paid attorneys on staff, and using a borrowed room in a law firm as an office, they have successfully pushed the government to make positive changes in the Family Code and other laws and have played an important role in the development of human rights consciousness …

Persone Incapaci E Decisioni Di Fine Vita (Con Uno Sguardo Oltreoceano), O. Carter Snead, Andrea Simoncini

Journal Articles

Title in English: Incapacitated Persons and End of Life Decision Making (with an Across-the-Ocean View) No translation available.

The Scope Of Congress's Thirteenth Amendment Enforcement Power After City Of Boerne V. Flores, Jennifer Mason Mcaward

Journal Articles

Section Two of the Thirteenth Amendment grants Congress power “to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.” In Jones v. Alfred H. Mayer Co., the Supreme Court held that Section Two permits Congress to define the “badges and incidents of slavery” and pass “all laws necessary and proper” for their abolition. Congress has passed a number of civil rights laws under this understanding of its Section Two power. Several commentators have urged Congress to expansively define the “badges and incidents of slavery” and use Section Two to address everything from racial profiling to discrimination on the basis of gender and sexual …

Introductory Note To The Optional Protocol To The International Covenant On Economic, Social And Cultural Rights, Tara J. Melish

Journal Articles

This Introductory Note to the publication in ILM of the newly-adopted Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR) seeks to put the primary source document in proper context by briefly explaining its history, content, and significance in international law. The Note is accompanied by the text of the OP-ICESCR, adopted by the U.N. General Assembly on December 10, 2008 to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The OP creates an individual complaints procedure for alleged violations of the ICESCR, rectifying a thirty year asymmetry in human rights treaty law.

International Human Rights Law And Security Detention, Douglass Cassel

Journal Articles

This article analyzes the grounds, procedures, and conditions required by International Human Rights Law for preventive detention of suspected terrorists as threats to security. Such detention is generally permitted, provided it is based on grounds and procedures previously established by law; is not arbitrary, discriminatory, or disproportionate; is publicly registered and subject to fair and effective judicial review; and the detainee is not mistreated and is compensated for any unlawful detention. In Europe, however, preventive detention for security purposes is generally not permitted. If allowed at all, it is permitted only when a State in time of national emergency formally …

Bioethics And Self-Governance: The Lessons Of The Universal Declaration On Bioethics And Human Rights, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

The following article analyzes the process of conception, elaboration, and adoption of the Universal Declaration of Bioethics and Human Rights, and reflects on the lessons it might hold for public bioethics on the international level. The author was involved in the process at a variety of levels: he provided advice to the IBC on behalf of the President's Council of Bioethics; he served as the U.S. representative to UNESCO's Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee; and led the U.S. Delegation in the multilateral negotiation of Government experts that culminated in the adoption of the declaration in its final form. The author is currently …

Catholic Social Teaching And Global Migration: Bridging The Paradox Of Universal Human Rights And Territorial Self-Determination, Vincent D. Rougeau

Journal Articles

In this essay, I will consider how law, religion, and democratic pluralism revolve around a particular issue: global migration. I use the term global migration to encompass a number of related issues that are often collapsed under the term immigration. In nations that have constructed their identities around waves of settlers or migrants -- places like the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand -- immigration involves the formal reception of foreigners into the host country as potential new citizens. This is just one part of the migration of peoples around the globe. Migration also encompasses emigration, asylum, economic migration,and …

Human Rights And Powerlessness: Pathologies Of Choice And Substance, Makau Mutua

Journal Articles

The human rights corpus is a bundle of pathologies of choice and substance. But these pathologies are ideologically driven and inhere in the human rights movement because of the political choices and biases that are part of the cultural universe of human rights. In particular, the corpus is captive to thin notions of human rights that tend not to challenge deeply embedded social and economic assumptions and systems. The historical narrative of the human rights movement closely parallels the hegemonic rise of the West and hence the movement’s imprisonment in an intellectual project that casts the human being in the …

Duress, Demanding Heroism And Proportionality, Luis E. Chiesa

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Book Review, Mark C. Modak-Truran

Journal Articles

This book brings together two previously separate aspects of Michael J. Perry’s thoughtful and pioneering scholarship dealing with the proper relation of morality (especially religious morality) to law and human rights and the role of courts in protecting human rights.

Just Back From The Human Rights Council, Makau Mutua

Journal Articles

The piece critically looks at the transition from the UN Commission on Human Rights to the UN Human Rights Council in 2006 and questions whether the change is one of substance or form. It argues that the same paralysis that dogged the Commission will continue to afflict the Council because power politics and regional blocs - fueled by the global asymmetries of power - will not go away. The piece also contends that the charge by the West that the Commission was utterly compromised by the Third World was without merit because it was the one forum where developing could …

Arbitrating Human Rights, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

Corporate liability for human rights abuses is one of the most important developments in current international law and practice. With the advent of human rights litigation against corporations, there is now the prospect of a deep-pocket defendant that is complicit in grave human rights abuses, subject to personal jurisdiction, and not immune from suit. Indeed, if a corporation is accused of "aiding and abetting" human rights abuses, this is all but a concession that the corporate actor is not the principal wrong-doer. It is of course possible that this controversial trend toward corporate responsibility may reflect a genuine concern about …

The Nobel Effect: Nobel Peace Prize Laureates As International Norm Entrepreneurs, Roger P. Alford

Journal Articles

For the first time in scholarly literature, this article traces the history of modern international law from the perspective of the constructivist theory of international relations. Constructivism is one of the leadings schools of thought in international relations today. This theory posits that state preferences emerge from social construction and that state interests are evolving rather than fixed. Constructivism further argues that international norms have a life cycle composed of three stages: norm emergence, norm acceptance (or norm cascades), and norm internalization. As such, constructivism treats international law as a dynamic process in which norm entrepreneurs interact with state actors …