Human Rights Law Commons^™

African Courts, International Law, And Comparative Case Law: Chimera Or Emerging Human Rights Jurisprudence?, Mirna E. Adjami

Michigan Journal of International Law

Though the potential creation of a supranational human rights court has brought international attention to the African human rights system, international law and human rights scholars rarely turn to African examples when studying the domestic application of international human rights norms. This Article seeks to fill that gap by analyzing cases from several Anglophone common law countries in sub-Saharan Africa that invoke international law and comparative case law as interpretive support in their national fundamental rights jurisprudence.

The European Convention On Human Rights: A Threat To United States-European Security Relations And The United States Military Justice System?, Darla Jackson

Other Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Taliban’S ‘Other’ Crimes, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

This paper explores possible legal responses to the Taliban's 'other' crimes--those inflicted against Afghans during Taliban rule. This criminality largely has been rendered invisible by virtue of the international community's focus on punishing the Taliban's support of transnational terrorists, in particular al-Qaeda. This invisibility is problematic given that carefully constructed prosecutions of these 'other' crimes could play an important role in post-conflict reconciliation and national reconstruction in Afghanistan. Such reconciliation and reconstruction can legitimise a representative post-conflict state and curb terrorist recidivism.

Restorative Justice And Collective Responsibility: Lessons For And From The Rwandan Genocide, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Genocide struck Rwanda in 1994. Since then, national and international trials have endeavored to promote reconciliation, deterrence, peace, justice, and human rights. This article posits a disconnect between these trials and the attainment of their avowed goals. This disconnect emerges in part from the influential agendas of international lawyers who equate selective criminal prosecution with the "rule of law" and espouse criminal prosecution as the preferred and uniform response to mass atrocity. Creating a presumption in favor of criminal prosecution has dampened the need to explore whether such trials actually are suitable for the particular afflicted society. A socio-legal analysis …

Protecting Economic, Social And Cultural Rights In The Inter-American Human Rights System: A Manual On Presenting Claims, Tara J. Melish

Books

This book offers human rights practitioners and scholars a lens into strategies and arguments for the protection of economic, social and cultural rights before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, particularly through the regional system's individual petitions process. It systematically compiles the regional bodies' major statements on social rights from the 1960s through 1999, describes the system's procedures, and offers strategic pathways and arguments for finding social rights protections solidly grounded in each of the regional system's major human rights instruments. It also offers a model petition and provides strategic advice on framing …

When Interests Diverge, Robert S. Chang, Peter Kwan

Michigan Law Review

In her recent book Cold War Civil Rights, Professor Mary L. Dudziak, sets forth "to explore the impact of Cold War foreign affairs on U.S. civil rights reform" (p. 14). Tracing "the emergence, the development, and the decline of Cold War foreign affairs as a factor in influencing civil rights policy" (p. 17), she draws "together Cold War history and civil rights history" (pp. 14-15), two areas that are usually treated as distinct subjects of inquiry. In mixing the two together, she shows that "the borders of U.S. history are not easily maintained." Perhaps it is fitting that the field …

Reparations And The Colonial Dilemma: The Insurmountable Hurdles And Yet Transformative Benefits, Ediberto Román

Faculty Publications

The Seventh Annual Latina and Latino Critical Race Theory ("LatCrit") Conference held in May 2002 at the University of Oregon, not unlike other efforts in the movement, addressed a panoply of challenging, provocative, and controversial issues. Perhaps one the most intellectually interesting and yet troubling panels addressed reparations for the inhabitants of United States' colonial territories. Specifically, the panel was titled "Reparations, Redress, and Remedies: Undoing the Legacy of Colonialism and Imperialism." Members of the academy as well as a representative of Puerto Rico's Independence Party participated in a lively discussion and debate. Although the articles resulting from this panel …

Inter-American System, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The Promise Of A Post-Genocide Constitution: Healing Rwandan Spirit Injuries, Adrien Katherine Wing, Mark Richard Johnson

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This Article hopes to extend Critical Race Theory's social construction of race theory by emphasizing ethnicity as well as race. The Rwandans are undoubtedly within the so-called "Black race." Historically, they have also been socially constructed as consisting of different races and ethnicities, even though many scholars and Rwandans do not see ethnic, much less racial, distinctions. Some of these Rwandans who did see such differences participated in the genocide.

Not As Simple As Learning The Abc's: A Comment On Owasso Independent School District No. I-Ol1 V. Falvo And The State Of The Family Educational Rights And Privacy Act, Randi M. Rothberg

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article examines the Supreme Court's rulings in Falvo and Owasso, which determined that peer grading practices do not violate FERPA as the records involved are not classified as education records. This highlights significant implications for student privacy rights and underscores the need for clarifying FERPA's definitions to prevent future legal disputes.

European Courts, American Rights: Extradition And Prison Conditions, Daniel J. Sharfstein

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article discusses the rising number of extradition requests by the United States, the common grounds for denial of extradition, and the controversies that such denials have aroused. Part II examines Soering v. United Kingdom against this background and analyzes its scholarly reception, influence on international and foreign jurisprudence, and lack of effect in the United States. Part III explores the implications of SOERING for defenses to extradition based on prison conditions: whether prison conditions in the United States could conceivably rise to the level of a human rights violation, whether the European Court of Human Rights …

Russian Compliance With Articles Five & Six Of The European Convention Of Human Rights As A Barometer Of Legal Reform & Human Rights In Russia, Jeffrey D. Kahn

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Note examines two of Russia's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR): the Article 5 right to liberty and security, and the Article 6 right to a fair trial to gauge Russian compliance with European human rights norms. These articles lie at the heart of systematic legal reform in the Russian Federation. This Note defends the thesis that the agonizingly slow progress of judicial reform and the advancement of human rights in Russia is a function of the inevitable lag of conceptual norms behind institutional reform. Part I explores the weak place of the rule of law …

Truth As Right And Remedy In International Human Rights Experience, Thomas Antkowiak

Faculty Articles

Early this year, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San Jose, Costa Rica, was faced yet again with a seemingly basic question: Does an individual have a legal right to know the truth about the circumstances surrounding the serious human rights violations a loved one has suffered? One might expect to encounter such a privilege in our victim centered system of international human rights protection-especially within the progressive jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court. Yet, it is simply not to be found as a substantive, explicit right. This essay seeks to explore the origins, scope, and key possibilities of an …

United Kingdom Transgender Win, Arthur S. Leonard

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

War And The Problem Of Child Soldiers, Meng Yoong Yong

Student Works (2000-2009)

Askar kanak-kanak mernpakan satu fenomena yang jarang didebatkan di Malaysia. fetapi di banyak negara dunia ketiga ia mernpakan satu perkara biasa. Yang dikatakan askar anak-kanak adalah pejuang yang bernmur Japan belas tahun ke bawah. Apa yang menakjubkan alah seramai 300,000 kanak-kanak di sebanyak 60 buah negara melibatkan diri secara aktif di ialam konflik dan peperangan. Di Afrika sahaja terdapat lebih kurang 120,000. Jika dahulu canak-kanak ditugaskan dalam sektor sokongan dan logistik seperti tukang masak, pengangkut )arangan, penghantar mesej dan pengintip, kini oleh kerana teknologi pesat dalam bidang Jersenjataan, kanak-kanak ditugaskan di barisan hadapan bersama pejuang dewasa yang lain. Kanak-kanak perempuan …

Pelanggaran Hak Asasi Manusia Di Aceh Tahun 1989-1998 Menurut Syariah Dan Perlembagaan Indonesia, H. Munawar A. Djalil

Student Works (2000-2009)

This research attempts to find out human rights violations in Acheh during the period of 1989-1998 according to lslamic Laws and Indonesian Constitution. Chapter 1 highlights backgrounds of this research whereas chapter 2 discusses modem and Islamic human rights theories. AII these theories look at similarity, freedom and justice. The difference is only based on its principle Islamic theory is based on AI-Qur'an and Sunnah whereas modern theory is based on humanism. Furthermore, Chapter three talks about histories of Aceh and implementation of Military Operation Zone whereas Acehneses considered as rebels and Islamic fundamentalists by Indonesian Government. This situation has …

A Ghost Is Haunting Europe, Maria Grahn-Farley

Michigan Journal of International Law

Review of Responsible Selves: Women in the Nordic Legal Cultures (Kevät Nousiainen, Åsa Gunnarsson, Karin Lundström, & Johanna Niemi-Kiesiläinen eds.)

Persecution In The Fog Of War: The House Of Lords' Decision In Adan, Michael Kagan, William P. Johnson

Michigan Journal of International Law

In this Article, we argue that the House of Lords' reasoning in Adan was seriously flawed. The House of Lords correctly recognized that evidence that minorities face a heightened risk of being persecuted can be sufficient to show a nexus to a Convention ground. Yet it erred when it went on to hold that only differentially at-risk individuals or groups can benefit from refugee status. If a person's risk of being persecuted is causally linked to his or her race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, the nexus requirement is satisfied irrespective of whether the …

African Private Security Companies And The Alien Tort Claims Act: Could Multinational Oil And Mining Companies Be Liable?, Jennifer L. Heil

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper focuses specifically on the possible liability under the ATCA of multinational oil and mining companies operating in Africa. First, it will examine the relationships between the multinational oil and mining companies, private security forces and African governments. In doing so, it will describe the actual activities and operations of the private security forces in conjunction with the oil and mining corhpanies. Second, this paper will outline the elements of liability under the ATCA. This will include a discussion of recent cases in which foreign nationals have sued multinational companies in the United States for alleged human rights abuses …

Human Rights Responsibilities Of Private Corporations, Jordan J. Paust

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article discusses the human rights responsibilities of private corporations. Part I addresses how decisions and activities of multinational corporations impact human rights. Part II examines corporate liability under human rights laws by examining trends in judicial decisions in the United States and foreign states and human rights instruments. Part III explores the types of human rights deprivations that multinational corporations might cause. The Article concludes by predicting that there will be increasing scrutiny of corporate deprivations of human rights at the domestic, regional, and international levels.

The Prosecution Of Rape Under International Law: Justice That Is Long Overdue, James R. Mchenry, Iii

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Note argues that despite theoretical criticisms, the prosecution of rape and sexual enslavement as crimes against humanity, by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) fits within a larger, emerging picture of international legal jurisprudence. First, the ICTY built upon both its own prior decisions and the decisions of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), especially Prosecutor v. Akayesu, in order to close gaps in the international legal conceptualizations of rape and enslavement, torture, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity. Second, building upon the example set by the ICTR, the ICTY broadened international protections of …

Time For A New Approach? Federalism And Foreign Affairs After "Crosby V. National Foreign Trade Council", James J. Pascoe

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

On June 19, 2000, in Crosby v. National Foreign Trade Council--a much-anticipated decision involving the intersection of federalism and foreign relations--the U.S. Supreme Court struck down a Massachusetts law restricting state purchases from companies doing business in Burma. Crosby represents the Court's first consideration not only of local selective purchasing laws but, more importantly, its first consideration of the sort of subnational sanctions first developed by state and local governments during the anti-apartheid campaign of the 1980's. Thus, Crosby may pose an obstacle to human rights activism by local governments using economic sanctions to punish perceived human-rights offenders.

Because the …

Missouri, The “War On Terrorism,” And Immigrants: Legal Challenges Post 9/11, Sylvia R. Lazos

Scholarly Works

This article explains how the 2000 census confirmed what many already knew--the traditional image of what it means for Missouri to be a heartland state is changing. The 2000 census shows that the fastest growing racial/ethnic group in Missouri are Latinos. This growth in first generation immigrants has not been limited to Missouri's large urban centers. In rural Missouri and its small towns, the major group of first generation immigrants is Latinos.

Changing The Face Of The Law: How Women's Advocacy Groups Put Women On The Federal Judicial Appointments Agenda, Mary Clark

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Carter's Groundbreaking Appointment Of Women To The Federal Branch: His Other Human Rights Record, Mary Clark

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Policy In The Age Of Terrorism, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Gender Hate Propaganda And Sexual Violence In The Rwandan Genocide: An Argument For Intersectionality In International Law, Llezlie Green

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article explores the gendered dimensions of genocidal hate propaganda before and during the Rwandan genocide and proposes that the international tribunal consider these cases with an intersectional approach that attempts to fully appreciate the harm inflicted upon Tutsi women.

Inter-American System, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.