Human Rights Law Commons^™

The Olympic Spotlight: The Beijing Games And China As A Future World Leader, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

According to Jeffrey Wasserstrom’s article, if the Chinese think they can censor the Olympics, and the political showcasing that will almost certainly accompany them, they are sorely mistaken. I am persuaded by the thrust of this argument. I just hope that as China vies for global leadership and influence, whatever truths the Olympic spotlight reveals about its potential in this regard are more farcical than tragic.

Beijing's Olympics: Pride, Appearance And Human Rights, Thomas Beal

Human Rights & Human Welfare

One lazy summer evening in Beijing, about fifteen years ago, my wife and I were strolling down Jianguomenwai, the bustling street adjacent to our flat in the Qijiayuan Diplomatic Compound. The day had been sweltering, and as the sun began to set the sidewalks filled with pedestrians who, like us, had escaped their stuffy apartments to take in a cool, soothing breeze.

Victims And Promise Of Remedies: International Law Fairytale Gone Bad, Sanja Djajic

San Diego International Law Journal

The aim of this Article is to examine such developments and the current availability of remedies for human rights violations in general. The Author will also examine the appropriateness of such remedies and opportunities to pursue them. The Article starts by identifying remedies in international law. This is followed by a case study and analysis of attempts by several national judiciaries to grapple with remedies prescribed by international law, against the background of international and national remedies. In the course of examining the reasons for an inadequate remedial structure, the Article will focus on several national cases. They will illustrate …

Defining Armed Conflict, Natasha Balendra

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Duress, Demanding Heroism And Proportionality, Luis E. Chiesa

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

The Emerging Role Of Dna Analysis In The Criminal Justice System, Sandra Sherman

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Forensic science has evolved into the most advanced investigative tool used in the criminal justice field. DNA evidence is a strong component of forensic science and with constant advancements of DNA testing so that its evidence is more reliable and accepted in the criminal justice system will help provide justice for the quily and innocent alike.

Economic Sanctions Against Human Rights Violations, Buhm Suk Baek

Cornell Law School Inter-University Graduate Student Conference Papers

The idea of human rights protection, historically, has been considered as a domestic matter, to be realized by individual states within their domestic law and national institutions. The protection and promotion of human rights, however, have become one of the most important issues for the international community as a whole. Yet, with time, it has become increasingly difficult for the international community to address human rights problems collectively. Despite a significant development in the human rights norms, effective protection of fundamental human rights and their legal enforcement has a long way to go.

This paper will argue that economic sanctions …

April Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“A World Enslaved" by E. Benjamin Skinner. Foreign Policy (March/April) 2008.

Forget Me Not: Bodies As Last Colonies Of Capitalism?, Anna M. Agathangelou

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Slavery is one technology of imperialism that serves to generate more profits worldwide. Skinner brings this issue to our attention, arguing that many people think that slavery ended in the 19th century, but the current turning of peoples into slaves proves otherwise. Skinner points out that since 1817, there have been more than a dozen international conventions signed banning the slave trade and yet, the number of people sold as slaves is in the millions. He calls modern day slavery a “monstrous crime” and proceeds to provide us with insights from his research. He begins making his point through what …

Slavery: From Public Crime To Private Wrong, Alison Brysk

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The fight against slavery was the first international human rights movement, and the elimination of legalized bondage represented a hallmark of Western civilization. But the persistence and revival of this ancient evil shows that in an era of globalization, a prohibited public crime has morphed into a massive private wrong.

Combating The Slave Trade: Why Governments Are Not Good At Governing, Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

It is difficult to read Benjamin Skinner’s revealing piece on the international slave trade and not feel revolted that we still live in a world where so many people live in bondage. What is particularly disturbing is that much of the modern-day slave trade takes place with the full knowledge, and even acquiescence of, state governments.

Slavery And "Abuse Regeneration", Christine Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Skinner’s depiction of modern day slavery is graphic and challenging. Anyone viewing prohibitions on slavery, or abolition, as historical anachronism, or requiring reinterpretation for modern-day practices, must think again. Skinner persuades us that slavery in its most old fashioned sense is alive and well and, worse than that–on the rise.

Promoting Equality After Genocide, Sheri P. Rosenberg

Articles

The value of equality has little currency after genocide and ethnic cleansing. Restoring that value is no easy feat. Paramount, though not singular, in this struggle for equality is the role of the law A State establishes its common legal rights and duties through its legal institutions, which define the values and character of the nation. Legal institutions mediate these values and norms and through legal pronouncements provide a template for future civic engagement and social interaction. Equality and antidiscrimination jurisprudence is particularly important during the delicate period of transition alter genocide, because it grounds within society the normative shift …

Sex And Globalization, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

For some time now, I have focused on a mission to bring together the separate discourses of the human rights and trade fields—certainly not to blend them, but to raise awareness of their myriad interconnections. Indeed, human rights and trade are interlocking pieces of the puzzle we call international law and cannot possibly remain sequestered in the "splendid isolation" in which they have existed since their inception as disciplines. In any study of globalization, especially if one endeavors to pursue its benefits for all persons, not just the elite around the world, one must be aware of and seek to …

Adolescents Under International Law: Autonomy As The Key To Reproductive Health, Aliya Haider

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

As a matter of policy, the reproductive and sexual health of adolescents matter because they comprise almost one half of the world's population. As a matter of international human rights law, adolescents have reproductive and sexual health rights. This article outlines how the international community must ensure adolescents' access to and exercise of those reproductive health rights. Governments must enable informed decision-making while also offering state protections for this vulnerable population. Without laws and policies that uphold adolescent health worldwide, future generations will needlessly suffer.

Immigration Law: Nowhere To Turn-Illegal Aliens Cannot Use The Freedom Of Information Act As A Discovery Tool To Fight Unfair Removal Hearings, Larry R. Fleurantin

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article argues that the use of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) by illegal aliens to obtain necessary documents for their removal hearings is ineffective and unfair. The government withholds crucial information, such as asylum interview notes, under FOIA exemptions, particularly exemption (b)(5), which is intended for internal memos and attorney work product. This practice denies asylum seekers the ability to prepare their cases adequately, leading to unfair removal hearings and violating their due process rights. The author advocates for legislative reform to ensure fair access to information and a meaningful opportunity to be heard.

The Partisan Of The Universal, Dimitra Panopoulos

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rational Choice, Reputation, And Human Rights Treaties, Alex Geisinger, Michael Ashley Stein

Michigan Law Review

Part I of this Review sets forth Guzman's general theory of international law with specific consideration of the way reputation influences state behavior. Part II then tests Guzman's overarching thesis by applying it to human rights treaties and concludes that explaining states' entry into human rights treaties requires a broader conception of reputation than Rational Choice allows.

Prosecuting Sexual Violence In Correctional Settings: Examining Prosecutors’ Perceptions, Brenda V. Smith, Jaime Yarussi

Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Articles

The Prison Rape Elimination Act of 2003 (PREA) is the first piece of federal legislation that expressly and exclusively addresses sexual abuse of persons in custody. Notwithstanding passage of the Act, there is a clear belief, echoed by correctional leaders, that prosecutors are reluctant at best, and unwilling at worst, to prosecute cases of sexual violence in correctional settings. In order to gather information on the prosecutor interest in and capacity to prosecute these cases, the National Institute of Corrections Project on Addressing Prison Rape at the Washington College of Law (the NIC/WCL Project) collected data from state and federal …

The Prison Rape Elimination Act: Implementation And Unresolved Issues, Brenda V. Smith

Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Articles

This article aims to provide a brief background of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA) and the important political forces that shaped its passing, the current status on implementation of the Act, including progress made with each of the tools, and a prediction about issues that will arise in the enactment and implementation of the standards required by PREA.

Counterinsurgency And Constitutional Design, Ganesh Sitaraman

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Few think of counterinsurgency as linked to constitutional design. Counterinsurgency is bottom-up; constitutional design is top-down. Counterinsurgency is military; constitutional design is political-legal. Counterinsurgency is temporary, transitional, and tactical, designed to stabilize society; constitutional systems come later and are permanent, constant, and normal. But the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate the fallacy of these perceptions. Counterinsurgency and constitutional design took place simultaneously, they required high-level political agreement and ground-level acceptance, and they involved politics, law, and security. Iraq and Afghanistan demonstrate that these two enterprises are not different and disconnected, but rather intricately interconnected and complementary. This Note explores …

Militarization And Terrorism And Counter- Terrorism Measures In Thailand: Feminists And Women Human Rights Defenders, Virada Somswasdi

Cornell Law School Berger International Speaker Papers

Women human rights defenders need to work closely with feminist human rights defenders; both groups must empower each other and promote gender-sensitization of other members of the rights movements against militarization.

Despite the fact that women’s human rights defenders in the women’s movements have brought about some positive legal changes for women’s human rights, there are political, economic and social patriarchal contexts, especially through militarization, that obstruct ideal legislation and enforcement to cover all areas which have been identified in international instruments, especially the Convention on the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women and the Declaration on the Elimination of …

Australia's Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act: Addressing Indigenous And Non-Indigenous Inequities At The Expense Of International Human Rights?, Jenna Gruenstein

Washington International Law Journal

In 2007, Australia passed the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act (“NT Emergency Response Act”), ostensibly reacting to a recent report detailing exceedingly high levels of sexual abuse of Aboriginal children. This Comment argues that the NT Emergency Response Act likely violates Australia’s obligations under the United Nations’ (“U.N.”) International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“Racial Discrimination Convention”). The NT Emergency Response Act provides an opportunity for the Racial Discrimination Convention’s enforcement body, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”), to extend its application of the specialized guidelines for indigenous peoples beyond the …

The Trafficking In Victims Protection Act: A Feasibility Assessment, Kristina Cummings, M.A.

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

March Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Waving Goodbye to Hegemony” by Parag Khanna. New York Times Magazine. January 27, 2008.

The Dominican Republic And The Un Human Rights Treaty System, Luis Pomares

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

People Not Equal: A Glimpse Into The Use Of Profiling And The Effect A Pending U.N. Human Rights Committee Case May Have On United States' Policy, Lindsay N. Wise

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Post-Conflict Rule Of Law Building: The Need For A Multi-Layered, Synergistic Approach, Jane Stromseth

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Popular Authorship And Constitution Making: Comparing And Contrasting The Drc And Kenya, James Thuo Gathii

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Invoking The Rule Of Law In Post-Conflict Rebuilding: A Critical Examination, Balakrishnan Rajagopal

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.