Human Rights Law Commons^™

Intending The Worst: The Case Of Isis’S Specific Intent To Destroy The Christians Of Iraq, Eric Osborne, Matthew Dowd, Ryan Mcbrearty

Pepperdine Law Review

Genocide has been called the “crime of crimes.” That superlative is well-stated. Genocide is the intentional destruction of an entire people—a worse crime is almost beyond comprehension. The very word conjures some of the most horrific images in recorded history. And yet our legal understanding of this most-important crime is limited. Because the crime of genocide requires specific intent, even horrific atrocities will not qualify as genocide as a matter of law if done for a purpose other than the intended destruction of a target group. Thus whether actions qualify as genocide and what type of evidence is sufficient to …

Up To The Task: Utilizing Collaboration To Combat Trafficking In Persons, Claire Schalin

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

In this article, I will define trafficking and dispel some common myths that people believe about trafficking. This section will explain trafficking’s many forms and will demonstrate how trafficking can be a stationary crime rather than one requiring movement. Next, I will give a history of the legislation surrounding trafficking and common approaches to curbing the trafficking problem including arguments on both sides of decriminalization. In this section, I will present a country comparison on how different countries approach traffickers and victims of trafficking in their efforts to reduce trafficking in general. In addition to analyzing how varying countries address …

To Be Gay And African: Addressing The Gross Human Rights Violations Of Homosexuals In Cameroon And Uganda, And Legislative Remedies For Their Mistreatment, Danielle E. Makia

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

No abstract provided.

Challenging The Constitutionality Of Private Prisons: Insights From Israel, Angela E. Addae

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

No abstract provided.

Bound By Silence: Psychological Effects Of The Traditional Oath Ceremony Used In The Sex Trafficking Of Nigerian Women And Girls, Jennifer Millett-Barrett

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage. This study explores the psychological effects of …

'Race, Racism, And American Law': A Seminar From The Indigenous, Black, And Immigrant Legal Perspectives, Eduardo R.C. Capulong, Andrew King-Ries, Monte Mills

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

Flagrant racism has characterized the Trump era from the onset. Beginning with the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump has inflamed long-festering racial wounds and unleashed White supremacist reaction to the nation’s first Black President, in the process destabilizing our sense of the nation’s racial progress and upending core principles of legality, equality, and justice. As law professors, we sought to rise to these challenges and prepare the next generation of lawyers to succeed in a different and more polarized future. Our shared commitment resulted in a new course, “Race, Racism, and American Law,” in which we sought to explore the roots …

Film Review: The Uncondemned, Jessica M. Adach

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Film Review of The Uncondemned

Human Rights Law And The Investment Treaty Regime, Jesse Coleman, Kaitlin Y. Cordes, Lise Johnson

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

In its current form, the international investment treaty regime may stymie the business and human rights agenda in various ways. The regime may incentivize governments to favour the protection of investors over the protection of human rights. Investment treaty standards enforced through investor-state arbitration risk adversely affecting access to justice for project-affected rights holders. More broadly, the regime contributes to a system of global economic governance that elevates and rewards investors’ actions and expectations, irrespective of whether they have adhered to their responsibilities to respect human rights. Without comprehensive reform, investment treaties and investor-state arbitration will continue to interfere with …

The Lancet Commission On Global Health Law: The Transformative Power Of Law To Advance The Right To Health, Lawrence O. Gostin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

A new report by The Lancet-O’Neill-Georgetown University Commission on Global Health and the Law shows how law can fulfill the global pledge of the human right to health, while “leaving no one behind.” I call this “global health with justice.” We need both health and justice. By global health, I mean ever increasing indicators of good health and increased longevity in all countries around the world. By justice I mean that the global “good” of health must be fairly distributed both within and among countries. The Lancet Commission report offers a comprehensive roadmap towards realizing the law’s power to make …

Private Prisons & Human Rights: Examining Israel's Ban On Private Prisons In A Us Context, Brandy F. Henry

Concordia Law Review

This article users a human rights lens to examine prison privatization in the US. The analysis builds on the 2009 Israeli Supreme Court ruling against the privatization of prisons, which relied on the human rights theories of both decommodification and dignity. The Israeli interpretations of dignity, and decommodification theory as related to the privatization of prisons suggest that prison privatization results in the commodification of both the state and prisoner, through the improper delegation of governmental power, which results in an infringement of the prisoner's human right to dignity. This argument is examined in the context of US statute and …

Who Takes Action To Promote The Health Of Refugees And Migrants, Lawrence O. Gostin, Ibrahim Abubakar, Ranieri Guerra, Sabina F. Rashid, Eric A. Friedman, Zsuzsanna Jakab

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Migration is a defining issue of our time, with 1 billion migrants globally, of whom 258 million have crossed borders. Climate change and political instability propel ever-greater displacement, with major detriments to health. Policies that fail to prevent human trafficking or guarantee essential services undermine Universal Health Coverage (UHC) and the global pledge to “leave no one behind.” The World Health Assembly should robustly implement WHO’s Global Action Plan (GAP) on the Health of Refugees and Migrants.ugees and Migrants.

Indigenous Women's Bodies: Primer Territorio De Defensa, Ana Gabriela Avalos Tizol

Master's Theses

The teen pregnancy “epidemic” in Guatemala is a focal point when international and national NGOs demand that the government protect the civil and political rights of girls. In accordance, the state created laws (legal age for marriage - Ordinance 13-2017), implemented penal codes (statutory rape - Article 173) and created Programa Vida (conditional cash transfer of Q. 1,500 - $200 every two months) to address this ‘epidemic.’ Yet, only sixty-one teen mothers were involved in the program by the first year in 2018, indicating its inaccessibility. This thesis proposes to challenge the dominant narrative on teenage pregnancies, which blames “Mayan …

Lessons From Batson In A Comparative Criminal Context: How Implicit Racial Biases Remain Unaddressed In Canadian Jury Section, Brittney Adams

American Indian Law Journal

This Article highlights how Batson challenges may be instructive for addressing racial biases in jury selection in Canada and draws on the murder of Colten Boushie as an illustration of how the current system has failed to hold white defendants accountable in criminal cases involving Aboriginal victims. While far from perfect, peremptory Batson challenges in the United States serve as a nod to the ongoing issue of racial bias in jury selection in the United States. Canadian jury selection contains no similar challenges, which has too often resulted in all-white or mostly-white juries failing to hold white defendants accountable for …

Tribal Treaty Rights And Natural Resource Protection: The Next Chapter United States V. Washington - The Culverts Case, Richard Du Bey, Andrew S. Fuller, Emily Miner

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

A Change In South Dakota’S Child Sexual Abuse Statute Of Limitations: An Equal Protection Violations?, Peyton Healy

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Universal Human Rights And Constitutional Change, David Sloss, Wayne Sandholtz

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Scholars have written volumes about the dramatic constitutional changes that occurred in the United States in the decades after World War II. Several leading scholarly accounts adopt an internal perspective, focusing primarily on domestic factors that drove constitutional change. Other scholars adopt a more transnational perspective, linking domestic constitutional change in the United States to Cold War politics, or to the rise of totalitarianism. This Article builds on the work of scholars like Mary Dudziak and Richard Primus who have emphasized the transnational factors that contributed to constitutional change in the United States. However, our account differs from both Dudziak …

Forced Marriage: Terminological Coherence And Dissonance In International Criminal Law, Valerie Oosterveld

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Conditionality And Constitutional Change, Felix B. Chang

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

The burgeoning field of Critical Romani Studies explores the persistent subjugation of Europe’s largest minority, the Roma. Within this field, it has become fashionable to draw parallels to the U.S. Civil Rights Movement. Yet the comparisons are often one-sided; lessons tend to flow from Civil Rights to Roma Rights more than the other way around. It is an all-too-common hagiography of Civil Rights, where our history becomes a blueprint for other movements for racial equality.

To correct this trend, this Essay reveals what American scholars can learn from Roma Rights. Specifically, this Essay argues that the European Union’s Roma integration …

Unsung Heroes In Sa And Beyond Help Immigrants Find Hope, Erica B. Schommer

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

The Legal Determinants Of Health: Harnessing The Power Of Law For Global Health And Sustainable Development, Lawrence O. Gostin, John T. Monahan, Jenny Kaldor, Mary Debartolo, Eric A. Friedman, Katie Gottschalk, Susan C. Kim, Ala Alwan, Agnes Binagwaho, Gian Luca Burci, Luisa Cabal, Katherine Deland, Timothy Grant Evans, Eric Goosby, Sara Hossain, Howard Koh, Gorik Ooms, Mirta Roses Periago, Rodrigo Uprimny, Alicia E. Yamin

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Health risks in the 21st century are beyond the control of any country. In an era of globalization, promoting public health and equity requires cooperation and coordination both within and among states. Law can be a powerful tool for advancing global health, yet it remains significantly underutilised and poorly understood. Working in partnership, public health lawyers and health professionals can become champions for evidence-based laws to ensure the public’s health and safety.

The O'Neill Institute/Georgetown University Lancet Commission on Law and Global Health articulates the vital role of law – through legal instruments, legal capacities, and institutional reforms, as well …

Navigating The Moral Minefields Of Human Rights Advocacy In The Global South, Sandra L. Babcock

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

No abstract provided.

North Korean Defectors In South Korea And Asylum Seekers In The United States: A Comparison, Emma Poorman

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

North Korean defectors are considered citizens of South Korea under the South Korean Constitution, while others that flee violence gain the legal status of “refugee.” North Korean defectors, who attempt to escape one of the worst human rights crises in the world, find themselves in a unique situation. What benefits does this status have? How are refugees typically treated abroad, such as in the United States? This Comment will explore this unique status, how it differs from refugee status in the United States, and the challenges North Korean defectors face in South Korea.

Deliberation And Decision-Making Process In The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights: Do Individual Opinions Matter?, Ranieri L. Resende

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The work is focused on the adjudicatory nature of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and investigates its model of deliberation, considering three basic schemes: per curiam, seriatim and hybrid. In order to identify an institutional pattern, the importance of individual opinions is analyzed through the quantitative performance of each category of judge (ad hoc and regular), as well as each type of adjudicative activity (judgments and advisory opinions). The quantitative data is also useful to better understand the explicit assimilation of separate opinions to the core reasoning of future cases. As a result, it has been possible to identify …

A Theoretical Framework For The Protection Of Environmental Refugees In International Law, Mathias Sahinkuye

The Transnational Human Rights Review

This article analyzes the reality and the criteria for the legal protection of environmental refugees. Using an interdisciplinary approach, it addresses questions about the existence, nature, universality, justification, and legal status of environmental refugees. Despite the lively debates within the community of experts and scientists specializing in migration and/or environmental issues, there is no consensus today on a definition of the term “environmental refugees” since 1985 when it officially appeared. Several descriptions such as ecological refugees, environmental refugees, climate refugees, eco-refugees, climate évacué, environmental migrants, displaced persons due to a natural disaster, environmentally displaced persons, etc. have been used without …

Taxation And Human Rights: A Delicate Balance, Reuven S. Avi-Yonah, Gianluca Mazzoni

Book Chapters

This chapter assesses the appropriate balance between strengthening tax revenue collection tools to ensure states have adequate resources to meet their human rights obligations, and protecting taxpayer rights to privacy and data security. On the one hand, the ability of rich residents of developing countries and multinational corporations operating in those countries to evade or avoid taxation is directly linked to violations of human rights in those countries, especially from the perspective of social and economic rights like health and education. Providing such countries with the means to fight back and collect adequate revenues is essential in advancing such rights. …

Flushed And Forgotten: Sanitation And Wastewater In Rural Communities In The United States, Alabama Center For Rural Enterprise (Acre), Human Rights Institute, Institute For The Study Of Human Rights

Human Rights Institute

This report seeks to bring attention to the unique plight of rural U.S. communities struggling to secure basic sanitation and wastewater. The problem of inadequate and unaffordable water services has received increasing coverage in recent years, and the focus here is on bringing attention to less well-known structural challenges that impede access to sanitation, and the unique ways they impact rural residents.

Clark Memorandum: Spring 2019, J. Reuben Clark Law School, Byu Law School Alumni Association, J. Reuben Clark Law Society

The Clark Memorandum

• Declaring Human Dignity (Photographs by Steve McCurry)
• How Not to Be Stupid (Michael Mosman)
• Religion, Democracy, and the Habits of the Heart (Elder Bruce C. Hafen)
• Loving Our Neighbors (D. Carolina Núñez)
• Memoranda

Just Care: A Relational Approach To Autonomy And Decision Making Of Parents Committed To Religious Or Indigenous Traditional Practices, Tu-Quynh Trinh

LLM Theses

Hamilton Health Sciences Corp. v. D.H. and B. (R.) v. Children’s Aid Society of Metropolitan Toronto tell important stories about people and relationships—and about parenthood; autonomy; religious believers and cultural communities; and the role of the state in family, culture, and religion. Their narratives were influenced by liberalism and emphasize a degree of individualism that is incongruous given the subject matter of parent child relationships and their place within communities and the law. This thesis explores the application of relational theory and the integrated principles of justice and care to these issues. Ultimately, the stories these judicial opinions tell help …

Transitional Equality, Suzanne A. Kim

University of Richmond Law Review

Legal discussions of inequality often focus on the virtues of one legal status or regulatory structure over another, but a guarantee of the right to a particular legal status does not ensure a lived experience of equality in that status. In moments of legal change, when a person or class of persons obtain a new status or gain rights that had previously been denied to them, the path from one legal status to another becomes critically important and may itself be impacted by race, gender, age, and other factors. The process of transitioning to a new status can be complex …

Catholic Social Teaching And Neo-Abolitionism: Tearing Down The House Of The Rising Sun, Elizabeth M. Donovan

Cleveland State Law Review

Catholic Social Teaching (“CST”) is the body of literature written in the modern era by papal and episcopal teachers in response to current political, economic, and social issues. CST views individuals in the sex trade as victims, however they arrived in the trade. Prostitution abolitionists, called neo-abolitionists, because their current efforts to wipe out sex trafficking and prostitution mirror similar efforts by reformers in the early twentieth century, also view individuals in the sex trade as victims. A coalition of feminists and Christians developed neo-abolitionist social policy during the late twentieth and early twenty-first century. CST and neo-abolitionist social policy …