Human Rights Law Commons^™

Responsible Business Conduct In The Extractive Industries: Prospect Of Respecting Women's Human Rights In Ghana, Veronica Dossah

LLM Theses

Business operations in the extractive industries (EI) continue to violate women’s human rights and the environment in the communities in which they operate. In Ghana, existing laws and regulations do not preclude businesses from such violations. This makes it important to reflect on innovative means including soft laws which could encourage companies operating in the EI in Ghana to respect women’s human rights and the environment over and above compliance with national laws and regulations. This thesis examines the problem of land grabbing by EI companies operating in Ghana, the unique negative impacts women in mining communities face as a …

Making A Declaration: The Rise Of Declaratory Judgment Actions And The Insurer As Regulator In The Fight To End Sex Trafficking In The Hotel Industry, Lori N. Ross

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Farm And Food Worker Inequity Exposed And Compounded By Covid-19, Kimberly M. Bousquet

Journal of Food Law & Policy

Of the 2.4 million farm-working laborers in the United States, upwards of 73% are immigrants. And, according to the Economic Policy Institute, immigrants make up nearly 22% of all workers in the U.S. food industry, including 27% of food production workers, 37% of meat processing industry workers, 34% of commercial bakery workers, and 31% of fruit and vegetable preservation work. Another study found that “[p]eople of color make up the majority of essential workers in food and agriculture (50%) and in industrial, commercial, residential facilities and services (53%).” Many of these workers--if not the majority in some sectors--are undocumented and/or …

Understanding Modern History Of International Food Law Is Key To Building A More Resilient And Improved Global Food System, Michael T. Roberts

Journal of Food Law & Policy

This article advocates the need for a history of the development of modern international food law and suggests an analytical approach to complement the chronicling of events. Comprehension of this history will help elucidate the evolution of a complicated modern global food system, including its resiliency and vulnerability as demonstrated by Covid-19, thereby providing valuable context for change in the system where needed. This essay makes the case for such a history in three parts. First, it briefly demonstrates the need for a historical perspective through a critical examination of a journal article that speaks to Covid-19 food security in …

Martinez-Cuevas V. Deruyter Brothers And Covid-19: Is It Time To Re-Examine Farmworker Labor Protections?, Margaret Todd, Sarah Everhart

Journal of Food Law & Policy

In the fall of 2020, in the midst of the COVID-19 global pandemic, a closely divided (5-4) Washington Supreme Court, in Martinez-Cuevas v. Deruyter Bros. Dairy Inc.1, held that dairy workers, despite a state wage and hour law2 specifically exempting agricultural workers, are entitled to overtime pay. The Court based its decision, in part, on the dangerous nature of the work performed by the dairy workers.3 Although the decision was specific to dairy workers in Washington, the majority of U.S. farmworkers are not entitled to overtime wages while working jobs that are generally considered dangerous and have been made more …

Covid-19 And Land-Based Investment: Changing Landscapes, Tehtena Mebratu-Tsegaye, Nathaniah Jacobs, Clarisse Marsac

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

CCSI, IIED, and Namati are partnering on a new initiative to support governments, civil society, local communities, and private sector actors in improving the governance and practices of land-based investments.

Recognizing that more and better private sector investment is widely seen as critical to advancing economic development and achieving the SDGs in low- and middle-income countries, this initiative responds to concerns that land-based investments have resulted in land dispossession, environmental degradation, and conflict.

The Advancing Land-based Investment Governance (ALIGN) project involves:

• Sustained, in-depth work in up to three countries, including Sierra Leone, to support policy development and implementation, legal …

Skorupskian Allyship: Human Rights Reconstructed Through Efficacious Enforcement And Social Relativism, Chase Opperman

Philosophy Honors Papers

This project aims to take the subject of Human Rights and attempt to wrestle with its clarity. The concept has been, since its more modern manifestation, as represented by the United Nations’ Uniform Declaration of Human Rights, heavily criticized for its being indeterminate, unclear, ambiguous, or somehow not fully understood. Despite the concept’s incredible moral potential, the extent to which this potential can be realized is determined by the concept’s intelligibility and defensibility—both of which are affected by the concept’s being understood to a sufficient point. Given Human Rights’ moral potential to challenge the forces of evil in the world, …

Baby ‘A’ And Another V Attorney General And Others [2014] Eklr, Samiselo Kayombo

SAIPAR Case Review

On or about 3rd May 2009, Baby A (1st Petitioner) was born as an intersex child.2 On 10th May 2009, Kenyatta National Hospital (2nd Respondent) conducted various medical tests on the 1st Petitioner and on one of the documents that captured the 1st Petitioner’s details, inserted a question mark ‘?’ in the column that indicated the child’s sex. The Petitioners claimed that the entry of a question mark to indicate the sex of Baby A violated the rights of the child to legal recognition, dignity and freedom from inhuman and degrading treatment. These rights were guaranteed in Section 4 of …

Seeking Asylum In A Modern Society: Global Responses To Latin American Migration, Rebecca Dickinson

Senior Honors Projects

The United States is no stranger to asylum seekers and refugees. The most famous seaport in the country houses a 305-foot-tall statue of a woman bearing a torch with words from the poem The New Colossus by Emma Lazarus etched at her feet: “‘Give me your tired, your poor, /Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.’”^[1] The Statue of Liberty is a symbolic representation of open arms to immigrants from all walks of life. But if everyone is welcome, why do so few actually gain entrance?

US interventionism policies in the 20th century have defined the lives of millions …

Coming To Terms With Legacies Of The Vietnam War, Paul Morrow, Shelley Inglis, University Of Dayton. Human Rights Center

Reports and Promotional Materials

This report is the result of a symposium convened by the University of Dayton Human Rights Center in October 2020. For their contributions to that symposium we thank the following speakers: Allison Varzally, Selika Ducksworth-Lawton, Yen Le Espiritu, Tom Grace, David Cortright, Cynthia Enloe, David Kieran, Patrick Hagopian, Scott Laderman, Andrew Bacevich, Chuck Searcy, Dang Quang Toan, Colleen Murphy, Katherine Gallagher, John Goines III, Ben Schrader, Susan Hammond, Bich-Ngoc Turner, and Tim Rieser. Heather Bowser, Đạt Duthịnh, Garett Reppenhagen, and Mike Boehm enriched the symposium by discussing experiences of advocacy around war legacies; we are particularly thankful for the chance …

Persistent Inequalities, The Pandemic, And The Opportunity To Compete, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

Even before the recent coronavirus pandemic, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status played a powerful role in allocating opportunity—in the public schools and elsewhere. The pandemic laid bare the dimensions of this inequality with a new and alarming clarity. In this essay, I first focus on the landscape of educational inequity that existed before the coronavirus forced public schools to shut down. In particular, I explore patterns of racial and ethnic segregation in America’s schools and evaluate how those patterns relate to additional challenges based on socioeconomic isolation. In addition, I consider the role of language and immigration status in shaping …

The Tangled Roots Of The Holocaust: An Analysis Of The Evolution Of Colonial Discourse Through The Prohibition Of Sexual Relations And Marriages Between Races, Bianka Adamatti

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Nazi violence did not have its origins only in the brutality of the First World War or radical nationalist ideologies, but also in European colonialism. Hence, the goal of this thesis is to demonstrate that colonial processes were fundamental to the origins of the Holocaust. To prove this, I applied the content analysis to detect colonial discourse (stereotype, ambivalence, and mimicry) in three legislations from different contexts, which prohibited sexual relations and marriages between races. The documents analyzed exemplified the segregationist thinking of each period of colonization. Portuguese laws from the beginning of modernity demonstrate the transition from religious …

Human Rights In The New Era? Tools To Increase Participation Of People With Disabilities In The Workplace: An Analysis Of Laws In Hungary And The United States, Renata Bedo

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

People with disabilities face obstacles related to negative attitudes or opinions, deeply rooted stigma, and stereotypes in the workplace and everyday life, which leads to their social exclusion. The cornerstone of new developments in disability studies, the human rights model of disability, recognizes this social problem and aims to provide a catalog of the human rights of people with disabilities. It introduces the concept of human dignity to disability law, the human rights based approach, and advances the concept of inclusive equality. The question of this thesis is whether the human rights model of disability can give appropriate guidance on …

Honor Crimes: A Question Of Honor, Culture, And Humanity, Nadia N. Almusleh

Master's Theses

Honor crimes, femicide, domestic abuse and violence are widely prevalent in patriarchal societies. Middle Eastern cultures deeply value protecting the chastity and honor of women. The traditional images of women and the notions of honor and shame are consistently used as justifications for violence and killings. This is not attributable to a single culture or religion. It is rather a manifestation of societal norms around gender-based violence. Feminist activism against honor crimes in the Middle East within the last decade has increasingly received social media attention. However, the impact of this social media activism on government intervention has yet to …

Nationalism, Populism, Religion, And The Quest To Reframe Fundamental Rights, Susanna Mancini, Michel Rosenfeld

Cardozo Law Review

The article examines how nationalism and populism have increasingly utilized religion to challenge the principles of institutional secularism, which is foundational to liberal constitutional democracies. It argues that these forces exploit the interplay between religion and secularism to undermine pluralism and promote exclusionary agendas. The analysis highlights the tension between institutional secularism, which seeks to separate state and religion, and the contemporary repoliticization of religion, which threatens the pluralistic ethos essential to liberal constitutionalism.

Religious Neutrality, Laïcité And Colorblindness: A Comparative Analysis, Stéphanie Hennette-Vauchez

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Rights Litigation Piggybacking: Legal Mobilization Strategies In Lgbtiq International Human Rights Jurisprudence, Lucas Lixinski

Florida Journal of International Law

The article examines the LGBTIQ movement’s engagement with international human rights adjudication from the perspective of its borrowing from or piggybacking on the strategies and tactics of other international social movements for historically disadvantaged groups, particularly race, gender, and Indigenous peoples. Piggybacking has shaped the rights goals of the LGBTIQ movement, which are then translated into the language of international human rights law. In this translation process, certain objectives get foregrounded at the expense of others, and the movement essentializes itself in the pursuit of strategic gains, often to lasting unintended consequences that harm the movement itself. In mapping these …

A Comparison Of Gender-Based Violence Laws In Canada: A Report For The National Action Plan On Gender-Based Violence Working Group On Responsive Legal And Justice Systems, Jennifer Koshan, Janet Mosher, Wanda Wiegers

Commissioned Reports, Studies and Public Policy Documents

This report undertakes a comparison of laws related to gender-based violence across Canada with a view to identifying promising practices. We use the definition of gender-based violence from the United Nations as our frame, analyzing laws relating to “any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual, or mental harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.” While the UN definition includes both intimate partner violence and sexual violence, our focus is largely on violence in the …

Komnas Ham's Human Rights Jurisdiction Over Businesses Involved In The Haze Crisis, Iman Prinhandono, Nadirsyah Hosen, Kelly Boom

Indonesia Law Review

Indonesia’s forest fires have caused a serious haze problem nationally and in the Southeast Asian region, which has caused harm to the rights to life, health and a healthy environment, work, education, and many others. The forest fires largely stem from harmful slash-and-burn methods of land clearing, done at large scales by corporations. Judicial mechanisms have proven ineffective to deter violating corporations and bring justice to victims. From a legal standpoint, Komnas HAM’s quasi-jurisdictional powers allow it to act as a non-judicial grievance mechanism for victims in the haze crisis and against violating corporations. However, issues with the non-binding nature …

Ineffective Refugee Status Determination Process: Hindrance To Durable Solution For Refugees Rights And Protection, Rohaida Nordin, Norilyani Hj Md Nor, Rosmainie Rofiee

Indonesia Law Review

In any State of Asylum, the process of Refugee Status Determination (RSD) conducted by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) is critical in facilitating asylumseekers to seek necessary protections. UNHCR ensures that asylum-seekers will not be returned involuntarily to the State of Origin where they could face persecution. As a long-term solution, UNHCR helps refugees to find appropriate and permanent solutions to their plights, either by repatriating them voluntarily to their homeland or assisting them to integrate into the States of Asylum or helping them to resettle in third States. In the absence of domestic legal protection in …

More Than Sectarianism: How Have State And Non-State Institutions Used Violence To Form The Current Iraqi State And What Is The Effect?, Caitlyn Perkins

Honors Theses

This thesis examines the role of violence in Iraq in establishing the current Iraqi state. My chapters provide historical and theoretical context to the subject before getting into the analysis. The goal of this thesis is to show that violence in Iraq is not only caused by sectarian differences, but has been used and influenced by leaders, outside governments, and non-state institutions for personal gain and political goals at the cost of the Iraqi people.

When Children’S Rights Are At Stake, Shall Court Remain Silent? Analysis On The Implementation Of Passivity Of Judge Principle In Child Marriage Dispensation In Indonesia, Laras Susanti Ms

Indonesia Law Review

This article explores the existence of asas hakim pasif (passivity of judge principle) in cases involving children in civil cases in Indonesia. As one of the basic principles in civil procedure, judges must be bound by the scope of the case and evidence brought by parties. The principle is not absolute, however, showing that under the Law on Judicial Power; judges are obliged to uphold justice by exploring law and social values more than often. A study case in marriage dispensation shows that judges are facing pluralism orders. Therefore, judges’ value and understanding of children’s rights is a determinant factor. …

Input To Sr On Contemporary Forms Of Slavery, Including Its Causes And Consequences Regarding The Role Of Organized Criminal Groups, Peggy Frazier, Katherine Kaufka Walts Jd

Center for the Human Rights of Children

The Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC), in collaboration with signatory organizations, submits this input in response to the call for submissions made by the Special Rapporteur’s Report on the Role of Organized Criminal Groups with regard to Contemporary Forms of Slavery to inform the forthcoming report to the 76th session of the General Assembly. This input will focus upon the role of organized criminal groups with regard to child labor trafficking (forced labor), and specifically, forced criminality as a form of forced labor.1 We provide input on cases both in the interior of the United States, and …

Abandoning The Subjective And Objective Components Of A Well-Founded Fear Of Persecution, Grace Kim

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Current asylum law requires that asylum seekers prove that they have a “well-founded fear of persecution.” However, a “well-founded fear”—the evidentiary standard in asylum cases—has remained ambiguous and difficult to apply in asylum cases. In Cardoza-Fonseca, the Supreme Court held that an asylum seeker can establish a well-founded fear with less than a 50% probability of future persecution. Although the Supreme Court sought to clarify the meaning of a well-founded fear, the decision has complicated the evidentiary standard by implying that it consists of two parts: the subjective component and objective component. The “subjective” component—the asylum seekers’ subjective fear …

Dignity And Discrimination, Frederick Mark Gedicks

BYU Law Review

Delivered as the Dignity in Law Symposium keynote address, this essay surveys uses of dignity in U.S. constitutional law, with a focus on conflicts between the dignities attached to citizenship and religious conscience. Parts I and II discuss dignity as state sovereignty and hierarchical status. Part III examines the collision of dignities in the Masterpiece Cakeshop decision. Part IV argues that attention to the public or private nature of the site where religious accommodation is demanded clarifies when accommodation is appropriate, using a house of worship and a government office as illustration s. Part V lists other sites of accommodation …

What Does The State Owe To Its People? Toward A “Responsibility To Develop”, Amit Khardori

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Indigenous Dignity And The Right To Be Forgotten, Trevor Reed

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Discovering And Enforcing A Human Right To Environmental Protection, Mélanne Andromecca Civic

Journal of Natural Resources & Environmental Law

No abstract provided.

Digital Health Passes In The Age Of Covid-19: Are “Vaccine Passports” Lawful And Ethical?, Lawrence O. Gostin, I. Glenn Cohen, Jana Shaw

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

As COVID-19 vaccination rates in high-income countries increase, governments are proposing or implementing digital health passes (DHPs) (vaccine “passports” or “certificates”). Israel uses a “green pass” smartphone application permitting vaccinated individuals’ access to public venues (eg, gyms, hotels, entertainment). The European Union plans a “Digital Green Certificate” enabling free travel within the bloc (see eTable in the Supplement). New York is piloting an IBM “Excelsior Pass,” confirming vaccination or negative SARS-CoV-2 test status through confidential data transfers to fast-track business reopenings. This paper examines the benefits of DHPs, scientific challenges, and whether they are lawful and ethical.

Gambian And Senegalese Refugee Policies As A Potential Means Towards Regional Stability, Amy Armata

CISLA Senior Integrative Projects

No abstract provided.