Human Rights Law Commons^™

The Feminicide Epidemic In Brazil: An Analysis Considering The Convention Of Belém Do Pará And The Rome Statute, Suzana Coelho Da Silva

Human Rights Brief

Gender-based violence against women is an issue little discussed both in academia and in various sectors of society. Men in positions of power block any attempts by women to be observed in places of influence and visibility, reflecting a patriarchal society that sees women as inferior, fragile beings incapable of exercising functions that requires intelligence, strength, and rationality.

Humanitarian Interventions On The Crossroads Of Legality And Legitimacy, Asya Gasparyan

Human Rights Brief

In an era marked by persistent geopolitical conflicts and recurring human rights crises, the discourse surrounding humanitarian interventions (“HI”) and the role of the United Nations in this complex arena is of paramount importance. The pressing need to address mass atrocities, including ethnic conflicts and political unrest, highlights the legal and moral dilemmas associated with humanitarian interventions.

Upholding The Absolute Prohibition Of Torture: Afchpr On Detention In Tanzania, Aly Orvis

Human Rights Brief

On September 3, 2024, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) rendered its decision in Habyalimana Augustino and Muburu Abdulkarim v. United Republic of Tanzania. The case involved two Burundian nationals who, as refugees in Tanzania, were implicated in a murder-for-hire scheme. This scheme was allegedly orchestrated by Mama Mboya—the wife of a high ranking commanding officer who suspected the victim of having an affair with her husband. Convicted in 2007, the applicants were sentenced to death by hanging. In their petition to the AfCHPR, they argued that they had been subjected to torture and inhumane conditions at …

Kobaliya V. Russia: Curtailing Civil Society Through Labels Of Foreign Influence., Alida Blendonohy

Human Rights Brief

In a January 2025 judgment, the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) held in the case of Kobaliya and Others v. Russia that the application of Russia’s foreign agent legislation violated Articles 8, 9 and 10 of the European Con­vention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) which pro­tect the rights to freedom of expression, freedom of association, and respect for private and family life.

In Kobaliya, the ECtHR assessed Russia’s foreign agent legislation, its evolution since 2012, and its increasing restrictiveness. In its initial 2012 enactment, the law applied to nongovernmental organizations (“NGOs”) that participated in political activity with foreign funding, …

A Woman’S Body Is Not Her Husband’S: Marital Duty And The Right To Refuse At The Ecthr, Dionejala Muhammad

Human Rights Brief

The European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) issued a decision in H.W. v. France on January 23, 2025, ruling that under the Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms (“ECHR”), specifically Article 8(1), a woman is not required to provide sex to her husband to fulfill marital duty.

Double Standards In The Drug Trade: How European Nations Escape Sanctions While Senegal May Bear The Burden, Erin Soro

American University International Law Review

The focus of international drug control policies on sanctioning transit countries like Senegal for drug trafficking overlooks the significant role played by drug-consuming nations such as France and Spain. Despite a notable decrease in local drug consumption due to democratic progress and strong religious roots, Senegal remains a major transit hub for narcotics destined for Europe. This Comment argues that drug-consuming countries are equally culpable under international law and should face comparable sanctions to effectively address the global drug trade. This Comment highlights the imbalance in sanction implementation and advocates for a more equitable approach, recommending minimal sanctions for Senegal …

Crippled By War: Arguing Russia’S Actions In Ukraine Constitute Disability Persecution Under Article 7(1)(H) Of The Rome Statute, Davis Hayman

American University International Law Review

During the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine, Russia implemented a “humanitarian aid” program which moved Ukrainian people with disabilities to Russia or Russian-controlled areas. The Prosecutor for the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants under the theory that this program constitutes war crimes.

This Comment argues this program further qualifies as the crime of persecution against Ukrainians with disabilities. This piece first analyzes the crime of persecution, its relationship with other crimes and how non-enumerated groups can receive its protection. Next, this piece analyzes international human rights developments related to people with disabilities to show they qualify for such …

An Ethnography Of Love Jihad: The Governance Of Interfaith Marriages In Times Of Hindutva, Snehal Sharma

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

My doctoral research focuses on the violations of human and citizenship rights of women and religiously marginalized communities (based on religious differences) in the backdrop of right-wing movements in India. I assess the Hindu nationalist propaganda named “love jihad” to demonstrate the way it weaponizes religious exogamy. This propaganda legitimizes violence against Indian religious minorities and women as it claims that marriages between Hindu women and Muslim men are acts of terrorism against Hindus with the sole aim of increasing the Muslim population using Hindu women's bodies. I have used ethnographic research methods to explore the legal process of interfaith …

Human Rights In Technology -- A Need For A New Norm, Els De Busser

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

The field of cyber security has relied on norms quite heavily to govern the behavior of states and non-state actors in cyberspace. However, existing norms do not offer guidance on integrating attention to human rights into the design and development of digital consumer products. This Paper introduces a way to foresee the human rights impact of new technology combined with a form of governance that regulates problems we do not know exist yet. (Abstract from author.)

Protection And Guarantee Of Human Rights In Digital Environments, Claudia Martin, Diego Rodriguez-Pinzon

American University International Law Review

We are delighted to present this year’s special issue of the American University International Law Review and the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, which includes the best essays in English and in Spanish recognized in the 2024 Human Rights Essay Award competition. It is satisfying to think that this competition allowed a number of participants an opportunity to expound their thoughts on so many important topics, regarding so many areas of the world. We hope these participants are able to use their articles as mechanisms for change.

Can Prior Censorship Be A Necessary Tool For The Protection Of Human Rights?, Leandro Leo Rebelo

American University International Law Review

Prior censorship is unequivocally interpreted by the Inter-American Human Rights System (“Inter-American System”) as a step too far in moderating expression. Except in the quite narrow circumstances allowed for under Article 13(4) of the American Convention on Human Rights (“ACHR”), the Inter-American System has reiterated that prior censorship is forbidden. However, prior censorship is widely used in social media platforms as a tool of content moderation. Should such techniques be banned, or should more exceptions be allowed in the regulation of speech?

Don’T Trust The Process: The Viability Of Eighth Amendment Claims For Ultra-Processed Food Overconsumption In Prisons, Markus C. Johnson, Rita L. Rahoi-Gilchrest

Marquette Law Review

With the largest prison population worldwide, American prisons serve more food than anywhere else. To cut costs, American prisons overwhelmingly (or even entirely) serve prisoners ultra-processed foods, which, if overconsumed, have detrimental and long-lasting health effects. Prisoners taking issue with the food being served to them rely on the courts to counteract any inappropriate prison dietary practices, wielding the Eighth Amendment as a constitutional guarantee to be free from cruel and unusual punishment. But courts are failing to protect this constitutional guarantee by relying on precedent that is at odds with modern Eighth Amendment principles. Indeed, when it comes to …

Beyond Policy: Overcoming Challenges In Prosecuting Gender Persecution At The International Criminal Court, Yvonne M. Dutton, Milena Sterio

FIU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Provisional Release At International Criminal Courts And Tribunals – Lessons Learned?, Ava Schuster, Göran Sluiter

FIU Law Review

This article builds on Professor Meghan Fairlie’s earlier critique of pre-trial detention practices at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Fairlie identified significant shortcomings in safeguarding the right to liberty and the presumption of innocence of detainees, arguing that the Tribunal’s approach was inconsistent with international human rights law (IHRL). Fifteen years later, how has the International Criminal Court (ICC) addressed these concerns? While the Rome Statute introduces notable improvements, including an explicit commitment to IHRL, the Court’s practice still heavily favors detention over liberty. A key issue remains the ICC’s reliance on State cooperation for provisional …

Harvesting Humans, Joanmarie Ilaria Davoli

Belmont Law Review

This Article examines allegations of systematic forced organ harvesting by the People’s Republic of China and argues that existing U.S. federal criminal law provides an underutilized mechanism to deter American participation in that industry. Tracing the historical development of China’s transplant system—from the use of executed prisoners to the alleged targeting of prisoners of conscience, including Falun Gong practitioners and Uyghurs—the Article situates organ procurement practices within broader human rights and genocide concerns. It contends that despite congressional hearings, resolutions, and proposed sanctions, meaningful deterrence has been limited. The Article advances a novel enforcement theory: prosecution of U.S. persons under …

We Can't Apply From The Grave: Why The Asylum Standard Of Proof Fails Those Who Need It Most, Hilana Said

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

A woman in Florida sits in front of her TV, unsure if the sound of static is coming from shock or the screen. Her eyes reflect the fires that blaze from within her church in Alexandria, Egypt. Numbly, the pads of her fingers attempt to call family members, praying that, for once, they skipped service. She lets go of a breath she did not know she was holding. The time between now and another attack exists on a clock that she cannot see. But she knows it is ticking.

The Powers That Perpetuate Child Marriage In India, China, And The United States, Ava Kegler

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Child marriage is a crisis that continues to be practiced in many countries around the world. This is not to discredit the progress that organizations like the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and Girls Not Brides have made to aid countries in their process of eliminating child marriage. However, the commitment to completing the UN Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) of ending child marriage by 2030 seems less achievable as we enter 2025. The question this thesis considers is why this goal is challenging to reach. While child marriage is prominent in developing nations, caused by high poverty rates, low education, …

Housing Justice Pipeline: Harnessing Housing Clinics To Transform The Right To Counsel Movement, Erica Braudy, Thomas Honan, Tuhfa Begum

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

“Pick-Up Orders” And Foster Youth In Washington, Lauren Higgins

Seattle Journal for Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Utmost Rights And Interests Of The Indians: Tribal Law Interpretations Of The Indian Civil Rights Act, Kekek Jason Stark

Faculty Law Review Articles

It has been more than fifty years since Congress enacted the Indian Civil Right Act (hereinafter “ICRA”) and more than forty years since the United States Supreme Court in Martinez articulated that the tribal courts are the proper forum for the adjudication of ICRA claims. In the decades since, tribal courts have developed a rich body of intertribal common law pertaining to the implementation of the ICRA. This comes after over a century of assimilative policies in which the federal government attempted to eradicate native culture and traditions and subjected Indians to the deprivation of individual rights by federal and …

Resistance: The Mura Struggle Against Canadian Potash Mining In Brazil’S Amazon, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr), Federal University Of Rio Grande Do Sul, Graduate Program In Law (Ppgd/Ufrgs), International Human Rights Program (Ihrp), University Of Toronto Jackman Law, Observatory Of Socio-Environmental Law And Human Rights In The Amazon (Odsdh/Ufam)

CLIHHR Reports & Policy Submissions

A comprehensive human rights and environmental report documenting the Mura Indigenous people’s resistance to Brazil Potash’s Autazes Potash Project in the Brazilian Amazon. The report details environmental risks, human rights violations, failures in consultation processes, litigation history, corporate accountability, and the ongoing struggle for land demarcation.

An Ecofeminist Approach To Climate Risks, Angela Hefti

Michigan Journal of International Law

Climate change poses significant risks to the human right to life. However, international adjudicators have either neglected to examine right to life claims in the context of climate risks or dismissed them as prospective and speculative. International human rights bodies have long applied the standard of imminence to determine whether a threat to the right to life exists and the extent to which it constitutes a violation. In climate change cases, this standard has hardened, requiring a tight temporal connection between climate risks and a violation of the right to life. This article argues that failing to recognize the impact …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Corporate Governance Speech, Sarah C. Haan

Seattle University Law Review

The State has always regulated the intra-firm communications that make corporate governance possible, most commonly by mandating disclosures of information by a corporation to its shareholders. Some such laws are labeled “securities regulation,” but securities regulation is a broad category that extends to speech by actors who are outside the corporate enterprise as well. Also, the conventional securities regulation category does not capture all such laws; other examples, including informationforcing mandates, can be found in state corporate law. This Article uses the term “corporate governance speech” to describe the communications among shareholders, directors, and officers through which corporate governance is …

Green Dividends: A Case Study In Green Dividends And The Conditions For Private Ordering Solutions, Anne M. Tucker

Seattle University Law Review

This Essay introduces a novel private ordering solution to facilitate corporate investments in pro-social and environmental initiatives: Green dividends. Green dividends are an optional increase in shareholder dividends that are returned to the company to be reinvested in environmental initiatives or kept by a shareholder.

Green dividends pose an alternative to the current gridlocked debate that corporations can’t, won’t, shouldn’t, and shouldn’t even try to act in pro-social or environmental ways. Turning the common refrains on their head converts each narrative into an element for a successful private ordering solution: authority, accountability, shareholder buy-in, and government- backed enforcement. With Green …

Does Climate Disclosure Work To Reduce Greenhouse Gas Emissions? Emerging Evidence Suggests Cautious Optimism, Cynthia A. Williams

Seattle University Law Review

Significant regulatory resources have been spent developing global, voluntary climate and sustainability disclosure standards, such as the TCFD, TNRD, and ISSB’s Sustainability and Climate Disclosure standards, or domestically required disclosures, such as in the EU and in the U.S. Thus, it is important to evaluate whether this disclosure, particularly voluntary, qualitative disclosure, will have the power to shift the allocation of capital, will have a significant effect on the management of climate risk within firms, and ultimately will reduce climate change risk and biodiversity loss.

In this Article, several interrelated questions will be discussed. First, what does the empirical evidence …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

The Legal Ramifications Of Israel’S Destruction Of Gaza’S Healthcare System, Serene Mistkawi

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This Comment argues that Israel’s attacks on the medical infrastructure of Gaza are a violation of international law because hospitals are protected zones and medical personnel are civilians. To Israel’s response that Hamas is attack-ing from hospitals, thereby rendering them legitimate targets, this Comment presents a number of responses: (1) there is little to no evidence that Hamas is doing this; (2) even if Hamas is doing this, the military gains from attacking hospitals are outweighed by the civilian deaths; (3) even if Hamas is doing this and there is significant military gain from attacking hospitals, the interna-tional rules have …

Identifying Intangible And Biocultural Heritage Elements Toward Environmental Understanding: Engaging Stakeholders Through Art, Martha B. Lerski

Publications and Research

Grounded in a case study in Barbuda in the Caribbean, this research examines sustainability from the perspective of what arts and heritage can contribute to community engagement and local and broader understandings about the environment. This article documents a growing body of literature recognizing the role of arts and culture, including local knowledge and traditional ecological knowledge (TEK), in climate change endeavors. Art and TEK present expansive world views. Contextual information situates research done on the island of Barbuda pre- and post-Hurricane Irma. Visual arts workshops engaged community members in mixed methods research. Results documented cultural elements, particularly intangible and …

Indigenous Communities Suffer Multigenerational Trauma (“Susto”) From The Trafficking And Slavery Of Native Women And Children, Bill Piatt, Karagan Carson, Meghan Monahan, Makayla Perez

Faculty Articles

Trafficking and slavery have probably existed as long as humanity has existed. Despite efforts on many fronts, it will likely not be eradicated in our lifetimes. Bondage and abuse impose unthinkable suffering upon the immediate victims caught in the clutches of trafficking. Yet Native people and communities suffer unique, multi-generational, and almost permanent trauma, often referred to as susto. Our domestic law and policies have even resulted in the extinguishing of the formal legal Indian identity of Native victims and the destruction of their tribal connections. There is hope that the application of traditional prayer and ceremonies can provide some …