Human Rights Law Commons^™

The Next Chapter Of Apartheid Is "Gender Apartheid", Naheed A. Farid

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

But For Borders: The Protection Gap For Internally Displaced Persons, Anita Sinha

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Internal displacement, the phenomenon of people who are dislocated from their homes but remain within the border of their countries of origin, was once a forced migratory occurrence interchangeable with cross-border migration. This changed after the Second World War with the promulgation of the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which was premised on an insistence on drawing a legal line in the sand based on which side of a border displacement transpires upon. Internally displaced persons (IDPs)-both in recent history and in the projected future-far outnumber people displaced across borders. Both rhetorical maneuverings and traditional international legal …

2024 Summer - Clihhr Newsletter, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Newsletters

This Summer 2024 issue of the CLIHHR Newsletter reflects on the Institute’s work amid escalating global human rights crises, including conflicts in Ukraine, Israel and Palestine, and Sudan. It highlights student advocacy on slavery and crimes against humanity, clinic collaborations at the United Nations, faculty engagement in international legal forums, the launch of a major report on slavery and the slave trade, and community achievements. The newsletter underscores CLIHHR’s commitment to atrocity prevention, survivor-centered justice, and human rights education.

Russian Irregular Forces: Pursuing Accountability, Susana L. Sacouto

Research Reports & White Papers

This memo examines the prospects of pursuing criminal charges against individuals involved in such groups through universal or other forms of jurisdiction that permit the prosecution of grave crimes committed abroad. Specifically, it seeks to identify opportunities to bring to account members of irregular armed groups, as well as public and private actors directing or supporting their criminal activity, particularly in Ukraine, by determining which jurisdictions would be most disposed to pursuing an investigation and, if warranted, a prosecution of their crimes.

Climate Change And Human Health: A Synthesis Of Scientific Research And State Obligations Under International Law, Jessica A. Wentz

Sabin Center for Climate Change Law

This report synthesizes the latest scientific research on the human health effects of climate change and discusses the legal implications of this research, specifically with regards to State obligations under international law. In doing so, the report seeks to provide insights on issues to be analyzed by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its upcoming advisory opinion on the legal obligations of States with respect to climate change. It also seeks to enhance the capacity of judges, advocates, and governments to understand these issues in the context of current and future proceedings involving international law obligations related to climate …

Ogoni Activism And Access To Remedy: Business And Human Rights From The Bottom Up, Ayodeji Kamau Perrin

Faculty Scholarship

Do court victories result in social change? Can victories in court result in losses outside of court? If victories in court are no guarantee of victory outside of court, how much worse are court defeats? This Article explores these questions in part through analyzing Ogoni litigation against Royal Dutch/Shell. In 2002, Esther Kiobel and several co-plaintiffs tried to hold Royal Dutch/Shell accountable for its role in the death of Kiobel’s husband and for wider corporate abuses and related state human rights violations in Ogoniland. But in 2013, a unanimous United States Supreme Court held that the Alien Tort Statute (ATS) …

What's Next: How And Why States Strengthen Treaties Through Deepening Commitments, Joseph Maestas

Dissertations and Doctoral Documents, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, 2023–

States take many post-ratification actions with most designed to weaken the application of the treaty against the state. However, nearly all treaties offer ways for states to strengthen it: deepening commitments. Deepening commitments are optional post-ratification actions that allow a state to strengthen and shape implementation of the treaty. This dissertation examines deepening commitments through analysis the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (Rome Statute), and the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons (CCW).

In Chapter 2, through a typology and process tracing cases, I argue that states influence international law …

U'Wa Indigenous People Vs. Columbia: Potential Applications Of The Escazu Agreement, Ariana Lippi

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

Though the case is ongoing, and results are still to be seen, it in many ways sets a precedent for indigenous communities in Latin America seeking redress for environmental and cultural injustices. With Colombia’s recent ratification of The Escazú Regional Agreement (the Agreement herein) in 2022, this case presents a unique opportunity for implementation of the Agreement and greater accountability within existing domestic legislation.

Incentivizing Sustainability In American Enterprise: Lessons From Finnish Model, Vasa T. Dunham

Sustainable Development Law & Policy

The disparate climate performances of Finland and the United States, two of the wealthiest countries in the world, bring to light the question of how corporate responsibility has been inspired in each jurisdiction. Having established the urgency of the climate crisis and the importance of corporate behavior in optimizing a given country’s approach to protection of the global environment, an examination of each nation’s legal frameworks may shed light on features of the corporate regime that are effective in advancing sustainability goals and those that are not.22 Part I of this paper establishes a comparative framework by providing background on …

Key Developments At The World Bank Inspection Panel (2013-2024), Dilek Barlas

Perspectives

Through the lens of important cases, this essay reflects on major developments that occurred at the Panel during the tenure of the author as the Executive Secretary of the World Bank Inspection Panel and shows how the Panel has evolved to improve accessibility, has influenced overall development policies, and has become a catalyst for institutional change. The essay observes that the Panel’s success has largely been due to its structural and operational independence, reporting as it does directly to the Bank’s Board of Executive Directors. However, there are challenges facing the Panel on certain issues, including most importantly its independence, …

2024 Winter - Clihhr Newsletter, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Newsletters

This Winter 2024 issue of the CLIHHR Newsletter highlights the Institute’s work in atrocity prevention, survivor-centered justice, and international legal advocacy. It features student fellowships supporting Indigenous communities, submissions to international human rights bodies, archival efforts related to the Jesuit Massacre in El Salvador, major public events, faculty engagement in global forums, and advocacy surrounding crimes against humanity and Holocaust justice. The newsletter reflects CLIHHR’s continued commitment to accountability, education, and human rights protection.

"I Can't Breathe": A Comparison Of Racial Inequity And Police Brutality Observed In France And The United States, Jasmine Oesterling

Akron Law Student Publications

This paper explores the unanticipated convergence of human experiences among Black and Brown citizens of France and the United States, despite their historical and legislative differences. Investigating racial inequity and police brutality through a comparative lens, this paper highlights global connections forged by racial and ethnic minorities in their shared anti-racist struggles. Emphasizing the transformative potential of acknowledging and sharing these narratives, this paper navigates linguistic, social, and legislative dimensions, providing insights into legal standings and communal ideologies. Addressing the lasting consequences of racial bias, this paper urges a reevaluation of societal structures and legal frameworks to foster global racial …

The Eu-China Cai And The Uyghur Challenge In The Context Of China's Domestic Law Barriers To International Labor And Human Rights Standards, Ronald C. Brown

American University Business Law Review

While China engages in world commerce as a global player and is signatory to international labor and human rights standards, at the same time it uses treaty reservations and its own domestic laws to limit and undermine the full application of those standards. Concern from Western governments and global human rights groups regarding China’s longstanding treatment of the Uyghur people has resulted in a freeze in negotiations for the EU-China Comprehensive Investment Agreement (CAI). This was also a result of China’s failure to ratify or implement relevant United Nations (U.N.) covenants and International Labour Organization (ILO) conventions and placing reservations …

The Exceptional Dead: Human Remains As Property, Non-Property, And Cultural Property In Armed Conflict, Ronald Alcala

American University Law Review

International humanitarian law mandates that the dead must be respected and protected in armed conflict. Among other things, parties to an armed conflict must ensure that the dead are treated with dignity and that their bodies are not despoiled, pillaged, mutilated, or otherwise maltreated. Not all human remains located on the battlefield, however, will have a direct nexus to the fighting. Some, like those of Prince Grigory Potemkin, a historical figure whose bones were seized by Russian forces from a Ukrainian church in 2022, might even pre-exist an ongoing conflict. Whether rules applicable to the dead apply to such remains …

The U.S. Statecraft Of Corporate Human Rights Obligations, Andrew B. Spalding

Law Faculty Publications

Statecraft may be defined as “the use of instruments at the disposal of central political authorities to serve foreign policy purposes.” That definition, though, may admit of a narrower and a broader understanding. The narrower and perhaps more cynical notion imagines statecraft as the management of a power struggle for the sake of self- preservation. Even the Oxford Dictionary of Politics and International Relations conceives statecraft as fundamentally about “managing relations between states to the advantage of one’s own country.” With roots extending at least as far back as Machiavelli’s The Prince with its infamous preoccupation with preserving power in …

“With Intent To Destroy, In Whole Or In Part”: Genocide, Ethnic Cleansing, And A Lost History, Alexander K.A. Greenawalt

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Drawing upon original research into the travaux préparatoires of the 1948 Genocide Convention, this Article advances several claims that complicate the standard account according to which genocide must entail a purpose to physically destroy at least a substantial part of a protected group. The core of the Article closely explores the words “intent,” “destroy,” and “in part,” showing how international authorities have settled on a received and largely uninterrogated wisdom regarding the meaning of these terms, one which is supported neither by the drafting history of the Genocide Convention, nor even by the actual results of the judicial decisions that …

Measuring The Unmeasurable: Foreign Aid And The Rule Of Law, Natallia Karkanitsa

Celebrating WCL Student Authors

This article provides an analysis of the international indexes and rankings that assess and compare the rule of law globally. It first starts with a discussion on the necessity of the international measurements of the rule of law in context of the foreign aid allocation to developing countries. Then, this article defines the rule of law and explains its relationship with governance and human rights. This article further reviews three rule of law indexes from the World Bank, the World Justice Project, and Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network, using the position of Belarus in these measurements as a …

A Right Without A Remedy: How One Cincinnatian's Story Illustrates Terrorism Victims' Inability To Obtain Compensation Under The Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, Christopher T. Colloton

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

Haiti: Confronting An Immense Challenge, Irwin Stotzky

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This article analyzes the history of Haiti, from its origins as a slave colony of France, which was the richest colony in the Americas, to its war of independence leading to the first Black independent nation in the Americas, to its economic re-enslavement under the power of France and then the United States. The article discusses the great harm the French caused the Haitian people by imposing through force a ransom of billions of dollars that has led Haiti to its present position of being on the brink of becoming a failed state, with all of the disastrous consequences for …

Haiti’S Legal Claim For Restitution: The Political Context For The Recovery Of The Double-Debt, Ira J. Kurzban

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

This article discusses Haiti’s efforts to seek restitution from France for the “Double-Debt” imposed in 1825. After Haiti gained independence in 1804 following a slave revolt, France threatened to invade and re-enslave the Haitian people if they did not pay compensation to French slave owners for their lost “property.” This became known as the Double-Debt, as French and American banks profited by converting the debt into high-interest loans. In 2003, on the 200th anniversary of Haitian hero Toussaint Louverture’s death, Haiti’s president Jean-Bertrand Aristide announced his intention to demand repayment from France. This sparked retaliation from France and Haiti’s elite, …

Redress For Historical Injustices: Haiti’S Claim For The Restitution Of Post-Independence Payments To France, Günther Handl

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Restitution For Haiti, Reparations For All: Haiti’S Place In The Global Reparations Movement, Brian Concannon Jr., Kristina Fried, Alexandra V. Filippova

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

Haiti’s claim for restitution of the debt coerced by France in exchange for Haiti’s 1804 independence has unique legal advantages that can open the door to broader reparations for the descendants of all people harmed by slavery. But in order to assert the claim, Haiti first needs help reclaiming its democracy from a corrupt, repressive regime propped up by the powerful countries that prospered through slavery and overthrew the Haitian President who dared to assert his country’s legal claim. This article explores Haiti’s Independence Debt, and the fight for restitution of it, in the context of two centuries of continued …

Haiti And The Indemnity Question, Alex Dupuy

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

1) Haiti did not agree to pay an indemnity to France in 1825 because it feared a war with its former colonial power. In 1814, France sent envoys to Haiti to demand that King Henry Christophe, who controlled the north of Haiti, and President Alexandre Pétion, who controlled the south and west, resubmit to French sovereignty. Christophe had that envoy arrested and jailed. Pétion, on the other hand, offered to pay an indemnity to France to compensate the former colonial property owners in return for France’s official recognition of Haiti’s independence.

2) Jean-Pierre Boyer succeeded Pétion as president of the …

Haiti And The Burden Of History, Frédérique Beauvois

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Lost Haitian Generation And The 1826 “French Debt”: The Case For Restitution To Haiti, Charlot Lucien

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

International Agreements Shaping Migration Solutions, Camilo Mantilla

Refugee Law & Migration Studies Brief

In an increasingly complex and interdependent state of international relations, international treaty negotiation, adoption, and implementation constitute an important component of global foreign policy and activity of states. International agreements embody sovereign and state-to-state relations and behavior in a global forum. International agreements manifest in ways that vary in form, subject, formalities, parties, scope, forum and many other elements.

Future-Proofing U.S. Laws For War Crimes Investigations In The Digital Era, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Advances in information technology have irrevocably changed the nature of war crimes investigations. The pursuit of accountability for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community now invariably requires access to digital evidence. The global reach of platforms like Facebook, YouTube, and Twitter means that much of that digital evidence is held by U.S. social media companies, and access to it is subject to the U.S. Stored Communications Act.

This is the first Article to look at the legal landscape facing international investigators seeking access to digital evidence regarding genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression. It …

2023 Summer - Clihhr Newsletter, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Newsletters

This Summer 2023 issue of the CLIHHR Newsletter honors the legacy of Benjamin B. Ferencz and reflects on the Institute’s continued commitment to international justice and atrocity prevention. It features tributes to Ferencz’s life and work, updates on student and clinic achievements, including success at the Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition, international fieldwork in Argentina and India, major conferences on sexual and gender-based crimes, faculty engagement in global legal advocacy, and partnerships advancing survivor-centered and intersectional justice. The newsletter highlights CLIHHR’s dedication to human rights education, accountability, and global collaboration.

The Fall And Rise Of Bengali Muslim Conciousness: Conceptualising The Identity Of The Bangla Universal, Habib Khan

Theses and Dissertations

The emergence of modern-nation states saw the end of the empirical era of exploitation and exercise of inherent racist tendencies towards the 'other'. However, the effect of that colonial system is still ever-present in the creation and governance of these newly independent states. While every new state aims to be 'modern', they adopt the international legal framework of the West as their own - a system they had initially wanted to escape. The concept of Muslim universality in the form of the ummah should have freed Pakistan from the shackles of its former colonial masters. Instead, this phenomenon was replaced …

Human Rights, Trans Rights, Prisoners’ Rights: An International Comparison, Tom Butcher

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

In this Note, I conduct an international comparison of the state of trans prisoners’ rights to explore how different national legal contexts impact the likelihood of achieving further liberation through appeals to human rights ideals. I examine the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Argentina, and Costa Rica and show the degree to which a human rights framework has been successful thus far in advancing trans prisoners’ rights. My analysis also indicates that the degree to which a human rights framework is likely to be successful in the future varies greatly between countries. In countries that are hesitant …