Human Rights Law Commons^™

Institutionalizing Torture: The Case Of Hospitals And Prisons In China, Leighann Mcchesney

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The People’s Republic of China (PRC) has a notorious reputation, especially within the international human rights community, concerning its state-implemented practices of torture. Although the government of China has been charged by many international organizations with having a gruesome human rights record, on anything from freedom of speech to freedom of religion, the accusations of state-sanctioned torture undoubtedly have caused some of the strongest reactions around the world. This article seeks to address the various manifestations of torture that take place inside two of the most prominent public institutions in China: the prisons and the mental hospitals. By utilizing these …

Panel 1: Are Adequate Legal Frameworks In Place At The Domestic Level? Introductory Remarks And Presentation Of Panelists, Richard Wilson

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 1: Are Adequate Legal Frameworks In Place At The Domestic Level? Torture As A Specific Criminal Offense In Domestic Laws , Matt Pollard

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 2: How Are Laws Applied And Detention Practices Reformed? Advocacy And Campaigning Against Torture , James Ross

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 2: How Are Laws Applied And Detention Practices Reformed? Reforming Interrogation Practices , David Danzig

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 2: How Are Laws Applied And Detention Practices Reformed? Question & Answer Session , Steven Watt, Claudio Grossman, James Ross, Eugene Fidell

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Luncheon Keynote Address, Mark L. Schneider

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 3: Transparency And Access Of Independent Experts To All Places Of Detention: Health-Related Considerations , Nora Sveaass

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 1: Are Adequate Legal Frameworks In Place At The Domestic Level? Domestic Incorporation Of Obligations Under The Convention Against Torture, Luis Gallegos, Claudio Grossman

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 2: How Are Laws Applied And Detention Practices Reformed? Litigation: Taking Cases And Those Responsible To Court , Steven Watt

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel 3: Transparency & Access Of Independent Experts To Places Of Detention: Introductory Remarks And Presentation Of Panelists, Viviana Krsticevic

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Starting From Here, Ashley R. Deeks

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

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 …

Torture, With Apologies, Thomas P. Crocker

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Tainted Provenance: When, If Ever, Should Torture Evidence Be Admissible, Michael P. Scharf

Faculty Publications

Written by a consultant to the United Nation's newly established Cambodia Genocide Tribunal, "Tainted Provenance" examines one of the most important legal questions that will face the Tribunal as it begins its trials next year -- whether evidence of the Khmer Rouge command structure that came from interrogation sessions at the infamous Tuol Sleng torture facility should be considered notwithstanding the international exclusionary rule for evidence procured by torture. The issue of whether there should be exceptions to the torture evidence exclusionary rule (and how those exceptions should be crafted to avoid abuse) has significant implications beyond the international tribunal, …

Tinkering With Torture In The Aftermath Of Hamdan: Testing The Relationship Between Internationalism And Constitutionalism, Catherine Powell

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Bridging international and constitutional law scholarship, the author examines the question of torture in light of democratic values. The focus in this article is on the international prohibition on torture as this norm was addressed through the political process in the aftermath of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Responding to charges that the international torture prohibition--and international law generally--poses irreconcilable challenges for democracy and our constitutional framework, the author contends that by promoting respect for fundamental rights and for minorities and outsiders, international law actually facilitates a broad conception of democracy and constitutionalism. She takes on the question of torture within …

Luncheon Address International Legal Public Diplomacy, John B. Bellinger Iii

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

Torture And Islamic Law, Sadiq Reza

Faculty Scholarship

This article considers the relationship between Islamic law and the absence or practice of investigative torture in the countries of today's Muslim world. Torture is forbidden in the constitutions, statutes, and treaties of most Muslim-majority countries, but a number of these countries are regularly named among those in which torture is practiced with apparent impunity. Among these countries are several that profess a commitment to Islamic law as a source of national law, including some that identify Islamic law as the principal source of law and some that go so far as to declare themselves "Islamic states." The status of …

Waterboarding Prisoners And Justifying Torture: Lessons For The U.S. From The Chilean Experience, Cristián Correa

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Dark Ages Of Human Rights?, Linda A. Malone

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Human Rights Outlaws: Nuremberg, Geneva, And The Global War On Terror, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

International human rights law was born from the ashes of World War II. The most important post-World War II products are the United Nations, the Nuremberg Trials, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and the Geneva Conventions of 1949. But that was not the end of the story. International human rights law continued to develop and expand right up to September 11,2001, most notably through the adoption of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights2 and the Convention Against Torture, 3 and the establishment of the International Criminal Court.4 With the exception of the criminal court, the United States …

Physicians And Torture: Lessons From The Nazi Doctors, Michael Grodin, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

How is it possible? What are the personal, professional and political contexts that allow physicians to use their skills to torture and kill rather than heal? What are the psychological characteristics and the social, cultural and political factors that predispose physicians to participate in human rights abuses? What can be done to recognize at-risk situations and attempt to provide corrective or preventive strategies? This article examines case studies from Nazi Germany in an attempt to answer these questions. Subjects discussed include the psychology of the individual perpetrator, dehumanization, numbing, splitting, omnipotence, medicalization, group dynamics, obedience to authority, diffusion of responsibility, …

“I’M Just Talking About The Law”: Guantánamo And The Lawyers, Marten Zwanenburg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Guantánamo: The War on Human Rights by David Rose. New York: The New Press, 2004.

The Ethics Of Torture, Rebecca Evans

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Torture: Does It Make Us Safer? Is It Ever OK? A Human Rights Perspective. Edited by Kenneth Roth and Mindy Worden. New York: The New Press, 2005. 201 pp.

Mind The Gap: Purpose, Pain, And The Difference Between Torture And Inhuman Treatment, Christian M. De Vos

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Tinkering With Torture In The Aftermath Of Hamdan: Testing The Relationship Between Internationalism And Constitutionalism , Catherine Powell

Faculty Scholarship

Bridging international and constitutional law scholarship, the author examines the question of torture in light of democratic values. The focus in this article is on the international prohibition on torture as this norm was addressed through the political process in the aftermath of Hamdan v. Rumsfeld. Responding to charges that the international torture prohibition -- and international law generally -- poses irreconcilable challenges for democracy and our constitutional framework, the author contends that by promoting respect for fundamental rights and for minorities and outsiders, international law actually facilitates a broad conception of democracy and constitutionalism. She takes on the question …

Mnc Liability For International Human Rights Violations Under The Alien Tort Claims Act., Frank Christian Olah

ExpressO

This paper seeks to elucidate the fundamental sources of ATCA jurisprudence that have modernized the act into the weapon it has become for foreign human rights plaintiffs. It also attempts to describe some of the forms of liability asserted against MNCs, paying special attention to the competing forms of aiding & abetting liability as conceptualized in the Unocal case. Part II of this paper will provide a brief and concise review of the three cases every ATCA corporate defendant should know: Filartiga, Kadic and Sosa. These cases lay the groundwork for human rights litigation against MNCs under the ATCA’s modern …

Torture As A Problem In Ordinary Legal Interpretation, Alan Hyde

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

American legal discourse on torture takes for granted some, usually all, of the following propositions, that make discussion of torture more difficult than it should be. Torture is assumed to present unusually difficult problems of definition, full of vague concepts, fine lines, gray areas, murky moral dilemmas, "dirty hands." This vagueness is thought to be even more of a problem for the attendant concept of "cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment." The legal sources of either prohibition are assumed to be dubious under American law. Prohibiting torture is, perhaps for these reasons, thought to require moral justification not necessarily required of …

Human Rights, Clif Bennette

ExpressO

American authorities believe torture is necessary to keep America safe from terrorists, but want to avoid being accused of war crimes. So, longstanding US law and the Geneva Conventions were reinterpreted to provide legal cover. Further, policy memos saying most torture is legal were written, and activities associated with torture are shielded from Congressional oversight.

Treatment And Interrogation Of Detained Persons, David E. Graham

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.