Human Rights Law Commons^™

[Un]Bound? A Critical Assessment Of The Nature Of Interim Measures Requests By The Human Rights Committee, Andrew D. Mitchell, Trina Malone

American University International Law Review

This article critically examines the nature and legal force of interim measures requests (IMRs) issued by the Human Rights Committee (HR Committee) in response to communications received under the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR-OP1). Despite the lack of express provisions in the Covenant or the Optional Protocol regarding the power of the HR Committee to issue IMRs or the obligation of States to comply with them, the HR Committee has established its own Rules of Procedure to issue purportedly binding IMRs in certain circumstances. This article is the first thorough examination of whether …

Prologue, Claudio Grossman, Robert K. Goldman

American University International Law Review

Prologue by the Academy Advisory Board Co-Chairs for this special issue of the American University International Law Review featuring the winning papers and honorable mentions from the 2023 Human Rights Essay Award, sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of American University Washington College of Law.

Toward Equal Access: A Model For Lay Advocacy Programs Serving People Who Are Deaf Or Hard Of Hearing, Melissa Bell

JADARA

Advocacy programs are prevalent among state government agencies that specialize in serving persons who are deaf or hard of hearing around the United States. The work is crucial to ensuring equal access and equal opportunity, yet the lay advocacy profession is not yet formalized with certification, ethical standards, or training programs for advocates serving this population. Research was conducted to advance efforts to maximize these programs’ effectiveness by compiling components of an ideal model for lay advocacy programs. Directors from state agencies that specialize in serving this population around the country refined the model and described the structure of their …

Stakeholder Capitalism’S Greatest Challenge: Reshaping A Public Consensus To Govern A Global Economy, Leo E. Strine Jr., Michael Klain

Seattle University Law Review

The Berle XIV: Developing a 21st Century Corporate Governance Model Conference asks whether there is a viable 21st Century Stakeholder Governance model. In our conference keynote article, we argue that to answer that question yes requires restoring—to use Berle’s term—a “public consensus” throughout the global economy in favor of the balanced model of New Deal capitalism, within which corporations could operate in a way good for all their stakeholders and society, that Berle himself supported.

The world now faces problems caused in large part by the enormous international power of corporations and the institutional investors who dominate their governance. These …

Foreseeability And Duty In Washington Negligence Law: Leaving The Road Less Traveled By, Leo Linder

Seattle University Law Review

Washington negligence law is a confusing labyrinth of foreseeability that not even Ariadne’s string could guide plaintiffs out of. Foreseeability is implicated in four distinct analyses, several of which overlap considerably. Doctrines that were once questions of law are now questions of fact, and vice versa. Something needs to change.

Washington has taken the novel approach of bifurcating the duty element into two parts—duty’s mere existence, which is a question of law for the court to determine; and duty’s scope, which is a question of fact handed off to the jury to determine. Foreseeability impacts both of these assessments, but …

Henderson And The Objective Observer Standard: The Future Of Race-Conscious Standards Post-Students For Fair Admissions, Gabriela Dionisio

Seattle University Law Review

On June 29, 2023, the Supreme Court of the United States decided Students for Fair Admissions v. President & Fellows of Harvard College, which struck down race-conscious admissions policies. Within just a year after its ruling, Students for Fair Admissions has already had a sweeping impact, reaching beyond higher education. Although the Supreme Court did not indicate whether Students for Fair Admissions applies to sectors beyond higher education, law firms, and other employers have already modified their diversity policies and initiatives, erasing race and company diversity considerations. Given those dramatic changes, there is growing fear that Students for Fair Admissions …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Same Crime, Different Time: Sentencing Disparities In The Deep South & A Path Forward Under The Fourteenth Amendment, Hailey M. Donovan

Seattle University Law Review

The United States has the highest incarceration rate of any country in the world. The American obsession with crime and punishment can be tracked over the last half-century, as the nation’s incarceration rate has risen astronomically. Since 1970, the number of incarcerated people in the United States has increased more than sevenfold to over 2.3 million, outpacing both crime and population growth considerably. While the rise itself is undoubtedly bleak, a more troubling truth lies just below the surface. Not all states contribute equally to American mass incarceration. Rather, states have vastly different incarceration rates. Unlike at the federal level, …

Ai, New Technologies, And Corporate Governance: Three Phenomena, Martin Petrin

Seattle University Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) and other new technologies are increasingly influencing the operations, business models, and structures of companies. This Article focuses on three emerging phenomena that impact significant aspects of corporate governance and regulation: (1) perforation and blurring of firm boundaries through the ubiquitous use of externally provided AI services; (2) businesses engaging in strategic access and leveraging of critical resources held by third parties without owning them; and (3) the unusual hybrid role of online platforms between market facilitators and markets themselves. The Article explores how these phenomena challenge traditional views of firms as separate units, with technology leading …

A Blueprint To Reclaim Legal Education From External Rankers, Scott Rempell

Seattle University Law Review

The U.S. News & World Report (U.S. News) law school rankings have impacted the perceptions and behaviors of everyone in the rankings ecosystem for decades. Commentators have almost universally condemned these ordinal rankings, yet they continue to influence the legal education market, often in highly detrimental ways.

The influence of these rankings stems from legitimate market demands, for reasons that the psychology of choice literature makes clear. People want (or need) to efficiently acquire and digest information that could help them make consequential decisions. At a time when consumers of law school information did not have such choice-making assistance, U.S. …

Real-World Consequences For Online Actions: The Case For Expanding Employee Harassment Protection Via Employers’ Rights Of Action, Alexander Barnes

Seattle University Law Review

This Note argues for expanding employers’ access to legal remedies that allow them to recoup the costs of protecting their employees from swatting, doxing, and other online harassment arising from their employees’ professional activity. Part I provides a brief description and history of the online harassment problem and its potentially deadly dangers. Part II describes employers’ legal responsibility to take action to protect their employees from harassment aimed at their employees within the scope of their employment. Part III explores common legal remedies that are currently available to employers, using the state of Washington as an example. Part III also …

The Volokh Briefs: Drawing The Line Against Compelled Speech In Public Accommodations, Dale Carpenter

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In a series of important amicus briefs (the “Volokh Briefs”) filed over the course of about a decade, Professor Eugene Volokh was the principal architect of an argument for protecting expressive goods and services offered for sale the commercial marketplace.  This free speech protection would override certain applications of state antidiscrimination law.

The argument bore fruit in 303 Creative v. Elenis (2023), which held that under the First Amendment’s Free Speech Clause the state could not force a designer to fashion websites incorporating the designer’s customized text and graphics for the celebration of same-sex weddings. As Volokh and others urged, …

The Emerging Crime Of Persecution Based On Sexual Orientation, Anthony J. Colangelo

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

This Article argues that persecution based on sexual orientation constitutes a crime against humanity under international law. Unlike other scholarship that has focused on the definition of crimes against humanity in the 1998 Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court—which does not explicitly enumerate “sexual orientation” as a protected classification—this Article looks to customary international law made up by the practices of states.

Diligent research has revealed that between 1998 and 2022, at least 107 states enacted laws or revised existing laws decriminalizing sexual orientation and/or categorizing sexual orientation as a protected classification from discrimination. This is in addition to …

Reconciling Domestic Violence Protections And The Second Amendment, Natalie Nanasi

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

In March of 2023, the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals held that individuals subject to domestic violence protective orders could not be required to give up their guns. The decision was the first of a federal court to overturn a firearm regulation pursuant to New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen, a 2022 Supreme Court opinion that created a new standard for determining the constitutionality of gun restrictions. After Bruen, only laws that are “consistent with this Nation’s historical tradition of firearm regulation” pass constitutional muster.

The Fifth’s Circuit decision in U.S. v. Rahimi, which …

From Criminalizing China To Criminalizing The Chinese, Leo Yu

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Many scholars have studied the racialization of Asian Americans and found that perpetual foreignness stands at the core of their ascriptive identity. This identity was formed in the 19th century and is also closely related to the dominant society’s racial understanding of ‘the Chinese’—which refers, for the purposes of this article, to people of actual or perceived Chinese descent in the United States. This article investigates this racialization process, with a contemporary lens: What does perpetual foreignness mean to the Chinese in the 21st century?

This Article argues that, for the Chinese, their foreignness in today’s United States means more …

Origins Of Russian Membership In The Council Of Europe And The Seeds Of Russia's Expulsion, Jeffrey D. Kahn

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The story of Russia’s membership in the Council of Europe now has a beginning, a middle, and an end. What can we learn about the values of this international organization, and its preeminent human rights convention, from Russia’s inclusion in them? Was Russia’s membership “worth it”? Any attempted answer must produce more questions: from which perspective – Russia’s, the Council’s, other Member States’ – should the effects of Russian membership be evaluated? How did the Council of Europe change Russia (if Russia was, indeed, changed) and how did Russia change the Council of Europe?

This paper examines the beginning of …

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (Isds) Treaty Mechanisms As A Threat To Climate And Sustainable Development Goals, Johanna Leffler

Human Rights Brief

Investor-State Dispute Settlement (“ISDS”) treaty mechanisms threaten the human right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment by crippling states’ abilities to enact meaningful climate change and sustainable development policies, thus hindering their ability to meet obligations under the Paris Agreement.

Where Custom Dictates: A Comparison Of The Integration Of Customary Law In Nigeria And South Africa As Applicable To Custody And Family Law Dispute, Madelyn Cameron

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Equality And Human Rights: Confronting Racial Discrimination Introduction, Claudia Martin, Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón

American University International Law Review

Introduction of this special issue of the American University International Law Review and the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and acknowledgments.

Interrupting Cyclical Trauma: Transitional Justice In The Philippines, Maria Jardeleza

Human Rights Brief

To interrupt the cycles of human rights abuses in the Philippines, the approach to transitional justice must incorporate an understanding of its unique history of abuses. A reliance on both domestic and international justice systems, as well as the promotion of leaders that will build a foundational respect for the rule of law can position the nation to effectuate a more peaceful future.

Cruel And Unusual Punishment: A Human Rights-Based Argument For Extending The Eighth Amendment To Capital Punishment Methods, Brittany Walker

Human Rights Brief

Though Americans generally support capital punishment, there are many issues with how states currently choose to execute individuals, including concern that the different execution methods used by states to carry out capital punishment violates the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, lack of regulation of states and lack of accountability. Further, certain execution methods may violate the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). This article suggests recommendations for state legislatures, the United States Congress, and the Supreme Court for ensuring the humane treatment of individuals during an execution.

Advocating For Equality: Restoring Same-Sex Marriage Recognition In Bermuda, Coleman Watts

Human Rights Brief

In May 2017, Bermuda made significant strides towards marriage equality by legalizing same-sex marriage. Following the general elections in mid-2017, Bermuda’s newly elected PLP (Progressive Labour Party) government enacted legislation in December 2017 to replace same-sex marriage with domestic partnerships. This article suggests arguments that may be used to challenge the revocation of same-sex marriage rights in Bermuda.

The Inter-American Court Of Human Rights Address "Obstetric Violence" In Rodriguez Pacheco Et Al. V. Venezuela, Lily Cantor

Human Rights Brief

The Inter-American Court of Human Rights (“the Court”) decision on reparations and costs in the case of Rodriguez Pacheco et al. v. Venezuela is one of several that the Court analyzed in recent years relating to women’s obstetric health, indicating a rising interest in the area of reproductive rights.

Is Life Imprisonment Without Parole Still Degrading Treatment Under The Echr?, Aykhan Dadashov

Human Rights Brief

After the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) decided Hutchinson v. The United Kingdom in 2017, debates about ECtHR’s position on life sentences without the possibility of parole arose. Some scholars deem the decision a departure from the ECtHR’s principles in Vinter and Others v. The United Kingdom, which held that non-reducible life sentences are a violation of Article 3 of the European Convention on Human Rights. Although the ECtHR came to different conclusions in Hutchinson and Vinter, the ECtHR still considers life imprisonment without parole inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment. Irreducible life imprisonment is still incompatible …

Truth Or Accountability: The Human Rights Violations Of The Northern Ireland Troubles Legacy And Reconciliation Act Of 2023, Mckenzie Gallagher

Human Rights Brief

On January 17, 2024, the Republic of Ireland lodged an inter-state complaint in the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR”) against the United Kingdom. The complaint came after the United Kingdom passed the Northern Ireland Troubles (Legacy and Reconciliation) Act of 2023. Among other things, the Legacy Act grants immunity to persons who provide information related to any crimes committed during the Troubles, an intense period of political unrest and violence in Northern Ireland between Catholic Republicans and Protestant Loyalists.

To hold the United Kingdom accountable for human rights violations stemming from the Legacy Act, an ECtHR ruling paired with …

Forced Disappearances In Latin America Are Not Relics Of The Past, Taylor Potenziano

Human Rights Brief

Forced disappearances were endemic to Latin American dictatorships in the late twentieth century. During the Cold War and beyond, more than one hundred thousand Latin Americans were subjected to forced disappearances under authoritarian governments. To date, more than 200,000 people have gone in Brazil alone between 2019 and 2021. Because disappearances are not criminalized in Brazil, Brazilian legislatures do not feel the need to specify the cause of the disappearances.

Human Rights Lawyering In The 21st Century, Gemma Muirhead, Adrian Niedermann, Ailsa Ferland, Gloria Nunez, Kate Beckham, Leena Alsayab

Human Rights Brief

On Friday, March 8, 2024, the Human Rights Brief at American University Washington College of Law (WCL) held its annual symposium entitled Human Rights Lawyering in the 21st Century. It was organized by the Symposium and Education Editor Gemma Muirhead and the Junior Staff Symposium team including Adrian Niedermann, Ailsa Ferland, Gloria Nuñez, Kate Beckham, and Leena Alsayab. Together, the team curated a day full of empowering lectures, inspiring panels, and insightful attendee questions posed to the panelists. The following article is intended to be a resource documenting the event.

Legal Reforms And Women’S Rights Advocacy In Africa, Emelyne Calimoutou Dr.

Human Rights Brief

Although Gambia enacted the Women’s (Amendment) Act in 2015, which criminalized female genital mutilation and imposed penalties of up to three years in prison, the parliament is currently deliberating on a bill to overturn the Act.

The prospect of Gambia becoming the first country to reverse legislation against female genital mutilation is alarming, not only for its immediate implications on women’s health, but also for the precedent it could set for other states. It serves as a reminder of the fragility of women’s rights protections in the face of deeply entrenched social practices and underscores the urgent need for a …

Forging Ahead: Protecting Against Forced Labor In Global Supply Chains And The Evolving Landscape Of Labor Rights, Gemma Muirhead

Human Rights Brief

Historically, trade agreements primarily focused on facilitating economic exchange between nations, with little direct consideration given to the treatment of individuals within those countries. Issues of human rights were often addressed through separate channels such as boycotts, NGO campaigns, international pressure, and United Nations interventions, but were not inherently linked to trade agreements themselves. Over time, the adoption of sanctions and other unilateral trade measures aimed at enhancing transparency concerning human rights abuses in foreign supply chains has gained traction, particularly in the United States and the European Union. These jurisdictions frequently apply sanctions for diverse purposes, including fostering democratic …

The Emerging Crime Of Persecution Based On Sexual Orientation, Anthony J. Colangelo

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

This Article argues that persecution based on sexual

orientation constitutes a crime against humanity under international law.

Unlike other scholarship that has focused on the definition of crimes against

humanity in the 1998 Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court—

which does not explicitly enumerate “sexual orientation” as a protected

classification—this Article looks to customary international law made up by

the practices of states.

Diligent research has revealed that between 1998 and 2022, at least 107

states enacted laws or revised existing laws decriminalizing sexual

orientation and/or categorizing sexual orientation as a protected

classification from discrimination. This is in addition …