Human Rights Law Commons^™

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 …

How To Let A Democracy Die: “First,…Let’S Kill All The Lawyers” And Other Lessons From The Bard, Jena Martin

Faculty Articles

This article serves to provide a much-needed perspective on how international legal mechanisms (or the lack thereof) impact democratic in institutions.

Masthead

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Social Rights From Latin America, Christian Gonzalez Chacon

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

International human rights courts and bodies have traditionally enforced social rights within constrained frameworks, such as “available resources” and “minimum provision,” often overlooking deeper structural inequalities and urgent global challenges. This paper advocates for a paradigm shift grounded in the capabilities framework, reconceptualizing rights to encompass sustainability, harmony, and human flourishing. Drawing on indigenous philosophies from Latin America, I propose strategies to strengthen enforcement mechanisms, including the establishment of specialized human rights courts, equitable taxation systems, and regenerative economic models. By aligning human rights with capabilities and ecological stewardship, this paper illustrates their potential to address poverty, inequality, and climate …

Ftc V. Amazon: A Turning Point For Antitrust Law?, Matthew Cole Conover

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The United States is experiencing crippling economic inequalities that harken back to the Gilded Age. For the first time, legal scholars have turned to antitrust law to reverse this alarming trend. These scholars, including current Federal Trade Commission Chairwoman Lina Khan, are testing this ambitious theory in the E-commerce industry. E-commerce is a market largely dominated by one company: Amazon. With its dominance, Amazon lures small businesses into its third-party seller marketplace, where it controls those business’s prices and punishes those that resist. Lina Kahn’s FTC has formally launched its litigation campaign against Amazon, claiming that the company has violated …

Table Of Contents

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Free Speech And Anti-Democratic Violence, Andy J. Carr

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The resurgence of far-right extremist groups—like “sovereign” militias, white supremacists, and avowedly fascist gangs—has exposed the First Amendment’s vulnerabilities to the “leaderless resistance” model of extremist organizing. This model, first popularized by white supremacist Louis Beam, specifically aims to insulate extremist leaders from liability when their followers engage in violence. It does so through fragmented structures and coded messages: Leaders use indirect references in speaking to disparate followers, without specificity (of targets) or immediacy (of corresponding violence), as required, e.g., for “incitement” under Brandenburg v. Ohio.

This Article makes three contributions. First, it articulates this “gap” with precision, drawing …

Faking It: A Proposed Solution To Counter Nonconsensual Pornographic Deepfakes, Rena Song

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

2024 Louise A. Halper Award Winner for Best Student Note.

Deepfakes have become popular due to their user-friendly nature and accessibility, allowing anyone to create one by installing deepfake software programs on their phones or laptops. Deepfake software programs allow creators to create hyper-realistic multimedia featuring anyone whose image they can find. Some industries have drawn positive uses from deepfakes; however, deepfakes also create harms that can have detrimental effects on people’s mental health, employment, and reputation. Women and children, including those without a large online presence, have become the target for nonconsensual pornographic deepfakes. Congress has yet to pass …

Refereeing Nil Athlete Agents: Examining Equitable And Protective Measures For Ncaa Student-Athletes In A Post-Alston Environment, Katherine A. Berman

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

This Note examines the challenges posed by the lack of regulation surrounding athlete agents involved in Name, Image, and Likeness (NIL) deals across the United States and their impact on collegiate student-athletes. Despite efforts from the NCAA and higher education institutions for federal NIL legislation and guidance, many proposed solutions face significant obstacles, including conflicts with state laws and partisan divisions. This Note traces the commercialization of student-athletes through the history of the NCAA, reviews key NIL cases, and analyzes current state and federal legislation focused on athlete representation. This Note also explores the emergence of NIL service providers, including …

The Grass Is Not Always Greener: How The Legalization Of Recreational Cannabis Across The United States Is At Odds With Incarceration And Continued Punishment, Marc Sendra

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Whether you call it Mary Jane, skunky funky, green, ganja, reefer, or just plain-old cannabis, this special green plant doused in purple and orange accents has become a popular topic of discussion within the legal community and American culture. Cannabis has been held in “high” regard for its scientific advances in the medical industry, alongside its recreational usage, enjoyed by laughs and giggles, munchies, and plenty of water, leading to a wave of medical and recreational legalization.

Incentives for legalization come at the onset of promising medical research, economic growth motives, and social justice, reflecting upon a comprehensive approach that …