International Humanitarian Law Commons^™

Opening Speech, Claudio Grossman

American University Law Review

Good morning and good afternoon, depending on your time zone. It is a great pleasure to introduce this conference on “Sea Level Rise and International Law: Assessing its Impacts on the Americas.” Sea level rise is a pressing global challenge that could generate catastrophic effects, including in the Americas, which are surrounded by four oceans: the Arctic, the Antarctic, the Atlantic, and the Pacific. Several of the countries in the Region could suffer disproportionately from the consequences of this serious phenomenon. The implications for States and people all over the world are devastating, making rising sea levels a matter of …

The Violence In Our Humanity: Principles, Action, And The Erosion Of State Sovereignty, Rasheed Idou

Theses and Dissertations

The past two decades have witnessed an increasing number of armed conflicts, both inter- and intra-nationally, and an even more increasing number of multilateral military interventions without UN Security Council authorization. Central to the discussion of these interventions are the themes of humanitarianism and state sovereignty. The aim of this thesis is to investigate the relationship between humanitarian imperatives and principles of sovereignty within the context of armed conflict to better understand the tensions that have led to the current global outcomes. In so doing, it identifies how humanitarian principles, imperatives, and actions have affected the contemporary conception of state …

Taking Responsibility Under International Law: Human Trafficking And Colombia’S Venezuelan Migration Crisis, Luz Estella Nagle, Juan Manuel Zarama

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

For more than six million Venezuelans, crossing international borders has become imperative to ensuring security and a livelihood that their country has failed to assure. These migrants and refugees, particularly young women and children, are vulnerable to many depredations, criminal acts, and the risk of becoming trafficking victims for forced labor and sexual slavery. This article focuses on State responsibility for migrant populations and analyzes conditions in Venezuela that caused a massive migration, the conditions in Colombia as a host State, the uncertain status of Venezuelan migrants in Colombia, and human trafficking and its impact on the migrant population.

“‘Made In China’ . . . Is A Warning Label”: Is America Doing Enough?, Devin Kathleen Epp

Seattle University Law Review

This Note explores China’s repressive actions against the Uyghur population and calls upon the U.S. to address these human rights violations. Part I discusses the background and human rights violations in Xinjiang, also known as the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR). Part II addresses U.S. economic regulations and sanctions imposed against actors involved in Xinjiang’s forced labor industry. Part III analyzes previous U.S. strategies and sanction regimes implemented to combat human rights violations in other countries. This Note recommends that the U.S. implement a more robust multilateral framework to combat the Xinjiang cultural genocide and impose secondary sanctions against China …

The Enduring Role Of Conflict In The Perpetuation Of Famine: Advancing 'The Right To Adequate Food' For Sustainable Peace, Robert M. Bane

Dissertations and Theses

The present thesis evaluates developments and trends in global conflict dynamics, global systems of governance, and global hunger. Together, the thesis investigates and upholds the notion that famine is a ‘man-made’ phenomenon and explains how famine persists in a world abundant with food. Through analysis and research the following is found: the occurrence of global conflict is accelerating alongside an increase in the severity of organized violence dynamics; global authoritarianism is expanding presenting a threat to global freedoms and liberal democracy; as these trends are occurring, world hunger is steadily on the rise reflecting a significant backsliding of progress achieved …

Human Rights In The Light Of International Opportunism: A Study Of The Impact Of The War On Terrorism On Human Rights

UAEU Law Journal

International terrorism reached its peak on September 11, 2001 when four civilian airplanes were hijacked and hit the World Trade Centre in New York and part of the Pentagon in Washington D.C. Such attacks were considered a serious challenge for contemporary societies which called on their military, economic, and political might to declare an open war against international terrorism. This so-called counter terrorism war emerged to shape the new world order. Such war was accompanied by gross violations of public international law, the international human rights law and the international humanitarian law. In fact, some opportunistic régimes found it a …

The Role Of Lawyers In Bridging The Gap Between The Robust Federal Rights To Education And Relatively Low Education Outcomes In Guatemala, Maryam Ahranjani

Faculty Scholarship

Relative to other countries in the world and in Central America, the Guatemalan Constitution and the federal education law include a robust and detailed right to education. However, literacy rates and secondary educational attainment, particularly for Indigenous people and young women living in rural communities, remain low. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated disparities. Once children return to schools after the pandemic, the gaps will be even larger. Lawyers can play a critical role in making the strong Constitutional right to education more meaningful.

Rise Of Illiberal Democracy, Weakening Of The Rule Of Law, & Implementation Of Human Rights In The Philippines, Gemmo Bautista Fernandez

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

U.S. "Asylum Cooperative Agreements" With Central American Countries Are Unlawful, Maria Alejanda Torres

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Gender Violence And The Human Rights Of Women In Cuba, Leila Hamouie

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Investors As International Law Intermediaries: Using Shareholder Proposals To Enforce Human Rights, Kishanthi Parella

Seattle University Law Review

One of the biggest challenges with international law remains its enforcement. This challenge grows when it comes to enforcing international law norms against corporations and other business organizations. The United Nations Guiding Principles recognizes the “corporate responsibility to respect human rights,” which includes human rights due diligence practices that are adequate for “assessing actual and potential human rights impacts, integrating and acting upon the findings, tracking responses, and communicating how impacts are addressed.” Unfortunately, many corporations around the world are failing to implement adequate human rights due diligence practices in their supply chains. This inattention leads to significant harms for …

Justice Without Fear Or Favour? The Uncertain Future Of The International Criminal Court, Leila Nadya Sadat

Scholarship@WashULaw

This essay traces the history of the International Criminal Court from its establishment in 1998 until the current day. It briefly surveys the history of the Court’s founding and evokes many of its current challenges and innovative aspects of its jurisprudence, particularly regarding jurisdiction, immunities, and admissibility, including decisions relating to the Situations in Afghanistan, Bangladesh/Myanmar, Libya, Palestine, and Sudan. As the essay notes, although many challenges have emerged from internal difficulties the Court has faced or design elements of the Statute, external challenges arising from the geopolitical environment within which it operates exist as well. Despite these problems, which …

An Umbrella Of Autonomy: The Validity Of The Hong Kong Protests, Ciera Lehmann

Senior Honors Theses

Hong Kong has been fighting for democracy and to retain its autonomy from China, and the world has been watching. Over time, Hong Kongers have seen Beijing blatantly tighten its grip before time was up for the fifty-year agreement since the handover in 1997. In 2014, and again in 2019, hundreds of thousands of citizens filled the streets to participate in pro-democracy demonstrations with the protests only gaining momentum and influence. While there has mostly been support for Hong Kong’s independence movement, there has been argument that Beijing’s actions are completely justified. Should Hong Kong remain autonomous from China, and …

The Long Tail Of World War Ii: Jus Post Bellum In Contemporary East Asia, Timothy Webster

Faculty Scholarship

The shadow of World War II still looms over East Asia. Unlike the West, issues of state accountability, corporate liability, and individual reparation roil the victims, governments, and civil society organizations. It stills form a critical, often controversial, backdrop for international relations among China, Japan, Korea, and other Asian nations. This chapter fills an important gap by focusing on jus post bellum outside of the West. The chapter examines the results, motivations, and achievements of civil litigation, namely approximately one hundred World War II reparations lawsuits filed in Japan. In so doing, it answers three related questions. Why does World …

Documentation For Accountability, Paul Williams, Jessica Levy

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The cost of armed conflict is borne not only in the stark number of lives lost, but also in the grave atrocity crimes committed during these periods. Despite the legal protections set forth in the Geneva Conventions and other foundational documents of international humanitarian law, perpetrators continue to commit crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. Documenting these atrocity crimes has become a crucial step in efforts to secure justice for victims and survivors of these atrocities. To support the expanding field of human rights documentation, the international community must redouble its efforts to ensure that civil society actors engaged …

Enter At Your Own Risk: Criminalizing Asylum-Seekers, Thomas M. Mcdonnell, Vanessa H. Merton

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In nearly three years in office, President Donald J. Trump’s war against immigrants and the foreign-born seems only to have intensified. Through a series of Executive Branch actions and policies rather than legislation, the Trump Administration has targeted immigrants and visitors from Muslim-majority countries, imposed quotas on and drastically reduced the independence of Immigration Court Judges, cut the number of refugees admitted by more than 80%, cancelled DACA (Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals), and stationed Immigration Customs and Enforcement (“ICE”) agents at state courtrooms to arrest unauthorized immigrants, intimidating them from participating as witnesses and litigants. Although initially saying that …

Flor Freire V. Ecuador, Raymond Chavez

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This case is about the discharge from duty of a Second Lieutenant of the Ecuadorian army who had been accused of engaging in homosexual conduct. The Court found violation of several articles of the American Convention. The violation of the prohibition of discrimination is the most significant one.

Rochac Hernández Et Al. V. El Salvador, Kimberly E. Barreto

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

This case is about the forced disappearance of five children during El Salvador’s Civil War. The State forcedly took thousands of children to curb rebel forces in rural areas. Unsurprisingly, the Court found violation of several articles of the American Convention, but the case is notable because it addresses Article 19 (Rights of the Child), an article of the Convention rarely discussed.

Elusive Justice: The Rohingya Chronic Crisis And The Responsibility To Protect, Sumangala Bhattacharya

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Human Rights Movement And The Prevention Of Evil: The Need To Look Inward As Well As Out, Jeffrey A. Brauch

Catholic University Law Review

The modern human rights movement began as a response to great evil perpetrated by individuals and nations against others during and preceding World War II. The movement has been dedicated to protecting the rights of individuals by confronting evil and holding nations accountable should efforts to prevent it fail.

This article contends that while the human rights movement is good at confronting evil “out there,” it has failed in important ways to recognize flaws within itself. In particular, it displays a hubris that shows itself in two ways. First, the movement has embraced a utopian expansion of rights to be …

Leveraging Regional Human Rights Mechanisms Against Universal Human Rights: The Oic Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission Study On Sexual Orientation, Robert C. Blitt

William & Mary Law Review Online

This article critically assesses a recent study on sexual orientation and gender identity (SOGI) prepared by the Organization for Islamic Cooperation’s (OIC) Independent Permanent Human Rights Commission (IPHRC). The first two parts review the establishment of the IPHRC and the norms governing regional human rights mechanisms (RHRMs). Following this, the article demonstrates that the methodology and conclusions evidenced in the IPHRC’s SOGI study diametrically oppose substantive international human rights law, and furthermore undermine the intended purpose of RHRMs within the human rights system. The article concludes by recommending that human rights advocates and others clearly and publicly call out these …

Convergence And Divergence Between International Investments Law And Human Rights Law, In The Context Of The Greek Sovereign Debt Restructuring, Venetia Argyropoulou

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

International investment law developed separately from and was, for a long period, perceived as incompatible with human rights law. Despite the tendency to distinguish the evolution of these two fields of international law, however, they are not completely dissimilar. Inter alia, they both aim to safeguard investors’ rights to property, to promote respect for due process, and to address the undisputed position of power of the state against the individual. In situations of sovereign default, the asymmetry between the powers of the state and the rights of investors is even more clearly demonstrated, even within the European Union. Indeed, although …

Jesner V. Arab Bank, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The exclusion of transnational human rights litigation from U.S. federal courts is, for most practical purposes, now complete. On April 24, 2018, the U.S. Supreme Court delivered a 5–4 ruling in Jesner v. Arab Bank, deciding that foreign corporations cannot be sued under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS).

Is Religion A Threat To Human Rights? Or Is It The Other Way Around? Defending Individual Autonomy In The Ecthr's Jurisprudence On Freedom Of Religion, Andrea Scoseria Katz, Paulo Pinto De Albuquerque

Scholarship@WashULaw

Religious freedom is part and parcel of the European Convention of Human Rights (ECHR)’s broad catalogue of human rights. Yet in reality, religion and human rights can have a fraught, conflictive relationship. Is religion a threat to human rights? Are human rights a threat to religion?

These questions resist easy answers, yet an examination of the jurisprudence of the European Court of Human Rights’ (ECtHR) suggests that, on the whole, the Court has been more successful in identifying threats posed by religious beliefs or organizations to human rights than vice-versa. As to the former, we examine case-law in two subject …

Beyond Vulnerability: Refugee Women’S Leadership In Jordan, Widad Hassan

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While both men and women are affected by conflicts and humanitarian crises, 80 percent of the world’s refugees and internally displaced persons are women and children, indicating that women experience conflict and war differently. The emphasis on women’s vulnerability during conflicts and humanitarian crises leads to their exclusion from leadership roles and decision-making on humanitarian programs and issues that impact them. Though women experience numerous socio-cultural barriers to exercising leadership in humanitarian settings, they have taken on important roles in emergency response and in refugee camps. This paper traces the progress of UN and humanitarian agencies recognition and development of …

Human Rights And Constitutional Democracy, David L. Sloss

Faculty Publications

This essay reviews Professor Jamie Mayerfeld's book, The Promise of Human Rights. I am sympathetic to the broad contours of Professor Mayerfeld’s argument. Nevertheless, this essay challenges portions of his account. Part One addresses the topic of international oversight. Mayerfeld makes a powerful theoretical argument in support of his claim that increased international oversight could help strengthen human rights protections in the United States. Here, though, I think his account omits some important information and gives insufficient weight to current political realities. Part Two focuses on what Mayerfeld calls the United States’ “self-exemption policy.” In brief, this is the U.S. …

Unearthed: Advocating Against Fracking And Breaking The Bond Of The Imagined World Order, Colleen E. Cloonan

ENV 434 Environmental Justice

While discussing the imagined world order, it is evident that the world is not perfect. Over the course of the centuries, the earth has been maimed by humans, whether it be during the agricultural age or throughout the process of industrialization into the modern era. Humans must realize that sooner, rather than later, we must address the environmental destruction we are causing. A specific case, with that such as hydraulic fracturing of shale, otherwise known as fracking, provides as an example of one of the environmental justice issues that is plaguing the earth. However, there are complications. In the consumer …

Rape And Sexual Violence: Questionable Inevitability And Moral Responsibility In Armed Conflict, Katherine W. Bogen

Scholarly Undergraduate Research Journal at Clark (SURJ)

Wartime sexual violence is a critical human rights issue that usurps the autonomy of its victims as well as their physical and psychological safety. It occurs in both ethnic and non-ethnic wars, across geographic regions, against both men and women, and regardless of the “official” position of commanders, states, and armed groups on the use of rape as tactic of war. This problem is current, pervasive, and global in spite of the status of wartime sexual violence perpetration as a crime against humanity and the capacity of the international criminal court to indict offenders. Though some scholars have argued that …

The Human Rights Of Sea Pirates: Will The European Court Of Human Rights Decisions Get More Killed?, Barry Hart Dubner, Brian Othero

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Variation In The Use Of Sub-Regional Integration Courts Between Business And Human Rights Actors: The Case Of The East African Court Of Justice, James T. Gathii

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.