International Humanitarian Law Commons^™

Duress, Demanding Heroism, And Proportionality, Luis E. Chiesa

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article discusses the Erdemovic case in order to examine whether duress should be a defense to a crime against humanity. Although the Article contends that the arguments in favor of permitting the defendant to claim duress weaken as the seriousness of the offense charged increases, the Article also argues that the duress defense should usually succeed if it can be proved that the actor could not have prevented the threatened harm by refusing to capitulate to the coercion.

After balancing the competing considerations, the Author concludes that the defendant in Erdemovic should have been able to claim duress as …

The Collateral Protection Of Rights In A Global Economy, Sheldon Leader

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Immigration And Integration In Canada, Mary Liston, Joseph Carens

All Faculty Publications

Like Australia and the United States, Canada is usually considered a ‘traditional’ immigrant receiving country in contrast to many countries in Europe, Asia, and Africa where large-scale immigration is a relatively recent phenomenon. This chapter reviews past and current Canadian immigration policy. Section one provides a brief historical overview of Canadian immigration patterns. Section two outlines current immigration policy, including the changes introduced by Canada’s Immigration and Refugee Protection Act (2002). Section three discusses the relationship between immigration policy and the integration of immigrants in Canadian society. The chapter concludes with the proposition that, while Canada’s immigration policy converges with …

Hacking Into International Humanitarian Law: The Principles Of Distinction And Neutrality In The Age Of Cyber Warfare, Jeffrey T.G. Kelsey

Michigan Law Review

Cyber warfare is an emerging form of warfare not explicitly addressed by existing international law. While most agree that legal restrictions should apply to cyber warfare, the international community has yet to reach consensus on how international humanitarian law ("IHL") applies to this new form of conflict. After providing an overview of the global Internet structure and outlining several cyber warfare scenarios, this Note argues that violations of the traditional principles of distinction and neutrality are more likely to occur in cyber warfare than in conventional warfare. States have strong incentives to engage in prohibited cyber attacks, despite the risk …

Gender Justice Through Public Interest Litigation: Case Studies From India, Avani M. Sood

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article examines the application of the Supreme Court of India's enterprising Public Interest Litigation (PIL) mechanism to a subject of compelling global concern: violations of women's rights. India is currently receiving much international attention for its dynamism and innovation on various fronts, yet the country also remains steeped in centuries-old norms and conventions. This tension is reflected in the decisions of the Supreme Court, which has assumed an active role in enforcing women's rights through PIL but is sometimes limited in this regard by the complex cultural context in which it operates. Based on an analysis of Indian constitutional …

Tugba Basaran On The Rights Of Refugees Under International Law By James C. Hathaway. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 1239pp., Tugba Basaran

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Rights of Refugees Under International Law by James C. Hathaway. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2005. 1239pp.

Aziza Khatoon On Human Rights In Turkey Edited By Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat. Philadelphia: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 349 Pp., Aziza Khatoon

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights in Turkey edited by Zehra F. Kabasakal Arat. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007. 349 pp.

Richard Burchill On Contemporary Human Rights Ideas By Bertrand G. Ramcharan. New York, Ny : Routledge, 2008. 192 Pp., Richard Burchill

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Contemporary Human Rights Ideas by Bertrand G. Ramcharan. New York, NY : Routledge, 2008. 192 pp.

Eric A. Heinze On Humanitarianism And Suffering: The Mobilization Of Empathy Edited By Richard Ashby Wilson & Richard D. Brown. New York, Ny: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 328pp., Eric A. Heinze

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Humanitarianism and Suffering: The Mobilization of Empathy edited by Richard Ashby Wilson & Richard D. Brown. New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2009. 328pp.

Germany, Afterwards, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Race after Hitler: Black Occupation Children in Postwar Germany and America. By Heide Fehrenbach. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2005.

and

The Holocaust and Catholic Conscience: Cardinal Aloisius Muench and the Guilt Question in Germany. By Suzanne Brown-Fleming. Notre Dame, Indiana: University of Notre Dame Press, 2006.

and

A Woman in Berlin. By Anonymous. New York: Henry Holt, 2000.

and

Johanna Krause, Twice Persecuted: Surviving in Nazi Germany and Communist East Germany. By Carolyn Gammon and Christiane Hemker. Waterloo, Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2007.

Privatization, Efficiency, Gender, Development, And Inequality— Transnational Conflicts Over Access To Water And Sanitation, Srini Sitaraman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Earth Democracy: Justice, Sustainability, and Peace by Vandana Shiva. Boston, MA: South End Press, 2005.

and

Gender, Water, and Development edited by Anne Coles and Tina Wallace. New York: Berg, 2005.

and

Dams and Development: Transnational Struggles for Water and Power by Sanjeev Khagram. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 2004.

Bonded Labor In India, Devin Finn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Bonded labor, which is characterized by a long-term relationship between employer and employee, is usually solidified through a loan, and is embedded intricately in India’s socio-economic culture—a culture that is a product of class relations, a colonial history, and persistent poverty among many citizens. Also known as debt bondage, bonded labor is a specific form of forced labor in which compulsion into servitude is derived from debt. Categorized and examined in the scholarly literature as a type of forced labor, bonded labor entails constraints on the conditions and duration of work by an individual. Not all bonded labor is forced, …

The Economic Foundations Of Contemporary Slavery, Justin Guay

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“Slavery existed before money or law” (Hochschild 2005). Indeed the “peculiar institution” is one of humanity’s oldest. It has, however, evolved and manifested itself quite distinctly in different periods of history. In contrast to historical views of slavery that are associated with Chattel Slavery, numerous forms fall under the umbrella term of contemporary slavery. The United Nations (U.N.) Working Group recognizes such radically new forms as: child labor, children in conflict, trafficking in persons, sexual exploitation, and the sale of children. The International Labor Office (ILO) approaches the topic through the lens of forced labor. The ILO recognizes slavery and …

A Growing Concern: Modern Slavery And Agricultural Production In Brazil And South Asia, Justin Campbell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The modern use of slave labor in the production of agriculture takes many forms. In Brazil, the ability of powerful landowners to repress poor workers is an important element of large-scale agricultural production. In South Asia, cultural norms and traditions are used to exploit the most vulnerable communities. In both examples, inequity and poverty are implicit, and debt is a tool used to legitimize bondage.

Humanitarian Assistance And The Private Security Debate: An International Humanitarian Law Perspective, Benjamin Perrin

All Faculty Publications

The changing nature of armed conflict has had a dramatic impact on the security risks facing humanitarian personnel. Historically, the safety of humanitarian aid delivery was secured through the consent of the relevant Parties to the conflict. However, non-international ethnically-motivated armed conflicts, failed and failing states, and insurgency-based warfare have fundamentally challenged the viability of this traditional security paradigm. In confronting today's complex security climate, humanitarian organizations are faced with a diverse menu of alternatives to enhance their security. The debate over armed protection that has sharply divided the humanitarian community is explored in this paper, including a critique of …

Comparative Models Of Reporting Mechanisms On The Status Of Trafficking In Human Beings, Mohamed Y. Mattar

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

A comprehensive approach to combating trafficking in human beings requires precise knowledge of the scope of the problem and constant evaluation of government responses. Reporting on the status of human trafficking achieves both goals. This Article is designed to examine the various human trafficking reporting mechanisms, including reports that states are required to submit to the United Nations as well as national reports whereby governments engage in a process of self-assessment. Comparative models from Europe and the United States will be examined. The Article analyzes reports released by interministerial task forces as well as congressional hearings held on progress made …

The Wto And The Anti-Corruption Movement, Padideh Ala'i

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article explores the role of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in promoting good governance while placing WTO within the larger framework of the ongoing global anti-corruption movement. Governmental policies aimed at fighting corruption are part of the good governance criteria set forth by the World Bank and other donor agencies. An important element of good governance is transparency, which has also been one of the pillars of the multilateral trading system. This article argues that from the perspective of the post-Cold War anti-corruption movement, the WTO is an important institution because it provides a comparatively successful forum for the …

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Inter-American System, Claudia Martin

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Preventing, Implementing And Enforcing International Humanitarian Law, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Symposium 2008: The United Nations Genocide Convention: A 60th Anniversary Commemoration: Keynote Address, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Humanity Law: A New Interpretive Lens On The International Sphere, Ruti Teitel

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

International Myopia: Hamdan's Shortcut To "Victory", Michael W. Lewis

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Shake & Bake: Dual-Use Chemicals, Contexts, And The Illegality Of American White Phosphorus Attacks In Iraq, Joseph D. Tessier

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “On November 29, 2005, in a Department of Defense press conference with Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld and Gen. Peter Pace, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Pace stated that white phosphorus “is a legitimate tool of the military,” and can be used for illumination, smoke, and incendiary purposes. Incredibly, the Department of Defense released an addendum to the press conference clarifying that white phosphorus was not used as an incendiary weapon. According to General Pace, “it was well within the law of war to use white phosphorus . . . for marking and screening.” This was …

Prologue To A Voluntarist War Convention, Robert D. Sloane

Michigan Law Review

This Article attempts to identify and clarify what is genuinely new about the "new paradigm" of armed conflict after the attacks of September 11, 2001. Assuming that sound policy counsels treating certain aspects of the global struggle against modern transnational terrorist networks within the legal rubric of war, this Article stresses that the principal challenge such networks pose is that they require international humanitarian law, somewhat incongruously, to graft conventions-in both the formal and informal senses of that word-onto an unconventional form of organized violence. Furthermore, this process occurs in a context in which one diffuse "party" to the conflict …

Defending Truth: Legal And Psychological Aspects Of Holocaust Denial, Kenneth Lasson

All Faculty Scholarship

From the still-burning embers of the Holocaust we have come once again to learn the terrible truth, that the power of Evil still lurks among the nations of the world, and cannot be underestimated. Nor can the effect of the spoken and written word, which in modern times must be taken in tandem with the violence of terrorism. Part I describes the background and nature of Holocaust denial, tracing the Nazis' adoption of a plan for the A "Final Solution of the Jewish Problem" through the post-War Nuremberg Trials to the present day. Part II examines the tension between free …

Marten Zwanenburg On Un Peacekeeping In Lebanon, Somalia And Kosovo: Operational And Legal Issues In Practice By Ray Murphy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 392 Pp., Marten Zwanenburg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

UN Peacekeeping in Lebanon, Somalia and Kosovo: Operational and Legal Issues in Practice by Ray Murphy. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2007. 392 pp.

Debra L. Delaet On War Crimes And Genocide, Debra L. Delaet

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Why Not Kill Them All? The Logic and Prevention of Mass Political Murder by Daniel Chirot and Clark McCauley. Princeton University Press, 2006. 288 pp.

and

The Order of Genocide: Race, Power, and War in Rwanda by Scott Straus. Cornell University Press, 2006. 273 pp.

and

The Witnesses: War Crimes and the Promise of Justice in the Hague by Eric Stover. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2005. 252 pp.

Us Policy On Small Arms Transfers: A Human Rights Perspective, Susan Waltz

Human Rights & Human Welfare

From Somalia and Afghanistan to Bosnia, Haiti, Colombia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Liberia and Congo, small arms and light weapons were a common feature of the human rights calamities of the 1990’s.

© Susan Waltz. All rights reserved.*

*A shorter version of this paper is published as “U.S. Small Arms Policy: Having It Both Ways,” in the Summer 2007 issue of World Policy Journal.

This paper may be freely circulated in electronic or hard copy provided it is not modified in any way, the rights of the author not infringed, and the paper is not quoted or cited without express permission …

Iraqi Resettlement: Why Congress Won't Act, Daniel J. Whelan

Human Rights & Human Welfare

After making an excellent case for the plight of Iraqi asylum seekers who have served as valuable allies to the United States in Iraq, Joseph Huff-Hannon’s article suggests that Congress should play a stronger role in developing a resettlement policy to allow Iraqis, who have been on “our side,” to come to the U.S. Given the current political climate on Iraq—and with Congressional Democrats desperate to score some kind of victory in its battle with the Bush White House—what exactly is holding them back?