International Law Commons^™

The Gendered Interpretation Of Child Marriage: A Niger Case Study, Melissa Safi

Dissertations and Theses

This paper seeks to answer the question, what is the primary factor driving child marriage? I explore the literature in several scholarly articles that explain why the harmful, traditional practice of child marriage is an issue that predominantly affects girls globally. I also utilize the feminist theory of international relations to support my analysis of child marriage as a gender issue. Incorporating evidence from annual international reports, scholarly articles, and mixed methods studies, this paper examines a case study of Niger, where child marriage affects more than half the population of girls under the age of 18. In studying Niger, …

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 At The Ocean-Climate Nexus: Opening Doors For The Participation Of Indigenous Peoples, Children And Youth, And Gender Diversity, Unwana Udo, Tahnee Prior, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

No abstract provided.

Gender And Intersectionality In Business And Human Rights Scholarship, Melisa N. Handl, Sara L. Seck, Penelope Simons

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In this article, we explore what intersectionality, as an analytic tool, can contribute to business and human rights (BHR) scholarship. To date, few BHR scholars have explicitly engaged in intersectional analysis. While gender analysis of BHR issues remains crucial to expose inequality in business activity, we argue that engagement with intersectionality can enrich and support this and other BHR scholarship. Intersectional approaches allow us to move beyond single-axis analysis, contest simplistic representations about gender issues and expose the complexity of human relations. It draws our attention to structures that sustain disadvantage such as racism, colonialism, social and economic marginalization and …

Breathing Life Into Our Living Tree And Strengthening Our Constitutional Roots: The Promise Of The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples Act, Naiomi Metallic

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In 2015, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada (“TRC”) suggested that, despite over 30 years of interpretation in the courts, section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, which “recognizes and affirms” the Aboriginal and treaty rights of the Aboriginal peoples of Canada, is not achieving meaningful reconciliation. The TRC defined reconciliation as being about “establishing and maintaining a mutually respectful relationship between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples in this country.” According to the TRC, the “reconciliation vision that lies behind Section 35 should not be seen as a means to subjugate Aboriginal peoples to an absolute sovereign Crown,” implying this …

The Criticism Of Eurocentrism And International Law: Countering And Pluralizing The Research, Teaching, And Practice Of Eurocentric International Law, Makane Moïse Mbengue, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Chapter draws on Third World Approaches to International Law (TWAIL) in examining the question: how does the research and teaching of international law in the Global South challenge Eurocentrism in international law. The Chapter focuses on the emergent activities within Global South that pluralize Eurocentric international law’s dominance in the research production, teaching, and practice arenas. The Chapter pushes against the unfair over-representation of European countries in the scholarly production and institutions of international law. To illustrate the often-underexplored regional diversity of international law outside Europe, the Chapter reflects on the contemporary roles of critical Global South scholars and …

The Role Of The Registry And Legal Division Of The African Court Of Human And People's Rights In Dispute Settlement, Olabisi D. Akinkugbe, Morris K. Odeh

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This Essay explores whether the African Court of Human and People's Rights’ (African Court) Registry and Legal Division have a similar expansive role in the dispute settlement mechanism as the World Trade Organization's (WTO) Secretariat. The African Court is the African Union's regional body for enforcing human rights. This Essay contributes to the scholarship on African international courts by testing the central arguments in Pauwelyn and Pelc's “Who Guards the ‘Guardians of the System’? The Role of the Secretariat in WTO Dispute Settlement” through a comparative analysis of the role of the Secretariat within the African Court. Despite the growing …

State Responsibility For International Bail-Jumping, Robert Currie, Elizabeth Matheson

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Over the last decade, there has been a spate of incidents in Canada and the United States involving Saudi Arabian nationals who, while out on bail for predominantly sexual crimes, were able to abscond from the countries despite having surrendered their passports. Investigation has revealed evidence supporting a reasonable inference that the government of Saudi Arabia has, in fact, assisted its nationals to escape on these occasions. This article makes the case that this kind of conduct amounts not just to unfriendly acts but also to infringements upon the territorial sovereignty of both states and serious breaches of the international …

Abortion Rights Beyond The Medico-Legal Paradigm, Mariana Prandini Assis, Joanna Erdman

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Abortion rights in international law have historically been framed within a medico-legal paradigm, the belief that regulated systems of legal and medical control guarantee safe abortion. However, a growing worldwide practice of self-managed abortion (SMA) supported by feminist activism challenges key precepts of this paradigm. SMA activism has shown that more than medical service delivery matters to safe abortion and has called into question the legal regulation of abortion beyond criminal prohibitions. This article explores how abortion rights have begun to depart from the medico-legal paradigm and to support the novel norms and practices of SMA activism in a transformation …

Academy On Human Rights And Humanitarian Law Articles On Human Rights And States Of Emergency: Unexpected Crisis And New Challenges: Prologue, Claudio Grossman, Robert K. Goldman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

We are pleased to write this prologue for the special issue of the American UniversityInternationalLaw Review featuring the winning papers from the 2021 Human Rights Essay Award, sponsored by the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law of American University Washington College of Law.

Platform-Enabled Crimes: Pluralizing Accountability When Social Media Companies Enable Perpetrators To Commit Atrocities, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Online intermediaries are omnipresent. Each day across the globe, the corporations running these platforms execute policies and practices that serve their profit model, typically by sustaining user engagement. Sometimes, these seemingly banal business activities enable principal perpetrators to commit crimes. Online intermediaries, however, are almost never held to account for their complicity in the resulting harms. This Article introduces the concept of platformenabled crimes into the legal literature to highlight the ways in which the ordinary business activities of online intermediaries enable the commission of crime. It then focuses on a subset of platform-enabled crimes—those in which a social media …

'Are We Doing The Right Thing?' Utilising Security Governance To Reform The Us Drone Program, Jane Minson

Theses

The use of unmanned aerial vehicles, or drones, for counterterrorism purposes by the United States within its targeted killing program has been deeply controversial. Used in each presidential administration since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, drones have sparked debate, in part due to their contribution to civilian deaths; their killing of high-value terrorist targets including, on at least one occasion, a US citizen; and the heightened secrecy that has surrounded the program with little formal oversight and, as such, little accountability. This thesis uses this contextual framework – with a particular focus on the administration of President Barack …

The Minds Behind The Movement: The Role Of Academics In East Asia’S War Reparations Litigation, Timothy Webster

Faculty Scholarship

East Asia's war compensation litigation simultaneously unites diverse regional actors (lawyers, survivors, activists) and fray international relations (as recent verdicts from South Korea attest). However, one view of the merits of these lawsuits is that they have reconfigured transnational activism in East Asia, exhumed forgotten and suppressed histories of Japanese aggression, and on occasion compensated victims of World War II. This Article highlights the role of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Taiwanese activists, lawyers and scholars in researching, filing, litigating and appealing over 80 lawsuits between 1972 and the present.

Introduction: International Law And Inequalities, Diane Desierto

Journal Articles

Equality is both a premise and a promise (or at least much lip service is paid to such) of today’s international law. Customary international law and instruments such as the United Nations Charter, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other foundational treaties of the multilateral system are premised on the equality of states, the right to self-determination and the fundamental equality of human beings. With the era of decolonization, international law also became a battleground for material equality. In the wake of the 2008 financial crisis, (economic in-)equality once again entered the limelight in a number of disciplines, not …

On Crimes Against Humanity, Protect The Un Sixth Committee’S Integrity With Action, Leila Nadya Sadat, Akila Radhakrishnan

Scholarship@WashULaw

Enthusiasm for negotiating and adopting a new global treaty on the prevention and punishment of crimes against humanity has been growing since the issuance of a model draft treaty 16 years ago, particularly after the United Nations International Law Commission (ILC) submitted a final set of draft articles to the General Assembly on Aug. 5, 2019. Although paragraph 42 of the ILC’s report recommended the “elaboration of a convention by the General Assembly or by an international conference of plenipotentiaries on the basis of the draft articles,” progress on this important treaty has stalled in the U.N. General Assembly’s Sixth …

How International Justice Can Succeed In Ukraine And Beyond, Leila Nadya Sadat, Christopher Hale

Scholarship@WashULaw

Depictions of gruesome and heartbreaking mass atrocities resulting from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine have injected discussions of war crimes trials into common discourse the world over. World leaders and government spokespersons in major capitols now field a steady stream of media questions on how crimes in Ukraine will be confronted. An unprecedented number of States Parties (41) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) referred the crimes in Ukraine to the ICC Prosecutor for investigation, and a video statement from the last living prosecutor of the Nuremberg era, 102-year-old Ben Ferencz, was played at one of the most-watched United Nations …

The Parthenon Marbles Case And The Universal Museum Myth: Policies And Politics: Panel 4: Cultural Property And International Human Rights Trends, Sandy Cobden, Leila Amineddoleh, Kristen A. Carpenter, Lawrence Kaye

Publications

No abstract provided.

Covax: A Primer To International Efforts In Vaccine Distribution And Inequities, Diane Desierto

Journal Articles

I have a slightly different view from Dr. Oke in regard to his doubts regarding the utility of a waiver. To the extent that the precedent that we are looking at is whether or not there could be a waiver for countries that lack domestic manufacturing capabilities, to instead import a cheaper generic drug of the Covid vaccines that could be produced in other countries, mainly the particular hubs, such as in India and China, that is still an open question, and part of the proposal that is up before the TRIPS council involves that dimension and that aspect of …

Report Of The International Commission Of Human Rights Experts On Ethiopia, Kaari Betty Murungi, Steven Ratner, Radhika Comaraswamy

Other Publications

In the present report, submitted pursuant to Human Rights Council resolution S-33/1, the international Commission of Human Rights Experts on Ethiopia presents its initial findings. The Commission concludes that there are reasonable grounds to believe that violations such as extrajudicial killings, rape, sexual violence and starvation of the civilian population as a method of warfare have been committed in Ethiopia since 3 November 2020. The Commission finds reasonable grounds to believe that, in several instances, these violations amounted to war crimes and crimes against humanity. The Commission provides an assessment of transitional justice developments and makes urgent recommendations.

Targeted Killing, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Book Chapters

From the Introduction

Targeted killing is the intentional use of lethal force by government authorities to kill selected persons not in the government’s custody. This is also a definition of assassination. It is widely accepted that assassination violates the right to life. For this reason, the term ‘targeted killing’ came into use in place of assassination to convey a perception of legality.

Coming Debates To Advance New Treaty On Crimes Against Humanity Will Require Skillful Leadership, Leila Nadya Sadat, Akila Radhakrishnan

Scholarship@WashULaw

The resolution adopted recently at the United Nations General Assembly’s legal committee on draft articles for a treaty on crimes against humanity creates a two-year process for debate and discussion of the proposal within the committee. This opens the door for the possible adoption of a new, critically needed, global treaty on crimes against humanity within the next three or four years. Such a treaty would close several gaps in the legal architecture of atrocity crimes — particularly the legal obligation to prevent crimes against humanity, a duty not imposed by complementary regimes, including the Rome Statute of the International …

Hernández V. Mesa: A Case For A More Meaningful Partnership With The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights, Peyton Jacobsen

Seattle University Law Review

Through an in-depth examination of Hernández, the Inter-American Human Rights System, and the success of Mexico’s partnership with said system, this Note will make a case for embracing human rights bodies— specifically, the Inter-American System on Human Rights—as an appropriate and necessary check on the structures that form the United States government. Part I will look closely at the reasoning and judicially created doctrine that guided the decision in Hernández, with the goal of providing a better understanding of the complicated path through the courts that led to a seemingly straightforward yet unsatisfying result. Part II will illustrate the scope …

Principles For Responsibility Sharing: Proximity, Culpability, Moral Accountability, And Capability, Michael W. Doyle, Janine Prantl, Mark J. Wood

Faculty Scholarship

In this Essay, we explore how responsibility based on culpability, moral accountability, and capability can improve the current regime that rests on responsibility by proximity. In doing so, we draw on the 2017 Model International Mobility Convention (MIMC), a model convention drafted by a commission of independent experts and currently supported as a project of the Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs.

Coming Full Circle On Human Rights In The Global Economy: International Economic Law Tools To Realize The Right To Development, Diane A. Desierto

Journal Articles

From the Article

This article argues that the discipline and profession of international economic law has undergone a significant architectural change to focus on human rights law as both the premise and promise of the international economic system. Contrary to prevailing currents that focus on the irrelevance of the global economic system to realize human rights, this article argues that international economic law tools have already been converging within the last decade to authentically realize the Right to Development of individuals, groups, and populations. The Draft Convention on the Right to Development defines the right as the enjoyment, participation, and …

South Korea Shatters The Paradigm: Corporate Liability, Historical Accountability, And The Second World War, Timothy Webster

Faculty Scholarship

South Korea is currently revising its interpretation of Japanese colonialism, and the fallout from World War II more generally. In 2018, the Supreme Court of South Korea issued two opinions that staked new ground in this process of legal revision. First, by holding Japanese multinational enterprises legally liable for events that took place in the early 20th century, the verdicts fissure a wall of corporate impunity that courts in Japan, the United States and many Western jurisdictions have erected over the past three decades. Second, by situating the decisions within Korea’s own colonial past, the judgments advance a post-colonial jurisprudence …

Retooling Sanctions: China’S Challenge To The Liberal International Order, Timothy Webster

Faculty Scholarship

Professor Tom Ginsburg has produced yet another classic of transnational law, political science, and international relations. Democracies and International Law yields important insights into the democratic nature of international law but cautions that authoritarian states can apply these very legal technologies for repressive or anti-democratic purposes. Building on Ginsburg’s theories of mimicry and repurposing, this contribution highlights the role of both techniques in the creation of China’s economic sanctions program. On the one hand, China has developed a basic set of tools to impose economic sanctions—a key instrument in the liberal international toolkit—on foreign entities and persons. In so doing, …

Margins Of Empire: The Sakhalin Koreans’ Long Saga Home, Timothy Webster

Faculty Scholarship

Migration carries with it many risks, from perilous journeys along risky corridors to hostile environments in one's adopted country. But what happens when migrants cannot return home? This Article examines the difficulties endured by Sakhalin Koreans, a group of ethnic Koreans who emigrated to Sakhalin Island during the Japanese colonial period and found themselves stranded in a foreign country (the Soviet Union) for the next half century. After recounting the migration of Koreans to Sakhalin, and analyzing lawsuits filed in Japan to repatriate them, it analyzes the infirmities of the international human rights system and the challenges of repatriating a …

Submission Of Amicus Curiae Observations In The Case Of The Prosecutor V. Dominic Ongwen, Erin Baines, Kamari M. Clarke, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

The important questions laid out by the Appeals Chamber in this case highlight the need for the proper delineation and interplay between mental illness and criminal responsibility under international law. Specifically, this case represents a watershed moment for the Appeals Chamber to set a framework for adjudicating mental illness in the context of collectivized child abuse and trauma. This is especially true for former child soldiers who occupy both a victim and alleged perpetrator status.

Amici Curiae Observations On Sexual- And Gender-Based Crimes, Particularly Sexual Slavery, And On Cumulative Convictions Pursuant To Rule 103 Of The Rules Of Procedure And Evidence, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum

Amicus Briefs

Sexual slavery is not a “form” of enslavement; rather, all acts of a sexual nature, including control over sexuality, sexual integrity and sexual and reproductive autonomy, constitute indicia of the exercise of powers of ownership of enslavement in all its forms. Consequently, enslavement as a crime against humanity is not “in the abstract entirely encompassed within sexual slavery.” To avoid entering cumulative convictions for separately enumerated crimes that do not each have a distinct element from the other, and to avoid a continuation of a discriminatory application of the law, amici suggest that, in the interests of justice, the …

Imf's Loan Conditionality: Negative Consequences In The Borrower Country And The Burden Of Responsibility, Sara Mohamed Osama Abdalla Atta

Theses and Dissertations

People often think that IFIs, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are prominent players in the global economy by providing funds to countries in need of development and sustainment of welfare, unfortunately these institutions can cause devastating effects in the borrower country. The harsh conditionality of the IMF plays a huge role in the negative economic consequences incumbent upon the borrower country. Meanwhile, the lack of legal remedies for private individuals suffering from the conditionality aggravates the consequences for these people. On the one hand, conditionality may strain the economy of the borrower country which leads …