International Law Commons^™

The Principle Of Legality And A Common Law Bill Of Rights—Clear Statement Rules Head Down Under, Dan Meagher

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

This article traces the evolution in Australia of fundamental rights protection provided by the courts. It is a fascinating and controversial story that, at its most critical moments, was (and continues to be) informed by U.S. constitutional law design and statutory interpretation principles. On one level, that is no surprise when “it may be said that, roughly speaking, the Australian Constitution is a redraft of the American Constitution of 1787 with modifications found suitable for the more characteristic British institutions and for Australian conditions.” But, what is extraordinary is that the decision of the framers of the Australian Constitution to …

The Art Of Nailing Jell-O To The Wall: Reassessing The Political Power Of The Internet, Bryan Druzin, Jessica Li

Journal of Law and Policy

Political observers commonly argue that, given the unique characteristics of the Internet, democratization is an inevitability of its widespread use. The critical role that social media played in the wave of demonstrations, protests, and revolutions that swept across the Arab world in 2011 cemented this perception in the minds of many. Yet China defies this simplistic paradigm—China has been stunningly successful at constraining the political power of its Internet. We argue that the political importance of Internet technology has been overstated, particularly with respect to China. As support for this thesis, we cite recent political events in Hong Kong known …

International Legal Protections For Migrants And Refugees: A Response To Father Brennan, Mary Ellen O'Connell

Journal Articles

Father Brennan’s Essay, “Human Rights and the National Interest: The Case Study of Asylum, Migration, and National Border Protection,” is a complex legal and ethical analysis of refugee law. This Commentary focuses on one aspect of the international law relevant to the Essay, namely, state obligations to migrants. Father Brennan’s main argument that migrants and refugees may be turned back, so long as the action respects human rights law, is consistent with the human right to life. Justly stopping migrants and refugees requires states to stop them before they enter either international waters or the state’s territorial waters. Further, Father …

The Quest For Constitutionalism: South Africa Since 1994, Penelope Andrews

Other Publications

No abstract provided.

Bordering The Constitution, Constituting The Border, Efrat Arbel

All Faculty Publications

It is an established principle in Canadian law that refugees present at or within Canada’s borders are entitled to basic constitutional protection. Where precisely these borders lie, however, is far from clear. In this article, I examine the Canadian border as a site in which to study the constitutional entitlements of refugees. Through an analysis of the Multiple Borders Strategy (MBS) – a broad strategy that re-charts Canada’s borders for the purposes of enhanced migration regulation – I point to a basic tension at play in the border as site. I argue that the MBS imagines and enacts the border …

Holding Canada Accountable: An Evaluation Of Canada's Compliance To The United Nations Declaration On The Rights Of Indigenous Peoples, Jackson A. Smith

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Compliance of human rights norms requires the application of pressure from a multitude of directions and levels. It takes individual advocacy, micro-system/organizational/community-level pressure, and macro-level pressure from other nation-states and international organizations and governance bodies. This MA study focuses on the mechanisms employed by the United Nations to monitor the compliance of signatory nation-states to the standards established in the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), with particular focus on Canada. A crucial goal of this study is to translate the UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNSRRIP), James Anaya’s, findings on the …

Unaccompanied & Denied: Regional Legal Framework For Unaccompanied Minors Asylum Seekers (Umas), Rohaida Nordin, Jennifer Whelan, Saidatul Nadia Abd. Aziz, Meerah Deiwi Rajagopal

Indonesia Law Review

Unaccompanied minor asylum seekers are vulnerable and thus, provided special international law protections. However, in reality, they are being mistreated as illegal immigrants and on the receiving end of ethnic violence, discrimination, restrictions in enjoyment of their rights duly recognised by international human rights law. This article identifies legislative, policy and support mechanisms which encompass the minimum UMAS guardianship standards at international law and which are evidence-based from best practice models for the provision of guardians for UMAS internationally. It presents situation of UMAS in relation to human rights violations with emphasis on the legal framework and practices in Australia …

Forced Marriage At The Cambodian Crossroads: Eccc Can Develop A New Crime Against Humanity, Cameron Christensen

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Should Indonesia Accede To The 1951 Refugee Convention And Its 1967 Protocol?, Dita Liliansa, Anbar Jayadi

Indonesia Law Review

Being a non-party to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees (“1951 Refugee Convention”) and 1967 Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees (“1967 Protocol”), Indonesia does not have legal obligations to provide permanent resettlement for asylum seeker and/or refugee. However, as a transit country for those seeking shelter in Australia, Indonesia undergoes a myriad of issues resulting from illegal entrance by asylum seeker and/or refugee. Besides having neither legal framework nor domestic mechanism to handle asylum seekers and/or refugee, Indonesia’s immigration law identifies every foreigner including asylum seeker and refugee who unlawfully enter Indonesia’s territory into the …

The Role Of The State, Multinational Oil Companies, International Law & The International Community: Intersection Of Human Rights & Environmental Degradation Climate Change In The 21st Century Caused By Traditional Extractive Practices, The Amazon Rainforest, Indigenous People And Universal Jurisdiction To Resolve The Accountability Issue, Marcela Cabrera Luna

Master's Theses

Local, national and international conventions that protect indigenous sovereignty and their territories, where many of the resources are extracted from by multinational corporations (MNCs) particularly oil, the number one commodity of the world and cause of climate change, continue to be jeopardized because of the lack of a clear international legal framework that can protect them and potentially hold multinationals accountable for their actions. These practices are causing not only environmental issues to the indigenous and surrounding communities, but climate change is in fact, the real human rights issue of the 21^st century and it affects everyone. By using …

Uncloaking The Secrecy Behind Large-Scale Land Deals, Jesse Coleman

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Large-scale investments in agriculture and forestry have far-reaching implications for the lives of affected individuals and communities. They are also an integral part of efforts by national governments to implement the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and improve the governance of land resources. Despite their significance, these “land deals” and the contracts that govern them are often cloaked in secrecy, removed from relevant spheres of public scrutiny and debate.

Forced Migration, The Human Face Of A Health Crisis, Lawrence O. Gostin, Anna E. Roberts

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Nearly 60 million refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced persons (IDPs) fled their homes in 2014, predominately from war-torn Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. The global response to assisting this vulnerable group has been wholly incommensurate with the need given the profound health hazards faced by forced migrants at each stage of their journey. The majority of forced migrants are housed in lower-income countries that do not have the infrastructure to assist the significant numbers of individuals who are crossing their borders and the humanitarian organizations who seek to assist in the response are grossly underfunded and under-resourced.

Countries have varying responsibilities …

Gender Perspectives On Torture And Other Cruel, Inhuman, Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment: Expert Consultation, Brenda V. Smith

Research Reports & White Papers

The aim of this consultation with experts is to ensure that the Special Rapporteur receives the necessary exposure to the different practices, international standards and jurisprudence, and expert opinions that will help him draft his forthcoming thematic report for the United Nations Human Rights Council. The report will focus on assessing the unique experiences of women, girl children and LGBTI persons from the perspective of torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment and punishment (“CIDTP”) in international law. The consultation will focus on specific practices where the mistreatment rises to the level of torture or CIDTP to identify gaps …

The Impasse Of Tibetan Justice: Spain's Exercise Of Universal Jurisdiction In Prosecuting Chinese Genocide, Craig Peters

Seattle University Law Review

Universal jurisdiction is the progressive and contentious legal principle that courts have competence to adjudicate cases involving alleged violations of international law regardless of the nation in which those crimes occurred, the nationality of the victim, or the nationality of the perpetrator. While the limits of more conventional theories of jurisdiction are defined by sovereignty, territory, and nationality, the exercise of universal jurisdiction is based solely on the nature of the crime alleged. That is, when a crime is so serious that it violates peremptory norms of international law, courts are entitled, or even obliged, to hear those cases regardless …

Us May Be Complicit In War Crimes In Yemen, Lauren Carasik

Media Presence

No abstract provided.

Human Trafficking And Film: How Popular Portrayals Influence Law And Public Perception, Jonathan Todres

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Twenty Seconds To Comply: Autonomous Weapon Systems And The Recognition Of Surrender, Robert Sparrow

International Law Studies

Would it be ethical to deploy autonomous weapon systems (AWS) if they were unable to reliably recognize when enemy forces had surrendered? I suggest that an inability to reliably recognize surrender would not prohibit the ethical deployment of AWS where there was a limited window of opportunity for targets to surrender between the launch of the AWS and its impact. However, the operations of AWS with a high degree of autonomy and/or long periods of time between release and impact are likely to remain controversial until they have the capacity to reliably recognize surrender.

Protecting Cultural Property In Non-International Armed Conflicts: Syria And Iraq, Louise Arimatsu, Mohbuba Choudhury

International Law Studies

The deliberate destruction by ISIS of religious and cultural property in both Syria and Iraq sparked widespread international condemnation and was described by UNESCO’s Director-General as constituting war crimes. Regrettably, the damage to and destruction of such property has become an all too common feature of the conflicts that have engulfed both States. The authors examine the legal obligations that apply to the parties in non-international armed conflict and the consequences of non-compliance. In light of the scale of the human suffering engendered by the conflicts, the authors first ask why international law protects such property in armed conflict.

After Atrocity: Optimizing Un Action Toward Accountability For Human Rights Abuses, Steven R. Ratner

Michigan Journal of International Law

It is a great honor for me to be here to deliver the John Humphrey Lecture. Humphrey led one of those lives within the UN that shaped what the organization has become today—as one of the first generation of UN civil servants, he was to human rights what Ralph Bunche was to peacekeeping, or Brian Urquhart to UN mediation. To read his diaries, so beautifully edited by John Hobbins, is to see a world that has in many ways vanished, a nearly entirely male club, mostly of Westerners, that hammered out new treaties and mechanisms over fine wine and cigars …

United States Human Rights Policy: Effect On Exports, Russell D. Carter, Frank D. Brogan

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

International Legal Protection For Climate Refugees: Where Lies The Haven For The Maldivian People?, Simran Dolla

Student Works

Climate change and sea level rise are not just mere words for the Maldivian people; they are a grim reality that is consuming their nation. Sea level rise presents one of the gravest dangers for the Maldives because of its already low-lying characteristics. As the levels continue to rise, the nation is sinking into extinction. Some 300,000 people of the Maldives are on the brink of losing their homes and becoming climate change refugees. The existing international laws are not only ill-equipped to provide protections or the much-needed relief, they also make no mention of climate change refugees. Therefore, as …

Human Trafficking: Statute Comparisons And Attitudes In Nebraska, Katie Sheets

Annual Interdisciplinary Conference on Human Trafficking: 7th (2015)

Human trafficking has become an issue for global concern. Here in the United States, the Federal government and all fifty states are taking steps to combat the pervasive problem. This study looks at the anti-human trafficking statutes of all fifty states and compares them with each other to see how each state stacks up against the other. Nebraska was the focus of the study as the unicameral has recently been enacting changes to the state’s laws against human trafficking. Nebraska was expected to at least be with the majority of states with their human trafficking provisions. The study then looked …

Lifting The Ban On Women’S Shelters In Iraq: Promoting Change In Conflict, Lisa Davis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

What Does Genocide Produce? The Semantic Field Of Genocide, Cultural Genocide, And Ethnocide In Indigenous Rights Discourse, Jeff Benvenuto

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

The semantic field of genocide, cultural genocide, and ethnocide overlaps between Indigenous rights discourse and genocide studies. Since the 1970s, such language has been used to express grievances that have stimulated the construction of Indigenous rights in international law. These particular words signify general concerns with the integrity of Indigenous peoples, thereby undergirding a larger framework of normative beliefs, ethical arguments, and legal claims, especially the right to self-determination. Going back to the post-World War II era, this article traces the normative and institutional processes through which this overlapping discourse has emerged. Culminating with the adoption of the …

Books Received, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Freedom Of Expression- European Commission Of Human Rights Find That Injunction Against Newspaper Article On Case During Out-Of-Court Negotiations, Upheld By The House Of Lords, Violates Article 10 Of The European Convention For The Protection Of Human Rights And Fundamental Freedoms, Alan S. Peevy

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Filling The Gaps: New Proposals For The Convention On The Rights Of A Child, Kathleen Boumans

Syracuse Journal of International Law and Commerce

No abstract provided.

Testing Constitutional Pluralism In Strasbourg: Responding To Russia's "Gay Propaganda" Law, Jesse W. Stricklan

Michigan Journal of International Law

In 2013, the Russian Federation amended Federal Law No. 436-FZ, “On Protection of Children from Information Harmful to Their Health and Development” (2013 law), introducing language making illegal the public discussion—or, in the law’s words, “propagandization”—of what it called “non-traditional sexual relationships.” Undertaken during a period of increasing domestic and international hostility, the law was intended by the government to be a bold, two-fold rejection of supposedly “European” values: first, as resistance to the gay rights movement, which is presented as unsuitable for Russia; and second, as a means of further weakening the freedom of expression in Russia. On both …

Slavery Then And Now: The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade And Modern Day Human Trafficking: What Can We Learn From Our Past?, Stevie J. Swanson

Florida A & M University Law Review

Many have said that history repeats itself. Unfortunately, this is painfully true in the realm of modern day human trafficking. Human trafficking is a thirty-two billion-dollar-a-year industry, and at present, it is estimated that there are approximately twenty-seven million people enslaved worldwide. President Obama has stated that human trafficking is modern day slavery. Both sex trafficking and labor trafficking are forms of modern day slavery that are present throughout America and the world. In America, sex trafficking appears online, and at pseudo-massage parlors, truckstops, residential brothels, strip-clubs, hotels and motels, and on city streets. Labor trafficking in America includes domestic …

Advancing Climate Justice In International Law: An Evaluation Of The United Nations Human Rights-Based Approach, Damilola S. Olawuyi

Florida A & M University Law Review

The term “climate justice” has been traditionally deployed by scholars to emphasize the need for international law to provide legal solutions for direct and disproportionate impacts of climate change on human life and survival, particularly in vulnerable communities. However, with emerging patterns of human rights violations, massive land grabs, forced displacements, marginalization, exclusions, and governmental repressions resulting from climate change response measures and projects (particularly clean development mechanism (CDM), and REDD+ projects), climate justice has increasingly gained a more expansive connotation. Human rights violations and climate injustices resulting from climate change projects have resulted in calls for an international approach …