International Law Commons^™

To Ban Or Not To Ban Blasphemous Videos, Evelyn Aswad

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Networks In Non-International Armed Conflicts: Crossing Borders And Defining "Organized Armed Group", Peter Margulies

Law Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Thirsty For A Solution: Using The Rural Electrification Administration Model To Resolve The Failure Of Privatization Of Water Utilities In Bolivia, Michael Nichola

Florida A & M University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Pornography And The Connection To Commerical Sexual Exploitation, Cheryl Page

Journal Publications

Human Trafficking is a violation against humanity and a contradiction to the notion that all people are born free and have rights that are equal. 1 This global crime is a part of practically every country in the world. No nation is immune from its reaches. Every year thousands of women, men and children fall prey to human commercial exploitation and are trapped in a criminal enterprise that profits in the billions. Human trafficking is defined as, “recruitment, transportation, transfer, harboring or receipt of persons, by means of the threat or use of force or other forms of coercion, of …

All Other Breaches: State Practice And The Geneva Conventions’ Nebulous Class Of Less Discussed Prohibitions, Jesse Medlong

Michigan Journal of International Law

With respect to the protections afforded by the Geneva Conventions, a great deal of ink has been spilled in recent years over the two-tiered system of tribunals employed by the United States in its prosecution of enemy combatants in the “war on terror.” Less discussed, though, is the wholly separate two-tiered system for sorting violators of the Geneva Conventions that emerges from the very text of those agreements. This stratification is a function of the Conventions’ distinction between those who commit “grave breaches” and those who merely commit “acts contrary to the provisions of the present convention” or “all other …

The Human Rights Of Indigenous Peoples: United Nations Developments, S. James Anaya

Publications

No abstract provided.

Tribal Rights, Human Rights, Kristen A. Carpenter, Angela R. Riley

Publications

No abstract provided.

Commonality Among Unique Indigenous Communities: An Introduction To Climate Change And Its Impacts On Indigenous Peoples, Randall S. Abate

Journal Publications

This special Issue of the Tulane Environmental Law Journal explores how climate change affects the rights of indigenous peoples. Climate change is a global environmental problem caused by greenhouse gas emissions. Indigenous peoples generally contribute very limited quantities of greenhouse gases to the global atmosphere. Although the causes of climate change are global, the adverse impacts of this problem are disproportionately burdening indigenous peoples.

In recognition of the growing global problem of climate change, legal strategies to address climate change through mitigation and adaptation have been undertaken. This Issue recognizes that indigenous peoples are particularly vulnerable to climate change, both …

‘Germans Are The Lords And Poles Are The Servants’: The Trial Of Arthur Greiser In Poland, 1946, In The Hidden Histories Of War Crimes Trials (Kevin Jon Heller & Gerry Simpson Eds., 2013), Mark A. Drumbl

Books and Chapters

In the aftermath of World War II, the first conviction of an influential Nazi German official for the crime of waging aggressive war was delivered not by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, but, rather, by the Supreme National Tribunal of Poland sitting in Poznán. The accused was Arthur Greiser. Beginning in September 1939, Greiser served as Gauleiter (i.e. Governor) of the Warthegau, a large expanse of western Poland that had been illegally annexed to Nazi Germany. The Warthegau's residents suffered brutally under Greiser's boot.

The Polish Tribunal sentenced Greiser to death on July 9, 1946. His execution by public …

Kiobel, Unilateralism, And The Retreat From Extraterritoriality, Austen L. Parrish

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Reverse-Rhetorical Entrapment: Naming And Shaming As A Two-Way Street, Suzanne Katzenstein

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

"Naming and shaming," the process of exposing, publicizing, and condemning human rights abuses, is one of the most important and common strategies used by human rights advocates. In an international political system where power is typically defined in terms of military strength and market size, advocacy groups draw on a mixture of moral and legal means to pressure governments to improve their human rights behavior. In general, the mere act of naming and shaming can promote human rights norms by reinforcing the shared understanding that some types of government conduct are beyond the pale.'

Naming and shaming may also work …

Theories Of State Compliance With International Law: Assessing The African Union’S Ability To Ensure State Compliance With The African Charter And Constitutive Act, Stacy-Ann Elvy

Articles & Chapters

May 26, 2011, marked the ten-year anniversary of the establishment of the African Union, and with the sudden death of Muammar al Gaddafi, who was instrumental in the creation of the African Union, the time is ripe to fully re-assess the ability of the African Union to ensure state compliance with the Constitutive Act of the African Union (Constitutive Act) and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (African Charter). The African continent has a long history of massive human rights abuses. Prior to 2001, the Organization of African Unity (OAU) was responsible for ensuring that African states complied …

Panel Iv: Challenges To Proving Cases Of Torture Before The Committee Against Torture, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

A Janus Look At International Criminal Justice, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Invoking the name of Janus, the Roman god who looked simultaneously at the past and the future, this article examines international criminal justice at a watershed moment, when a number of 20-year-old ad hoc tribunals were winding down even as the International Criminal Court was entering its teen years. First explored are challenges posed by politics – that is, the need to secure cooperation from states and from the U.N. Security Council – and economics – that is, the need to work within budgetary constraints. The article then surveys significant developments in each of a half-dozen international criminal courts and …

Corporate Law Tools And The Guiding Principles For Business And Human Rights, Sara Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This paper, written in 2012, provides a summary of the corporate law tools project undertaken as part of the mandate of Professor John Ruggie as Special Representative for Business and Human Rights. The author was one of the co-convenors of a multi-stakeholder consultation on corporate law tools held in 2009 and designed to inform the Ruggie mandate. This paper provides her assessment of the scope and limitations of this project, the extent to which it may have informed aspects of the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and an agenda for future research.

Corporate Law Tools And The Guiding Principles For Business And Human Rights, Sara L. Seck

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

This paper, written in 2012, provides a summary of the corporate law tools project undertaken as part of the mandate of Professor John Ruggie as Special Representative for Business and Human Rights. The author was one of the co-convenors of a multi-stakeholder consultation on corporate law tools held in 2009 and designed to inform the Ruggie mandate. This paper provides her assessment of the scope and limitations of this project, the extent to which it may have informed aspects of the 2011 UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, and an agenda for future research.

Lessons For International Law From The Arab Spring, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Not all that begins in hope ends in happiness. In Egypt, the exuberance of Tahrir Square has given way to frustration over the resilience of the security state; in Libya, the anti-Qaddafi movement has fractured along tribal and factional lines; in Syria, as of this writing, calls for reform continue to be met with gunfire from government forces. Throughout the Middle East—from Egypt, Libya and Syria to Yemen, Tunisia, Bahrain and elsewhere—the heady excitement of 2010 has given way to a more sober awareness that enduring political change may take years, if not generations. The Arab Spring brought both progress …

Overview And Operation Of U.S. Financial Sanctions, Including The Example Of Iran, Barry E. Carter, Ryan Farha

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Financial sanctions are increasingly being used in the mix of international economic sanctions being employed by the United Nations, regional entities, and individual countries, including the United States. These financial sanctions have become more focused and effective as the tools and techniques have improved significantly for tracing and identifying the financial transactions of terrorists, weapons proliferators, human rights violators, drug cartels, and others. These sanctions can not only freeze financial assets and prohibit or limit financial transactions, but they also impede trade by making it difficult to pay for the export or import of goods and services.

In spite of …

Brosius, 1 Killing Outside The Law: The Case Of Israel’S Policy Of Assassinating Iranian Nuclear Scientists, Robert Brosius

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Does Humanity Law Require (Or Imply) A Progressive Theory Of History? (And Other Questions For Martti Koskenniemi), Robert Howse, Ruti Teitel

Articles & Chapters

In a number of essays over the last decade or so, Martti Koskenniemi has analyzed post-cold war developments in international law, especially the human rights revolution or the emergence of "humanity law" (Teitel, Humanity’s Law). In these works, Koskenniemi asserts a close, if not essential, connection between optimistic or progressive theories of history and liberal, cosmopolitan, post- or anti-statist approaches to international law. We challenge Koskenniemi’s arguments that humanity law is associated with a dogmatically progressive theory of history, that it is oriented toward a world government, that it relies on a version of historical determinism, that it posits a …

All The Missing Souls: A Personal History Of The War Crimes Tribunals By David Sheffer, Jennifer Laws

Faculty Scholarship

David Scheffer’s memoir records his firsthand experiences as the primary U.S. representative in the processes of building five war crimes tribunals between 1993 and 2006: the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Court of Cambodia, and the International Criminal Court. This review analyzes the strengths and weaknesses of his work and makes recommendations to libraries regarding selection for their collections.

Proportionality In Constitutional And Human Rights Interpretation, Imer Flores

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this article the author, in a context in which principles and the principle of proportionality are at the heart not only of jurisprudence but also of constitutional and human rights interpretation, claims that when there were those ready to raise the hand to declare a unanimous winner, some critics and skeptics appeared. In addition, to the traditional objections, they worry that proportionality invites to doing unnecessary balancing between existing rights, inventing new rights out of nothing at all (in detriment of those already well-established ones), and even worse in doing so balancing some rights away. In order to answer …

Shifting Borders And The Boundaries Of Rights: Examining The Safe Third Country Agreement Between Canada And The United States, Efrat Arbel

All Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the Canadian Federal Court and Federal Court of Appeal decisions assessing the Safe Third Country Agreement between Canada and the United States (STCA). It examines how each court’s treatment of the location and operation of the Canada-US border influences the results obtained. The article suggests that both in its treatment of the STCA and in its constitutional analysis, the Federal Court decision conceives of the border as a moving barrier capable of shifting outside Canada’s formal territorial boundaries. The effect of this decision is to bring refugee claimants outside state soil within the fold of Canadian constitutional …

Migrant Smuggling: Canada's Response To A Global Criminal Enterprise, Benjamin Perrin

All Faculty Publications

Migrant smuggling is a dangerous, sometimes deadly, criminal activity. Failing to respond effectively to migrant smuggling and deter it will risk emboldening those who engage in this illicit enterprise, which generates proceeds for organized crime and criminal networks, funds terrorism and facilitates clandestine terrorist travel, endangers the lives and safety of smuggled migrants, undermines border security, and undermines the integrity and fairness of immigration systems. Introduced in the Canadian House of Commons in June 2011, the Preventing Human Smugglers from Abusing Canada’s Immigration System Act (Bill C-4) includes proposed amendments to the Immigration and Refugee Protection Act that would enhance …

The Long-Term International Law Implications Of Targeted Killings Practices, Christof Heyns, Sarah Knuckey

Faculty Scholarship

One of the most crucial and enduring questions about “targeted killings” is: How will the currently expanding practices of singling out individuals in advance and eliminating them in other countries without accountability impact the established international legal system?

International law, since at least World War II, has developed various mechanisms to limit killing in general, including targeted killings. These take the form of vigorous protections for the right to life under human rights law; safeguards against the interstate use of force while permitting states to protect themselves where necessary; and aiming to strike a balance between the principles of humanity …

The Invention Of A Human Right: Conscientious Objection At The United Nations, 1947-2011, Jeremy Kessler

Faculty Scholarship

The right of conscientious objection to military service is the most startling of human rights. While human rights generally seek to protect individuals from state power, the right of conscientious objection radically alters the citizen-state relationship, subordinating a state's decisions about national security to the beliefs of the individual citizen. In a world of nation-states jealous of their sovereignty, how did the human right of conscientious objection become an international legal doctrine? By answering that question, this Article both clarifies the legal pedigree of the human right of conscientious objection and sheds new light on the relationship between international human …

Organizing For Cyberspace Operations: Selected Issues, Paul Walker

International Law Studies

No abstract provided.

After Assad: Syria’S Post-Conflict Reconstruction, H. M. Roff

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Simon Adams and Condoleezza Rice warn us that with the portended fall of Syria's Bashar al-Assad, the country could witness even more heinous crimes and, potentially, regional political fallout. These worries are not unfounded. However, what seems to be truly missing in their discussions is any mention of post-conflict reconstruction planning. This is unfortunate, as much handwringing is still occurring over "what to do" in Syria, and it will continue until there is a clear vision of what to do after this civil war. Syria's post-conflict reconstruction plan is—or should be—inherently tied to its current operational agenda.

Myths About Syria, James Pattison

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In my contribution, I want to focus on five fallacious claims and arguments that have been presented about the conflict in Syria. (Please note that this piece was written in Dec 2012).

Reconciling Positivism And Realism: Kelsen And Habermas On Democracy And Human Rights, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

It is well known that Hans Kelsen and Jürgen Habermas invoke realist arguments drawn from social science in defending an international, democratic human rights regime against Carl Schmitt’s attack on the rule of law. However, despite embracing the realist spirit of Kelsen’s legal positivism, Habermas criticizes Kelsen for neglecting to connect the rule of law with a concept of procedural justice (Part I). I argue, to the contrary (Part II), that Kelsen does connect these terms, albeit in a manner that may be best described as functional, rather than conceptual. Indeed, whereas Habermas tends to emphasize a conceptual connection between …