International Law Commons^™

Aipac's Good Intentions Undermine Israel's Interests, Ali Wyne

Human Rights & Human Welfare

While the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC) is nominally pro-Israel, its advice undermines Israel’s interests. It does not encourage Israel to make concessions, but rather recommends that Israel ignore the reformists within and outside of it. The folly of such counsel becomes apparent when one recognizes that Israel’s current strategy cannot be sustained.

Sylvia Maier On Human Rights In The World Community. Issues And Action (Third Edition) Edited By Richard Pierre Claude And Burns H. Weston. Philadelphia: University Of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. 543 Pp., Sylvia Maier

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Rights in the World Community. Issues and Action (Third Edition) edited by Richard Pierre Claude and Burns H. Weston. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2006. 543 pp.

May Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency” by Mahmood Mamdani. London Review of Books. March 8, 2007.

The Moral Vocabulary Of Violence, David L. G. Rice

Human Rights & Human Welfare

What is at stake in labeling a particular incidence of large-scale violence “genocide”? Mahmood Mamdani rightly argues that “genocide” is an insufficient description of the conflict in Darfur. I would suggest that the problematic nature of that terminology goes back to its inception after World War II. Activists have inherited the concept of “genocide” from a particular historical moment. Now, “ genocide” carries unique moral weight in the discourse of international politics. When violence against civilians has been widely accepted as a necessary outcome of the preservation of peace, activists find it necessary to imagine a worse evil than the …

The Return Of Moral Equivalence, J. Peter Pham

Human Rights & Human Welfare

During the latter stages of the Cold War, one school of ethical analysis, ultimately labeled as “moral equivalence” by the late Jeane Kirkpatrick, measured Western liberal democracies against utopian standards in a radical critique which redefined the political discourse, erasing distinctions between the Soviet Union and its satellites on the one hand and the United States and its allies on the other.

The International Human Rights Committee: The Global Influence Of The City Bar, Mark R. Shulman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Missing The Point, Colin Thomas-Jensen

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“What would happen if we thought of Darfur as we do of Iraq, as a place with a history and politics—a messy politics of insurgency and counterinsurgency?” (§4). This is the most telling question posed by Professor Mahmood Mamdani in “The Politics of Naming: Genocide, Civil War, Insurgency.” The implication is that the growing public demand for strong international action—military or otherwise—to halt the atrocities in Darfur is somehow unwarranted because people have failed to understand that the systematic crimes against humanity committed against civilians in Darfur (and indeed Iraq) are an inevitability of “the messy politics of insurgency and …

Debra L. Delaet On Health And Human Rights: Basic International Documents, 2d Edition, Edited By Stephen P. Marks. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Published By Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center For Health And Human Rights; Distributed By Harvard University Press, 2006. 392pp., Debra L. Delaet

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Health and Human Rights: Basic International Documents, 2d Edition, edited by Stephen P. Marks. Cambridge, Massachusetts: Published by Francois-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights; Distributed by Harvard University Press, 2006. 392pp.

Debra L. Delaet On Understanding Human Rights: An Exercise Book By Elisabeth Reichert. Thousand Oaks, Ca: Sage Publications, 2006. 271pp., Debra L. Delaet

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Understanding Human Rights: An Exercise Book by Elisabeth Reichert. Thousand Oaks, CA: SAGE Publications, 2006. 271pp.

Politics Of Naming And Politics Of Responsibility, Rhoda Howard-Hassmann

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Mahmood Mamdani is right to complain that the American—and international—public is unaware of the political complexity of the Darfur conflict. He is also right to point out that selective or inconsistent uses of the terms “genocide,” “civil war,” and “insurgency” can mask covert, or even overt, political agendas. His comparison of Darfur to Iraq is telling. And he is right to point out that even with the best of humanitarian intentions, the presentation of a simplified version of Darfur, in which “Arabs” persecute “Africans,” can play into the “war on terror,” insofar as, in the minds of at least some …

Communications Theory And World Public Order: The Anthropomorphic, Jurisprudential Foundations Of International Human Rights, Winston P. Nagan, Craig Hammer

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article seeks to integrate different strains of knowledge and enlightenment from contradictory and often contentious jurisprudential perspectives. Our approach is to use elements of modern jurisprudence as tools and markers for a more adequate description and intellectual justification of the foundations of modern human rights law. This focus integrates existing literature that surveys law-making outside the context of the State, including the law of non-State groups, such as Jewish Law and Gypsy Law. It also examines the relevance of communications theory to law generated (in a functional sense) by individual interaction on a face-to-face basis (which Professor Harold Lasswell …

Craig Berry On Global Ethics And Civil Society Edited By John Eade And Darren J. O’Byrne. Aldershot, Uk: Ashgate, 2005. 180pp., Craig Berry

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Global Ethics and Civil Society edited by John Eade and Darren J. O’Byrne. Aldershot, UK: Ashgate, 2005. 180pp.

Ali Wyne On The Economic Life Of Refugees By Karen Jacobsen. Bloomfield, Ct: Kumarian Press, 2005. 131pp., Ali Wyne

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Economic Life of Refugees by Karen Jacobsen. Bloomfield, CT: Kumarian Press, 2005. 131pp.

Myra Pong On Spatial Disparities In Human Development: Perspectives From Asia Edited By Kanbur, Ravi, Anthony J. Venables, And Guanghua Wan. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2006., Myra Pong

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Spatial Disparities in Human Development: Perspectives from Asia edited by Kanbur, Ravi, Anthony J. Venables, and Guanghua Wan. Tokyo: United Nations University Press, 2006.

April Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Women Come Last in Afghanistan ” by Ann Jones. Salon.com. February 6, 2007.

Global Health And Global Hegemony, Randall Kuhn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

As the new director of a unique graduate program in Global Health Affairs, coming from the world of basic research, I have been faced with the need to reconcile a central paradox of American power and hegemony: I conduct my work as an American citizen and often with U.S. government funding in the hope that it will make a positive or at least neutral impact on my world. Yet my government (not only under the present administration) initiates imperial adventures that cause untold damage to the health, welfare, and survival of individuals throughout the world.

Oppressing Women: Who Benefits And How?, Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Women are the world’s oldest marketable commodity. “Good” women are marketed by their fathers, or brothers, to other men as wives. “Bad” women are incarcerated, raped, killed, or prostituted. Methods of marketing women range widely in kind: from simple one-on-one bargains, where two men exchange daughters or sisters; to exchange of women for material goods; to use of women to pay debts; to renting out women by the hour or minute to other men for sex.

Punish Or Surveil, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

This Article endeavors to paint a fuller picture of previous practice and present options than is often present in debates about the United States' antiterrorism measures. It begins by describing practices in place before the campaign launched after September 11, 2001. The Article focuses on punishment, the first prong of the policy long used to combat threats against the United States. Ordinary civilian and military courts stood ready to punish persons found guilty at public trials that adhered to fairness standards, and national security interests not infrequently were advanced through such courts. That is not to say that courts were …

Beyond Self-Congratulations: The Charter At 25 In An International Perspective, Louise Arbour, Fannie Lafontaine

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

On the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, the authors situate the Canadian human rights evolution in an international context. They look first at the context of the Charters adoption and the characteristics that make it an agent of positive social change in Canada. Secondly, they discuss three areas where interaction between international legal values and our domestic human rights system can be rendered more effective: a) the use of international law in defining the content and possible limitations of Charter rights; b) the increased necessity for a better implementation of international human …

Indigenous Peoples And Environmental Justice: The Impact Of Climate Change, Rebecca Tsosie

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Rebecca Tsosie, Professor of Law, Arizona State University

1 page.

Action On Global Warming: Making Room For Tribal Governments In The New Kind Of Wedge Issue, Dean B. Suagee

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Dean B. Suagee, Of Counsel, Hobbs, Straus, Dean & Walker LLP, Washington, D.C.

1 page.

Climate Changes And The Poorest Nations: Further Reflections On Global Inequality, Ruth Gordon

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Ruth Gordon, Professor of Law, Villanova University School of Law

3 pages.

Climate Justice: The Next Movement [Outline], Richard J. Lazarus

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Richard J. Lazarus, Professor of Law, Georgetown University Law Center

2 pages.

Creating A Roadmap For Achieving Intergenerational Environmental Justice, Clifford Rechtschaffen

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

Presenter: Clifford Rechtschaffen, Professor of Law and Director, JD Environmental Law Program; Co-Director, Environmental Law and Justice Clinic, Golden Gate University School of Law

5 pages.

Agenda: The Climate Of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock, University Of Colorado Boulder. School Of Law

The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock (March 16-17)

On March 16-17, The Climate of Environmental Justice: Taking Stock conference gathered 125 academics and practitioners from around the country to consider the pressing issues facing low-income and/or communities of color that continue to be subjected to a disproportionate share of environmental maladies.

"Some people are more equal than others when it comes to bracing ourselves for the impacts of climate change," said conference organizer Professor Maxine Burkett. "Whether it's because poor folks lived in the lowest areas of New Orleans when Katrina floodwaters rushed in, or are less able to afford the cooling bill during increasingly frequent heat waves, …

Exporting And Negotiating Human Rights, Randall Kuhn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 2000, renowned Egyptian activist-sociologist Saad Eddin Ibrahim and 27 colleagues were tried, convicted and imprisoned by the Egyptian government on a range of politically-motivated charges. In 2003, Ibrahim was released after three years of imprisonment and torture and a concerted campaign to secure his release by concerned academics, activists, and political leaders. Two years later, physically weakened but morally indefagitable, he visited colleagues at the University of Colorado and talked about his experiences as an academic and activist.

Human Rights And Personal Stories, David L. G. Rice

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Negar Azimi’s “Prisoners of Sex” is a welcome reminder that human rights discourse should always keep its subject, “humans,” firmly in view. The stories she tells of death, torture, hope, and survival bear witness to the challenges and dangers faced by gays and lesbians in Egypt.

March Roundtable: Introduction

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Prisoners of Sex” by Negar Azimi. New York Times Magazine. December 3, 2006.

Cultural Rage: A Severe Threat To Gay Men, Rhoda Howard-Hassmann

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Men who have sex with men have become a world cultural flashpoint. Fomenting and exploiting cultural rage at the West is a useful way for Islamists to gain electoral and other types of support, even though the motives of the Islamists may have more to do with the drive for power, regional influence, or economic benefit.

Matthew S. Weinert On Human Security And The Un: A Critical History By S. Neil Macfarlane And Yuen Foong Khong. Bloomington, In: Indiana University Press, 2006. 341pp., Matthew S. Weinert

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Human Security and the UN: A Critical History by S. Neil MacFarlane and Yuen Foong Khong. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Press, 2006. 341pp.