International Law Commons^™

How Rude?: Prohibitions On Insults And Abuse In International Human Rights Complaint Proceedings, Lisa Reinsberg

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

May international human rights mechanisms close their doors to individuals who insult their members or Member States? Several do so, but the basis, scope, and impact of such rejections remain mostly unexamined. This article maps the relevant practices of regional and United Nations human rights bodies and compares them to other courts’ responses to contempt of court or vexatious litigation, to understand whether this admissibility criterion is a proper application of the prohibition on abuse of the right of petition or a legitimate exercise of a human rights body’s inherent powers. Three approaches emerge: ignore, balance, and punish. While the …

A Review Of Juvenile Solitary Confinement In The United States: Why Developmental Science Supports Banning Isolation Of Youth, Morgan R. Wagner, Krystia Reed, April Thomas

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The use of solitary confinement in carceral settings has been prevalent in the United States for as long as the justice system has been in place. The practice of isolating people who are incarcerated from the general prison population was adopted in the juvenile justice system as well, despite the system’s purported focus on rehabilitation. This paper reviews the developmental psychological literature suggesting that solitary confinement can harm adolescents in a variety of ways (psychological, psychosocial, and physical). We then discuss the prevalence of juvenile solitary confinement in federal and state courts. Finally, considering this research, we identify goals for …

Mandating Proactive Algorithmic Accountability: A Study Of Legal, Economic, And Technological Challenges In Combating Human Trafficking On Chinese Social Media Platforms, Haoyu Dong

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Human trafficking increasingly relies on digital platforms, where algorithms connect traffickers with buyers, amplify illicit content, and facilitate transactions at an unprecedented scale. Yet China's legal framework remains largely reactive, imposing liability on platforms only after illegal content has been detected and removed. This Article argues that such a notice-and-takedown approach is no longer sufficient to combat trafficking in an algorithm-driven online environment.

This Article proposes a proactive model of algorithmic accountability. It contends that digital platforms should be held legally responsible when they fail to design, monitor, and refine their algorithms to prevent the dissemination and amplification of trafficking-related …

Gender Perspective(S): Lessons From International Human Rights Law To Defend Against Pregnancy Related Prosecutions, Megan Osadzinski

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The criminalization of pregnancy outcomes—such as miscarriages, abortion, obstetric emergencies, and stillbirth—is a violation of fundamental human rights guarantees; including the right to a fair trial when read in conjunction with the right to equality and the right to health. This article outlines state obligations under international human rights law toward women charged in pregnancy prosecutions, translating them into national criminal defense strategies using a gender perspective. Using intersectional theory, this article calls for the use of a gender perspective to challenge such prosecutions as unlawful gender-based discrimination and a gendered violation of due process, using the case study of …

Comparative Analysis Of Freedom Of Thought, Conscience, And Religion In India, Pakistan, And Bangladesh, Abhishek Chakrabarti

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The freedom of thought, conscience, and religion is a fundamental human right enshrined in Article 18 of The Universal Declaration on Human Rights (UDHR). However, religious minorities in South Asia are often deprived of this fundamental right. Muslims in India, Ahmadiyyas, Hindus, and Christians in Pakistan, and Hindus in Bangladesh face challenges including educational marginalization, economic and political marginalization, and social stigma in the society. The Note presents a comparative analysis of the freedom of thought, conscience, and religion across the three most populous countries in South Asia–India, Pakistan, and Bangladesh–that also share a long cultural, linguistic, and religious history. …

A Tale Of Two Credits: The Post-Nestlé Alien Tort Statute And Carbon Credit Externalities, Stephanie Mao

Northwestern University Law Review

As companies increasingly embrace carbon-neutrality commitments, many rely on the voluntary carbon market to offset their emissions rather than reduce them directly. Regulatory and consumer scrutiny has focused on the widespread use of “phantom” carbon credits, i.e., credits that fail to produce meaningful climate benefits. But less attention has been paid to what this Note terms “colonial” carbon credits: those that may technically reduce emissions but do so at the expense of communities abroad. These projects may contribute to land dispossession, human rights abuses, and threats to public and environmental health. Yet, current regulatory and legal frameworks, with their focus …

The Conundrum Of Industrial Policy: Incompatibility With The Rules Of International Trade Law, Yong-Shik Lee

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Since the end of World War II, successful developing countries such as South Korea, Taiwan, Singapore, and, more recently China, have leveraged industrial policies—notably trade measures and subsidies—to achieve economic development. However, these industrial policy tools often conflict with the rules of international trade established under the World Trade Organization (WTO law), which aims to minimize government interference and reduce trade distortions. Paradoxically, such regulatory constraints hinder the development aspirations of many countries. Meanwhile, major global economies, including the United States, China, and the European Union, have revived industrial policies to support their key industries, such as semiconductors and electric …

The Efficacy Of Economic Sanctions On Venezuela, Jennifer Perez

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article examines the persistent failure of U.S. economic sanctions to catalyze democratic transition in Venezuela, addressing the growing disconnect between the statutory intent of American foreign policy and the resulting humanitarian and geopolitical realities. While the U.S. government shifted from targeted sanctions against corrupt individuals to comprehensive measures against the Venezuelan oil industry, this strategy has failed to dislodge Nicolas Maduro’s oppressive regime. Instead, the article identifies a critical backfire of such policies, where broad economic pressure has inadvertently facilitated the consolidation of authoritarian power and worsened domestic suffering. The article offers two original observations. First, comprehensive oil sanctions …

Parallel Proceedings Between International Commercial Litigation And Arbitration: Existing Tools And Comparative Perspective, Joanna Ma

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This Article examines parallel proceedings in international commercial disputes, focusing on situations in which the same parties and substantially the same issues are simultaneously before a national court and an arbitral tribunal. It surveys the principal tools that jurisdictions have developed to address this problem, including the priority-in-time rule, the prioritization of arbitral tribunals, tolerance of parallel proceedings, anti-suit injunctions, and anti-arbitration injunctions. After evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of each approach, the Article argues that prioritizing arbitral tribunals provides the most coherent and workable framework for managing such conflicts. In particular, the model of granting full priority to arbitral …

The Governing Law Of Unlawfully Issued Sovereign Debt, Kei Nakajima, Shiho Kato

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In October 2019, Petróleos de Venezuela, S.A. (PDVSA), a Venezuelan state owned oil and natural gas company, filed a complaint against the trustee and the collateral agent of PDVSA’s bondholders, alleging that certain bonds due in 2020 issued in exchange for the defaulted bonds due in 2017 are null and void ab initio. The main cause of action was that the 2020 bonds had been issued in violation of the provisions of the Venezuelan Constitution. This contention was advanced notwithstanding that the 2020 bonds provide that “all matters arising out of or relating in any whatsoever” to the instruments shall …

The Analytical Routes Of Aiding And Abetting Under The Alien Tort Statute, Amelia Cochran

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper examines whether aiding and abetting liability for corporate involvement in human rights abuses is a cognizable claim under the Alien Tort Statute (ATS). Though the ATS has potential to serve as a powerful mechanism of civil redress for violations of international law, the Supreme Court has increasingly narrowed its scope in recent decades. As a result, critical questions remain unresolved regarding the cognizability of certain claims under the statute. This paper focuses primarily on Doe I et al. v. Cisco Systems, Inc. et al.,, a case emerging from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. In January 2026, following …

The Role Of The U.S. State Department As An Amicus In Foreign Policy Abstention Analysis, Sarah Kurpius

Northwestern University Law Review

Foreign policy abstention is a novel and unsettled doctrine in international litigation. Unlike other established international litigation abstention doctrines, foreign policy abstention permits courts to decline jurisdiction when adjudication implicates significant foreign policy concerns. First invoked in 2004, the doctrine has since appeared sporadically in case law, most recently in the Eighth Circuit’s decision in Reid v. Doe Run Resources. Yet, its analytical framework remains muddy and amorphous, leading to inconsistent judicial application.

This Note examines one critical factor courts consider when determining whether to apply the foreign policy abstention: the strength of U.S. foreign policy interests in the …

From Russia Without Love: A Unique Path Forward For Western Asset Holders Looking To Recover Expropriated Property In Russia, Anthony Liberatori

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Chelsea Football Club, Sean Baker’s Academy Award-winning film “Anora,” and billionaire parties in St. Barth’s: the rapid rise of Russian capital since the collapse of the Soviet Union has permeated international popular culture and underscores the modern global economy. However, Vladimir Putin’s invasions into Ukraine in 2014 and 2022 have caused the international community — particularly the West — to sanction Russia, challenging its place in an increasingly globalized supply chain, and harkening anti-Russian sentiment not seen since the Cold War. In response to sanctions, Russia has begun nationalizing Western assets left behind within its borders, leaving company owners scrambling …

Taxation And The Fair And Equitable Treatment Standard In International Investment Arbitration, Jiangfeng Li

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The recent decade has witnessed an increase of cases in which foreign investors have challenged host states’ taxation measures in international investment arbitrations, arguing that they violated investment treaty protection standards including fair and equitable treatment (“FET”). After conducting a close examination of cases involving taxation-related claims in international investment arbitration, this article reveals that in the cases involving the host states’ taxation measures, the ability of investors to invoke FET claims is very limited, and the chances of foreign investors succeeding in protecting their investment interests through FET claims are much lower compared to other types of non-taxation-related claims. …

The Labyrinth Of International Merger Regulation: A Procedural Path Forward, Michael Volkert

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

In 1890, the first antitrust law was passed in the United States with the enactment of the Sherman Act. Over the past 134 years, jurisdictions across the globe have passed competition laws. One key aspect of competition law is a regulator’s ability to prevent anti-competitive M&A transactions. More jurisdictions are requiring merging firms to notify regulators prior to completing a merger through a process called pre-merger notification. As more global pre-merger notification laws develop, firms engaged in M&A will be required to file with more regulatory bodies, delaying transactions, increasing costs, and causing comity dilemmas. This Article investigates the current …

Presidential Power And Global Finance: The Rise And Limits Of Financial Warfare, Michael Glanzel

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The president’s power over global financial transactions has become one of the most potent tools in America’s foreign policy arsenal. Since the outbreak of World War I, presidents have frequently employed financial instruments to coerce or punish foreign actors. But it was President Biden’s employment of financial weaponry in the wake of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that represented the most complex and far-reaching exercise of presidential power in global finance. From weakening the Russian central bank’s access to the dollar market, to cutting off key Russian financial institutions from American lenders, to deplatforming Russian entities from the Society for Worldwide …

Mixed Review Of Constitutional Rights In Cuba, Ngoc Son Bui

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

Cuba’s 2019 Constitution and the 2022 Law on the Process of Protection of Constitutional Rights create a mixed model of review. Accordingly, the legislature and the executive review the constitutionality of legislation and regulations, while the courts review the constitutionality of state actions. Synthesizing comparative constitutional law and new institutionalism in political science, this article argues that the mixed constitutional review in Cuba is shaped by different historical influences; competing socialist and liberal ideas and discourse; competing political interests; and competing socialist and universal values. The Cuba experience presents a new hope for other socialist countries like China and Vietnam …

A History Of Post-Roe America And Canada: From Intertwined Abortion Battles To Dobbs, Mugambi Jouet

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The changing landscape on abortion following Dobbs has not only sparked a vigorous debate in the United States, but also abroad. Its recriminalization in America led to an outcry in peer Western democracies, whose leaders widely condemned the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision. Yet the social and historical reasons for this international divide are poorly understood.

This Article sheds light on the question through an in-depth comparison of America and Canada from Roe to Dobbs, as the neighboring nations’ abortion histories have been intertwined in intriguing and overlooked ways. When the U.S. Supreme Court decided Roe v. Wade in 1973, …

Reproductive Governance In China: National Policies, Human Rights, And Accountability Under International Law, Victoria Xuan Wang

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

China’s reproductive policies, including the One-Child, Two-Child, and Three-Child Policies, have been widely criticized for violating women’s reproductive rights through coercive enforcement measures such as forced abortion, sterilization, and employment discrimination. This Article argues that these policies violate international human rights law, particularly the right to freely determine the number and spacing of children as protected under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW).

Despite international scrutiny, China has largely resisted direct responses to criticisms from treaty-based and charter-based human rights monitoring bodies, including the CEDAW Committee, the Universal Periodic Review and Special Procedures …

The Enduring Genocide Against The Yazidis: How Iraq's Law On Religious Identity Violates The Human Rights Of Yazidi Survivors Of Isis Captivity And Their Children Born Of Sexual Violence, Michelle Xiao Liu

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

2024 marked the ten-year anniversary of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) genocide against the Yazidis—an ethnoreligious minority community indigenous to northwest Iraq. Beginning in August 2014, ISIS executed between 3,000 and 5,000 Yazidi men and elderly Yazidi women and buried them in mass graves, kidnapped and converted young Yazidi boys to a radical form of Sunni Islam and pressed them into military service, and captured or trafficked over 6,800 Yazidi women and children, subjecting many of them to sexual violence. ISIS carried out its intent to eradicate the Yazidis through systematic murder, forced conversion, and sexual violence …

Louboutin Lawfare: Exploring Conceptions Of Sanctions' Utility Through Export Controls On Luxury Goods, Vinita R. Singh

Northwestern University Law Review

There is widespread consensus amongst scholars that sanctions—the deliberate withdrawal of customary trade and financial relations—do not work. Despite this perception, states are deploying sanctions at an increasing rate. This Article explains this paradox by arguing the predominant notion of sanctions’ utility employed by scholars is unduly constrained, narrowly focusing on the ability of such measures to modify the behavior of sanctioned parties while disregarding the alternative benefits this instrument can deliver. To support this argument, this Article uses export controls on luxury goods deployed in connection with the Russo–Ukraine War as a case study. Under prevailing perceptions of sanctions’ …

On Blockchain As A Tool Against Corporate Corruption, Yannis Normand

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Over the last decades domestic and international legal frameworks have successfully coalesced to limit corrupt behavior worldwide. However, despite their success, current regulatory tools are not sufficiently well-equipped to address corruption in modern economic settings. These mechanisms can often be too costly to implement, too cumbersome to induce compliance, politically manipulatable, and may disincentivize foreign investment and internal corporate monitoring efforts. To address such drawbacks, policymakers should consider the introduction of blockchain-based tools in developing future anti-corruption efforts.

Blockchain can serve as a foundation for structures that can make it more attractive, easier and cost-efficient to monitor economic transactions, to …

The War On Trade: Applying The Wto Security Exceptions To Economic Security Measures, Ian Allen

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This article examines the efficacy of the WTO treaties’ security exception provisions in curbing abusive appeals to national security to justify otherwise impermissible trade measures. It specifically explores whether GATT Article XXI and its sister provisions establish objectively discernible prerequisite conditions for their invocation, how far Member discretion extends in defining “essential security interests,” and whether the WTO dispute system offers sufficiently objective legal standards to prevent abuse of the security exceptions.

Building on existing scholarship, this article employs a comprehensive interpretive analysis of all available means under the Vienna Convention on the Law of Treaties (VCLT) and integrates not …

Due Diligence Obligations Over State Economic Entities In International Investment Law, Kevin Clement

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The growing importance and sophistication of State capitalism and associated implementation of governmental policies through State economic entities, such as State-owned banks, State-owned enterprises, monopolies, and other entities close to the government, has given rise to a perception that existing international law rules are inadequate to effectively accommodate the activities of such entities. Sole reliance on customary international law principles of attribution has proven particularly problematic where governments maintain links with their economic entities that create a risk of the latter being used as conduits for governmental action. Such links may exist in a variety of forms beyond mere ownership, …

“There Is No Fashion On A Dead Planet:”1 How A Mandatory Reporting Directive Shared By The Us And The Eu And Centered On Transparency Could Be The First Step To Increased Sustainability In The Fashion Industry, Adrienne Redman

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

The fashion industry hangs on self-expression and individualism, yet our methods of consumption and their resulting environmental impacts are far from an individualistic concern. This paper examines the global fashion industry’s substantial contribution to pollution, resource-depletion, and waste as evidence that the self-regulation model is insufficient to curb the environmental footprint of the industry. Self-regulation presumes that consumer awareness and the desire to purchase sustainably will be enough to limit the industry’s environmental impact. However, this presumption is undermined by a lack of standardized and enforceable regulations necessary for consumer-decision making. Instead, greenwashing and deceptive environmental claims have pervaded the …

Does It Take Four To Tango In The Regulatory Competition For Global Listings? Comparing Regulations On Dual Class Shares Among Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, And Taiwan, Chang-Hsien Tsai, Luke Hung-Yu Chuang, Hui Wang

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

We provide a comparative analysis of regulatory competition among Singapore, Hong Kong, Mainland China, and Taiwan regarding the process, purpose, and actual results of deregulating Dual-Class Share (“DCS”) structure. The comparative analysis focuses on the role of regulatory competition in the convergence or divergence of DCS-structure regulations. To attract unicorn companies and China Concept Stock (“CCS”) companies to choose public offerings in regional exchanges, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Mainland China sequentially announced their amendments to listing rules, particularly in 2018, to allow public offerings of DCS-structure companies while considering their preference for the ownership structure of unicorns. We employ theories …

The Independence And Impartiality Of The Court Of Arbitration For Sport, Gianna Flammini

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper discusses the structure of the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) and its process for adjudicating disputes by looking through the lens of the recent Jordan Chiles case. The intertwined history of CAS and the International Olympic Committee, CAS’s lack of structural independence, its policies that strongly favor one side in disputes, and its lack of sufficient conflict of interest procedures demonstrate that CAS is a flawed arbitral body that does not properly safeguard the interests of athletes. The landmark European Court of Human Rights case, Case of Mutu and Pechstein v. Switzerland, ruled that CAS was sufficiently …

The Failings Of Post-War Japanese Antitrust Reforms, Gregory Hayes

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

This paper discusses the antitrust reform measures taken during the occupation of Japan following the end of World War II. These antitrust reforms included the dissolution of the zaibatsu business groups and the adoption of the Antimonopoly Act. However, the trust-busting and antitrust measures taken by Japan failed to prevent the eventual rise of keiretsu business groups and lower the concentration of corporate ownership in Japan. The primary reasons behind this failure were the inability of the reformers to fully dismantle the zaibatsu business groups and the changing priorities of the reformers due to the growing threat of the spread …

Dismantling The Dogma Of Dot: A Human Rights-Based Review Of Directly Observed Therapy For Tuberculosis, Brian Citro, Dr. Jennifer Furin, Rhea Lobo, Ingrid Schoeman, Timur Abdullaev, James Malar

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

The global tuberculosis (TB) response is at a crossroads. In recent years, new ideas, technologies, and political commitments have reinvigorated the fight against this age-old disease that kills more people each year than HIV and malaria combined. But with key indicators just beginning to recover after moving in the wrong direction during the COVID-19 pandemic, hard-earned gains are at stake. In this rejuvenated yet challenging context, we critically review an idea and practice at the heart of the TB response—directly observed therapy or DOT. First, we explore DOT’s controversial method and history as a component of the World Health Organization’s …

The Off-Grid Revolution And The "Promise" Of Energy Equality Under The Paris Climate Change Agreement, Ilias Bantekas

Northwestern Journal of Human Rights

A key thesis of this article is that since renewable energy is quintessentially a public good both in constitutional and macroeconomic terms, its availability without restrictions to all people is a true manifestation of economic self-determination, ultimately entailing what this author calls “energy equality.” Although this equality is dictated by the nature of renewable energy as a public good, it risks being eroded by the rush to implement the Paris Agreement. This is certainly one of the shortcomings of the Paris Agreement. With nation states eager to meet their targets and energy concessionaires given unprecedented financial and other incentives, we …