International Law Commons^™

A Reckoning For Religious Freedom: India's Bjp And The International Implications Of Anti-Muslim Leadership, Heather Holman

American University International Law Review

Currently, the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) holds the majority in the Indian Parliament, where it exercises its authority by passing legislation that comports with Hindutva. Hindutva is a political ideology that champions policies intended to make India a Hindu state. Toward this end, BJP leaders use harmful rhetoric and pass legislation that harms Muslim citizens of India. However, India is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which protects the freedom to manifest one’s religion and prevents the advocacy of religious hatred that constitutes incitement to hostility, discrimination, or violence.

This Comment argues that India …

Stars, Stripes, And Surveillance: The United States' Failure To Regulate Data Privacy, Sam Begland

American University International Law Review

In the wake of the United States Supreme Court's devastating decision to strip Americans of their constitutional right to abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, data privacy is more salient than ever. Without adequate data regulations, state governments and anti-abortion activists alike can harass and prosecute pregnant people attempting to exercise their bodily autonomy. This comment argues that the United States has violated its obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Article 17 by failing to protect against interference with the use and collection of reproductive health data. Further, this comment analyzes interpretations of …

Cuban Immunity Crisis: How Sovereign Immunity Impacts Enforcing The Helms-Burton Act Against Business Ventures In Cuba, Walter Spak

American University Business Law Review

Part II of this Comment discusses the historical relationship between the United States and Cuba leading up to the Helms-Burton legislation, the rationale behind the Helms-Burton Act, and the history and application of the FSIA. Part III analyzes the Helms-Burton legislation to evaluate whether Title III of the Act implicitly waives sovereign immunity for actions against foreign sovereign nations. Additionally, Part III applies this analysis to show how the court should decide Exxon Mobil Corp. Part IV recommends steps to take to clarify the restrictions around litigation under Title III moving forward, as well as how to clarify the use …

Is The Russian-Ukrainian Conflict Finally The Tipping Point For Criminal Liability When The Environmental And Natural Resources Are Weaponized In Armed Conflict? An Analysis Of The Karachun Dam Attack, Mary Jocelyn

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Luc International Law Review

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

No abstract provided.

How A Country Plagued With Corruption Leads To Lax Sex Laws For Women, Alexandra Angyalosy

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

This Comment addresses Romania's failure to statutorily define and prosecute sexual violence perpetrators. Throughout history, women in Romania have found a justice system that fails them due to lax laws, corruption, and negligence by police departments. Specifically, Romanian women who are victims of sexual violence, domestic violence, and forced prostitution are often unable to report their crimes, attain proper counseling, and get justice against their abusers. Since the Romanian Revolution, the country has struggled with corruption and human trafficking and has become a major European hub for prostitution. The lack of adequate and appropriate laws needed to protect women, specifically …

European Court Of Human Rights' Ruling In Georgia V. Russia (Ii) And Its Application To The Current Crisis In Ukraine, Edward N. Cain

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

Georgia v Russia (II) represents an important decision in the European Court of Human Rights case law. The Court sets out an important interpretation of Article 1 of the European Convention on Human Rights regarding the jurisdiction of signatory parties during times of invasion and war. The Court articulated that during active hostilities, there is no positive or negative obligation on the invading country to uphold or defend the human rights of the civilians of the invaded country. This is because they do not have effective control over the local population due to the dynamic nature of war. This precedent …

Table Of Contents, Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Who Is To Guard The Guardians Themselves? Russia’S Invasion Of Ukraine, Racism And Transitional Justice, Cosmas Emeziem

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

This Article investigates the deep-rooted connection between racism and the development of international law, emphasizing its enduring influence on Transitional Justice. The normatization of international law and its instrumentation by imperial actors in pursuit of their interests have perpetuated systemic racism. The war in Ukraine is a poignant illustration of conflicts as arenas for imperial supremacy, racism, accountability failures, and the struggle for transitional justice-in the face of ever-expanding imperial aspirations.

Thus, the unresolved question of who guards the guardians themselves looms, particularly in light of Russia's involvement as a permanent United Nations Security Council member. Racism often manifests as …

Due Regard As The Prime Directive For Responsible Behavior In Space, Andrea J. Harrington

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

As the proliferation of space activities has rapidly accelerated, states are increasingly concerned about the lack of clear guidance for responsible behavior in space. Risks due to accident, miscalculation, or misperception abound. Thus, there have been increasing calls for the development of 'norms of behavior' for space at both the international and domestic levels. The principle of due regard, enshrined in Article IX of the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies ("Outer Space Treaty" or "OST"), is an underutilized space law tool that …

Should The United States Adopt Federal Artificial Intelligence Regulation Similar To The European Union, Jean Joseph

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

Artificial Intelligence (AI) promises to revolutionize our everyday lives and how we approach all sectors of the economy and society. For the laundry list of benefits this form of technology provides, there is a concern as to the ways Al can produce troubling outcomes - including racial discrimination and social inequality. The United States House of Representatives introduced the National Al Initiative Act of 2020 (NAIIA) to ensure continued US leadership in Al research and development. However, the NAIIA leaves issues concerning the risk of biases and discrimination associated with using Al systems to federal agencies and state governments. While …

The Record High Of Forcibly Displaced Persons, International Law, And The Comparative Case Of Ukraine And Afghanistan: The Response To A War We Started Versus A War We Opposed, Erin Vance

Loyola University Chicago International Law Review

This Comment addresses the rules and customs of international law that govern forcibly displaced persons, and how such laws have created wide gaps that have allowed the issues and challenges surrounding forced migration to not only persist, but also become increasingly worse. Specifically, Article 14 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights provides, "everyone has the right to seek and to enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution," but places no accompanying obligation upon States to grant asylum and refugee status to these forcibly displace persons. Rather, States are given significant discretion when interpreting and defining responsibilities under Article 14. …

Restraining The Heartless: Erosion Of Corporate Liability Under The Alien Tort Statute And The Path Forward For Victims Seeking Redress, Alexa M. Duffy

American University Law Review

The Alien Tort Statute (“ATS”) is a U.S. federal law dating back to 1789 that allows non-U.S. citizens to file civil lawsuits in federal courts against individuals or entities for alleged international law violations. While originally interpreted to address piracy and the safeguarding of foreign diplomats, the ATS gained new relevance in the late twentieth century when it was used to hold individuals and corporations accountable for human rights abuses committed abroad, making it a critical tool in seeking justice for human rights violations.

This Comment argues that there is no longer a realistic federal forum for ATS suits against …

The Application Of Law As A Key To Understanding Judicial Independence, Tahirih V. Lee

Scholarly Publications

No abstract provided.

The Political Economy Of Due Diligence Legislation, Peter Draper, Andreas Freytag, Naoise Mcdonagh, Matthias Menter

Research outputs 2022 to 2026

The policy challenge. Citizens and politicians in Western democracies have increasingly become aware of the importance of human rights, civil liberties, social rights, and sustainability issues as well as the different adherence to basic rights (such as equal treatment) all over the world. This trend has recently materialized in laws in the United States (US), Europe, Australia, and elsewhere. To varying extents, these oblige domestic businesses to comply with, and enforce, Western values and standards along their international supply chains. This values-based due diligence legislation has caused ongoing controversies over compliance costs, impacts on foreign relations – particularly with developing …

Book Review L Boats In A Storm: Law, Migration, And Decolonization In South And Southeast Asia, 1942–1962 By Kalyani Ramnath (Stanford University Press 2023), Anwesha Ghosh

Articles

Kalyani Ramnath’s Boats in a Storm undertakes the formidable task of retelling the histories of decolonisation in India, Burma, Malaya, and Ceylon using characters who would rarely fit the description of conventional historical actors. Ramnath departs from the rich political and diplomatic histories that celebrate the independence of nation states from the yoke of imperial rule. Instead, she focuses on the ways in which these states, with their newly re-instituted legislative, juridical, and bureaucratic regimes, wreaked havoc on the lives of itinerant migrants who straddled between ‘homes’ and places of work across the Bay of Bengal and eastern Indian Ocean …

Unsettling Human Rights Clinical Pedagogy And Practice In Settler Colonial Contexts, Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum, Caroline Bishop Laporte

Articles

In settler colonial contexts, law and educational institutions operate as structures of oppression, extraction, erasure, disempowerment, and continuing violence against colonized peoples. Consequently, clinical legal advocacy often can reinforce coloniality--the logic that perpetuates structural violence against individuals and groups resisting colonization and struggling for survival as peoples. Critical legal theory, including Third World Approaches to International Law (“TWAIL”), has long exposed colonial laws and practices that entrench discriminatory, racialized power structures and prevent transformative international human rights advocacy. Understanding and responding to these critiques can assist in decolonizing international human rights clinical law teaching and practice but is insufficient in …

Sentencing In An Era Of Plea Bargains, Jeffrey Bellin, Jenia I. Turner

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The literature offers inconsistent answers to a question that is foundational to criminal law: Who imposes sentences? Traditional narratives place sentencing responsibility in the hands of the judge. Yet, in a country where 95 percent of criminal convictions come from guilty pleas (not trials), modern American scholars center prosecutors – who control plea terms – as the decider of punishment. This Article highlights and seeks to resolve the tension between these conflicting narratives by charting the pathways by which sentences are determined in a system dominated by plea bargains.

After reviewing the empirical literature on sentence variation, state and federal …

Propaganda For War & International Human Rights Standards, Evelyn Aswad

Faculty Articles

Shortly after Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the European Union (EU) began suspending Russian state-sponsored media outlets from broadcasting within the EU because they were spreading propaganda for war. The EU also required social media companies to remove user speech containing the banned broadcasts and prohibited search engines from displaying content from those outlets in search results. The EU's General Court upheld the outlets' suspension as consistent with both European human rights norms and the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which contains a mandatory prohibition on propaganda for war in Article 20(1). …

Splitting The Baby, Irene M. Ten Cate

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Promise Of Collaborative Problem Solving In Enhancing Iam Effectiveness, Gina Barbieri

Perspectives

This essay analyses the effectiveness of collaborative problem-solving through mediation within accountability mechanisms, and considers ways in which western mediation principles should be enhanced to ensure fair outcomes given the power imbalance at play in development disputes. It also considers whether there is any scope to use problem solving principles to address questions of compliance, arguing for consideration of a hybrid approach to bolster tools available to IAMs, and so strengthen outcomes for communities.

Rethinking 'What Counts' As Accountability, Jonathan Fox

Perspectives

The current accountability impasse suggests it may be time to rethink core concepts, as well as the field’s underlying theories of change. The idea of accountability is malleable, ambiguous — and contested. This fuzziness poses challenges for both theory and practice – how do we know what strategies bolster accountability – or whether accountability produces its expected effects? This think piece recognizes the challenge of defining ‘what counts’ as accountability, unpacks a longstanding theory of change - that sunshine is the best disinfectant - and considers some information-based reform initiatives to identify missing links in the causal chain between transparency …

An Increased Normalization Of Iams Faces Ground Realities: Lack Of Transparency Impedes Access To Iams, Hamid Sharif

Perspectives

The creation of the Inspection Panel at the World Bank has led to the emergence of a norm that international financial institutions (IFIs) must hold themselves accountable to project-affected people through independent accountability mechanisms (IAMs). AIIB as a 21^st century bank reflects this normalization of IAMs. As a new MDB, AIIB’s charter mandates creation of an oversight body that includes the independent accountability mechanism or the Project-affected People’s mechanism (PPM). The PPM is aligned with many features of IFI’s IAMs while incorporating some innovations.

The central question asked by civil society and board members across IFIs is why there …

Companies Over Countries: A More Pointed Approach To International Climate Treaties, Alex G. Woodward

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Characterisation And Choice Of Law For Knowing Receipt, Adeline Chong

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Knowing receipt requires the satisfaction of disparate elements under English domestic law. Its characterisation under domestic law is also unsettled. These in turn affect the issues of characterisation and choice of law at the private international law level as knowing receipt sits at the intersection of the laws of equity, restitution, wrongs and property. This paper argues that under the common law, knowing receipt ought to be considered as sui generis for choice of law purposes and governed by the law of closest connection to the claim. Where the Rome II Regulation applies, knowing receipt fits better within the tort …

Trade Rules Of State Enterprises: A Lawmaking Perspective, Shixue Hu

Michigan Journal of International Law

State Enterprises are important actors in global trade, yet their regulation is a highly contentious issue that presently troubles the WTO and U.S.-China trade talks. This article proposes a typological framework of the multinational, regional, and bilateral trade rules concerning state enterprises. It compares their similarities and divergences from a lawmaking perspective, analyzing how lawmakers mix and match legal elements of ownership, control, purpose, authorization, function, activity, and industry of state enterprises with diverse policy ends. It reveals that some elements regulate behaviors while others pay more regulatory attention to the firm’s identity. These action-oriented and actor-focused approaches provide different …

Eliminating Cash Bail In Washington State—Amending Criminal Rule 3.2, Simran Kaur

Seattle University Law Review

This Note discusses the following three parts. Part I provides an overview of the cash bail system, its history, and its contemporary use in Washington state. Part II presents the effects of bail on pretrial release, analyzing low-income and racial inequalities and the adverse impacts it can have on the accused. Part III focuses on solutions and alternatives to the cash bail system, using other states as case studies.

The War In Ukraine And The Legitimacy Of The International Criminal Court, Milena Sterio, Yvonne Dutton

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The news of the many atrocities being committed as the war in Ukraine rages on has prompted a chorus of calls seeking to hold perpetrators accountable. Heralded as a critical player is the International Criminal Court (the ICC or “Court”). Unlike in the past where states have decried requests to increase the Court’s budget or refused to cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor’s (“OTP”) efforts to gather evidence or arrest suspects, states are generously donating funding and other resources to bolster the Court’s likelihood of bringing successful prosecutions.

This Article argues that the unique situation surrounding state support for …

Globalization, State Sovereignty, And The Development Of International Criminal Law, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

"Today, virtually all nation-states have gradually become enmeshed in and functionally a part of a larger pattern of global transformations and global flows. Transnational networks and relations have developed across virtually all areas of human activity. Goods, capital, people, knowledge, communications, and weapons, as well as crime, pollutants, fashions and beliefs, rapidly move across territorial boundaries. Far from being a world of "discrete civilizations, "or simply an international society of states, it has become a fundamentally interconnected global order, marked by intense patterns of exchange as well as by clear patterns of power, hierarchy and unevenness."

"To speak of globalization …

Promoting Corporate Diversity: The Uncertain Role Of Institutional Investors, Jill Fisch

Seattle University Law Review

Two developments are having an impact on corporate decisions. One is the increased engagement by institutional intermediaries and a shift in the focus of that engagement from corporate governance to environmental and social issues. The other is a heightened societal awareness of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) issues, particularly the importance of diversity in corporate leadership. This Article considers the intersection between the two. It describes how institutional investors have focused their attention on increasing diversity in corporate leadership, the potential motivations for that focus, and the impact of that focus, to date. It highlights the tensions that result from …