Human Rights Law Commons^™

Human Rights Obligations To The Poor, Monica Hakimi

Book Chapters

Poverty unquestionably detracts from the human rights mission. Modern human rights law recognizes a broad range of rights - for example, "to life, liberty, and security of person" and to adequate "food, clothing, and medical care."1 Any number of those rights might go unrealized in conditions of extreme poverty. However, human rights law has always been partly aspirational. For those seeking to improve the lives of the poor, the key question is not what rights exist but how to make those rights operational. What does human rights law actually require of states? And how might its obligations benefit the poor?

Consular Notification For Dual Nationals, 38 S. Ill. U. L.J. 73 (2013), Mark E. Wojcik

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

In a case against the United States brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Mexico sought to protect the rights of fifty-four Mexican nationals who had been arrested in the United States for various crimes and put on trial without being informed of their rights under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations (VCCR). These fifty-four Mexican nationals all faced the death penalty in various states of the United States. Shortly after filing its case in Avena and Other Mexican Nationals, however, Mexico dropped from the case one Mexican national who was also a citizen of the United States. The …

Zizhu Chuangxin And China’S Self-Driven Innovation: Calling For A Holistic Perspective, Ken Shao

Cardozo Law Review de•novo

To present a holistic view approachable by both Western and Chinese audience, this Article will first discuss the forces operating against a holistic view of China and explain exactly what it means to employ a holistic view. Then, by emphasizing the historical, international, and developmental contexts, the Article aims to introduce the reader to real examples of a holistic perspective, and in turn, to reframe the discourse around China’s self-driven innovation.

American Dreams, Trafficking Nightmares, Mariana C. Minaya

Student Articles and Papers

Under the H-2 visa scheme, American employers rely on labor recruiters to venture abroad, find prospective employees, and commit them to an employment contract for seasonal or temporary work on American farms, construction sites, hotel staffs, and other businesses. Rogue recruiters, operating in foreign countries far from the view of their American employers or law enforcement, are in effect free to employ a variety of unscrupulous means for enticing and obtaining prospective recruits. They may lie about the nature of the work that awaits the recruits in the United States, charge them illegal fees that leave them in crushing debt, …

Fairness And Politics At The Icty: Evidence From The Indictments, 39 N.C. J. Int'l L. & Com. Reg. 45 (2013), Stuart K. Ford

UIC Law Open Access Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Paradoxes Of Restitution, Mark A. Edwards

Faculty Scholarship

Restitution following mass dispossession is often considered both ideal and impossible. Why? This article identifies two previously unnamed paradoxes that undermine the possibility of restitution.

First, both dispossession and restitution depend on the social construction of rights-worthiness. Over time, people once considered unworthy of property rights ‘become’ worthy of them. However, time also corrodes the practicality and moral weight of restitution claims. By the time the dispossessed ‘become’ worthy of property rights, restitution claims are no longer practically or morally viable. This is the time-unworthiness paradox.

Second, restitution claims are undermined by the concept of collective responsibility. People are sometimes …

Minnesota Bounties On Dakota Men During The U.S.-Dakota War, Colette Routel

Faculty Scholarship

The U.S.-Dakota War was one of the formative events in Minnesota history, and despite the passage of time, it still stirs up powerful emotions among descendants of the Dakota and white settlers who experienced this tragedy. Hundreds of people lost their lives in just over a month of fighting in 1862. By the time the year was over, thirty-eight Dakota men had been hanged in the largest mass execution in United States history. Not long afterwards, the United States abrogated its treaties with the Dakota, confiscated their reservations along the Minnesota River, and forced most of the Dakota to remove …

Reconceptualizing States Of Emergency Under International Human Rights Law: Theory, Legal Doctrine, And Politics, Scott P. Sheeran

Michigan Journal of International Law

States of emergency are today one of the most serious challenges to the implementation of international human rights law (IHRL). They have become common practice and are associated with severe human rights violations as evidenced by the Arab Spring. The international jurisprudence on states of emergency is inconsistent and divergent, and what now constitutes a public emergency is ubiquitous. This trend is underpinned by excessive judicial deference and abdication of the legal review of states' often dubious claims of a state of emergency. The legal regime, as positively expressed in international human rights treaties, does not adequately reflect the underlying …

Principled Exclusion: A Revised Approach To Article1(F)(A) Of The Refugee Convention, Jennifer Bond

Michigan Journal of International Law

The focus of this contribution is Article 1(F)(a), a section of the exclusion clause that has increased in both use and profile in recent years. Article 1(F)(a) applies to individuals who may be implicated in crimes against peace (more commonly known today as crimes of aggression), war crimes, or crimes against humanity as such crimes are defined in relevant international instruments. Where a decision maker finds that “there are serious reasons for considering that” an asylum seeker has committed one of these acts, the remainder of the Refugee Convention does not apply, and any protections to which the claimant would …

“Cyberanarchy” In The Digital Age: Developing A System Of Human (Copy)Rights, 12 J. Marshall Rev. Intell. Prop. L. 424 (2013), Michael L. Boyle

UIC Review of Intellectual Property Law

“Cyberanarchy,” broadly refers to the idea that legal regulation of the Internet is an infeasible objective. One prime example is current online enforcement mechanisms’ inability to quell copyright infringement. These mechanisms do little more than perpetuate a technological arms race between copyright holders and infringers. Moreover, with notable public relations failures, such as the RIAA lawsuits and digital rights management schemes, society has taken on a nonchalant attitude towards online infringement. Examining traditional justifications behind obedience to the law, this blasé attitude takes root in societal feelings of inadequacy both in “normative” and “instrumental” perspectives of justice. Normatively, there lacks …

Protecting The Lydias, Linas, And Tinas From Sex Trafficking: A Call To Eliminate Ambiguities Of 18 U.S.C. § 1591, Tiffanie N. Choate

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Indigenous Rights In The Pacific Rim, Jonathan A. Franklin

Librarians' Articles

The four articles in this issue all contribute to the dialogue surrounding the intersection of indigenous people's rights within international law and domestic actions that conflict with those rights. While the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and other international law instruments are explicit about how states should act towards indigenous populations, in many cases these nternational instruments conflict with domestic law. There are several reasons for this discrepancy, including states' self-interest, paternalism, and lack of resources needed to address both national concerns and the rights of indigenous peoples.

Book Review, Angela Mae Kupenda

Journal Articles

LIBERTY & SECURITY, authored by Human Rights Law Professor Conor Gearty, is a book that is relevant and fills a void through the question it explores. Gearty, while admitting that the terms liberty and security are susceptible to a host of meanings, does not seek in this book to define a more precise meaning for these terms. Rather, the book focuses on the “for how many” question (p.2). Gearty asks and answers whether liberty and security are “to be for all or just the few?”

Juvenile Pirates: "Lost Boys" Or Violent Criminals?, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Piracy off the coast of Somalia has flourished over the past decade, and has both caused a global crisis in maritime shipping and destabilized regional security in East Africa. In addition, piracy attacks have spread more recently to the coast of West Africa, and in particular, the Gulf of Guinea. Thus, piracy is an ongoing global issue that should continue to occupy many maritime nations in the near future, and one that should command continuous scholarly attention.

This article examines the issue of juvenile piracy, with a specific focus on the treatment of juvenile piracy suspects by both the capturing …

From Kansas To The Congo: Why Naming And Shaming Corporations Through The Dodd-Frank Act's Corporate Governance Disclosure Won't Solve A Human Rights Crisis, Marcia Narine

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Holocaust And Mass Atrocity: The Continuing Challenge For Decision, Winston P. Nagan, Aitza M. Haddad

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article begins with an appraisal of a report published by the United States Institute for Peace and authored by the former Secretary of State, Albright, and former Secretary of Defense, Cohen. This Report generated a great deal of interest and reaction from scholars across the globe. The article will introduce the broad outline of this Report and provide a summary of the principal criticisms that it has generated. This sets the stage for approaching the problem that is sensitive to the issue that this phenomenon be explore with a view to developing usable insights and data as well as …

Complementarity And Post-Coloniality, Nirej S. Sekhon

Faculty Publications By Year

The International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction is complementary to that of national criminal jurisdictions. While most agree that complementarity is a cornerstone principle, debate continues as to what precisely it should mean for the ICC’s relationship to national criminal justice actors. “Positive complementarity,” a view many commentators hold, suggests that the ICC should use its power to educate, persuade, and prod states parties to undertake international criminal law investigations. For positive complementarity’s more optimistic proponents, the future holds promise for a coordinated system of global justice in which the ICC plays a secondary role to national courts in vindicating international criminal …

No Roses Without Thorns: Global Consumers Of Cut Flowers As Political Actors, Prabhakar Singh

Kentucky Journal of Equine, Agriculture, & Natural Resources Law

No abstract provided.

Fifty State Survey Of Criminal Laws Prohibiting Sexual Abuse Of Individuals In Custody, Brenda V. Smith

The Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Surveys

This document provides information regarding enacting state, statute number, statute title, coverage, definition and notes, penalties, and defenses (if given) for criminal laws prohibiting sexual abuse of inmates by staff.

Human Trafficking Law And Resources, Kincaid C. Brown

Law Librarian Scholarship

The U.S. State Department estimates as many as 27 million men, women, and children are global human trafficking victims at any given time. In 2012, only 46,570 new victims were identified. Globally, there were only 7,705 prosecutions and 4,746 convictions for human trafficking crimes in 2012. In the United States, there were 2,515 suspected incidents of human trafficking investigated between January 2008 and June 2010. Of these, more than 80 percent of the victims of sex trafficking were U.S. citizens or nationals, and more than 90 percent of the victims of labor trafficking were undocumented or qualified aliens.