Human Rights Law Commons^™

Italian Judges' Point Of View On Foreign States' Immunity, Elena Sciso

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The Article gives an account of the most recent Italian practice as regarding foreign states' immunity from the jurisdiction of the forum state. In the absence of domestic laws regulating the matter, Italian courts thus far have been directly applying international customary law, making recourse to a progressive interpretation of international rules. In the past, Italian judicial practice together with the Belgian one gave a great contribution to the consolidation of the restrictive immunity theory. In the last few years, Italian courts have lifted immunity with respect to acts of a foreign state qualified as "acta iure imperii" in civil …

From Ideology To Pragmatism: China's Position On Humanitarian Intervention In The Post-Cold War Era, Jonathan E. Davis

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article fills a gap in the literature by examining in depth China's state practice and official pronouncements in respect of nine post-Cold War cases typically cited by academics when considering the international legal status of humanitarian intervention. The majority of today's commentary and scholarship holds that the People's Republic of China's position on sovereignty and intervention remains inflexible and absolutist, much as it was for the PRC's first four decades. This Article contends that this view is outdated and overly simplistic: while China continues to champion a strong conception of state sovereignty in interstate relations, it has signaled a …

Abusing The Authority Of The State: Denying Foreign Official Immunity For Egregious Human Rights Abuses, Beth Stephens

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Government officials accused of human rights abuses often claim that they are protected by state immunity because only the state can be held responsible for acts committed by its officials. This claim to immunity is founded on two interrelated errors. First, the post-World War II human rights transformation of international law has rendered obsolete the view that a state can protect its own officials from accountability for human rights violations. Second, officials can be held individually responsible for their own actions even when international law also holds the states liable for those acts. This Article begins with an analysis of …

Forced To Flee And Forced To Repatriate? How The Cessation Clause Of Article 1c(5) And (6) Of The 1951 Refugee Convention Operates In International Law And Practice, Marissa E. Cwik

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

The purpose of refugee law is to provide international protection for vulnerable people who are denied state protection. In fulfilling this purpose, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and asylum states have different legal foundations and implementing materials. When terminating refugee status and protection under the 1951 Refugee Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, the obligations and legal authorities of UNHCR and asylum states differ. The UNHCR implementing statute allows the facilitation of voluntary repatriation when refugees can return in safety and with dignity. In contrast, host states are able to mandate repatriation when a change in …

Un Women: Jumping The Hurdles To Overcoming Gender Inequality, Or Falling Short Of Expectations?, Kerry Boyne

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the challenges faced by UN Women in addressing the interconnected issues of the feminization of poverty and HIV/AIDS, particularly in developing countries. It argues that while UN Women represents a significant step forward with its consolidated structure and increased resources, its success in eradicating these issues depends on overcoming deeply entrenched gender inequalities, inadequate funding, and the effectiveness of its implementation strategies. The analysis highlights the need for UN Women to not only formulate norms but also ensure their proper incorporation and implementation at national and local levels.

A Lesson From The Holocaust Restitution Movement For Armenians: Generate Momentum To Secure Restitution, Vartges Saroyan

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This Note proceeds in five parts. Part I provides a historical background of the events prior to and during the Armenian Genocide, and the claims arising out of the Genocide. Part II discusses the status of Genocide restitution and the roadblocks that continue to prevent widespread recovery. Part III explains the timeline of the Holocaust restitution movement and how advocates for restitution were finally able to have some success. Part IV proposes that Genocide-era claims be sought not only by filing lawsuits, but also by creating momentum through negotiation and other principles of ADR. Part V concludes by reiterating the …

Beyond The Guantánamo Bind: Pragmatic Multilateralism In Refugee Resettlement, Melissa J. Durkee

Scholarly Works

The international refugee protection system is under threat. States weary of increased refugee flows and preoccupied with national security increasingly exploit legal gaps or avoid refugee law altogether. The U.S. approach to resettlement of Guantánamo detainee refugees exemplified this trend. Yet, in the Guantánamo context, U.S. avoidance of international refugee law put the executive in a bind that it could not easily escape: Because the U.S. executive was unwilling to assume the political cost of resettling the refugee detainees domestically, it resorted to peddling them for resettlement to foreign states while, at the same time, mounting a robust legal defense …

Indonesia’S Refusal To Share Influenza Virus Specimens With The World: Reviving The Arguments For Justice In Influenza Pandemic Preparedness, Meena Krishnamurthy, Matthew Herder

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Indonesia’s December 2006 decision to stop sending influenza virus specimens to the World Health Organization’s Global Influenza Surveillance Network (GISN) captured international attention. At the time, the H5N1 subtype of influenza A virus was predicted to be the basis for the next pandemic. While many accused Indonesia - the country most afflicted by the virus - of putting the rest of the world in peril by withholding virus samples, Indonesia maintained that GISN was unjust for failing to ensure equitable access to vaccines developed using those samples. The H5N1 pandemic threat eventually waned, yet international negotiations to create a just …

Thematic Analysis: Human Rights And The 2010/11 U.K. Supreme Court, Karinne Lantz, Fiona Roughley

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The efforts of the UK Supreme Court in the field of human rights during its first year reflected and informed a broader debate in society generally as to whether decisions of the European Court of Human Rights (hereafter "EurCtHR") in Strasbourg are appropriate for the domestic context. As the government mooted in Whitehall the merits of substituting the Human Rights Act 1998 (hereafter "HRA") with an autochthonous "British Bill of Rights", the newly-formed Supreme Court in the old Middlesex Guildhall struggled to articulate a framework for why, when and how the rights guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights …

Double-Edged Paring Knives: Human Rights Dilemmas For Special Populations, Giovanna Shay

Faculty Scholarship

The United States makes up only 5 percent of the world's population, but it incarcerates 25 percent of the globe's prisoners. This unprecedented level of incarceration has brought increased attention to the problems of particular subsets of prisoners sometimes called "special populations." These groups include female prisoners; lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT), and questioning inmates; older prisoners; and prisoners with mental illness and physical disabilities. This Article discusses human rights dilemmas in the treatment of special populations in prison.

The Article surveys ABA Standards and Resolutions that bear on special populations. While ABA Standards do not have the force of …

Global Finance, Multinationals And Human Rights: With Commentary On Backer’S Critique Of The 2008 Report By John Ruggie, Faith Stevelman

Faculty Articles

This article references the excellent article of Larry Cata Backer, as it provides an analysis of the 2008 Report's "Protect, Respect, Remedy" (PRR) framework. Ruggie's most recent efforts, reflected in the 2010 Report, are directed at operationalizing the PRR framework set forth in the 2008 Report. Both these reports have been vetted internationally amongst governments, lawyers, academics and human rights advocates. How will governments, corporations, trade associations and rights advocates conceptualize and construct the fora and modes of recourse available to persons aggrieving human rights abuses? That question is the central focus of the 2010 Report and, as such, lies …

Context, Choice, And Rights: Phs Community Services Society V. Canada (Attorney General), Margot Young

All Faculty Publications

Constitutional law cases that revolve around the rights or circumstances of those groups most marginalized in Canadian society are not frequent cause for celebration. Typically, these cases push the boundaries of classical liberal understandings of the rights our Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms protects, asking the courts to recognize social and economic dimensions to liberties that are traditionally and popularly more narrowly construed. Such demands are more often than not sidestepped (or rejected outright) by courts, with the result that activist agendas focusing on leveraging Charter rights to achieve significant social change are less compelling than initially imagined. It …

Four Varieties Of Social Responsibility: Making Sense Of The 'Sphere Of Influence' And 'Leverage' Debate Via The Case Of Iso 26000, Stepan Wood

All Faculty Publications

One of the key controversies in social responsibility discourse is whether an organization’s responsibility should be based on its capacity to influence other parties or only on its actual contribution to social and environmental outcomes. On one side of the debate are those who argue that the limits of an organization’s responsibility should be defined in terms of its “sphere of influence” (SOI): the greater the influence, the greater the responsibility to act. On the other side are those who reject the SOI approach as ambiguous, misleading, normatively undesirable and prone to strategic manipulation. Foremost among the critics is the …

Transforming Students, Transforming Self: The Power Of Teaching Social Justice Struggles In Context, Raquel Aldana

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Indigenous Political Participation: The Key To Rights Realization In The Andes, Stephanie Selekman

Human Rights & Human Welfare

"There is no way back, this is our time, the awakening of the indigenous people. We'll keep fighting till the end. Brother Evo Morales still has lots to do, one cannot think that four years are enough after 500 years of submission and oppression,” said Fidel Surco, a prominent indigenous leader, reflecting on Bolivia’s first indigenous president entering his second term (Carroll & Schipani 2009).

The Andean region is particularly appropriate for examining indigenous political rights because 34-40 million indigenous people reside mostly in this region. The actualization of human rights for Andean indigenous groups is an inherently complex issue, …

Kimberly Lanegran On Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone’S Revolutionary United Front. By Myriam Denov. Cambridge, Uk: Cambridge University Press. 2010. 234 Pp., Kimberly Lanegran

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Child Soldiers: Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front. By Myriam Denov. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press. 2010. 234 pp.

Steven M. Schneebaum On The Death Penalty And Human Rights. By Sir Fred Phillips. Q.C. Kingston, Jamaica: Caribbean Law Publishing Company. 2009. 101pp., Steven M. Schneebaum

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

The Death Penalty and Human Rights. By Sir Fred Phillips. Q.C. Kingston, Jamaica: Caribbean Law Publishing Company. 2009. 101pp.

Donald W. Jackson On Prisoners Of America’S Wars: From The Early Republic To Guantanamo. By Stephanie Carvin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. 336pp., Donald W. Jackson

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Prisoners of America’s Wars: From the Early Republic to Guantanamo. By Stephanie Carvin. New York: Columbia University Press, 2010. 336pp.

Introduction: Minority Rights, Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The central thread woven through this Digest is the concept of vulnerability. Minority status, broadly construed, represents a core characteristic that carries with it particular human rights implications. Historically, minorities are frequently targeted for exploitation and scapegoated when things go badly. Without the capacity to protect themselves and without spokespersons to stand with them in solidarity, minority groups are specifically susceptible to gross exercises of power and abuse and too often denied access to channels through which to make claims and demand redress. Violations of minority rights are commonly structural in nature, as discriminatory practices are built into political and …

Human Rights And The Search For Common Ground: A Comparative Study Of Islamic And Christian Thought, Joseph Prud'homme

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Common Ground: Islam, Christianity, and Religious Pluralism. By Paul Heck. Washington, DC: Georgetown University Press. 2009.