International Humanitarian Law Commons^™

The Human Rights Due Diligence Standard-Setting In The European Union: Bridging The Gap Between Ambition And Reality, Jernej Letnar Černič

Global Business Law Review

Globalization has, over the past decades, erased borders between continents and countries. It has propelled international trade to previously unforeseen heights. Nonetheless, it has brought about not only positive impact, but also negative consequences for individuals and communities worldwide. Businesses have often been alleged to have been directly or indirectly involved in human rights violations. On the other hand, rights-holders have often found it difficult to enforce corporate human rights obligations and accountability either at home or abroad. Nonetheless, the field of business and human rights has in recent years witnessed seminal developments from the adoption of binding laws in …

Canadian Corporations Bound By The Phoenix: Setting The Path For The United States, Kelly Brickman

Global Business Law Review

This Note argues that the United States courts have jurisdiction to consider corporate liability for international law violations of human rights under the reasoning of the Supreme Court of Canada, in Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Araya. The United States Supreme Court has escaped holding such liability exists, but Canada has outlined how countries, such as the United States, no longer can avoid holding corporations liable under customary international law. Corporate liability for human rights violations committed abroad is a cutting-edge issue. The United States Supreme Court has considered the issue before, but the Court used different analyses and was …

Business, Human Rights, And Transitional Justice: Overcoming The Regulatory Dysfunction Of International Law, Jelena Aparac

Global Business Law Review

It is said that traditional international public law is state-centric and concerns mostly State obligations and responsibility. For this, it excluded corporate actors from any accountability mechanism, even when the corporations contribute to armed conflicts and international crimes. International law does not provide a clear definition of what amounts to “subjects” under this set of rules or criteria for how to determine legal personality. At the same time, some branches of international public law directly regulate corporate actions, namely international economic law and international humanitarian law. Conversely, international courts and tribunals have accepted the corporate jus standi, in some …

Command Responsibility, Australian War Crimes In Afghanistan, And The Brereton Report, Douglas Guilfoyle, Joanna Kyriakakis, Melanie O’Brien

International Law Studies

This article examines the question of command responsibility for war crimes under international and Australian law, and how far such responsibility extends. It uses the results of the Brereton Report, an Australian investigation into alleged crimes committed by its special forces in Afghanistan, as its starting point. While this is very much an Australian case study, the concerns it raises should be of interest to all professional militaries. The article also provides an important case study of the implications when national legal standards adopted for war crimes prosecutions differ from the provisions of international law.

Fault Lines In The Application Of International Humanitarian Law To Cyberwarfare, Humna Sohail

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The dynamics of warfare have changed from the conventional wars fought on the battlefield to virtual warfare as states have been involved in the cyber arms race. From simple distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks to the potent Stuxnet and Flame the cyber weapons vary in their potential human cost. The Law of Armed Conflict (LOAC) is drafted flexibly to adapt to changing circumstances. This paper is primarily based upon the assumption that existing treaty law is sufficient in many aspects yet in some areas treaty-making is also needed. What is the foreseeable solution is the comprehensive state practice for interpreting the …

Law School News: Sanctions On Russia: Imperfect But Necessary 03-02-2022, Gregory W. Bowman

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Targeting A Satellite: Contrasting Considerations Between The Jus Ad Bellum And The Jus In Bello, Hitoshi Nasu

International Law Studies

With the development and greater availability of counter-space capabilities, satellites are becoming a prime target of military threats. However, the legal assessment for the targeting of a satellite requires careful analysis because of its impacts on terrestrial activities and the potential to affect the rights and interests of third parties when their payloads are carried by the targeted satellite. With these two unique characteristics in mind, this article unravels the complexity of international legal regimes applicable to military operations conducted against a satellite by contrasting threshold legal considerations necessary for the identification and application of relevant legal requirements under the …

The Global Practice Of Systematic Enforced Disappearances Of Children In International Law: Strategies For Preventing Future Occurrences And Solving Past Cases, Jeremy J. Sarkin, Elisenda Calvet Martinez

Catholic University Law Review

The aim of this article is to first investigate and understand the widespread and systematic practice of enforced disappearances against children around the world, with a key purpose being to show that it is a regular occurrence. The article reviews the systematic disappearances of children in their historical context, beginning from the Second World War. A variety of country examples –some historical and some contemporary –are discussed to indicate the widespread nature of the practice. The variety of cases is used to understand why states participate in such practices and why children specifically are targeted as victims of enforced disappearances. …

Legal Primer: Respecting The Human Rights Of Communities In Wind And Solar Project Deployment, Sarah Dolton-Zborowski, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

As a companion to the Business Guide, the Legal Risk Primer is geared towards general counsels and corporate legal teams, as well as internal and external stakeholders. It provides an overview of the wide range of potential legal risks for wind and solar energy companies associated with community-related adverse human rights impacts. The legal risks outlined arise from home and host government laws, community litigators, financiers, and power purchase agreements.

Together, these two resources support wind and solar energy companies – as well as external stakeholders seeking to influence companies, including investors, civil society organizations, and project-affected communities – …

Business Guide: Respecting The Human Rights Of Communities In Wind And Solar Project Deployment, Sarah Dolton-Zborowski, Sam Szoke-Burke

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Companies involved in commercial wind and solar projects are facing heightened scrutiny of their human rights performance. This Business Guide provides companies with information and strategies to identify, prevent, mitigate, and account for adverse human rights impacts that they cause, contribute to, or are directly linked to through their operations, products, or services by virtue of their business relationships. It may also be useful for investors, business partners, government actors, civil society organizations, communities, and other stakeholders.

Drawing on the UN Guiding Principles for Business and Human Rights, the Guide provides practical recommendations, with over 40 examples from peer companies …

A Lineage Of Family Separation, Anita Sinha

Brooklyn Law Review

Family separation is a practice rooted in US history. In order to comprehensively examine the most recent execution of separating children from their parents under the Trump Administration’s “zero tolerance” policy, we need to follow and understand this history. That is what this Article does. Examining the separation histories of enslaved, Indigenous, and immigrant families, it offers critical context of a reoccurring practice that has had devastating effects largely on communities of color, and across generations. By contextualizing the separation of migrant families crossing the US-Mexico border under zero tolerance, this Article identifies narratives that consistently rely on xenophobia and …

Ending Demand For Modern-Day Slavery: An Analysis Of Human Trafficking In The Global Marketplace, Rachel Leach

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

The purpose of this paper is to inform readers of the prevalence of and increasing demand for human trafficking, both domestically and globally, and to propose necessary next steps governments must take in order to end the demand for such human exploitation. This paper will closely analyze the issue of trafficking humans for sex and labor within the Western Hemisphere and throughout Asia by using the United States and China as primary case studies. These case studies analyze the specific actions or inactions taken by the United States and Chinese governments to combat modern day slavery, as well as the …

Newport Rules Of Engagement Handbook

International Law Studies

The Newport Rules of Engagement Handbook is published as a guide for the development of national and multinational rules of engagement for military operations. Its purpose is to assist users in the development of ROE for training, exercises, war games, and operations.

Cyber Peacekeeping Operations And The Regulation Of The Use Of Lethal Force, Nicholas Tsagourias, Giacomo Biggio

International Law Studies

Peacekeeping is an essential tool at the disposal of the United Nations for the maintenance of international peace and security. The growing relevance of cyber technologies presents itself as an opportunity to adapt peacekeeping to the challenges of a rapidly evolving security landscape. This article introduces the notion of "cyber-peacekeeping," defined as the incorporation and use of cyber capabilities by peacekeepers. It discusses the legal basis for cyber-peacekeeping and the foundational principles of consent, impartiality, and use of defensive force. The article examines the use of lethal force by cyber-peacekeepers under the law of armed conflict paradigm. It considers the …

Good Governance And Civil Service Reform In Egypt, Ahmed Atef Labib

Theses and Dissertations

Governments in different states and even different governments within the same state may pursue different goals. To achieve their goals they apply administrative reforms, including civil service reforms, to adjust the government for achieving the intended goals. Pursuing different goals entails applying different administrative reforms. In the 2000s, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) suggested the Egyptian government, through loan conditionality, an administrative and civil service reform to promote economic growth based on their concept of good governance. In this paper, I argue that the suggested reform does not target economic growth but targets debt repayment. To …

Yom Ha’Shoah In An Even More Special Context, Richard Weisberg

Online Publications

This always precious day of mournful memory is linked in 2022 to the 80^th anniversary of the event that gave birth to all that unutterable sadness: the Wannsee Conference of 1942. In an otherwise innocuous building you can visit anytime you are in Berlin, a handful of men, over cakes and liqueur, devised the “Final Solution”. It took them around two days, well heated and protected from the ice and snow outdoors, to list mechanically their estimates of how many Jews lived in Europe’s various countries and how these Jews might be – though their written minutes never use …

Customer Transparency Can Dampen The Growing Human Trafficking Problem, Colin Martell

The Journal of Business, Entrepreneurship & the Law

The beginning of this comment will discuss an abbreviated economic analysis on the business of human trafficking: who the participants are, why they participate, and their pressure points. Section II of this paper will discuss the current state of trafficking and the economic incentives that drive participants into the market. Section III and Section IV will examine what the government and businesses are doing to stop human trafficking. Section V will analyze several policy proposals and consider the solutions and unintended consequences of each.

A New Narrative Of Statelessness, David Baluarte

Scholarly Articles

Statelessness: A Modern History by Dr. Mira Siegelberg offers a meticulous reconstruction of the varied contributions of artists, scholars, and policy makers to the understanding of statelessness in the years between the First and Second World Wars. Siegelberg situates statelessness in some of the most prominent debates about international law and relations in modern history, most notably whether the individual is an appropriate subject of international law and whether a political order beyond the confines of the nation-state is desirable.

Storm Warning: New Zealand's Treatment Of "Climate Refugee" Claims As A Violation Of Internatinal Law, Isabella Zink

American University International Law Review

As some countries begin to acknowledge the increasingly strong effects of climate change, others have struggled with its slow onset of effects for decades. Coastal communities, especially island nations at or slightly above sea level, face not only threats of flooding and damaging storms, but also rising sea levels jeopardizing soil and water health. As citizens of these coastal regions face increasing difficulty accessing food, water, and medical care, the United Nations‘ (“U.N.”) scientific bodies predict there will be staggering numbers of displaced persons within the next few decades. Island nations rising two meters above sea-level face total submersion by …

Refugees Under Duress: International Law And The Serious Nonpolitical Crime Bar, David Baluarte

Scholarly Articles

Congress intended that the serious nonpolitical crime bar under United States asylum law have the same meaning and scope as the 1F(b) Refugee Convention exclusion clause. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that it was the intent of Congress to not only replicate the language of the provisions of the Refugee Convention in United States law, but to incorporate the full extent of the meaning of such language and bring the United States into compliance with its treaty obligations. Accordingly, when Congress reproduced exactly the language of the Article 1F(b) exclusion clause in the INA, it intended for that provision …