International Humanitarian Law Commons^™

How International Law Can Eradicate Torture: A Response To Cynics, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The United Nations: The Syrian Refugee Crisis, Zahra R. Syed

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The main objective of this research paper is to analyze the international effects the Syrian Conflict has had to the global community. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has declared this conflict to be the worst humanitarian crisis of our time. Millions of Syrians have fled their home country to avoid unjust persecution and are looking to not only neighboring countries, but the European Union for assistance in resettlement.

Since the outbreak of the conflict in Syria in 2011, more than 220,000 people have been massacred, leaving fifty percent of the population in unrest due to home displacement. According …

Virtual Violence - Disruptive Cyberspace Operations As "Attacks" Under International Humanitarian Law, Ido Kilovaty

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

Power outages, manipulations of data, and interruptions of Internet access are all possible effects of cyber operations. Unfortunately, recent efforts to address and regulate cyberspace operations under international law often emphasize the uncommon, though severe, cyber-attacks that cause deaths, injuries, or physical destruction. This paper deals with cyber operations during armed conflicts that cause major disruption or interruption effects – as opposed to deaths, injuries, or physical destruction. The purpose of this paper is to explore the consequences of these cyber operations that cause major disruption or interruption effects, and to argue that they might still constitute “acts of violence,” …

Accountability And Autonomous Weapons: Much Ado About Nothing?, Charles J. Dunlap Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

This purpose of this essay is to critique a 2015 report entitled Mind the Gap: The Lack of Accountability for Killer Robots by Human Rights Watch (HRW) produced with the assistance of the Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC). The HRW/IHRC paper attempted to establish that autonomous weapons should be banned because, they claim, “neither criminal law nor civil law guarantees adequate accountability for individuals directly or indirectly involved in the use of fully autonomous systems.” Contrary to HRW/IHRC assertions, this article maintains that although no one can “guarantee” accountability, there are sufficient legal tools to do so …

International Human Rights, Noor Ahmad, Del Atwood, Jeffrey L. Bleich, Cindy Galway Buys, Nicholas J. Leddy

The International Lawyer

No abstract provided.

The Puerto Rico-Chicago Connection: Cross-Boundary Drug-Treatment In The United States, Sarah Dávila A., Steven D. Schwinn, John Marshall Law School International Human Rights Clinic

Faculty White Papers

1. The John Marshall Law School International Human Rights Clinic is a law school student-practice clinic that is committed to the investigation of human rights abuses, the publication of abuses, and the protection against abuses within the United States and around the world.

2. The International Human Rights Clinic has been investigating human rights abuses arising out of a systematic practice of government officials and cooperating private individuals to relocate homeless, drug-addicted persons to putative drug-treatment centers in Chicago, Illinois. In fact, these so-called drug-treatment centers deprive individuals of their physical liberty; fail to provide adequate food, shelter, and other …

From Surviving To Thriving? An Investigation Of Asylee Integration In The United States, Lindsay M. Harris

Journal Articles

This article assesses the efficacy of the legal framework for asylees, individuals granted refugee status within the United States, through an examination of the human outcomes following the grant of asylum. To understand how the asylee benefits system actually functions, I conducted more than fifty field interviews with advocates, service providers, and government officials in the San Francisco Bay Area and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area. This research fills a conspicuous gap in our understanding of what happens after the grant of asylum and reveals a number of insights about the ways in which the prevailing laws, policies, and programs …

The Human Rights Of Sea Pirates: Will The European Court Of Human Rights Decisions Get More Killed?, Barry Hart Dubner, Brian Othero

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Custom's Method And Process: Lessons From Humanitarian Law, Monica Hakimi

Faculty Scholarship

A central question in the literature on customary international law (CIL) goes to method: what is the proper method for “finding” CIL – that is, for determining that particular norms qualify as CIL? The traditional method is to identify a widespread state practice, plus evidence that states believe that the practice reflects the law (opinio juris). That method has long been criticized as incoherent, unworkable, and out of touch with modern sensibilities. Thus, much of the CIL literature addresses its perceived problems. The principal goals of this literature are to help resolve whether norms that are claimed to …

Fawad And Zakeela, Fawad, Zakeela, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Fawad and his wife, Zakeela, have three children. Zakeela was a beautician, and Fawad was a singer in the Baghlan district in Afghanistan. The music he produced was not in accordance with the strict restrictions of the Taliban. They threatened his life and assaulted him many times, so he decided to leave with his family to Kabul. Fawad’s day job was as an FM radio producer; at night, he moonlighted as a singer and musician. He produced music for ceremonies and weddings, often performing for the women’s part, which the Taliban did not accept. Eventually, his life was again threatened, …

Faroosh And Elina, Faroosh, Elina, Tsos

TSOS Interview Gallery

Faroosh was a cameraman for a private television program in Afghanistan working on a documentary about the Taliban. When he and his crew were discovered, the Taliban attacked them and he and his wife fled to Turkey, walking 12 hours to get there. Upon arrival the police arrested and harassed them. Turkey was not a safe place. After several suicide bombings in the area, they decided to move on to Greece, where they are in a refugee camp without any progress in their situation. They have no money to move forward and no ability to work and the economic situation …

Ambivalent Enforcement: International Humanitarian Law At Human Rights Tribunals, Shana Tabak

Michigan Journal of International Law

In addition to exploring the limitations of the Inter-American System’s jurisdictional capacity to adjudicate issues of IHL, this Article examines Inter-American jurisprudence in light of recent scholarly conversations regarding the relevance of the principle of lex specialis, which seeks to guide tribunals when two bodies of law may apply simultaneously, by providing for the prioritization of a specialized body of law over a general one. This concept, first articulated by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in the Nuclear Weapons case, has proven to be the source of much scholarly consternation. As a means of addressing problems arising from …

Self-Determination And Secession Under International Law: Nagorno-Karabakh, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

The principle of self-determination grants minority groups defined as “peoples” the right to auto-determine their political future. This principle, while stemming back to post-World War I ideologies, has guided decolonisation and has served as the theoretical underpinning of former colonies’ independence quests. In the more recent decades, however, questions have surfaced regarding this principle’s applicability in the non-decolonisation paradigm: can secessionist movements rely on the principle of self-determination to justify their independence demands? Or, does the principle of self-determination in the non-decolonisation paradigm only bestow a right to internal autonomy on secessionist entities, while obligating them to remain within the …

Hydropower Development And Involuntary Displacement: Toward A Global Solution, Ali Vancleef

Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies

This Note addresses the effects of hydropower development projects on displaced persons globally. This Note recognizes that the increasing global energy demand puts great strain on nations to provide their people with electricity, but it also suggests that sustainable energy development projects can be carried out in a way that is fair to the indigenous populations surrounding hydropower dams. The current global trend in involuntary displacement involves ignoring certain groups of affected persons while undercompensating directly displaced persons, leading to homelessness, social stigmatization, and extreme poverty for millions of people worldwide. Thus far, there has been no sufficient global solution …

How The War Against Isis Changed International Law, Michael P. Scharf

Faculty Publications

In an effort to destroy ISIS, beginning in August 2014, the United States, assisted by a handful of other Western and Arab countries, carried out thousands of bombing sorties and cruise missile attacks against ISIS targets in Iraq and Syria. Iraq had consented to the airstrikes in its territory, but Syria had not, and Russia blocked the UN Security Council from authorizing force against ISIS in Syria. The United States invoked several different legal arguments to justify its airstrikes, including the right of humanitarian intervention, the right to use force in a failed state, and the right of hot pursuit, …

Praxis And The International (Human Rights) Law Scholar: Toward The Intensification Of Twailian Dramaturgy, Obiora C. Okafor

Articles & Book Chapters

The article critically reflects on the role of the TWAILian international (human rights) law scholar in the socio-economic and political struggles which take place outside the academe; focusing, for the most part, on our role as scholars in advancing struggles in favour of subaltern Third World peoples from within or in concert with international institutions and various kinds of what I will refer to in this paper as “on-the-ground” activist groups (such as social movements and NGOs). The article begins by examining some of the various ideas and conceptions of praxis, so as to be clear from the outset as …

Examining The Legality Of The Guantánamo Bay Detention Center According To International Humanitarian Law And International Human Rights Law, Sydney T. Winchester

Honors Undergraduate Theses

The purpose of this research paper is to examine how international humanitarian law (IHL) and international human rights law (IHRL) are applied to the Guantánamo Bay detention center. This paper was completed through the research of international treaties, court cases, and secondary sources that thoroughly discussed issues pertaining to Guantánamo and international law.

This paper first examines the differences between the two laws by looking at the particular roles each is meant to play in the subject of international law, as well as how the two have been applied thus far to the situation at Guantánamo. Second, the paper discusses …

The Variation In The Use Of Sub-Regional Integration Courts Between Business And Human Rights Actors: The Case Of The East African Court Of Justice, James T. Gathii

Faculty Publications & Other Works

No abstract provided.

Trafficking Smuggled Migrants: An Issue Of Vulnerability, Rachel A. Hews

Global Tides

This paper analyzes why the UN’s efforts against the sex trafficking of smuggled migrants, specifically regarding the Palermo and Smuggling Protocols, have been inadequate in preventing migrant smuggling. It concludes that the crime-based focus on prosecution overshadows prevention of the crime and protection of the victims, and that a human rights approach addressing the vulnerability of smuggled migrants would be more effective in reducing migrant smuggling long-term. Proposed solutions include decreasing both the “push” and “pull” factors of migration by ratifying existing legislation regarding basic human rights, implementing national policies that increase migrant rights in destination countries, and shifting further …

Canadian-Nigerian Human Rights Engagements (1999-2011): An Introduction, Obiora C. Okafor

Articles & Book Chapters

More contemporary Canadian-Nigerian human rights engagements have occurred against the backdrop of a relatively long history of engagement in this area between the two countries, and alongside an even longer history of Canadian-Nigerian relations more generally. These are histories within which one must situate the human rights engagements between these countries during the specific period under study here. As is well known, Canada established diplomatic relations with Nigeria shortly after Nigeria’s independence from British colonial rule in 1960. Nigeria reciprocated in 1973. It is noteworthy that Canada has for several decades now funded or otherwise supported many human rights efforts …