This Article was born out of a question posed to me by my eight-year-old son, Leo, who has been raised as a bilingual speaker of Spanish and English. Leo’s question arose in response to a proposal to eliminate the brief weekly Spanish lesson provided to the children at his public elementary school in Austin, Texas. […]
While human rights bodies may include international humanitarian law, what are they doing with it? To what extent are they interpreting its protections under a human rights framework? Are they performing substantive or precedential analysis of IHL?
Click here to read full article (pdf) In response to rising Human Immunodeficiency Virus (“HIV”)-infection rates, poverty, and overpopulation, some nations have resorted to a policy of forcibly sterilizing HIV-positive women in order to prevent the transmission of HIV during childbirth. Such forced sterilization violates a woman’s fundamental right to control her own body and
By S. Chehani Ekaratne Click here to read full article (pdf) In the United Kingdom (“U.K.”), the Terrorism Act 2006 criminalizes statements likely to be understood as encouraging terrorism.1 Such statements include those that glorify terrorist acts.2 This offense is not a necessary response to the very real threat of terrorism. Statements that glorify terrorism
By Juan Pablo Bohoslavsky and Veerle Opgenhaffen Click here to read full article (pdf) From 1976 to 1983, Argentina was ruled by a military dictatorship whose tactics included the widespread torture, murder, and enforced disappearance of thousands of people. Since the junta’s fall, the country has taken steps to pursue justice for this period of
By Remigius N Nwabueze Click here to read full article (pdf) The mistreatment of widows in Sub-Saharan Africa is both widespread and well-documented. Notorious forms of abuse include the disinheritance of widows, degrading and cruel mortuary practices, and compulsory levirate marriages.2 Among these pernicious practices, however, little attention has been directed at the frequent denial
By Chi Mgbako, Meghna Saxena, Anna Cave, Nasim Farjad, Helen Shin Click here to read full article (pdf) The African grassroots movement to eradicate female genital mutilation (also known as “female genital cutting” and “female circumcision,” hereinafter “FGM”) is widespread. While many African countries and grassroots organizations have made great strides in their efforts to
By Marlynn Wei, MD, JD and Rebecca W. Brendel, MD, JD Psychiatrists play an instrumental role in the evaluation of hunger strikers in correctional and detention facilities. This article focuses on the role that psychiatrists play in evaluating the capacity of an individual who is voluntarily fasting. It examines theoretical and legal definitions of hunger
by Ingrid Nifosi-Sutton Click here to read full article (pdf) The remedial practice of the European Court of Human Rights (“ECtHR” or “Court”) is hardly known for being innovative or progressive. The reparations the Court uses to remedy violations of the 1950 European Convention of Human Rights (“ECHR”) generally consist of declaratory judgments that establish
