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 […]
The Power of the European Court of Human Rights to Order Specific Non-Monetary Relief: a Critical Appraisal from a Right to Health Perspective
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 […]
Seeking to Persuade: A Constructive Approach to Human Rights Treaty Interpretation
By John Tobin Click here to download the full article (pdf) Human rights protected in international treaties are invariably vague and ambiguous. This ambiguity is most acute with respect to economic, social, and cultural rights.1 The rights to health, housing, and education are not standards that have traditionally been renowned for their clarity of content. […]
Book Notes
Waging War, Making Peace is a collection of essays that examines, through anthropological case studies, the necessity and efficacy of reparations in post-conflict and transitional societies. The editors, as well as many of the individual authors, distinguish anthropology’s focus on individuals and groups from the traditional legal focus on state responsibility. Through the examination of […]
Protocol No. 14 ECHR and Russian Non-Ratification: The Current State of Affairs
INTRODUCTION Crafted in the wake of World War II, the European Convention on Human Rights (“ECHR”) was the first regional expression of fundamental human rights protection as asserted in the United Nations’ 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights (“UDHR”). Its codified rights, primarily civil and political rights such as the right to life and the […]
Constructing the Right “Not to Be Made a Refugee” at the European and Inter-American Courts of Human Rights
Karl C. Procaccini INTRODUCTION This note is motivated by a basic premise: Governments must be held accountable for creating refugee flows. There are over nine million refugees in the world today who have been persecuted at home and forced to seek asylum abroad. The human cost of this massive upheaval and migration is incalculable. By […]