How a Group of Afro-Colombian Women’s Rights Activists and New York Law Professors Came Together to Raise Awareness[1] Colombia has emerged as a global reference for establishing political solutions to seemingly intractable conflicts. After five decades and numerous negotiations attempts, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (“FARC”) reached a peace agreement…

Abstract In the wake of the historic inclusion of racial and gender justice provisions in the 2016 peace accord with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (“FARC”), gender violence in Colombia continues with devastating effect, and with a particularly harmful impact on Afro-descendant and Indigenous women and their communities. Colombia continues to experience violence, including…

Abstract The demobilization of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia (“FARC”) since November 2016 has created a power vacuum, as multiple forces vie for areas previously controlled by FARC. This has resulted in new vulnerabilities in many majority Afro-Colombian areas of Colombia to SGBV at the hands of paramilitaries, guerillas, narco-traffickers, state actors, and mining…

Abstract In Colombia, the struggle over land rights often pits the cultural and economic interests of indigenous and marginalized peoples against the governments that are supposed to protect their rights under law. Rural Afro-Colombian women seeking to vindicate their land rights find themselves at the mercy of multiple vectors of discrimination: they are black; they…

Abstract When sentencing a convicted criminal defendant, judges in many U.S. states will use a risk assessment tool to help determine the length of the defendant’s sentence. Some of the more sophisticated risk assessments in use today are proprietary computer algorithms created by private companies. These algorithms use statistical probabilities based on factors such as…

Abstract Almost every county in the United States elects its chief Prosecutor, but the chief Public Defender, if there is one, is generally an appointed position. In four states, however, some or all of the Public Defender offices have elected leaders. Although prosecutorial elections have been heavily studied and criticized, relatively little attention has been…

This past July, the Trump administration announced the creation of a new body with a curious name—the “Commission on Unalienable Rights.” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo described the effort as an attempt to “ground our discussion of human rights in America’s founding principles.” However, universal human rights norms exist to hold states accountable: they cannot…

States and municipalities are increasingly attempting to use climate nuisance litigation to hold fossil fuel companies such as BP, Chevron, ConocoPhillips, Exxon Mobil, and Royal Dutch Shell, accountable for climate change. Climate plaintiffs across the country are requesting a total of approximately two hundred billion dollars in damages. If these plaintiffs manage to win their…

In the wake of the opioid crisis and the increasing role of prosecution as a way to combat the sale and use of drugs, this Note considers the twenty-year mandatory minimum sentencing enhancement for when “death results” under the Controlled Substances Act. In deciding Burrage v. United States, the Supreme Court settled the circuit split…

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act of 1993 has been controversial for almost as long as it has been law. It allows individuals to get exemptions from laws of general applicability based on religious belief. There has been a large body of scholarship performing empirical analysis on RFRA, but notably missing is a post-Hobby Lobby study…

Abstract In July of 2019, the United States established a federal advisory commission that is poised to undercut economic and social rights protections by narrowly re-defining human rights to exclude them. Limiting the interpretation of human rights in this way has profound implications for human rights norms and for advocates. This limitation undercuts the reality…

What underlies the Administration’s effort to examine human rights through the State Department’s newly created Commission on Unalienable Rights? And what is at stake? The asserted purpose of the Commission, as announced in July 2019 by Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, is to examine human rights in light of “foundational documents” and provide advice to…

On March 9, 2015, a black student threw feces against a statue of British imperialist Cecil John Rhodes, located at the University of Cape Town in South Africa. The incident sparked the formation of #RhodesMustFall, a black radical student movement that sought to address institutional racism at the university through its demand to decolonize the…

The United States Supreme Court issued a bombshell opinion regarding immigration court procedure on June 21, 2018: Pereira v. Sessions. On its face, the case is a boon for certain noncitizens seeking relief from deportation. Yet, as this Essay explains, Pereira’s implications are far greater. Although the Court’s opinion never mentions jurisdiction, Pereira necessarily means that immigration courts lack jurisdiction…

Human rights advocates often confront trauma and stress in their work. They are exposed to testimony about heinous abuses; work in insecure locations; visit physical sites of abuse; review forensic, photographic, and video evidence; directly witness abuses; experience threats; and can also suffer detention, be attacked, or be tortured themselves. Such exposure risks adversely impacting…

The following transcript has been lightly edited for clarity. Sandra Paunksniene, SIPA: Good evening ladies and gentlemen, guests and panelists. Tonight we gather to discuss, as mentioned, a timely and very important topic, health care in danger: the continuing violence against medical assistance in armed conflict. My name is Sandra Paunksniene. I work with the School…

Our article “Modern Self-Defense: The Use of Force Against Non-Military Threats” explores the legal bases States could draw on in using military force to respond to significant threats or harms that are not military in nature but that may be optimally tackled with some form of military action where the United Nations Security Council (Security Council) has…

States all over the world are enacting new laws that criminalize insults, and using existing insult laws with renewed vigour. In this article, we examine state practice, treaty provisions, and case law on insulting speech. We conclude that insulting speech is currently insufficiently protected under international law and regulated by confused case law and commentary. We explain that the three principal international treaties that regulate speech provide conflicting guidance on the right to insult in international…

For any given refugee crisis, securing equitable and sustainable arrangements for refugee protection and assistance remains a fundamental problem. An instructive example is the ongoing and deliberate regional containment of most Syrian refugees to countries neighboring Syria. Four countries in the Middle East currently bear a disproportionate and unsustainable share of the responsibility and cost,…

On May 31, 2016, the European Commission together with Facebook, Twitter, Google’s YouTube, and Microsoft (the ICT Companies) issued a voluntary Code of Conduct on Countering Illegal Hate Speech Online that requires removal of any hate speech, as defined by the European Union. The impetus for this Code included the rise of intolerant speech against…

The authors have graciously asked me to comment on their interesting and welcome proposal, and I am happy to do so. One must applaud all efforts to ameliorate the horrendous problem of refugee flows, one that is vastly greater today than in 1997 when I advanced my own “modest proposal” for refugee burden-sharing. The current…