International Law and the War in Gaza: from fog of war to fog of law
The Gaza War (December 2008 – January 2009) left 1,166 to 1,417 Palestinians and 13 Israelis dead. Professor Juan Amaya Castro discusses the conflict with reference to sources of international law.
Comfort Women and the Failure of International Law
Seong Eun Lee discusses the failure of international law to hold states responsible for their use of women as sexual slaves during the Pacific War. The history of international treaties and regulations outlawing such behaviour are briefly reviewed, as is the current state of the former comfort women’s struggle for justice. The author argues that interlocking structures of oppression based on power imbalances of gender and ethnicity have continued to frustrate this struggle in the arena of international law.
Key words: Korea, Japan, comfort women, international law, development, South Asia, World War II, gender, peace and conflict, ethnicity, sexual slavery, justice.
Zimbabwe’s new constitutional dispensation and children’s right to education
Zimbabwe’s new constitution reiterates the right to education for all citizens and permanent residents, and calls for state resources to be made available in order to fulfill this right without discrimination. What is needed now is the political will to realize the right to education for all, and to harmonize existing legislation with the new constitutional provisions.
The Deportation Death Sentence: An analysis of the United States’ role in perpetuating Human Rights abuses against should-be Honduran refugees
The past few years have been unprecedented in the United States, as a record-setting number of Latino immigrants crossed its southern border, including thousands of unaccompanied minors. Recognizing that many of these children were fleeing severe gang and cartel violence, the United Nations began advocating for the recognition of organized crime as a potential cause for refugee status. Children crossing the border are often in need of international protection, but it goes undocumented and underprovided. In this paper, I will analyze how the United States’ unwillingness to recognize certain children as refugees is perpetuating grave abuses in human rights for children fleeing gang and cartel violence with a specific focus on Honduras.
Stranded migrants, human rights, sovereignty and politics
Law, human rights and migration specialists analyze the case of the Cuban migrants who remained stranded for more than two months in Costa Rica, after Nicaragua refused to grant transit visas, truncating their voyage it to the United States. Politics, sovereignty, the application of legal instruments and the fulfillment of the migrants’ human rights: how are they balanced and prioritized as governments make decisions?
This article was originally published in Spanish by the Costa Rican magazine Firma.
Reflections of Refugees in Africa
Africa’s numerous conflicts, including in Central African Republic, South Sudan, Somalia, Nigeria, Egypt, Democratic Republic of Congo and elsewhere, together produced immense forced displacement totals in 2014, on a scale only marginally lower than in the Middle East (UNHCR, 2015). Women, men, and children have been consigned to foreign countries for safety where their indispensable needs of humanity are becoming a luxury. Furthermore, the definition of one as a refugee has caused more exclusion of non-state communities as well as expansion of their dehumanization.This paper will explore the status of refugees in Africa in terms of legal environment, communication, schooling and livelihood. This will be a desk top review taking qualitative approaches. It will draw information from previous surveys, reports, journals, books, and case studies.
Children in Armed Conflicts: Inconsistency of the Laws, Culpability and Criminal Responsibility of Child Soldiers
This essay explores the concept of Child Soldiery and its inconsistencies under International Law, with a focus on the vulnerabilities of children in situations of armed conflict.
The Unraveled and Disquieting Human Rights Violation of Afghanistan
The issues of Human Rights violations have always been of grave concern to the Human Right Defenders. The cases of human right violations ignite fury and anguish and pose challenge for the world. This paper here forth brings forward the odious crime of ‘Bacha Bazi’, and explains how the organized crime takes place in the country, it reflects on the plight of the victim, questions the responsibility of the government to act and pushes for humanitarian intervention. It states that though the crime is restricted to one country but the onus of demolishing this traditional practice lies on the international community as a whole. The world should therefore come together and join hands to save the future of the Afghan Boys.
Keywords: Bacha Bazi, International Conventions, Human Rights, Young boys, Afghanistan, Sexual Slavery
Permanent Emergency Powers in France: The ‘Law to Strengthen Internal Security and the Fight Against Terrorism’ and the Protection of Human Rights
On November 1, 2017, France introduced a new Counter-Terrorism Law ending a two-year state of emergency and making many of the exceptional measures taken under the state of emergency permanent law. Taking into account past practices of ethnic profiling displayed by the French police, the passing of the law constitutes a worrisome development and raises a number of concerns about France’s compliance with its human rights obligations. The paper discussed these implications of the new law in the wider context of counter-terrorism trends.
Keywords: counter-terrorism, ethnic profiling, human rights, state of emergency
Towards Conflict Transformation in Nepal: A Case For UN Mediation
UN peace facilitators could help the Nepalese to draw up a viable compromise, perhaps engaging the parties and the civil society in “constitution making” as itself a part of the process of conflict transformation. They could help overcome the problems of mutual distrust, and ensure transparency and compliance with the code of conduct. UN resident coordinator in Nepal, Matthgew Kahane, has said that UN help could build trust in both sides to facilitate the resumption of the peace negotiations. Unfortunately, the government of Nepal can veto UN mediation because the UN can only intervene if it has the consent of all parties.