06 August 2024
The Right to Defend Rights
On April 21, Narciso Beleño, a rural (campesino) leader and human rights defender who worked for the restitution of land and the sustainable exploitation of natural resources in Colombia, was murdered. Sadly, this is not an isolated case. 79% of the murders of human rights defenders occur in the Americas, with 47% in Colombia alone. Two recent judgments by the Constitutional Court of Colombia and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights have now addressed the phenomenon and gave legal life to the right to defend human rights. Continue reading >>
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01 August 2024
Allocating Duties and Distributing Responsibilities in a Post-Territorial Human Rights Paradigm
Migration is one of the frontier areas for rethinking the way in which human rights obligations are typically allocated. Not only is migration externalised and privatised, it is also a consequence of structural global inequalities. But complexity cannot be an excuse for lack of human rights accountability. Nor is there an unchecked mission creep: if human rights are indeed universal, there is no other option but to fill post-territorial gaps in human rights protection. Continue reading >>
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31 July 2024
Never Again to Us and/or to Anyone
There are few questions that have proven themselves more fruitless to pose than “What Are the Lessons of the Holocaust?” For very many Jews, and certainly for the Israeli state, the lesson, to be realized in law and policy, is “Never Again–to Us”. The more liberal or universalist lessons are a call for civil courage, democratic self-defense and early awareness of the possibility of dictatorship and mass murder, “Never Again–to Anyone. The tension between these two perspectives is found everywhere the matter is considered, even in Israel and even symbolically. Continue reading >>
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30 July 2024
Due Diligence in International Law
This contribution determines to what extent the international law obligations of due diligence, the no harm principle or the principle sic utere tuo ut alienum non laedas can be relied upon today to advance extraterritorial obligations of states towards migrants. Crucially for this purpose, the due diligence obligation is not limited to individuals within the jurisdiction of a State. Rather, States must ensure that activities within their jurisdiction do not cause serious harm to individuals in the territory of another State or to common interests of the international community. Continue reading >>
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29 July 2024
‘One, No One, One Hundred Thousand’
States use mechanisms such as visas, maritime interdiction operations, pushback practices to unsafe countries to prevent migrants from reaching their shores, applying for asylum, or invoking fundamental rights guarantees. This raises the question of whether and to what extent States have extraterritorial obligations towards migrants who have not yet reached the territory of destination countries. By focusing on recent practices in the Mediterranean, this post addresses this overarching question. Continue reading >>
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29 July 2024
Beyond Borders
The question of extraterritoriality has found a very particular application in contexts of migration. This renders the questions of which state has to fulfill human rights obligations while a migrant is on the move and to what extent very pressing ones. This symposium examines what the existing criteria for attribution exactly mean for states’ extraterritorial obligations and responsibility in a migration context and whether arguments from other fields of law could either inspire or be implemented beyond their respective borders. Continue reading >>
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29 July 2024
Influences of the Holocaust on the Constitutional Law of Israel
The trauma of Auschwitz continues to reverberate in the collective consciousness of Israelis and manifests in Israeli laws across several primary domains. However, the primary impact of the Holocaust trauma on Israeli constitutional law has been the concerted efforts to prevent Israel from descending into a fascist, racist regime akin to Germany in the 1930s. The incorporation of the concept of Intolerant Democracy, which occupies a central role in Israeli constitutional law, was explicitly inspired by German history. Continue reading >>
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25 July 2024
Restitution for Pushback Victims
Despite the trauma caused by the brutality of pushbacks, victims often attempt to return to the expelling state’s territory, driven by desperation and the search for a better life. In doing so, they risk repeated violations of their rights. This vicious circle has to be broken. As reparation for the violation of their rights, restitution allowing for their return to the territory of the state responsible for the violation should be granted. This victim-centered approach allows their primary goal of re-entry into the state territory to be achieved through legal means. Continue reading >>
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22 July 2024
A Historic Verdict Against Chiquita Brands
A jury in a small town in Florida has set a milestone in the fight for international justice. After more than 25 years and 17 years of litigation, survivors of violence in Colombia have secured a victory in their pursuit of financial compensation. The verdict determined that Chiquita Brands International illegally financed the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, a designated terrorist paramilitary organization, and thus contributed to the murder of hundreds of civilians. The Chiquita case is the first to hold a U.S. company accountable for financing human rights violations in Colombia. Continue reading >>
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07 July 2024
Annie Ruth Jiagge
The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), which aims to eradicate all forms of discrimination based on sex and gender, is an indispensable treaty for women and girls worldwide. Given its profound impact, today’s sphere of international human rights law would look vastly different. But few people know that the CEDAW treaty was preceded by a 1967 draft by Annie Ruth Jiagge. Continue reading >>
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