Human Rights at Home Blog

Event 3/2: Webinar on The Courts, Climate Change, Migrant and Refugee Rights

On March 2, 2023, from 4:00PM to 5:30PM EST, join the American Society of International Law's  International Refugee Law Interest Group  (IRLIG), the Migration Law Interest Group (MILIG), and their co-sponsor, the Global Strategic Litigation Council for Refugee Rights (GSLC) for a webinar exploring the current state of international migration and refugee law and human rights applicable to those displaced by global climate change; how the law should evolve to meet the current mobility challenges; and practical avenues in international, regional, and national courts to facilitate the progressive development of the law for the protection of the rights of those moving in the context of climate change. The distinguished speakers will be Viviana Krsticevic, Jane McAdam AO, Matthew Scott, and the event will be moderated by Melissa Stewart.

The webinar is free and open to the public. Register for the event here.

New Article: Refugeehood Reconsidered: the Central American Migration Crisis

Macedo, Stephen, Refugeehood Reconsidered: the Central American Migration Crisis (Jan. 18, 2023). Abstract below.

“Who is a refugee?” This essay explores the lively debate on this question in ethics, political theory, and international law. The world now has more refugees than any time since World War II, and there may be no area of public policy in advanced Western states more fraught with deep moral and practical dilemmas. Are state persecution and alienage necessary conditions of refugeehood or is mortal peril sufficient, whatever its cause? The essay describes the various moral grounds relevant to claims for refugeehood, including general humanitarian duties, obligations arising from past and ongoing relations and commitments under international law, and the existence of the state system itself. Particular attention is paid to the Central American migration crisis, and the question of reparative obligations on the part of the U.S. arising from climate change and past state policies that have unjustly harmed sending countries. Further complicating the question of what we ought to do, even for progressive policymakers, is the looming threat of right-wing populist backlash.

February-March 2023 Deadlines: Calls for Inputs by UN Human Rights Mechanisms

The following calls for inputs have been issued by UN Human Rights Mechanisms with deadlines in February – March 2023 and law professors whose practice, research, and/or scholarship touches on these topics may be interested in submission:

Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants – Call for inputs to inform the Special Rapporteur’s report on how to expand and diversify regularization mechanisms and programs to enhance the protection of the human rights of migrants. Deadline February 15, 2023. Read more.

Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities – Call for inputs on persons with disabilities in situations of risk and humanitarian emergencies for the Day of General Discussion the Committee will hold on March 16, 17, and 20. Deadline February 15, 2023. Read more.

Committee on the Rights of the Child – Call for comments on the draft general comment on children’s rights and the environment with a special focus on climate change. Deadline February 15, 2023. Read more.

International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement – Call for inputs on Upcoming Country Visit to the United States of America by the United Nations International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement from 24 April – 5 May 2023. Deadline February 24, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on trafficking in persons, especially women and children – Call for inputs on trafficking in persons and protection of refugees, stateless persons, and internally displaced persons (IDPs). Deadline February 28, 2023. Read more.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Call for inputs on “Importance of casualty recording for the promotion and protection of human rights.” Deadline February 28, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on the negative impact of unilateral coercive measures  – Call for Inputs to inform the Special Rapporteur’s two 2023 thematic reports. Deadline February 28, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism – Call for inputs for Global Study on the Impact of Counter-Terrorism Measures on Civil Society and Civic Space. Deadline February 28, 2023. Read more.

Independent Expert on the enjoyment of all human rights by older persons – Call for inputs on report on violence, abuse and neglect of older persons. Deadline March 1, 2023. Read more.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Call for inputs on the High Commissioner’s report on the relationship between human rights and technical standard-setting processes for new and emerging digital technologies. Deadline March 3, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions – Call for inputs for report on deaths in custody. Deadline March 6, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples – Call for Inputs for report on tourism and the rights of indigenous peoples. Deadline March 8, 2023. Read more.

Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples – Call for inputs for report on establishing monitoring mechanisms at the national and regional level for implementation of the UN Declaration on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Deadline March 17, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance – Call for inputs for report on combating glorification of Nazism, neo-Nazism and other practices that contribute to fueling contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Deadline March 17, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance – Call for submissions on the strategic vision for the fulfilment of the mandate of Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, racial discrimination, xenophobia and related intolerance. Deadline March 17, 2023. Read more.

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – Call for inputs on follow-up report on good practices and challenges in the application of a human rights-based approach to the elimination of preventable maternal mortality and morbidity. Deadline March 20, 2023. Read more.

Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and its consequences – Call for inputs for report on homelessness as a cause and a consequence of contemporary forms of slavery. Deadline March 31, 2023. Read more.

This information was compiled from https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input-listing.

James L. Cavallaro Announced, then Withdrawn as U.S. Candidate for IACHR Commissioner

On February 10, 2023, the U.S. State Department announced its selection of James L. Cavallaro as the United States’ candidate for commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights for the 2024-2027 term. The IACHR is one of the principal organs of the Organization of American States (OAS), whose function is to promote the observance and protection of human rights and to serve as a consultative organ of the Organization in these matters and is made up of seven independent members who serve in a personal capacity.

Professor Cavallaro is a visiting professor at Yale Law School, Columbia Law School, Berkeley Law School and UCLA School of Law, as well as the founder and President of the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR), which works to facilitate supervised, interdisciplinary engagement in human rights practice at universities and foster the next generation of human rights advocates. If elected, this will be his second term serving as commissioner – he previously served during the 2014-2017 term, including as its president from 2016-2017.  

Member states of the OAS will vote to fill four IACHR commissioner seats during elections at the June 2023 General Assembly in Washington, D.C. Find the State Department’s press release here, and the UNHR’s press statement here.

Update: The United States has withdrawn Professor Cavallero as a candidate for the OACHR. More here.

UN experts call for new approaches to policing in the United States following deaths of Keenan Anderson and Tyre Nichols

On Friday, February 10, 2023, experts from the United Nations expressed grave concern over the January 3, 2023, death of Keenan Anderson at the hands of the Los Angeles Police Department and the death of Tyre Nichols on January 10, 2023, three days after he was beaten by police in Memphis, Tennessee.

“The brutal deaths of Keenan Anderson and Tyre Nichols are more reminders of the urgency to act,” said Yvonne Mokgoro, Chairperson of the UN International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in the context of Law Enforcement.

The experts have sought detailed information on both the Anderson and Nichols incidents from the Government of the United States, on the ongoing investigations and regulations applicable to the use of less-lethal weapons vis-à-vis applicable human rights standards.

In both cases, the experts stressed that the force used appears to have violated international norms protecting the right to life and prohibiting torture or other cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment. It is also not in line with standards set out under the United Nations Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials and the Basic Principles on the Use of Force and Firearms by Law Enforcement Officials.

A full press statement regarding the Committee’s findings can be found here.

UN Special Rapporteur Visits United States and Guantánamo Bay

From February 6-14, 2023, the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism will be visiting Washington D.C. and subsequently the detention facility at the U.S. Naval Station Guantánamo Bay, Cuba.

The current Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms is Ms. Fionnuala Ní Aoláin, who has held the position since August 2017. She is is concurrently Regents Professor and Robina Professor of Law, Public Policy and Society at the University of Minnesota Law School and Professor of Law at the Queens University, Belfast, Northern Ireland. Her mandate covers all countries and has most recently been renewed by Human Rights Council resolution 49/10.

Over the course of the subsequent three-month period, the Special Rapporteur will also carry out a series of interviews with individuals in the United States and abroad, on a voluntary basis, including victims and families of victims of the 11 September 2001 terrorist attacks and former detainees in countries of resettlement/repatriation. She will issue an end-of-mission statement of findings and recommendations following the end of the technical visit.

New Article:The End of California’s Anti-Asian Alien Land Law: A Case Study in Reparations and Transitional Justice

Gabriel “Jack” Chin and Anna Ratner, The End of California’s Anti-Asian Alien Land Law: A Case Study in Reparations and Transitional Justice, 20 Asian American Law Journal 17 (2022). Abstract below.

For nearly a century, California law embodied a rabid anti-Asian policy, which included school segregation, discriminatory law enforcement, a prohibition on marriage with Whites, denial of voting rights, and imposition of many other hardships. The Alien Land Law was a California innovation, copied in over a dozen other states. The Alien Land Law, targeting Japanese but applying to Chinese, Koreans, South Asians, and others, denied the right to own land to noncitizens who were racially ineligible to naturalize, that is, who were not White or Black. After World War II, California’s policy abruptly reversed. Years before Brown v. Board of Education, California courts became leaders in ending Jim Crow. In 1951, the California legislature voluntarily voted to pay reparations to people whose land had been escheated under the Alien Land Law. This article describes the enactment and effect of the reparations laws. It also describes the surprisingly benevolent treatment by courts of lawsuits undoing the secret trusts and other arrangements for land ownership intended to evade the Alien Land Law. But ultimately, the Alien Land Law precedent may be melancholy. California has not paid reparations to other groups who also have conclusive claims of mistreatment. Reparations in part were driven by geopolitical concerns arising from the Cold War and the hot war in Korea. In addition, anti-Asian immigration policy had succeeded in halting Japanese and other Asian immigration to the United States. Accordingly, one explanation for this remarkable act was that there was room for generosity to a handful of landowners with no concern that the overall racial arrangement might be compromised.

Event 2/23: Webinar on The Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and Reparations to Africa

On February 23, 2023, from 11:00AM to 12:30PM EST, join the American Society of International Law for a webinar panel which will address three main topics: 1) reparations for the injustice against enslaved Africans and their generations; 2) reparations for Africans traumatized by the effects of slavery; and 3) the process of healing between Africans affected by slavery around the globe. The distinguished panelists will be Rhoda E. Howard-Hassmann, Mario Nisbett, Crystena Parker-Shandal, and Carl Patrick Burrowes. The moderator will be Matiangai Sirleaf.

The webinar is free and open to all, but participants must have an ASIL account in order to register. The link to do so can be found here.