the activist JUNE 2014 Contents Editorial 2 / The Judges May Fall Cătălin BUZOiAnU | MA SOCiOlOGY AnD SOCiAl AntHROPOlOGY The editorial team is proud to introduce the 2014 issue of The 4 / Resilient Spirits Activist. Over the years, The Activ- ROlAnD SCHMiDt | PhD CAnDiDAtE, POlitiCAl SCiEnCE ist has become more than just a 7 / The Forgotten People platform for CEU students to pub- RADU niCUlESCU | MA POlitiCAl SCiEnCE lish their academic work and gain experience in editing and pub- 10 / The Fracking Puzzle ARiEl DREHOBl | MESPOM lishing: it is a medium through which students showcase their 13 / Eclipsing the Rainbow expertise, interests, and passions, CRiStiAnO lUCAS SilVA GOnCAlVES | llM COMPARitiVE COnStitUtiOnAl lAW combining their academic work 16 / Environmentalism in the Balkans with their own commitments to MACiEJ DYBAlA | MA POlitiCAl SCiEnCE positive social change and activ- 18 / Uncovering the Complexities of Sex Work ism in myriad areas. Moreover, we wanted to focus on stories which break the illusion ViCtORiA APOStOl | MA HUMAn RiGHtS, OSJiF of isolation of specific issues, and put them in a global perspective This year, we wanted to further 21 / Life in the Neo-liberal Ghetto translatable to all levels and localities. What we have put together liViU DinU | ROMA GRADUAtE PREPARAtiOn PROGRAM our efforts in bridging the gap transcends mere geographical boundaries in order to draw awareness between academia and activism to common underlying injustices. Ariel Drehobl warns of catastrophic 24 / Intersecting Identities: Female labor migration to Russia by including stories that use the DZHOYS KUAOVi | MA GEnDER StUDiES consequences of burgeoning global acceptance of fracking as the authors’ individual experiences solution to the looming energy crisis, Cristiano Lucas Silva Goncalves 27 / Invisible Women: Double discrimination of Roma women and friendships to bring atten- puts the Russian anti-LGBT laws in the context of the United Nations MiHAi-AlEXAnDRU iliOAiA | MA SOCiOlOGY AnD SOCiAl AntHROPOlOGY, PROJECt COORDinAtOR At ROMEDiA FOUnDAtiOn tion to global issues. We have Human Rights Committee and examines the implications, Victoria 28 / Invisible Behind Bars: The need for US prison reform Roland Schmidt introducing the Apostol writes about the predicament of sex workers and the com- iSABEl PAtKOWSKi | MA PHilOSOPHY injustices of the global war on plexity of different approaches to the topic, Dzhoys Kuaovi examines terror through a story about an 31 / ‘We Will Rise’ the intersectionality of female labor immigrants in Russia, Isabel RUtH MOSSER | ERASMUS EXCHAnGE, GEnDER StUDiES exceptional copy shop owner in Patkowski tells the tale of confinement that has become the dominant Sarajevo, Maciej Dybala’s photo- feature of the US penal system, Liviu Dinu sheds light on the segreg- graphs emphasize the beauty of ation practices against the Roma population in Romania, and Cătălin an area that is usually associated Buzoianu draws attentions to the contradictions and unexpected with war atrocities and ostensible consequences of universal jurisdictions. “backwardness,” Radu Niculescu ABOUt HRSi shines a light on a forgotten All these issues illuminate the hard work that awaits CEU graduates conflict and brings out a new The Human RightS Initiative (HRSI) is an awareness raising and capacity building organization based at in creating a more open and just society, but also unearth personal perspective through his friend- Central European University (CEU). It was founded in 1999 by the students of the CEU Legal Studies Hu- stories of success and involvement which open the doors to future ship with a Sudanese refugee, man Rights Program.Since then it has grown into an internationally-recognized human rights organization, progress. The cover picture, for example, is a testament to current instead of; Ruth Mosser focuses focusing on youth involvement, education and active student participation. HRSI’s mission is to promote involvement from our students. This picture, taken by Ruth Mosser, on migrants’ struggles through an social engagement through awareness raising and capacity building. Our main target groups are CEU stu- shows CEU students at a CEU student-organized solidarity rally for the interview with someone deeply dents and alumni, local and regional students, NGO staff and activists as well as local and regional NGOs. events in Ukraine of late 2013 and early 2014. In sharing these works involved in the refugee protests with you, we want you, the reader, to understand that the students at in Austria, and Mihai-Alexandru CEU are not just here to earn a degree; CEU students are here to enable Ilioaia provides an example of and catalyze positive change within our local and global communities. a pioneering campaign aiming EDITORS-IN-CHIEF Vishnupriya Bhandaram • Alexander Cooper ASSOCIATE EDITORS Marina Van Riel • Tihana Bertek • Judith Langowski • Petya Krastanova • Ruth Pinto • Rebecca Smith • Isabel Patkowski • Ekaterina Sumina • Ar- to break the silence of Romani We hope that this issue of The Activist will not only inform you of global women in Europe. iel Drehobl PROOFREADERS Philippe-Edner Marius • Ruth Pinto • Marina Van Riel • Petya Krastanova • Rebecca injustices around the world, but also inspire you to act upon them. Smith DESIGN Vishnupriya Bhandaram • Katarina Kušić HRSI PROJECT MANAGER Katarina Kušić THE ACTIVIST 2014 JUNE 1 The Judges May Fall Can we imagine a world where universal jurisdiction is applicable without an implicit Scientific knowledge cannot help us resolve the double standard that divides the human contradictions and the unexpected consequences of rights violators we know and support, from our actions under universal jurisdiction says Cătălin Buzoianu the ones we gladly loath and denounce? “The arrest of Augusto Pinochet in ish citizens in Chile.[2] Pinochet vicious murderers and torturers perpetrated during the first Gulf War, it showed just how discom- dominance of risk there are no the United Kingdom has focused had flown to the United King- in cases of human rights viola- forting for some the use of universal jurisdiction can really be [5]. decision-making processes which attention on a little used provi- dom to undergo minor back tions, from Argentina to Tibet. on the virtue of the accumula- sion of international law – the surgery, and allegedly was about Understandably, controversies Fast-forward to this past February when The New York Times repor- tion of information alone, which universal jurisdiction rule. This to cut short his recuperation envelop the concept of universal ted that Spain’s National Court issued warrants for the arrest of Jiang hopes to reconstruct a “unified rule allows the prosecution of by way of the hospital window jurisdiction. Amnesty Interna- Zemin (88), former President of the People’s Republic of China (PRC), picture of the world” that would those responsible for war crimes in the dead of night, just when tional has called it an “essential and Li Peng (86), the former Prime Minister, in a case related to alleged enable issues and problems to be or crimes against humanity in the the constables presented him tool of international justice” [3], human rights abuses in Tibet [6]. It was no coincidence that the group clearly distinguished and solved, courts of any country, regardless with the Interpol Read Notice. while Henry Kissinger himself of exiled Tibetans chose Spain of all countries to file the lawsuit back must not be ultimately content of where or when the crimes were has associated it with “the dictat- in 2006, but with the Pinochet affair in mind Spanish lawmakers of the with the lesser evil. In other committed and the nationality The importance of Pinochet’s orship of the virtuous”, the kind then ruling Socialist Party later acted in 2009 to restrict the reach of words, scientific knowledge can- of the victims or the accused. If arrest and subsequent 16-month which “has often led to inquisi- judges to either national territory or own citizens[7]. Now PRC pres- not help us resolve the contradic- applied effectively and fairly, detention cannot be overstated: tions and even witch-hunts” [4]. sures and Spanish export interests have jump-started the incumbent tions and the unexpected con- the universal jurisdiction rule it was the first time when under Historically, it may have helped Popular Party’s drive to curtail universal jurisdiction, specifically to sequences of our actions under could be an extremely import- the doctrine of universal jurisdic- drive the establishment of the limit the prosecution’s reach in cases of torture and crimes against universal jurisdiction just by its ant tool for combating the most tion the agents of a nation-state International Criminal Court in humanity to Spanish nationals, to Spanish residents or to foreign- unsubstantial claims to offer cer- serious human rights abuses.” arrested a former Head of State, The Hague. Politically, it surely ers living in the country whose extradition has been denied [8]. tain knowledge about the every- carrier of a diplomatic passport, complicated issues of national day circumstances of their ap- Justice Richard Goldstone [1] without having committed any sovereignty, and legitimacy of But is it all a matter of economic interests, of choosing the po- plication. As always the potential (Constitutional Court of South Africa, former crimes on its territory. Faint prosecution by agents of Na- tential business partner instead of the potential criminal sus- ‘solution’ is political in nature,