Philip Alston∗
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GEORGES V UNITED NATIONS Resolving UN Torts in US Courts DOROTHEA ANTHONY*
RESOLVING UN TORTS IN US COURTS: GEORGES v UNITED NATIONS Resolving UN Torts in US Courts DOROTHEA ANTHONY* This article concerns the recent case of Georges v United Nations, which constitutes, to date, the most elaborate public law challenge to the principle of UN immunity from suit and private law attempt at procuring compensation from the UN for alleged malfeasance. Despite the fact that it relates to people and events in Haiti, the case was brought by United States lawyers on behalf of US plaintiffs, was decided by US courts, used the US-style class action method, called for reparations of US proportions and was intervened in by the US government. The article addresses how the US legal culture of expansionism, litigiousness and charity have influenced the case. It asks whether, in drawing on this culture, the US legal system has overextended its extraterritorial engagement in international and foreign affairs. CONTENTS I Introduction ............................................................................................................... 1 II Litigation with US Characteristics ............................................................................ 4 III On the Crest of a New Wave .................................................................................... 9 IV A Foundation in US Legal Culture ......................................................................... 12 A Expansionism ............................................................................................. 12 B Litigiousness .............................................................................................. -
Download HRW-Letter to President Juan Manuel Santos
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH 1630 Connecticut Avenue, N.W. Suite 500 Washington, D.C., October 25, 2012 Washington, DC 20009 Tel: 202-612-4321 Fax: 202-612-4333; 202-478-2988 Juan Manuel Santos Email: [email protected] President of the Republic of Colombia Casa de Nariño Americas Division Bogotá, D.C., Colombia José Miguel Vivanco, Executive Director Daniel Wilkinson, Managing Director Tamara Taraciuk, Researcher Nik Steinberg, Researcher Dear Mr. President: Max Schoening, Researcher Stephanie Morin, Researcher Mariana Dambolena, Associate Sylvie Stein, Associate I am writing to express my deep concern with the constitutional Advisory Committee amendment your administration is currently promoting to expand the Lloyd Axworthy, Chair Marina Pinto Kaufman, Vice Chair scope of military jurisdiction. The latest version of the proposed Julien Studley, Vice Chair 1 Roberto Alvarez amendment would result in serious human rights violations by the Cynthia Arnson Carlos Basombrio military—including extrajudicial executions, torture, and rape—being Peter D. Bell Marcelo Bronstein investigated and tried by the military justice system, in direct conflict Paul Chevigny John Dinges with the jurisprudence by Colombia’s high courts and the Inter- Denise Dresser 2 Tom J. Farer American Court of Human Rights. In our view, the amendment is Myles Frechette Alejandro Garro unjustified. Its passage would virtually guarantee impunity for Peter Hakim Ronald G. Hellman military atrocities. Furthermore, it would cause Colombia to fail to Stephen L. Kass Andy Kaufman comply with human rights conditions for U.S. military aid, which Susanna Leval Kenneth Maxwell require that all alleged human rights violations by the armed forces Jocelyn McCalla Robert Pastor “are promptly referred to civilian jurisdiction for investigation and Bruce Rabb 3 Michael Shifter prosecution.” George Soros Rose Styron Javier Timerman Horacio Verbitsky I. -
Extreme Poverty and Human Rights on His Mission to the United States of America
United Nations A/HRC/38/33/Add.1 General Assembly Distr.: General 4 May 2018 Original: English Human Rights Council Thirty-eighth session 18 June–6 July 2018 Agenda item 3 Promotion and protection of all human rights, civil, political, economic, social and cultural rights, including the right to development Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on his mission to the United States of America Note by the Secretariat The Secretariat has the honour to transmit to the Human Rights Council the report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, Philip Alston, on his mission to the United States of America from 1 to 15 December 2017. The purpose of the visit was to evaluate, and report to the Human Rights Council on, the extent to which the Government’s policies and programmes aimed at addressing extreme poverty are consistent with its human rights obligations and to offer constructive recommendations to the Government and other stakeholders. GE.18-07152(E) A/HRC/38/33/Add.1 Report of the Special Rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights on his mission to the United States of America* Contents Page I. Introduction ................................................................................................................................... 3 II. Overview ....................................................................................................................................... 3 III. Human rights dimension .............................................................................................................. -
Human Rights Council Holds Final Interactive Dialogue with Philipp Alston
Human Rights Council holds final interactive dialogue with Philipp Alston http://www.ishr.ch/council-news/782-human-rights-council-holds-final-... Human Rights Council holds final interactive dialogue with Philipp Alston Last Updated on Thursday, 10 June 2010 The Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, Mr Philip Alston, presented his annual report (A/HRC/14/24) to the Human Rights Council on 3 June 2010, together with three thematic reports, a communications report, follow up reports on missions to Brazil and the Central African Republic, reports on missions to Colombia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and a preliminary report on his mission to Albania. This session represents the end of Mr Alston’s tenure of the mandate. On the initiative of the Special Rapporteur, the Council held a minute of silence in memory of Mr Floribert Chebeya Bahizire , the Executive Director of the NGO ‘Voix des sans Voix’ from the DRC, whom Mr Alston met during his country visit in October 2009. Mr Alston considered the circumstances of the killing of Mr Chebeya to ’strongly suggest official responsibility’. In his closing remarks, Mr Alston advised the Council to respond to Mr Bahizire’s death with creativity, given the DRC’s harsh reaction to his report. He suggested that forensic support provided to the Congolese authorities without strong formal involvement of the Council might allay fears of ‘intervention’ in the sovereignty of the DRC. In a right of reply on 9 June 2010, the DRC announced that the director of the police force had been suspended, and that four forensic doctors from the Netherlands would be joining the chief prosecutor to carry out an autopsy. -
Professor Philip Alston Special Rapporteur Office of the High Commission for Human Rights Palais Des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland
| 1400 Eye Street NW, Suite 650 | Washington, DC 20005 | T: 202.657.0670 | F: 202.657.0671 | www.firstfocus.org | Professor Philip Alston Special Rapporteur Office of the High Commission for Human Rights Palais des Nations CH-1211 Geneva 10 Switzerland Re: Visit to the United States (4-15 December 2017) October 4, 2017 Dear Professor Alston: On behalf of First Focus, a bipartisan children’s advocacy organization dedicated to making children and families a priority in federal budget decisions, we welcome the opportunity to provide input on issues relating to child poverty and children’s rights in the United States. Defining Poverty and Extreme Poverty The United States Census Bureau defines poverty by using a set of money income thresholds that vary by family, size, and composition. If a family’s income is lower than the threshold set annually then they are deemed to be living in poverty. In 2016, the poverty threshold for a family of four was $24,339. There is also a Supplemental Poverty Measure that takes into account the government programs designed to assist low-income families and individuals who are not included in the official poverty measure. These programs include refundable tax credits, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), Social Security, Housing subsidies, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), The National School Lunch Program (NSLP), Supplementary Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), Supplemental Security Income (SSI), and the Low Income Heating Assistance Program. Extreme poverty is measured by individuals living below 50% of the poverty line, which would be just over $12,000 a year for a family of four. -
Trump Turning US Into 'World Champion of Extreme Inequality', UN Envoy Warns
Trump turning US into 'world champion of extreme inequality', UN envoy warns Special rapporteur Philip Alston, fresh from fact-finding tour, issues devastating critique of US society and condemns 'private wealth and public squalor' The Guardian, by Ed Pilkington, Washington, December 15, 2017 12:45 p.m. EST The United Nations monitor on poverty and human rights has issued a devastating report on the condition of America, accusing Donald Trump and the Republican leadership in Congress of attempting to turn the country into the "world champion of extreme inequality". Philip Alston, the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights, has completed a two-week official tour of the US by releasing an excoriating attack on the direction of the nation. Not only does he warn that the tax bill currently being rushed through Congress will hugely increase already large disparities between rich and poor, he accuses Trump and his party of consciously distorting the shape of American society in a "bid to become the most unequal society in the world". "American exceptionalism was a constant theme in my conversations," he writes. "But instead of realizing its founders' admirable commitments, today's United States has proved itself to be exceptional in far more problematic ways that are shockingly at odds with its immense wealth and its founding commitment to human rights. As a result, contrasts between private wealth and public squalor abound." In his most stark message, Alston warns that the Republicans' declared intent to slash crucial welfare programs next year in order to pay for some of the $1.Stn tax cuts could cost American lives. -
Freedom and the State: the Social Contract This Course Aims To
Freedom and the State: The Social Contract This course aims to introduce students to central questions in political philosophy, through engagement with the work of several significant political philosophers: Thomas Hobbes, John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Immanuel Kant and John Rawls. The topics with which we will be most deeply concerned include the legitimacy of the state; the limits of the state’s authority; the basis of rights of resistance or rebellion; the relevance of consent to political authority; the nature and value of freedom; the relationship between politics and human nature; and social justice. We will also, as often as we can, attempt to relate the views of these philosophers to contemporary debates. Program of lectures and reading Week 1 (15/01) Lecture 1: Political Legitimacy and the Social Contract Tradition Reading: Easy: Wolf (2006): 34-48. Easier: ‘Authority’ and ‘Political Obligation’ in the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Harder: Boucher & Kelly (1994): ch. 1. Hampton (1997): Chapter 3. Week 2 (22/01) Lecture 2: Hobbes on Human Nature and the State of Nature Primary Reading: Leviathan, Part I, chs. 11, 13-16. Secondary Reading: Easy: Wolf (2006): 8-17. Easier: Levine (2002): 15-32. Newey (2008): ch. 4-5. Harder: Warburton, Pike and Matravers (2000): 100-105. Seminar question: If human nature is, or were, as Hobbes describes it, does it follow that life in the state of nature would be ‘solitary, poore, nasty, brutish and short’? Week 3 (29/01) Lecture 3: Hobbes on the Covenant, the Sovereign and the Right to Rebel Primary Reading: Leviathan, Part II, chs. -
1 of 5 Course International Human Rights Law Through Film Section
Course International Human Rights Law Through Film Section LAW 846 LS1 Professor Dr. Delaram Farzaneh Term Summer Law School 2020 Meetings Tuesday and Thursday Evenings, 6:30 to 8:10 pm Professor’s Contact Information Email Address [email protected] Classroom Online Office Hours By Appointment Faculty Assistant Crystal Whybark ([email protected]; 415 442 6628) General Course Information Text Book: Philip Alston & Ryan Goodman, International Human Rights: The Successor to International Human Rights In Context, (Oxford University Press, 2013) (hereafter “CB”) Documentary Movies: We will watch 3-4 documentary movies about various human rights issues that are listed in the reading section of your syllabus. You MUST BUY/RENT the movies as part of your course materials. Required Texts & Additional reading materials such as articles and book chapters will be made Materials available to students throughout the semester as needed. Where materials are available online, the URL is provided on the reading list. Official UN documents are available (using the symbol number) in the UN’s Official Document System (http://documents.un.org) or at www.ohchr.org. IMPORTANT: The reading assignments listed below are subject to modification. Additional reading will be provided if needed. I will notify you of the assigned readings for the week by posting an UPDATED SYLLABUS online/email. YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY INFORATION THAT IS NEWLY POSTED. The primary learning objective of this course will be to learn about specific human rights issues in the world via the cinematic medium. The substantive legal content of the film will be analyzed through a combination of lecture, reading, PowerPoint, and group discussion. -
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chap 16 23/1/03 7:51 am Page 196 16 International justice David Boucher Introduction Is justice intra-national or international, localised or globalised, communi- tarian or cosmopolitan, universal or particular, in its scope? Do richer coun- tries have a duty to help poorer countries and, if so, is this duty a matter of charity or justice, or both? Answers to these questions are often dependent upon an answer to a prior question: are state boundaries morally arbitrary and, if so, do we have a responsibility to help the less well off beyond these borders? A whole range of positions are taken which often cut across the cosmopolitan–communitarian divide favoured by such theorists who work within the field of international relations as Chris Brown, Janna Thompson, Charles Jones and Peter Sutch.1 Cosmopolitanism points to the justification of our moral principles as having a universal basis. For the cosmopolitan the existing social arrangements have no special status as the source of our value. The type of universal principles required is generated by three different sources of cosmopolitanism: Kantian- ism, utilitarianism and Marxism. Although utilitarianism is an entirely differ- ent moral theory from that of Kant, it is nevertheless cosmopolitan. Jeremy Bentham is, of course, the classic utilitarian. His theory is clearly cosmopolitan in that values are universal, and not the product of various particularistic com- munities. Each individual feels pleasure and pain and this is the basis of human values. Individuals have a basic duty to increase the happiness of humankind in general. The institutions of the family and state, for example, have claims on our duty because they promote the maximisation of the general happiness and not because they have priority over utility. -
Inventing Westphalia
Inventing Westphalia Nicholas Pingitore Senior Thesis Spring, 2020 Advisors: Ethan Shagan and Raphael Murillo Pingitore 1 Introduction The Westphalian Moment, if there ever was one, may quite well have occurred more than 100 years after the signing of the now famous Peace, and in Geneva no less. Writing around 1756, Jean-Jacques Rousseau declared in his treatise, A Lasting Peace Through the Federation of Europe that “the Treaty of Westphalia will perhaps forever remain the foundation of our international system.”1 Prevailing social science lore would find no fault with Rousseau’s logic. Examples abound from the last 70 years of various political theories, international histories, university conferences, even modern military alliances, referencing Westphalia.2 Invariably, there are some differences in how these thinkers frame the importance of Westphalia, but the general mold is familiar enough to any sophomore undergraduate enrolled in a course on international relations.3 It goes as follows: The Thirty Years’ War lasted from 1618-1648. This three-decade-long catastrophe was perhaps Europe’s first modern continental war. While the majority of the conflict took place in central Europe, it drew upon every “great power” resulting in an estimated five to eight million deaths. Modern estimates would suggest that such a toll resulted in a 15–20 percent decline in Europe’s population.4 By 1 Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Translated by C.E. Vaughan, A Lasting Peace Through The Federation of Europe and The State of War, London: Constable and Company Limited, 1917, p. 55. 2 Javier, Solana. “Securing Peace in Europe.” Speech presented at the Symposium on the Political Relevance of the 1648 Peace of Westphalia, Münster, Germany, November 12, 1998. -
Hobbes's Contribution to International Thought, and the Contribution of International Thought to Hobbes
History of European Ideas ISSN: 0191-6599 (Print) 1873-541X (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rhei20 Hobbes's Contribution to International Thought, and the Contribution of International Thought to Hobbes David Boucher To cite this article: David Boucher (2015) Hobbes's Contribution to International Thought, and the Contribution of International Thought to Hobbes, History of European Ideas, 41:1, 29-48, DOI: 10.1080/01916599.2014.948289 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2014.948289 Published online: 22 Sep 2014. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 146 View related articles View Crossmark data Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rhei20 Download by: [University of Cambridge] Date: 11 November 2015, At: 02:41 History of European Ideas, 2015 Vol. 41, No. 1, 29–48, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01916599.2014.948289 Hobbes’s Contribution to International Thought, and the Contribution of International Thought to Hobbes DAVID BOUCHER* Department of Politics and International Relations, Cardiff University, UK and Department of Politics, University of Johannesburg, South Africa Summary The aim of this article is to explore in what respects Thomas Hobbes may be regarded as foundational in international thought. It is evident that in contemporary international relations theory he has become emblematic of a realist tradition, but as David Armitage suggests this was not always the case. I want to suggest that it is only in a very limited sense that he may be regarded as a foundational thinker in international relations, and for reasons very different from those for which he has become infamous. -
General Assembly Distr
UNITED NATIONS A General Assembly Distr. GENERAL A/HRC/11/2/Add.3 27 May 2009 Original: ENGLISH HUMAN RIGHTS COUNCIL Eleventh session Agenda item 3 PROMOTION AND PROTECTION OF ALL HUMAN RIGHTS, CIVIL, POLITICAL, ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS INCLUDING THE RIGHT TO DEVELOPMENT Report of the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions Mr. Philip Alston* Addendum MISSION TO THE CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC** * Late submission. ** The summary of this mission report is being circulated in all official languages. The report itself is contained in the annex to the summary and is being circulated in the language of submission and in French. GE.09-13536 (E) 080609 A/HRC/11/2/Add.3 page 2 Summary The people of the Central African Republic have suffered through repeated violent coups since independence in 1960, widespread lawlessness and banditry, and, over the last three years, internal armed conflicts in the north of the country. During these crises, killings by the security forces have been common, and impunity for abuses has prevailed. The security forces have been unable either to protect human rights or to respect human rights, and the Government has been, in turns, unwilling and unable to punish violations. When the Special Rapporteur conducted his fact-finding mission to the Central African Republic in February 2008, the conflict in the north-east had ended, but a low-intensity conflict continued in the north-west. The rebels had killed a small number of civilians, but the security forces had been involved in widespread village burnings and the killing of hundreds of civilians in the north-west.