Women @ ASIL (5th ed.)

As we have each year since our founding ((here, here, here, here, and here), IntLawGrrls is proud today to highlight women who will speak March 23-26 at the forthcoming annual meeting of the American Society of International Law.
This 105th gathering of the Society, entitled Harmony and Dissonance in International Law, kicks off with the Grotius Lecture by Nobel Prizewinning economist Amartya Sen, for which our colleague Kim Lane Scheppele (Princeton) will serve as discussant. Also of note are: the annual WILIG luncheon, featuring IntLawGrrl Lucy Reed, immediate past President of ASIL; an opening plenary by Michael H. Posner, Assistant Secretary of State for the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor; and a plenary among several international judges. I'm especially excited about the Friday lunch dialogue featuring International Criminal Court Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda (left) -- wearing my hat as an ASIL vice president, I've been given the honor of serving as discussant/moderator for her talk. (photo credit)
All events will take place at the Ritz Carlton Hotel, 1150 22d Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. (Details and registration here.)
Delighted to see from the program that, once again, there's much diversity in topics and presenters. Virtually all panels again have at least 1 woman participating, and that many have many more. Particularly proud that so many persons featured are IntLawGrrls or IntLawGrrls alumnae!
Without further ado, here's this year's honor roll of Women @ ASIL:

Wednesday, March 23, 4:30-6 p.m.
► "The Global Status of Rights": Kim Lane Scheppele (Princeton) as discussant for Grotius Lecture by Amartya Sen.

Thursday, March 24, 11:15 a.m.-12:45 p.m.
► "The Supreme Court & Arbitration Law": Lorraine M. Brennan (JAMS International).
► "Legal Origins, Doing Business and Rule of Law Indicators: The Economic Evaluation of Legal Systems": Corinne Boismain (Université de Metz).
► "International Environmental Law Making and the International Court of Justice": Malgosia Fitzmaurice (University of London) (right), Natalie Klein (Macquarie), and IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Cymie Payne (Lewis & Clark) as panelists; Caroline Foster (Auckland) will moderate.
► "International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group: Judicial Selection": Eloïse Obadia (International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes) and Gabrielle Kirk McDonald (Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal) (left).
► "Commissions of Inquiry into Armed Conflict, Breaches of the Laws of War and Human Rights Abuses: Process, Standards, and Lessons Learned": Agnieszka Jachec Neale (Essex) and Heidi Tagliavini (Swiss Ministry of Foreign Affairs).
►"New Voices I: Global Health, Trade & Common Resource Regimes": Lisa Clarke (Amsterdam), Erika Techera (Macquarie), and Margaret Young (Melbourne).

Thursday, March 24, 1-2:30 p.m.
► IntLawGrrl Lucy Reed (right), immediate past President of ASIL and a partner at Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer LLP in New York, at the annual luncheon of WILIG, the Women in International Law Interest Group.
► "Fragmentation of International Legal Orders and International Law: Ways Forward?": Nele Matz-Lück (Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law, Heidelberg) as panelist; Ruti Teitel (New York Law School) will moderate.
► "Responding to Nuclear Security Challenges in a Fragmented World": Asli Ü. Bâli (UCLA) and Rose Gottemoeller (Assistant Secretary of State, Bureau of Verification, Compliance, and Implementation).
► "Seamlessness or Segmentation? International Economic Governance and European Sovereign Debt": Odette Lienau (Cornell) and Ann Misback (Federal Reserve Board).

Thursday, March 24, 3-4:30 p.m.
► "Annual Benjamin Ferencz Session: Integrating the Crime of Aggression into International Criminal law and Public International Law": Teresa McHenry (U.S. Department of Justice) and IntLawGrrl Beth Van Schaack (Santa Clara).
► "The Role of International Tribunals in Managing Coherence and Diversity in International Law": IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Andrea K. Bjorklund (California-Davis) and Valerie Hughes (Legal Affairs Director, World Trade Organization).
► "Dispute Resolution Interest Group: IS ICSID Losing Its Appeal...Again?": Andrea Menaker (White & Case LLP), moderator.
► "Espionage and the First Amendment After Wikileaks": Mary-Rose Papandrea (Boston College).

Thursday, March 24, 5-6:15 p.m.
► "Decision Making in International Courts and Tribunals: A Conversation": plenary keynote featuring numerous international jurists, including Dame Rosalyn Higgins (former President of the International Court of Justice) (left) and Brigitte Stern (Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne)).

Friday, March 25, 7-8:30 a.m.
► "Targeting with Drone Technology: Humanitarian Law Implications": Naz Modirzadeh (Harvard) will moderate.

Friday, March 25, 9-10:30 a.m.
► "Strategy and Planning Meeting for ASIL's new International Disability Rights Interest Group," about which IntLawGrrl Hope Lewis, interest group co-chair along with Stephanie Ortoleva (BlueLaw), posted yesterday.
► "International Environmental Law Interest Group: Roundtable on Research Methodologies," an all-woman panel: Cinnamon Carlarne (South Carolina), Edith Brown Weiss (Georgetown) (right) and Jutta Brunnée (Toronto) as panelists; Sara Seck (Western Ontario) will moderate.
► "International Trade Law and International Investment Law: Convergence or Divergence?": Marinn Carlson (Sidley & Austin LLP).
► "What the Kosovo Advisory Opinion Means for the Future": Anne Peters (Basel).
► "The Role of Legal Norms in Mediation and Negotiation: Views from the Field": Jennifer Lake (Legal Advisor, Independent Diplomat, an advisory group).
► "Ethical and Practical Challenges for Corporate Lawyers Advising Clients on Human Rights": Sarah Altschuller (Foley Hoag LLP), Rachel Davis (Harvard's Kennedy School), and Alexandra Guáqueta (Flinders University).

Friday, March 25, 10:45 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
► "International Criminal Law Interest Group: 'Fact Finding Without Facts': A Conversation with Nancy Combs": IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Nancy Amoury Combs (William & Mary) will speak on her book titled above, about which she posted here; discussant will be her William & Mary colleague, Linda A. Malone.
► "Intellectual Property Law Interest Group: Harmonizing International Law: An IP Perspective": Seagull Song (Renmin University); Elizabeth Chien-Hale (Institute for Intellectual Property in Asia) will moderate.
► "Recent Trends in International Investment Treaty Law": Carolyn Lamm (White & Case LLP) and Loretta Malintoppi (Eversheds LLP).
► "The Roles and Responsibilities of International Organizations": Vera Gowlland-Debbas (Université de Génève) and Daphna Shraga (Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations) as panelists; Blanca Montejo (Office of Legal Affairs, United Nations) will moderate.
► "New Battlefields/Old Laws: Shaping a Legal Environment for Counterinsurgency": Ashley Deeks (Columbia) and Sarah Sewall (Harvard's Kennedy School).
► "Elections and Ethnic Violence": Susan Benesch (World Policy Institute); Sarah Knuckey (NYU) will moderate.

Friday, March 25, 12:30-2:30 p.m.
► "Luncheon Dialogue on the International Criminal Court": ICC Deputy Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda will be the principal speaker; yours truly, Diane Marie Amann (California-Davis), will serve as moderator/discussant.

Friday, March 25, 1-2:30 p.m.
► "International Legal Research Interest Group: Greater than the Sum of Its Parts: Global Cooperation in Making the World's Laws Accessible": Hongxia Liu (World Justice Project), Marylin Raisch (Georgetown), and Roberta Shaffer (Law Librarian of Congress) (left) as panelists; Amy Emerson (Cornell) will moderate.
► "Harmony and Dissonance in Extraterritorial Regulation": IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Hannah Buxbaum (Indiana).
► "Labor and Migration in International Law: Challenges of Protection, Specialization and Bilateralism": Nisha Varia (Human Rights Watch) and Ayelet Schachar (Toronto) as panelists; Regan Ralph (Fund for Global Human Rights) will moderate.

Friday, March 25, 3-4:30 p.m.
► "International Law and the Liability for Catastrophic Environmental Damage": Monika Hinteregger (University of Graz) as panelist; Marie Soveroski (ASIL International Environmental Law Interest Group Co-Chair) will moderate.
► "New Voices II: Internationalizing & Domesticating Law": Anna Dolidze (Cornell), IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Molly Beutz Land (New York Law School), and Tonya Putnam (Columbia).
► "Are There 'Regional' Approaches to International Dispute Resolution?": Katia Fach Gómez (Fordham), Judge Nkemdilim Amelia Izuako (U.N. Dispute Tribunal), and Catherine Kessedjian (Université Panthéon-Assas).
► "International Legal Theory Interest Group: Harmony and Dissonance in International Legal Theory": IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Nienke Grossman and Helen Stacy (Stanford).
► "International Legal Implications of Israel's Attack on the Gaza Aid Flotilla": Sari Bashi (Gisha: Legal Center for Freedom of Movement); Sarah Weiss Maudi (Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs); Naz Modirzadeh (Harvard).

Friday, March 25, 8-10 p.m.
► "ASIL Annual Dinner: A Celebration of Distinction and Promise": featuring, inter alia, award of the Goler T. Butcher Medal to IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Gay McDougall, (left), U.N. Independent Expert on Minorities; Certificate for Scholarship (Creative Scholarship) to Jutta Brunnée, coauthor with Stephen J. Toope of Legitimacy and Legality in International Law; and Certificate for Scholarship (Honorable Mention in a specialized area of international law) to IntLawGrrl guest/alumna Anne Gallagher, author of The International Law of Human Trafficking, on which she posted here.

Saturday, March 26, 9-10:30 a.m.
► "Duplication and Divergence in the Work of the United Nations Human Rights Treaty Bodies": Sarah McCosker (Office of the Australian Attorney General) and Catherine Powell (State Department) (right) as panelists; Christina Cerna (Organization of American States) will moderate.
► "Trade and Investment in Africa: Harmony and Disharmony with the International Community": Uche Ewelukwa (Arkansas) as panelist; Angela M. Banks (William & Mary) will moderate.
► "Geoengineering Climate Change: Can the Law Catch Up?": IntLawGrrl Hari M. Osofsky (Minnesota) as panelist; IntLawGrrl Rebecca Bratspies (CUNY) will moderate.
► "Author Meets Reader; International Law in the U.S. Supreme Court: Continuity and Change": IntLawGrrls guest/alumna Mary Dudziak (Southern California) and Lori Damrosch (Columbia) as panelists; Ingrid Wuerth (Vanderbilt) will moderate.
► "Transnational Piracy: To Pay or Prosecute?": Jennifer Landsidle (State Department) as panelist; Mileno Sterio (Cleveland-Marshall) will moderate.

Kudos to: ASIL President David Caron; ASIL Executive Director Betsy Andersen; the Program Committee Co-Chairs, IntLawGrrls' guest/alumna Chimène Keitner (California-Hastings), Catherine Amirfar (Debevoise & Plimpton LLP), and Tai-Heng Cheng (New York Law School), as well as Planning Committee members Kristen Boon (Seton Hall), Christiane Bourloyannis-Vrailas (EC/UN), Harlan Cohen (Georgia), Omar Dajani (Pacific McGeorge), Jennifer Daskal (Department of Justice), John Fellas (Hughes Hubbard & Reed LLP), Chiara Giorgetti (White & Case LLP), Dick Jackson (Department of Defense), Rebecca Jenkin (Debevoise & Plimpton LLP), Larry Johnson (Columbia), Erasmo Lara (Mexico Foreign Ministry), Blanca Montejo (United Nations), Michael Newton (Vanderbilt), IntLawGrrl Christiana Ochoa (Indiana), Jeffrey Pryce (Steptoe & Johnson LLP), Regan Ralph (Fund for Global Human Rights), Hina Shamsi (American Civil Liberties Union), Ingrid Wuerth (Vanderbilt), Lionel Yee (Singapore Attorney-General's Chambers), and Nassib Ziadé (International Centre for the Settlement of International Disputes)!

Go On! ASIL International Disability Rights Interest Group

This post is adapted from a call for membership circulated by Stephanie Ortoleva and Hope Lewis.

We are thrilled to announce that the American Society of International Law (ASIL) has established the International Disability Rights Interest Group (IDRIG.)

This exciting new group joins numerous other long-standing ASIL interest groups and will be co-chaired in this inaugural phase by Stephanie Ortoleva, Senior Human Rights Legal Advisor, BlueLaw International, LLP, and Visiting Scholar, University of Hawaii, Spring 2011-12 (photo) and IntLawGrrl Hope Lewis, Professor of Law, Northeastern University School of Law. Founding Executive Committee members are Janet E. Lord, Senior Partner, BlueLaw, LLP and Michael Waterstone, Associate Dean for Research and Academic Centers, Loyola Law School of Los Angeles.
The IDRIG will have its first strategy and planning meeting at the 105th ASIL Annual Meeting on Friday, March 25, from 9 to 10:30 a.m. in the Roosevelt Room, Ritz Carlton Hotel, Georgetown, Washington, DC, 1150 22nd Street, N.W.

We encourage you to join us as we plan our strategy and activities for the forthcoming year. Even if you cannot attend this first meeting, please join the interest group so you can be part of our exciting work.
More information on the International Disability Rights Interest Group is available here.

IDRIG's Mission

The interest group's mission is described as follows:

The American Society of International Law International Disability Rights Interest Group (IDRIG) focuses on disability rights as this issue moves from the margins of international human rights law and policy to occupy a prominent place in the global human rights system with the adoption of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD). The CRPD is moving in the direction of universal signature and already has nearly 100 ratifications, signaling the importance of the treaty to more than 650 million persons with disabilities worldwide. The CRPD has prompted an unprecedented pace of law reform worldwide and the establishment of an Inter-Agency mechanism to ensure disability inclusion across the United Nations system. It is also markedly shaping the human rights agendas of mainstream human rights organizations as well as international development agencies. The IDRIG works to promote awareness of disability rights as a cross-cutting issue in international law, sponsoring panels and other events at ASIL. Through an online discussion forum, DRIG provides information on recent developments in the field, an opportunity for networking among the rapidly growing numbers of international disability rights academics, practitioners, and advocates, discussing issues and recent developments in the field, sharing and collaborating on research, and furthering the inclusion of persons with disabilities in the work of ASIL. IDRIG also supports, encourages, and provides leadership opportunities to law students and emerging young lawyers in the growing field. Finally, and crucially, IDRIG advances the diversity of ASIL membership and facilitates the accessibility of ASIL to international lawyers with disabilities.

As you can tell, we have much work to do! If you are not already an ASIL member, information on joining ASIL can be found here.
Contact Stephanie Ortoleva or Hope Lewis with any questions. We look forward to meeting you on the 25th!

Libya: Global Condemnations of Human Rights Violations

As the World Watches...

As posted here by IntLawGrrls Diane Marie Amann and Jaya Ramji-Nogales, human rights abuses against Libyan civilians include indiscriminate use of force, killings, forced disappearances, and violations of the rights to freedom of thought, conscience, opinion, peaceful assembly, and access to information. (Pictured, flag displayed by protesters and diplomats that have denounced the current government.) The reported violations have outraged observers around the world. This, despite a virtual communications blackout that has made monitoring events in Tripoli and other parts of the country difficult.

The United Nations Security Council meets today to discuss the potential imposition of sanctions under UN Charter Chapter VII authority.

Condemnations of Colonel Moammar Gaddafi's actions have included those from diplomats previously associated with his government.

A selected list of international statements and developments appears below.

The world is watching, but the people of the world must do more than watch. They must also insist that their leaders take appropriate joint actions to end the killings and other abuses.

UN Condemnations
►“Libya: Gaddafi in Spotlight at UN Security Council,” BBC News, 26 February 2011
►“UN Resolution on Libya ‘possible’ on Saturday, Security Council President,” Xinhua, February 26, 2011
►“Ban Calls on UN Security Council to Consider Immediate Steps to Stop Killings in Libya,” 25 February 2011
►"UN Human Rights Council Recommends Suspension of Libya," UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 25 February 2011
►“15th Special Session on the situation of human rights in the Libyan Arab Jamahiriya” Human Rights Council, 25 February 2011 (links to statements by High Commissioner Navi Pillay, a statement on behalf of all “special procedures” mandate-holders, statements by member countries, and civil society, and Human Rights Council resolution calling for the suspension of Libya from membership on the Council)
Regional Condemnations
►“AU Peace and Security Council on the Situation in Libya,” EuropAfrica.net, 24 February 2011
►Josh Rogin, “Over 200 Arab Groups Call for Libya No-fly Zone,” The Cable, Friday, February 25, 2011 (includes full texts of statements by prominent Arab intellectuals and by NGOs)
►“Request for Provisional Measures to the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights” INTERIGHTS, 24 February 2011
(joint request by Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Human Rights Watch, and INTERIGHTS)
Condemnations by Libyan Diplomats
► “UN Ambassador’s Tears for Libya,” BBC News, 26 February 2011 (UN Ambassador Mohamed Shalgham’s denunciation of the government’s use of force against civilians and request for Security Council action.)
►“Libyan Arab League delegation renounces Gaddafi,” Reuters, 25 February 2011
Legal Standards
►Libyan Arab Jamahiriya Homepage, UN Office of the High Commission for Human Rights
(listing Libya's international human rights obligations under treaty law and customary international law)
►“Responsibility to Protect,” UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/63/309, 4 September 2009 (International Coalition ofn the Responsibility to Protect webpage) (link to resolution and history of UN efforts to ennumerate the responsibilities of the international community when states fail to protect civilians within their borders or affirmatively harm them.)
News Updates
►Live: Libya Revolt, BBC News (continuously updated page, visited 26 February 2011).

North African women's power?

'How many women are there?'

The question, heard on my commuter train yesterday, spoke volumes.
The question referred to this week's anti-government protests in Egypt. But it applied to all the ferment throughout North Africa and the Middle East this young but remarkable new year.
Mass demonstrations in Egypt, which yesterday prompted 30-plus-year-President Hosni Mubarak to attempt an LBJ.
Mass demonstrations as well, as IntLawGrrl Karima Bennoune has posted, in Algeria and Tunisia. Still more in Yemen and Sudan. Plans are on for Syria this weekend.
Then too there was yesterday's trying-to-get-in-front-of-events dismissal of the Cabinet of Jordan, another site of demonstrations, by its king.
The gender dynamics in countries like these are fraught. For that reason, a marker of the true democratic potential of these events is inherent in the commuter's question quoted above. Rephrased, it is:

Are women taking part, and if so, to what extent?

As to the 1st part of the question, it seems the answer is "yes."
Although most photos shows seas of men, within can be found islands of women. Women, young and old, with and without head coverings. (In addition to photos accompanying this post, see, e.g., here and here.) Other women reporting on the scene, via all the channels of social networking about which Hope Lewis posted earlier this week. (Some are local women. Some -- like Sonia Verma, tweeting for Toronto's Globe and Mail (far right), and Harriet Sherwood, tweeting for London's Guardian (near right) -- are not.)
As to the 2d part of the question?

How extensive is women's participation, now and for the long term?

The answer awaits further events. In the meantime, IntLawGrrls welcome readers' realtime comments and reports.

(Clockwise from top left: Suhaib Salem/Reuters photo of women at demonstration in Egypt appeared in a photo array yesterday at The New York Times' site; credit for Reuters/Muhammad Hamed photo of Jan. 28 demonstration in Amman, Jordan; credit for Jan. 30 BBC image of Sudan protest; credit for Jan. 15 cover photo from the Paris daily Libération, depicting a protest in Tunisia; credit for Hani Mohammed/AP photo of students chanting at Jan. 29 Yemen protest)

Egypt: From Social Networks to Social Movements

Stronger Signals: But From Whom?
Human Rights Watch is calling on the aid donor governments of the United States and the European Union to send strong signals urging the Egyptian government to stop using violence against its own people (see press release here.) Let’s hope any such signals work. The text of a Joint UK-France-Germany Statement appears here, the text of U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton’s televised interview can be read here, and Friday evening’s statement by U.S. President Barack Obama is linked here. Of course, what matters most are the strong and clear signals being sent by the Egyptian people themselves.
Fluid Situation
The remarkable events in Egypt remain fluid. Thousands of peaceful protesters are demanding democratic change. BBC reports indicate that dozens of civilian protesters have been killed or injured by live fire from police and security forces, which Human Rights Watch condemns as violations of international law.
The protests have been predominantly peaceful and the mood among many ordinary Egyptians is cautiously celebratory and hopeful for the possibility of a democratic future.
There are isolated incidents of looting, particularly in poorer areas where there is no national army presence. Some civilian watch groups are forming to protect neighborhoods.
So far, the national army, made up of conscripted Egyptians from all classes, is believed to remain “neutral.” Many protesters see the domestic police forces as allied with the presidency of Hosni Mubarak.
Beyond Information Control
Whatever “signals” are being sent internationally through diplomatic channels, the Egyptian government has impose blackouts on other means of communication including the internet and cellular access (press release.)
As previous IntLawGrrls posts indicate, information technology and social networks have been central to communication and organizing in recent popular uprisings, mass disaster response, elections monitoring, and political dissent in places like Tunisia, Algeria, Haiti, Iran, Kenya, China, and elsewhere. (See our North Africa series and our posts here, here, here, and here.) Obviously, this is equally true in Egypt.
Ironically, and even necessarily, the rise of new media is occurring just as international old media is suffering from severe budget cuts, the withdrawal of foreign correspondents, and the closure of foreign desks. See, for example, this story about budget cuts to the World Service of the BBC.
From Social Networks to Social Movements
Protesters and their relatives and friends outside Egypt used social networks like Facebook and Twitter to provide up-to-the- minute information about where to assemble and about police crackdowns. They texted, e-mailed, and used Skype to let each other know that they were safe. Smartphones recorded both peaceful events and injuries to civilians on the streets; YouTube posted the video clips. Bloggers, of course, posted everything they could get their hands on. Others stayed glued to the Al-Jazeera television network for round-the-clock visual images of the protests and abuses.
Rather than change their behavior, some governments still try to hide by blocking the internet. But, as discussed on today’s broadcast of CNN’s “Reliable Sources,” creative bloggers, tweeters, e-mailers, social networkers, and even Old School ham radio operators the world over often find ways around government attempts to silence the peoples’ voices.
Knowing About Rights
Oddly, it seems that governments never learn that people already know that they have basic rights . They may not know the names of treaties or declarations or principles. They may not know how to translate international norms into domestic constitutional provisions or state and local statutes. They may not concern themselves with the best ways to balance state and private obligations or how to present legal arguments on the most effective remedies before judicial or administrative bodies. Hopefully, lawyers, judges, and legal scholars working at their direction can assist in that regard.
Still, ordinary people know when they are prevented from saying what is on their minds. They know when their children cannot attend school. They know when only certain favored classes benefit from government programs or from natural resources or job opportunities. They know when women, minorities, and children are scapegoated and mistreated. They know when an election is not really an election. They know when their homes are inadequate or non-existent. They know that they should not be beaten up, tortured, abused, raped, or shot.
Lawyers and human rights activists can, therefore, also work in solidarity with people to ensure that such rights are respected, protected, promoted, and fulfilled by powerful actors. This must be so not only for elites in palaces and high places in Geneva, Washington, London, and Paris, but also in small jail cells, apartments, and streetcorners in Cairo, Kingston, Beijing, Chicago, and Ciudad Juarez.
The Right to Self-determination, the Right to Know, and More
This latest version of a new social movement seems to have taken the international media and pundits by surprise. Yet the hopes and dreams of the people in the streets sound very familiar even though new and unpredictable technologies and consequences may surround them.
People throughout the region appear to be marching for the realization of the full range of familiar human rights (civil, political, economic, social, and cultural) outlined in the International Bill of Rights.
Nevertheless, I excerpt below only a few articles from the International Bill which seem to be particularly relevant to the Egyptian crisis at the moment.
Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Freedom of Opinion and Expression
Article 19
Everyone has the right to freedom of opinion and expression; this right includes freedom to hold opinions without interference and to seek, receive and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers.
Freedom of Assembly
Article 20
(1) Everyone has the right to freedom of peaceful assembly and association…
The Right to Political Participation
Article 21
(1) Everyone has the right to take part in the government of his country, directly or through freely chosen representatives.
(2) Everyone has the right of equal access to public service in his country.
(3) The will of the people shall be the basis of the authority of government; this will shall be expressed in periodic and genuine elections which shall be by universal and equal suffrage and shall be held by secret vote or by equivalent free voting procedures.
The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights

The Right to Self-determination of Peoples
Article 1
1. All peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development.
2. All peoples may, for their own ends, freely dispose of their natural wealth and resources without prejudice to any obligations arising out of international economic co-operation, based upon the principle of mutual benefit, and international law. In no case may a people be deprived of its own means of subsistence.
Helpful Resources on Egypt, Human Rights, and Internet Access
►Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression (main page for UN expert)
►Egypt (Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights country homepage)
►2009 Human Rights Report on Egypt (U.S. Department of State, 10 March 2010)
►Egypt (Human Rights Watch continuously updated page)
►"Egypt Women Blog For Their Rights" (BBC News, 18 March 2009)
►Association for Progressive Communications (coalition advocating for increased grassroots digital access)
My heartfelt thanks to Northeastern University School of Law Research Assistants Melissa Joyce and Gil Rochbert and to Northeastern University undergraduate Research Assistant Nicholas Martin.

(Photo: UN Photo. Boys working in carpet factory in Egypt)

Read On! Once (& future?) Haiti

(Read On! ... occasional posts on writing we're reading)

A long-exiled leader's come home and offered to save his country -- if only someone would free up his assets, frozen for the last year.

Suspicious, but not sure why?

Good time for a good read of The Comedians, the 1965 novel in which Graham Greene painted a picture of the Haiti of the time.
It was, as Greene famously wrote, a "Nightmare Republic" (p. 50), in which paramilitary thugs in dark glasses -- nicknamed after evildoers of Haitian folklore, the Tontons Macoutes -- served the ends of a corrupt regime by killing, maiming, terrorizing, anyone, anytime. Among those caught up were Graham's "comedians," 3 of the many outsiders who, in myriad ways, mired themselves in Haiti's woes.

At the head of that nightmare regime?

François Duvalier, known to all as "Papa Doc" (below, far left). Once a respected physician, following his election in 1957 he ruled with an increasingly brutal hand until his death in 1971. Succeeding him was his son Jean-Claude (below, near left), whose 15-year regime likewise was marked by killings, torture, and corruption. (photo credit)

As Hope posted, it is that son, "Baby Doc," now 59, who's returned to Port-au-Prince. And though prosecutors may thwart his goal, it seems he wishes to play a self-styled, and highly suspect, role of Haiti's savior.

Violence Against Women: UN Fact-finding Visit to U.S.

As reported by IntLawGrrls Johanna Bond, Beth Van Schaack, and yours truly, Hope Lewis in posts here, Rashida Manjoo (pictured), a former South Africa Gender Commissioner, is the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, its Causes and Consequences.

Now, there's welcome news that Manjoo will be conducting a fact-finding visit to the United States of America beginning on Monday, 24 January and running through 7 February 2011. (See UN Press Release here.)
The visit is an important opportunity for organizations working to end gender-based and family violence as well as the individual women and girls who are at risk of such violence to be heard in an international context. At informal meetings sponsored by NGOs, women and girls will be able to talk with the rapporteur directly in order to identify failures or successes in state compliance, spread the word about best practices, and, most importantly, discuss specific effective strategies to prevent and remedy violence against women at local, national, and international levels.
Intersectionality and Interdependence
As Johanna Bond discusses in her post, Manjoo and some other special rapporteurs take an “intersectional” approach. Intersectionality recognizes the multiple aspects of identity (including dimensions like gender, race, culture, class, sexual orientation, and disability) that influence human experience. Manjoo has also reaffirmed the importance of the interdependence of civil, political, economic, social, and cultural human rights in preventing and remedying violence against women.
Plans for the Visit
An excerpt from the press release appears below:

GENEVA – The United Nations Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences, Rashida Manjoo, will conduct an official fact-finding mission to the United States from the 24th of January to the 7th of February 2011. “During my visit, I intend to meet with national stakeholders involved in fighting all aspects related to violence against women, with a view to appreciate the phenomenon in the United States,” said the human rights expert, who will visit the country at the invitation of the Government. The Special Rapporteur will travel to Washington D.C., North Carolina, Florida, California, Minnesota and New York City, where she will discuss the issue with government authorities at both the federal and the state levels, and with representatives of civil society. The Special Rapporteur will also visit shelters and detention centers and she will meet with individual victims of gender-based violence. A press conference on the initial findings of the visit will be held at the United Nations Information Center in Washington (1775 K ST NW, Suite 400, Washington DC) on Monday February 7 at 1 p.m. Based on the information obtained during the visit, Ms. Manjoo will present a report with her final findings and recommendations to a forthcoming session of the Human Rights Council.
Ms. Rashida Manjoo (South Africa) was appointed Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences in June 2009 by the UN Human Rights Council, for an initial period of three years. As Special Rapporteur, she is independent from any government or organization and serves in her individual capacity. Ms. Manjoo is also a Professor at the Department of Public Law at the University of Cape Town.
Additional information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur, is available here and the OHCHR Country Page for the United States is available here.

Breaking News: "Baby Doc" in Haitian Court

Former self-appointed “president-for-life” Jean-Claude “Baby Doc” Duvalier was questioned by a Haitian prosecutor and a judge at his hotel outside Port-au-Prince and then “escorted” to court according to this BBC News report. At the time of posting, it is unclear whether he is being arrested or being subjected to further questioning. Reports indicate some unrest outside the courthouse.
International human rights NGOs and Haitian abuse survivors called for Duvalier’s immediate arrest after his mysterious return to the island on Sunday. Forced to leave Haiti during a popular uprising in 1986, “Baby Doc” Duvalier has been living in exile in France for more than two decades without arrest. His regime was characterized by widely and reliably documented human rights abuses.
Charges?

In addition to arguing Duvalier’s liability under Haitian law for alleged misappropriation of public funds and other violations, the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH) and the Bureau des Avocats Internationeaux (BAI) called for international human rights legal accountability (see press release here).

This legal documentation is supplemented by an extensive public record of Mr. Duvalier’s human rights violations, including the torture and disappearances of political dissidents at the Fort Dimanche prison and other crimes committed by organizations under his control including the Armed Forces of Haiti and the Volunteers for National Security (Tontons Macoutes).

Another Year...
For previous IntLawGrrls takes on Haiti, including by Marjorie Florestal, Jaya Ramji-Nogales, and yours truly, Hope Lewis, see here and here. One year after the 12 January 2010 earthquake, I wish I could suggest an accountable, effective, and sustainable pathway for rebuilding, recovery, and transformation. One thing is clear—the core of sustainability lies with the Haitian people and the Haitian Diaspora. Still, the rest of us must play our roles--even if that role is to remember the physician's oath "first, do no harm...."

As Dr. Martin Luther King said all human beings are “tied together in an inextricable web of mutuality.” Trade, humanitarian, human rights, migration, labor, tourism, and business laws and policies do have transnational implications. What "we" do has an impact in Haiti. What happens in Haiti matters wherever “we” are. Stay tuned.

On January 7

On this day in ...
... 1891 (120 years ago today), Zora Neale Hurston was born in Notasulga, Alabama, the 5th of 8 children whose father was a preacher-carpenter-farmer and whose mother was a schoolteacher. She grew up in Eatonville, Florida, the 1st all-African-American incorporated town. (credit for Library of Congress image of Hurston visiting Eatonville in 1935) Hurston started college at Howard University, then accepted a scholarship to Barnard College, where she was the only African-American student. After earning an anthropology degree there, she was a graduate student at Columbia. As IntLawGrrl Hope Lewis has written, Hurston became an "anthropologist of Black cultures in the southern United States, Haiti, and Jamaica." Hurston taught at what's now North Carolina Central University, and established a dramatic arts school. She also wrote, "four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays"; indeed, she was a principal writer during the Harlem Renaissance. Among her most noted works is the novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937). In 1955, she published a letter decrying "ruling of the U.S. Supreme Court" in Brown v. Board of Education "as insulting rather than honoring my race." Hurston died at a welfare home in 1960, and was buried in an unmarked grave.

(Prior January 7 posts are here, here, and here.)

UN Forum: Minorities and Effective Participation in Economic Life

UN Independent Expert on Minority Issues and IntLawGrrls contributor Gay McDougall (photo, right) organized and convened the Third Session of the Forum on Minority Issues at the Palais des Nations in Geneva on 14-15 December.
This year’s session focused on “minorities and effective participation in economic life”—a timely and significant topic given the ravages of the global economic crisis on minority groups throughout the world. (See coverage by Minority Rights Group International (MRG) here.)
According to Forum Chair Dr. Gita Sen, Professor, Indian Institute of Management and Adjunct Professor, Harvard School of Public Health,

Times of economic crisis can be particularly difficult for minority groups that may already be subject to societal discrimination and stigma, and who may be undocumented or migrant workers. Societal pressures to blame those who are the most vulnerable can become explosive unless governments play a moderating role and act as guarantors of protection from violence and abuse.

Draft Recommendations
Consultations centered on the associated Draft Recommendations on Minorities and Effective Participation in Economic Life. The draft served as a platform from which we could explore the roles of minority groups as economic actors and as participants in their own empowerment. Governments, business enterprises, international financial institutions, and other actors share the responsibility to provide the necessities and rights that sustain all groups and individuals. But they also bear affirmative responsibilities to remove barriers to minority groups’ own efforts to build a sustainable and human rights-based future.
Previous sessions of the Minority Issues Forum resulted in recommendations on “Minorities and the Right to Effective Political Participation” (2009) (see also Gay McDougall’s post on the session here) and recommendations on “Minorities and the Right to Education” (2008).
The Diversity of Minorities
The meetings bring together individuals from minority groups and civil society, diplomats from UN and regional organizations, and academic experts to share ideas and to make action-oriented recommendations. The Forum’s mandate is to assist in the further implementation of the Declaration on the Rights of Persons Belonging to National or Ethnic, Linguistic and Cultural Minorities
This year’s session was attended by approximately 500 participants, including 300 members of minority groups or their representatives, as well as attendees from government permanent missions. The proceedings follow a participatory and inclusive approach, encouraging oral and written interventions by as many participants as time permits.
The fact that many women were represented among the key speakers and participants was perhaps not surprising given McDougall’s leadership, but very welcome nevertheless. The presence of women was not merely symbolic, since minority group issues that have special impact on women were prominent on the agenda and in the draft recommendations. An intersectional perspective, in which both minority status and gender implications are taken into account, was evident throughout the program.

As noted above, the Forum was chaired by Dr. Gita Sen. UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, Navanethem (Navi) Pillay (photo, left) opened the proceedings along with the President of the Human Rights Council, H.E. Ambassador Sihasak Phuangketeow.
“Economic Life” in Multiple Dimensions
The Draft Recommendations and Forum addressed a wide range of issues, evidencing the fact that “the economy” implicates all aspects of life, including civil, political, social, and cultural spheres.
Key themes reflected from the Draft Recommendations included:
► Sustainable Livelihoods;
► Work and Social Security;
► Meaningful Consultation/Participation;
► Capacity-Building for Effective Participation;
► Poverty Reduction and Development Strategies;
► Minorities and the Millennium Development Goals; and
► Discrimination and Positive Measures/Affirmative Action.
The presenters highlighted barriers to the effective participation of minorities in economic life. Failure to protect and promote the language rights of minorities, for example, also prevents full participation in education, training, and employment. Gender discrimination, in combination with racial, ethnic, religious, or cultural discrimination, marginalizes or exploits women’s roles in economic and social development. Religious, ethnic, or racial restrictions on land ownership, use, transfer, or title may lead to entrenched poverty among minority groups. Violence and the promotion of hatred against racial, ethnic, or national minorities may marginalize or exclude their participation in the building of society as a whole or exacerbate broader conflict. See McDougal’s recent statement on links between protection of minority rights and the prevention of violence and conflict here. Unsustainable or top-down farming or land distribution practices prevent pastoralists, indigenous peoples, and other minority groups from pursuing sustainable livelihoods for themselves and their families. Such practices may also destroy cultural traditions and ways of living that sustained groups for generations. Policies pursued by business enterprises and international financial and trade institutions may intensify the impact of human rights violations or exclude minority groups from the benefits of human and social development efforts.
Participants also noted some positive developments and best practices. For example, a participant described recent successes in providing effective compensation for African-American farmers damaged by racial discrimination in the United States of America, although more remains to be done for Native American, Latino, and women farmers.
Side Events
Side events on the first day of the Forum included a “Panel on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights and the Application of the Minorities Declaration” organized by the Indigenous Peoples and Minorities Section of the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. A panel on “Minorities and Natural Resources” was co-sponsored by the Underrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) and Minority Rights Group International.
A preparatory workshop organized on 13 December by the UN Office of the High Commissioner on Human Rights and the Minority Rights Group, included several moving presentations on national conditions for minority groups from Uganda, Iraq, Lebanon, Ireland, the United States, and Pakistan.
Formal presentations at the Forum itself were followed by a series of brief interventions by other participants.

Minority groups from Asia, Africa, Europe, and the Americas highlighted concerns or made comments on issues to be addressed by the Draft Recommendations, including
►The status of women pastoralists in Uganda;
►Access to economic participation, land, and employment for Palestinian minority groups;
►Evictions and demolition of public housing, mortgage abuses, violations of land rights, gentrification, and unemployment disproportionately affecting African-Americans and other minority groups in the United States;
►Deportations, displacement, lack of access to employment, education, and health care among Roma peoples in Europe;
►Displacement and other abuses against Ahwazi Arabs, the Oromo and the Degar (Montagnards) (see UNPO report here).
Outcomes
As chair of the Forum, Dr. Sen is responsible for preparing a summary of the proceedings and submissions that will be made available to the participants and members of the public early in 2011. Independent Expert McDougall will present the Forum’s final recommendations to the UN Human Rights Council in March 2011.
The first photo below shows 3 U.S.-based participants during a break (from left) Dr. Carol Anderson, Professor of African-American Studies and History, Emory University, Ms. Kaleema Haidera Al-Nur, Director, Kindred Afro-American Alliance (Kaleema@kindredonline.org ), and (spending too much time with her nose in her computer) yours truly, IntLawGrrl Hope Lewis , Professor of Law and Chair, Committee on Global Law Programs, Northeastern University School of Law. Pictured below (and very much involved in the consultations) is colleague Margaret Burnham, Professor of Law and Director, Civil Rights and Restorative Justice Project, Northeastern University School of Law.

Enabling Asylum Seekers with Disabilities

Mindful of Hope Lewis's exhortation to include disability rights in human rights analyses, and in honor of the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, my post today reviews a recent study of asylum seekers with disabilities in Europe. This UNHCR research paper, written by Clara Straimer (pictured below right) and entitled Vulnerable or invisible? Asylum seekers with disabilities in Europe, echoes Hope's call to ensure that the disabled are included in the ostensibly universal scope of human rights obligations. Focusing on the Common European Asylum System but applicable to asylum determination processes worldwide, the paper seeks to "render visible the relevance of disability in the context of asylum."
Straimer's study begins and ends with the point the suffering of disabled asylum seekers is largely overlooked. The UN Refugee Convention provides no guidance on accommodating the needs of disabled asylum applicants, nor has the UN High Commissioner for Refugees promulgated any guidelines on a disability-sensitive interpretation of refugee law. Such an interpretation should view disability as structural oppression rather than an abnormality; in Straimer's words, as "disabling barriers imposed on persons with impairments by an exclusionary society." This social and human rights based approach to disability is exemplified by the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (UNCRPD), which focuses on recognizing the equality and capabilities of persons with disabilities and providing reasonable accommodation for disability-specific needs. It is surprising and concerning that UNHCR has yet to engage with the UNCRPD.
This legal lacuna belies the fact that disability may present a significant barrier to protection and can provoke and result from displacement. Disability may create multiple barriers to accessing asylum processes -- when combined with obstacles of language and citizenship, asylum seekers with disabilities may be prevented from even presenting their asylum claims. Even those asylum seekers with disabilities who access the process may face particular impediments to obtaining protection. For example, mental impairments may interact with the credibility determination process in a way that excludes the disabled from gaining asylum status. Moreover, asylum seekers with disabilities may have specific health care and accommodation needs that may go unnoticed during and after the asylum process. Finally, asylum law is insufficient in its recognition that disability may be a cause of displacement though discrimination, stigmatization, harassment, and neglect of persons with disabilities in their own communities is widespread.
Straimer walks the reader through the European Union's law and policy on disability and finds that they are in line with the UNCRPD's holistic understanding of disability. However, in practice, member states discriminate in the application of disability rights to nationals and non-nationals both at border and within borders. Moreover, Straimer's examination of the European asylum process directives highlights the need to ensure an individual assessment rather than a group-based understanding of disability. The study notes that while the Receptions Conditions Directive does a good job meeting this standard, the Asylum Procedures Directive and Qualification Directive do not. The former fails to recognize the diversity of disability (intellectual, physical) and the resultant principle that asylum seekers with disabilities don't need "special" treatment in all contexts. The latter fails to recognize disability as a particular social group. Both of these failures render barriers to asylum for the disabled invisible, in stark contrast to the visibility of gender and minority barriers to asylum.
Straimer then describes the qualitative research she performed to determine the reasons for this invisibility. The results and analysis are well worth reading further; I won't, however, describe these here in hope that the reader will be enticed into reading this ground-breaking study!