Archive for ‘Professionals in the Field’

Human Rights and Ethical Lawyering: The Need for a Lawyer’s Hippocratic Oath

Human Rights and Ethical Lawyering: The Need for a Lawyer’s Hippocratic Oath

By: Caitlin Parets, Scarlett Del Giudice Boyer, & Jenik Radon

Lawyers around the world are bound by codes of ethics designed to protect the legal profession and the individuals it serves, but lawyers need a Hippocratic Oath. Rooted in antiquity and still professed today by medical practitioners, modern iterations of the Hippocratic Oath include promises not only to use one’s medical knowledge to the best of one’s ability but also to “not use [one’s] medical knowledge to violate human rights and civil liberties.” [. . .] Lawyers would benefit from a similar ethical consideration for human rights because sometimes simply following the law does not sufficiently capture ethical practices. The wisdom of Emmanuel Lulin, a lawyer and the Chief Ethics Officer for L’Oréal, sums it up beautifully: “Ethics is not about obeying the law. Ethics is about adhering to shared values. . . . Because very often things can be lawful but awful.” [. . .]
Lebanese Journalist Dr. May Chidiac Keynotes William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights

Lebanese Journalist Dr. May Chidiac Keynotes William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights

By Rachel Sleiman

On Friday, January 28, 2022, William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center held its annual symposium online, with this year’s topic centering on Media Freedom and Human Rights. The Symposium hosted experts from around the world to address various issues surrounding freedom of expression, hate speech, incitement, and digital media. This article is the first of a three-part series about the Symposium’s featured panel events. The Human Security Law Center welcomed renowned Lebanese journalist Dr. May Chidiac to open the Symposium as keynote speaker, which also featured Professor Jenik Radon of Columbia University’s School of International & Public Affairs (SIPA) as moderator. [. . .]
Comparative Free Speech: An Expert Roundtable Discussion at William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights

Comparative Free Speech: An Expert Roundtable Discussion at William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights

By Allison Lofgren

On Friday, January 28, 2022, Professor Nancy Combs and the Human Security Law Center at William & Mary Law School hosted a Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights. The second panel addressed comparative free speech issues and was moderated by Professor Timothy Zick, who is the John Marshall Professor of Government and Citizenship and the William H. Cabell Research Professor of Law at William & Mary Law School. He is one of the foremost experts on American freedom of speech law whose views routinely appear in the popular press, and he has published several dozen highly-regarded books and law review articles on the First Amendment.

The three panelists–Dr. Mart Susi, a Professor at Tallinn University in Estonia; Professor Ronald J. Krotoszynski, Jr. from the University of Alabama School of Law; and Michael R. Sherwin, a lawyer at Kobre & Kim–each discussed their perspective on the most pressing free speech issues in their respective areas of expertise. Throughout the panel, they primarily focused on various limitations on free speech in Europe and the United States. [ . . . ]
The Future of Media & Press Freedom Globally: A Discussion with Professor David Kaye at William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights

The Future of Media & Press Freedom Globally: A Discussion with Professor David Kaye at William & Mary Law School’s Human Security Law Center Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights

By Nancy Rosen

On Friday, January 28, 2022, Professor Nancy Combs and the Human Security Law Center hosted a Symposium on Media Freedom & Human Rights at William & Mary Law School.

For the final presentation, Professor David Kaye presented on the Future of Media & Press Freedom Globally, which also featured Professor Nancy Combs and law student Rachel Sleiman as moderators.  Kaye focused on conceptualizing human rights and media through the international legal framework of Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), addressing three principal threats to media and press around the world—the legal redefinition of journalism, the increase of surveillance, and the rise of social media—and concluding with ways to move forward. [ . . . ]
UNESCO’s Ricardo de Guimarães Pinto keynote speech at William & Mary Law School’s Cultural Heritage Symposium

UNESCO’s Ricardo de Guimarães Pinto keynote speech at William & Mary Law School’s Cultural Heritage Symposium

By Ricardo de Guimarães Pinto.

“On behalf of UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, it is really a great honor for me to be with you today at William & Mary Law School. As we all know, William & Mary was the first law school in the United States and was the brainchild of President Thomas Jefferson. Given your rich history, I particularly appreciate your commitment to UNESCO’s cultural work: to protect the heritage of humanity so that each of us – regardless of age, gender, nationality or income – can enjoy, benefit and learn from the legacy of the past.” […]
Populism and Constitutionalism in East-Central Europe

Populism and Constitutionalism in East-Central Europe

By Gábor Halmai.

The recent deviations from the shared values of constitutionalism towards a kind of “populist, illiberal constitutionalism” in East-Central Europe raise the theoretical questions: are populism and illiberalism what the leaders of these backsliding states proud of, reconcilable with constitutionalism? I shall concentrate on a particular version of populism, which is nationalist and illiberal, and mainly present in Hungary and Poland, and in other countries of the region. Most are also members of the European Union, a valued community based on liberal democratic constitutionalism.  The arguments set forth below about East-Central European populist constitutionalism in this paper do not necessarily apply to other parts of Europe (Greece and Spain), Latin-America (Bolivia), or the US, where populism has a different character, and its relationship to constitutionalism is distinct from the Hungarian or the Polish variant. […]
Anti-Terrorism and Counter-Extremism in Bangladesh: From Policy to Grassroots Activism

Anti-Terrorism and Counter-Extremism in Bangladesh: From Policy to Grassroots Activism

By Atif A. Choudhury.

Holey Artisan Bakery is the kind of place where expats cure homesickness by indulging in a range of epicurean delights, while locals (especially kids) grab themselves a treat before fasting hours began. On July 1, during the waning days of Ramadan, seven heavily armed terrorists decided it was a suitable venue to rob 24 innocent people of their lives and to shock a nation of 170 million in the process. […]
A Human Security Approach to Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea

A Human Security Approach to Maritime Security in the Gulf of Guinea

By Dr. Ian M. Ralby.

The Gulf of Guinea – the coastal portion of West and Central Africa – is one of the most dynamic regions of the world in terms of both maritime criminal activity, and proactive efforts to counter maritime crime. The waters of the Gulf are plagued by a wide array of challenging threats including piracy, armed robbery at sea, illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing, trafficking of all sorts, dumping and other environmental crimes, and oil theft. […]