By: Gwyneth Smith, J.D. ’27 and Shrinithi Venkatesan, J.D. ’25 Our world is rapidly aging. As a result of the […]
Archive for ‘Student writing’
Aparna Polavarapu Speaks at the Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice’s 2024 Symposium on Restorative Justice
By: Katie Smart, J.D. ’26 and Shrinithi Venkatesan, J.D. ’25
On Friday, March 1, 2024, William & Mary Law School’s Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice hosted its 2024 Symposium on Restorative Justice. Aparna Polavarapu, a speaker at the event, discussed international human rights law as it relates to restorative justice in her presentation, “Human Rights, Human Duties: Making a Rights-Based Case for Community-Based Restorative Justice.”
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
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
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. [ . . . ]
Making Ecocide an International Crime: A Discussion with Kate Mackintosh and the Human Security Law Center
By Rachel Sleiman
Director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights at the University of California-Los Angeles School of Law, about recent efforts to establish ecocide as an international crime and in particular as the fifth international crime within the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (ICC). [. . .]
A Three-year-old Cannot Represent Herself in Court: The Need to Appoint Counsel to Children in Removal Proceedings
By Jennifer Quezada Castillo.
Immigration proceedings are far from being simple and easily understood procedures. The court in Castro-O’Ryan v. INS recognized the complexity of our immigration laws by holding that “‘immigration laws [are] second only to the Internal Revenue Code in complexity.’” If courts have recognized the intricacy of our immigration laws, it’s difficult to comprehend why we would require a child to make sense of this complex system without the assistance of an expert in the field. We shouldn’t. However, our laws do not reflect this simple and logical answer. […]
Circumventing International Law: The EU’s Responsibility for Rights of Migrants Returned to Libya Under Operation Sophia
By Victoria Jensen.
From January to October 2016, nearly 160,000 refugees crossed the Mediterranean to Italy. In response to the smuggling and trafficking across the Mediterranean, the European Union created Operation Sophia. However, Operation Sophia has resulted in migrant and refugee boats being intercepted by the Libyan Coast Guard and being returned to Libya. Through the Operation Sophia training program, the EU has effectively delegated European border control to the Libyan Coast Guard. This practice allows the EU to evade both their duty of non-refoulement and duty to rescue distressed persons at sea. The EU has trained Libyans to conduct actions which the EU could not legally accomplish itself under international law, and is therefore violating international human rights law by aiding and assisting Libya’s wrongful actions. […]
Freedom of Movement: the Right to Leave Permanently and the Right to Leave Temporarily
By Lauren Gillespie.
Man is a migrant species. With modern technology, emigration has lost its permanency, and people ebb and flow through borders. And today states struggle to control the movement of humanity across borders while respecting the right to freedom of movement. In this article, I argue that the international law community split freedom of movement into two distinct rights: namely, the right to leave permanently and the right to leave temporarily. […]
Will China Recognize Same-Sex Marriage? Take a Look at China’s One-Child Policy
By Howell Ma.
The legalization of gay marriage is being argued in China right now. It is has been discussed in the society for years, especially after the United States (“U.S.”) Supreme Court Obergefell ruling came out in 2015. Constantly, there are discussions regarding why it is so difficult for the People’s Republic of China (“PRC”) to recognize same-sex marriage while ancient China had relatively more tolerant policies towards same-sex relationships. This article argues the greatest challenge is not the constitutional grounds, but rather social hurdles: traditional Confucian culture, the government’s ignorance of the existence of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (“LGBT”) people in China, and the general mass social views of homosexuality and same-sex marriage in China. […]