Tag Archive for ‘Human Rights’

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.” [. . .]

The 2022 Global Energy Crisis: Yet Another Opportunity Missed by the EU?

The 2022 Global Energy Crisis: Yet Another Opportunity Missed by the EU?

By Andra Tofan, Oscar Zou, & Jenik Radon

The invasion of Ukraine by Russia, an energy powerhouse, has woken the EU up to the inevitable truth that (over)dependence on other countries’ supplies based on mere economic necessity is not only unwise but risky in the long run. As the European Commission’s President Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen declared, “[t]he European Union has therefore decided to . . . turn towards more reliable, trustworthy partners.” Two questions naturally arise. First, what does “reliable and trustworthy” mean? Second, how do we ensure partners stay “reliable and trustworthy” in the long run? [. . .]

Exploring Evil with Dr. James Waller

Exploring Evil with Dr. James Waller

In October 2022, The Comparative Jurist sat down with Dr. James Waller, Cohen Professor of Holocaust and Genocide Studies at Keene State College in New Hampshire and Director of Academic Programs at the Auschwitz Institute for Peace and Reconciliation (AIPR), an international non-governmental organization dedicated to genocide and mass atrocity prevention.  Dr. Waller, a trained social psychologist, visited William & Mary Law School to present the research behind his book Becoming Evil: How Ordinary People Commit Genocide and Mass Killing. [. . .]

Not All Wounds Heal with Time: Why the Gambia Needs Transitional Justice

Not All Wounds Heal with Time: Why the Gambia Needs Transitional Justice

By Shaina Salman.

It happened quickly. Yahya Jammeh, The Gambia’s twenty-two-year de facto dictator, boarded a plane to Equatorial-Guinea accompanied by Alpha Condé, Guinea’s president, and most of his fleet of luxury cars. It was almost as if Jammeh’s departure suddenly ripped a band-aid from The Gambia exposing its deep wound to the world- a wound many accuse Jammeh himself of inflicting. Many now think it is time to move on. With Jammeh gone and Adama Barrow having been democratically elected President of The Gambia, many think it is now time to forget about the past and forge a new path.  Unfortunately, as we have learned from countries that have dealt with conflict, dictatorships, and civil war, time alone does not heal all wounds. Sometimes, wounds need to be treated, disinfected, and nursed back to health and the same can be said for societies that have been marred by regimes of terror. These societies need to deal with the sources of its pain, understand past transgressions in order to avoid further damage in the future. The Gambia needs transitional justice – it needs mechanisms that deal with all the open questions left to be answered -it needs to do so on its own and it needs to do so by establishing equitable processes that allow people to find peace in the truth and to repair the years of damage as best as possible. […]

Will China Recognize Same-Sex Marriage? Take a Look at China’s One-Child Policy

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. […]