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About Law and Jurisprudence Journal

About Law and Jurisprudence Journal; a pubication of AboutLaw.com

Rurality as an Intersecting Axis of Inequality in the Work of the U.N. Treaty Bodies

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Abstract

Rurality intersects with other identities, power dynamics, and structural inequalities—including those related to gender, race, disability, and age—to create unique patterns of human rights deprivations, violations, and challenges in rural spaces. Therefore, accurately assessing human rights and duties in rural spaces requires attention to the dynamics of rurality in a particular context, the unique nature of diverse rural identities and livelihoods, the systemic forces operating in and on those spaces, and the intersections with other forms of structural discrimination and inequality.

Although much of the work of the U.N. treaty bodies has in fact addressed human rights situations in rural areas, the role of rurality as an intersecting axis of structural inequality in those cases has not been systematized. There have been important advances related to rurality, intersectionality, and human rights, but these remain largely invisible to researchers and advocates and from one human rights body to another. Without this crosscutting look at rurality, biases and assumptions remain hidden and unchallenged.

This Article addresses that gap by analyzing the treatment of rurality in two U.N. human rights treaty bodies: the Human Rights Committee and the Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The aim is to contribute to further engagement with the role of rurality and spatial justice in intersectional approaches to human rights research, policy, and advocacy. The research documents several trends, including (i) the important impact that global agrarian movements have had in achieving recognition of rural difference and rural-specific human rights claims beyond merely measuring urban-rural disparities; (ii) that rurality is most frequently acknowledged in connection with the rights of women, reflecting the sustained work of women’s rights advocates to showcase that intersection, among other dynamics; and (iii) that, in practice and with very few exceptions, rurality is only acknowledged or named in the assessment of countries in the Global South.

Author: Amanda Lyons, University of Minnesota Law School

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The Case for Reparations for the Color of COVID

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Abstract

This Article surveys the data demonstrating that COVID-19, far from being the great equalizer, has generated starkly skewed adverse outcomes, including grossly disproportionate deaths, among persons of color in the U.S., Brazil, and India, and in all likelihood globally. The “color of COVID” results from governmental actions and inactions that, when combined with long-standing socio-economic vulnerabilities, produce deadly results for certain groups.

Global health reformers are not addressing these injustices. Like those who resist reparations for African-Americans, for the global victims of slavery, colonialism and its legacies, or for all of the current pandemic’s victims, those seeking to reform the WHO resist state responsibility or accountability for COVID.

This Article argues that since, under international law, states owe a duty to provide remedies to persons within their jurisdiction who are denied fundamental rights because of de facto or de jure discrimination, there will be a substantial number of COVID-related claims presented in national courts and international venues, such as human rights courts and treaty bodies. States will face a choice between allowing judges to respond to actions or anticipating the most serious of them by establishing reparations mechanisms or commissions to address the color of COVID. As students of transitional justice can attest, there are advantages to doing both: allowing tort-like claims to proceed in judicial fora while establishing, at the national and possibly sub-national levels, mechanisms to enable contextually sensitive responses—from government apologies to forms of recompense. Intrastate reparations are more politically viable than interstate claims seeking to establish blame for the spread of COVID. National efforts to provide a measure of restorative justice to those harmed within each country by discriminatory practices are justified morally, legally, and from a utilitarian perspective. Bringing out the facts of the color of COVID and making states accountable may deter discriminatory actions (and inactions) that have furthered COVID-19 and its variants. Enabling accountability for the color of COVID can help mitigate the impact of future pandemics. Reparations would also advance the idea that all persons, irrespective of color of skin, have a basic right to life and health.

Author: José E. Alvarez

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Raped by the System: A Comparison of Prison Rape in the United States and South Africa

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Abstract

The main objective of this article is to create overall awareness and to give people a real sense of the events that go on every day inside prison walls. The article is meant to show people that the way they think about prison and prison rape specifically is severely jaded. What happens behind prison bars should certainly not stay behind prison bars. The stories within this article are unlike any prison rape stories people have heard before. They are harsh, inhumane, and deeply disturbing. The only way to incite change is to open people’s eyes to the true conditions within prisons. People tend to want to change things that pull at their heartstrings and evoke strong emotions. Most people do not exactly reserve a warm spot in their heart for criminals. Hopefully, this article will change their minds.

This article will compare prison rape in two countries, the United States and South Africa. These two specific countries were strategically chosen because of their contrasting societies. The United States is one of the most affluent countries in the world, while South Africa severely lags behind. The dynamics between gender and race are also very different within the countries, which would lead one to believe their treatment of prisoners would be drastically different. This article will illustrate how two radically different countries are surprisingly and disturbingly alike in how they manage their prison systems. It will first compare the basic prison conditions and general populations of the two countries. It will then journey into the unchartered territory of sexual violence in each country’s prison systems. Then it will explore the actions that each country is taking to better their prison systems. Lastly, it will present the argument that prison rape is considered torture under international law, in addition to a violation of the Eighth Amendment.

Author: Alexandra Ashmont, Pace University School of Law

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Men’s Rights, Gun Ownership, Racism, and the Assault on Women’s Reproductive Health Rights: Hidden Connections

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Abstract

In this current era characterized by much fear of, and anxiety about, the political influence and actions of the U.S. alternative right (alt-right), only a small number of men’s rights organizations receive attention from the media, the Democratic Party, or a large cadre of progressives. This article demonstrates that ignoring all-male anti-feminist organizations is a flawed strategy for challenging the recent rise of the alt-right because these misogynistic groups are heavily involved in the gun rights movement, major contributors to racist practices and discourses, and active participants in efforts to criminalize and curtail women’s access to abortion. Another, but equally important, aim of this piece is to briefly suggest new means of creating effective movements aimed at achieving social justice, one that involves a coalition of broader constituencies that prioritize gender and sexuality as well as race/ethnicity and social class.

Author: Walter S. DeKeseredy, West Virginia UniversityFollow

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The Youth Inferno: Two-Way Working on Ancestral Lands

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Abstract

In this article I present some of the work of Creating a Safe and Supportive Environment (CASSE) in Central Australia, Northern Territory, with the youth in the justice system, referring to our dual cultural and therapeutic program Shields for Living, Tools for Life. Psychoanalytic concepts and tools that have informed the work and transformed the trauma landscape are detailed. The work is at the epicenter of anger, concern, and politics in Central Australia and this epicenter has been named the “youth crisis.” It is a journey of feeling the heat, of being on a rollercoaster ride in a landscape of monstrous trauma where CASSE attempts two-way working.

Author: Pamela Nathan, CASSE, Melbourne, Australia

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