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21. Regulating War: A Taxonomy in Global Administrative Law

Author:
Daphné Richemond-Barak
Publication Date:
11-2011
Content Type:
Journal Article
Abstract:
This article examines the intersection between the private security and military industry and the emerging framework of global administrative law ('GAL'). I explore in this article one aspect of this intersection, namely the use of GAL to create a taxonomy of the industry's regulatory schemes. The industry is characterized by a fragmented and decentralized regulatory framework, which has yet to be presented in a complete and orderly fashion. This article fills the gap by applying GAL's methodology to the private security and military industry. Using the industry as a case study in GAL, I identify (1) international formal administration (the United Nations Working Group on Mercenaries); (2) distributed domestic administration (contract and domestic legislation); (3) hybrid modes of administration (multi-stakeholder initiatives); and (4) private modes of administration (industry associations and codes of conduct). By emphasizing – but not limiting itself to – hybrid and private modes of administration, this article describes what is an increasingly complex manifestation of global governance. Its purpose is to highlight GAL's potential in understanding and contending with the growth of the private security and military industry.
Topic:
War and Law
Political Geography:
Africa and United Nations

22. New Research on Transitional Justice

Publication Date:
02-2011
Content Type:
Video
Institution:
The Harriman Institute
Abstract:
Participants: Aryeh Neier (Founder, Human Rights Watch and President, Open Society Institute), Monika Nalepa (Political Science Department, Notre Dame University), Lara Nettelfield (Post-Doctoral Fellow, Harriman Institute, Columbia University), Tina Rosenberg (Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Haunted Land: Facing Europe\'s Ghosts after Communism), Ruti Teitel (Ernst C. Stiefel Professor of Comparative Law, and Associate Director, Center for International Law, New York Law School, and Visiting Professor, London School of Economics), and Leslie Vinjamuri (School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London). This event is part of the "Human Rights in the Post-Communist World: Strategies and Outcomes " series (Harriman Core Project 2010-2011).
Topic:
Human Rights, Human Welfare, International Law, Post Colonialism, and Law
Political Geography:
Africa, New York, and Europe

23. The International Criminal Court in Africa: challenges and opportunities

Author:
Makau Mutua
Publication Date:
09-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Centre for Conflict Resolution
Abstract:
Norway's five-year experience as the lead nation of the Provincial Reconstruction Team This policy paper is a practically-oriented comparative analysis of the work of the International Criminal Court in Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, and the Central African Republic, and the policy implications for its work for Norway, States Parties, civil society, and key states. The paper argues that all actors, including Norway, should more seriously engage these African states – and key stakeholders within them – to facilitate the work of the ICC to stem impunity. Without such support, the paper concludes, the ICC's objectives in Africa will not be realised.
Topic:
Crime, Genocide, Human Rights, International Law, and Law
Political Geography:
Uganda, Kenya, Africa, Sudan, and Norway

24. Betwixt and between – chiefs and reform of Sierra Leone's justice sector

Author:
Peter Albrecht
Publication Date:
11-2010
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Danish Institute for International Studies
Abstract:
This paper discusses the uneasy role of chiefs within three cycles of security and justice reform in Sierra Leone during the past decade. Interaction has been indirect, by default or marginal, and always hesitant. This has been the case, even though chiefs constitute the most important governing institution in Sierra Leone's rural communities. One of the key tensions, I argue, has been the tendency to cast chiefs as state or non-state, respectively, or even as a hybrid between the two. However, as illustrated in this paper, while they are formally and discursively tied into a 'state system' in the Constitution and in legislation, they are subjected to limited oversight, and therefore govern in relative autonomy. A new program, designed in 2010, might help to transcend the state-non-state dichotomy and prepare the ground for a more productive way of engaging chiefs that do not fit into either a state or non-state category. This is done by focusing on which actors are actually providing security and justice, rather than who donors would prefer did it, i.e., the state.
Topic:
Security and Law
Political Geography:
Africa

25. Customary Law and Human Rights in Botswana

Author:
Rekha A. Kumar
Publication Date:
08-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Human Rights Human Welfare (University of Denver)
Abstract:
The right of indigenous people to have customary law accommodated within the communities they live is an integral part of Botswana legal system. How far traditional cultures protect the well-being of their people would illuminate the foundation of human dignity on which human rights protection stands in a country. The revelations may not be affirmative always, however. In Botswana the Constitution places a prominent status on custom in a range of contexts. The core of personal law is very much the domain of customary law. It is of particular significance for women's rights. In its application it reinforces the social order by determining the obligations of men, women and children, their entitlement to resources, property ownership, marriage and divorce. It formulates such matters as the status of widows, child custody and inheritance. In the absence of a guarantee that equality between men and women takes precedence over custom, traditional practices that discriminate against women may be lawful in some circumstances. There are a number of regional and international human rights instruments ratified by Botswana. The Government has assumed an obligation to ensure that at all its levels of administration basic rights of the people will be respected and protected. How far these legally bind Botswana in its domestic application of customary law is a legitimate question not clearly settled so far.
Topic:
Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Law
Political Geography:
Africa

26. "Nobody Gets Justice Here!" Addressing Sexual and Gender-based Violence and the Rule of Law in Liberia

Author:
Niels Nagelhus Schia and Benjamin de Carvalho
Publication Date:
06-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Norwegian Institute of International Affairs
Abstract:
The international response to SGBV in Liberia – in spite of having been touted as one of the great success stories in implementing UNSC resolution 1325 by the UN and the Liberian government – has so far at best been misguided.
Topic:
Crime, Gender Issues, and Law
Political Geography:
Africa, United Nations, and Liberia

27. What is the case for a security and justice focus in development assistance programming? An assessment of existing literature and evidence

Author:
Dylan Hendrickson and Olawake Ismail
Publication Date:
04-2009
Content Type:
Working Paper
Institution:
Global Facilitation Network for Security Sector Reform
Abstract:
This literature review on security and justice was commissioned by DFID and is intended to support the preparation of the new DFID White Paper on 'Securing our Common Future'. The purpose of the literature review is to find evidence to support the 'case for security and justice'. The key question it asks is why DFID (and other development agencies) should see security and justice as core business?
Topic:
Security, Human Rights, Human Welfare, and Law
Political Geography:
Africa