Economic Social Cultural Rights

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Between “Measurability of Objectives” and “Meaningful End Points” on Affirmative Action Programs and Racial Discrimination: SCOTUS Decision in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College

June 29, 2023

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) issued its Decision striking down (6-3) the race-conscious admissions processes of both Harvard College and the University of North Carolina in Students for Fair Admissions Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College. While Chief Justice Roberts’ Opinion, penned on behalf of the majority of the Court, could more appropriately be analyzed in any number of constitutional law commentaries and blogs (already proliferating here, here, and here), the reasoning in the Opinion itself is of interest when contrasted with the United States’ international treaty obligations under the International Convention on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (ICERD).  In a nutshell, SCOTUS held that race-conscious admissions processes, programs, and policies of both Harvard College and the University of North Carolina violated the Fourteenth Amendment (Equal Protection Clause) of the United States Constitution, by failing to: 1) “operate their race-based admissions programs in a manner that is sufficiently measurable to permit judicial review…

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130 days and counting: A responsibility to end the blockade of the Lachin Corridor

May 2, 2023

Severe shortages in food and medical supplies are increasingly imposing great hardship on Nagorno-Karabakh’s 120,000 ethnic Armenian residents, with provisions depleting quickly and no alleviation anticipated so far. The question that arises is whether a responsibility to end the (current form of) protests and hence alleviate the situation may be uncovered. The Lachin Corridor – the…

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EU – New Zealand FTA: Towards a new approach in the enforcement of trade and sustainable development obligations

September 28, 2022

 On 30 June 2022, the President of the EU Commission and the New Zealand Prime Minister jointly announced the successful termination of the negotiations for the creation of a new free trade area (FTA) between the European Union and New Zealand. As for New Zealand, the commercial liberalization provided by the new FTA would determine a…

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A Not So ‘New Dawn’ for International Economic Law and Development: Towards a Social Reproduction Approach to GVCs – A Rejoinder to Bernard Hoekman

July 13, 2022

I thank Bernard Hoekman for taking the time to engage with my article ‘A Not So “New Dawn” for International Economic Law and Development: Towards a Social Reproduction Approach to GVCs’, and for providing me with the opportunity to clarify some of its arguments. He and I agree that concerns about social reproduction are central to…

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The Human Right to Food, Freedom from Hunger, and SDG 2: Global Food Crisis and Starvation Tactics from the Russian Invasion of Ukraine

June 9, 2022

Much has been written and reported in the past 100 days since the Russian Federation invaded Ukraine, regarding all manner of mass atrocity crimes, continuing egregious human rights violations, war crimes and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions and other sources of international humanitarian law.  In February, I wrote about international law duties…

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