Immunity of International Organizations and Access to Justice: An International Comparative Analysis

Description
International organizations customarily receive immunities from national jurisdictions so that they may execute their specified mandates and functions without undue interference. However, this immunity results in inherent limitations on access to justice for victims of wrongdoing perpetrated by international organizations.

International organizations customarily receive immunities from national jurisdictions so that they may execute their specified mandates and functions without undue interference. However, this immunity results in inherent limitations on access to justice for victims of wrongdoing perpetrated by international organizations. The case of Rodriguez et al. v Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO) in the United States exemplifies such limitations, as the claimants who were allegedly trafficked by the PAHO only received limited justice under the American system of immunities. However, other national jurisdictions provide for exceptions to immunities based on a concern for claimants' human rights and access to justice, with the possibility that cases like Rodriguez et al. v PAHO would have starkly different outcomes for legal recourse available to victims. This possibility is especially promising in jurisdictions with strong human rights regimes, with Europe being a prime example of such a jurisdiction. This paper examines the predicted outcomes for the case model provided by Rodriguez et al. v PAHO under two different European national jurisdictions - Belgium and the Netherlands - and their respective systems of exceptions to international organizations' immunities. The outcomes are analyzed with particular attention paid to their implications for the human rights of the claimants and the insights gained into the legal mechanisms and structures that are most crucial for and most harmful towards the human rights of claimants.
Date Created
2024-05
Agent

Misconceptions of Human Trafficking: How Misunderstandings about the Causes of Human Trafficking Distract And Negatively Impact Efforts to End the Crisis in the United States

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Description
Human trafficking is the exploitation of people for the use of labor, services or commercial sex. Trafficking varies in different regions of the world, with different vulnerabilities and risk factors that differ based on a number of factors. Thousands of

Human trafficking is the exploitation of people for the use of labor, services or commercial sex. Trafficking varies in different regions of the world, with different vulnerabilities and risk factors that differ based on a number of factors. Thousands of people, most often minors or young adults, are trafficked throughout the United States every year and face a unique set of problems that relate to the black market of ‘sex for sale.’ Human trafficking is not an entirely ‘secret’ issue, in fact most people in the US are aware that it happens in their state and have some recollection of the magnitude of the crisis. With so much data on the topic from documentaries, news stories and nation-wide organizations spreading awareness, we wonder why this underground industry continues to spread and thrive across the country. Through private interviews, surveys, and data collection, I was able to use my field research to determine that there are numerous misconceptions about human trafficking. Inaccurate data, social media trends, Hollywood films and mass fear create a false narrative about the actual risks of trafficking that parents and children should be aware of. Rather than knowing the root causes and predispositions that make children vulnerable to trafficking, we are looking for what television or social media says to be looking for. My study uses qualitative research to gather a unique type of data to understand what traffickers are looking for so that we can collectively keep each other safe from a growing industry that thrives on ignorance and vulnerabilities. By gathering information from those working with survivors and ideas believed by parents living in the US, I am able to determine what misconceptions are most often spread and compare to true data about the crisis in the US.
Date Created
2023
Agent

Does Blackness Matter in the Antitrafficking Community? A Collaborative Work with Five Black Female Antitrafficking Activists A Discussion about America’s Racial Roots in Trafficking and the Impact that it has on Black Bodies in Antitrafficking Organ

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Description
The issue of sex trafficking has been heightened the last several years but has deep history with racial injustice. Black women are disproportionately the victims of sex trafficking and criminalized in prostitution. However, within nonprofit agencies that help provide services

The issue of sex trafficking has been heightened the last several years but has deep history with racial injustice. Black women are disproportionately the victims of sex trafficking and criminalized in prostitution. However, within nonprofit agencies that help provide services and resources to these Black women, the women providing services do not proportionality represent the population being served. To investigate this problem of the lack of diversity and representation within antitrafficking organizations, the research conducts interviews with several Black women who are working for an antitrafficking organization. This study highlights the importance of representation within an organization to have better outcomes and participation of services without tokenizing the Black woman being hired. The research connects the individual experiences of being a token within an organization with the racial roots of sex trafficking to highlight the importance of representing the individuals being served. In order to accomplish this, the research employs qualitative interpretive research methods through semi structured interviews. It employs a critical race feminist theory approach to data analysis to show how Black women in antitrafficking organizations are tokenized but struggling to balance being the most likely to represent the women they are trying to serve.
Date Created
2023
Agent

Rights and Responsibility in the Sex Industry A 20-Year Study on Decriminalization and Legalization in Sweden and the Netherlands

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Description
It is extraordinarily well-documented that death, physical assault, rape, and psychological trauma are common to those working in the sex industry. This is true around the world, despite the varying laws of different countries. 20 years ago, two opposing policies

It is extraordinarily well-documented that death, physical assault, rape, and psychological trauma are common to those working in the sex industry. This is true around the world, despite the varying laws of different countries. 20 years ago, two opposing policies were introduced in an attempt to end abuse and provide support to those in the industry: the Nordic Model of partial decriminalization, and legalization with regulation. Both models were created with the intention to decrease abuse of the vast number of primarily women and girls in the industry and increase their freedom and protection, as they are some of the most vulnerable and marginalized of society. However, these models approach the issue from conflicting views on the nature of the industry itself and use criminal justice approaches without connecting rights, resulting in unreliable means of protecting the rights of those in the sex industry. This paper utilizes a rights-based framework grounded in criminal race theory (CRT) and feminist rights-based literature in conversation with the reality of working within criminal justice systems to understand how fundamental understandings of the sex industry influence policy making, what the presence or absence of government involvement does to the protection and freedom of sex workers, and what kind of government involvement helps or hinders sex worker’s rights. This will be seen in a case comparison of how both policies have succeeded and failed to provide basic human rights to those in the sex industry in the Nordic Model of partial decriminalization in Stockholm, Sweden, and the legalization model of Amsterdam in the Netherlands.
Date Created
2021
Agent