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A picture taken on November 19, 2020 shows the headquarters of Swiss food giant Nestle in Vevey ahead of a November 29, 2020 nationwide vote on a people's initiative to impose due diligence rules on Swiss-based firms active abroad.

Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Judicial Activism, Corporate Exceptionalism, and the Puzzlement of Nestlé v. Doe

Congress has amended the Alien Tort Statute only three times. Yet judicial interpretation has significantly limited the statute's reach through "shadow amendments" to the text.…
U.S. Army (retired) General Lloyd Austin speaks after being formally nominated to be Secretary of the Department of Defense by U.S. President-elect Joe Biden at the Queen Theatre on December 09, 2020 in Wilmington, Delaware. Behind him is a banner with the seal of the President-Elect.

Representation at the Top: The Importance of Race in the Austin Nomination Debate

The pushback against retired Gen. Lloyd Austin’s nomination as secretary of defense has left little room to celebrate what is also a milestone for Black Americans in and out…
World Health Organization (WHO) Health Emergencies Programme head Michael Ryan, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus and WHO Technical lead head Covid-19 Maria Van Kerkhove attend a press conference organized by Geneva Association of United Nations Correspondents (ACANU) amid the COVID-19 outbreak, caused by the novel coronavirus, on July 3, 2020 at the WHO headquarters in Geneva. They do not wear face masks, but their seats are social distant from one another.

COVID-19 and International Law Series: Reforming the World Health Organization

[Editor’s Note: This article is part of a Just Security series, COVID and International Law. All articles in the series can be found here.] The World Health Organization…
French President Emmanuel Macron speaks with European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen as Hungary's Prime Minister Viktor Orban speaks with Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki during a round table meeting during an EU summit at the European Council building in Brussels, on December 10, 2020. They stand talking, not actually sitting at the table. They all wear face masks. Behind them a wall is covered with a banner reading “European Council.”

Polish Government’s Attacks on Rule of Law Violate Not Only EU Norms but International Law

The repeated violations of fundamental rights and principles corrode the very foundations of the democracy Poland fought so hard to win.

Early Edition: December 11, 2020

Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major national security news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news HUNTER…
Trump claps his hands at the Republican presidential nomination as son-in-law and senior advisor Jared Kushner and children Eric and Ivanka Trump look on the South Lawn of the White House August 27, 2020 in Washington, DC. None of them wear face masks.

We Can’t “Look Forward” on the Trump Administration’s Abuses

When President-elect Joe Biden takes office in January, he will confront a national economic crisis and a still out-of-control pandemic. He will also face questions about how to…
Asylum seekers wait at a fence to cross into the United States at El Chaparral crossing port on the US/Mexico Border in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on February 29, 2020.

Could a Migrants’ Bill of Rights Provide a Blueprint for Migration Policy in the Americas?

There is a unique opportunity for new U.S. leadership to employ a rights framework both to remedy abuses and lock in collaboration on building a new migration policy architecture…
The cap of the United States Capitol Building

The Failed Transparency Regime for Executive Agreements

This article is cross-posted at Lawfare.   In late October, the United States and Sudan reportedly signed a bilateral agreement “to resolve claims arising from the 1998…
Jarraye Moore, age 5, listens to speakers at a candle light vigil for his second cousin, Kevin Peterson Jr., on December 6, 2020 in Vancouver, Washington. Clark County Sheriffs deputies shot and killed Peterson in October, sparking Black Lives Matter vigils and counter protests by far-right groups.

If the US Wants to Lead on Human Rights, We Must Shift to the State and Local Level

With little fanfare, the Trump administration participated in a review of the United States’ human rights record on Nov. 9. In a rare moment of engagement with United Nations…
The 19th Session Human Rights Council. 15 March 2012.

The UDHR, Digital Authoritarianism, and Human Rights after Trump

"A simple return to an imagined world of pre-Trump human rights is not enough."

Early Edition: December 10, 2020

Signup to receive the Early Edition in your inbox here. A curated guide to major national security news and developments over the past 24 hours. Here’s today’s news US DEVELOPMENTS…
The words "Cargill is Guilty" are projected in lights onto the face of the U.S. Supreme Court in Washington, D.C. on November 30, 2020 as part of a protest.

Nestlé & Cargill v. Doe Series: Holding the Aiders and Abettors of Atrocity to Account

Do the Alien Tort Statute and Torture Victim Protection Act apply to those who aid in atrocities? Human rights groups - who use the statutes to prosecute these crimes - say yes.
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