WCL Human Rights Brief Blog

Death-Worlds and Death-Wombs: The Necropolitics of Reproduction

By Michael Tracy, JD Candidate, American University Washington College of Law ’28 Introduction On June 24, 2022, the United States Supreme Court declared that the Constitution does not protect women and other pregnancy-capable people from forced childbirth.[1] In doing so, the Court’s majority opinion allowed states to renegotiate the terms of personhood and independently define life […]

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Identity as Warfare: Deportation, Re-Education, and Russia’s Systemic Campaign Against Ukrainian National Identity

By John F. Kerins, JD Candidate, American University Washington College of Law ’26 Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, Ukrainian children have been separated from their parents, transferred across borders, and placed in sites controlled by Russian or occupation authorities.[1]  These transfers are not a by-product of wartime chaos, nor an attempt to evacuate

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Recognizing Genocidal Intent Through its Constitutive Acts: Direct Targeting of Children in Gaza by Israeli Security Forces

By Leonardo Helman, JD Candidate, American University Washington College of Law ’27 Genocide never just happens; there is always a set of circumstances, whether naturally occurring or deliberately created, that allow genocide to transpire.[1]  Article II of the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (“Genocide Convention”) requires there be a dolus specialis or

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Forever Detained: Guantanamo Bay, Taliban Detainees, and the United States’ Obligation to Release Detainees

By Jacob Tucker JD Candidate, American University Washington College of Law ’24 This article will examine the United States’ obligation under International Humanitarian Law (IHL) and International Human Rights Law to repatriate, or otherwise release, Taliban detainees held at Guantanamo Bay. The Bush Administration failed to correctly apply international humanitarian law (IHL), specifically provisions of

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The Impeding Impact of Castro-Huerta on Gender-Based Violence Against Native American Women in the United States

By Jazzmen Fobbs- JD/MA Candidate, American University Washington College of Law ’25 I.  Introduction Article 7 of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples provides that “[i]ndigenous individuals have the rights to life, physical and mental integrity, liberty and security of person.”[1] Native American women and girls in the United States face a

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