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Summer 2009: Table of Contents

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Social JusticeBack to top

• Human Rights from a Latin American Perspective
  Saulo Jose Casali Bahia, Federal Judge, Professor of Law, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil
• Promoting Sustainability in Rural Development the Role of Land Property: Usi Civici In Sardinia (Italy)
  Angela Cacciarru, Department of Geography, University of North Carolina
• Ethiopia in the New Millennium: Issues of Democratic Governance
  Solomon Addis Getahun, Assistant Professor of African and African Diaspora History, Central Michigan University
• Culture, Government and Markets
  Koushik Ghosh, Professor and Co-Chair, Department of Economics, Central Washington University
• Human Rights and Socio-Economic Justice: The Global Challenge
  Professor Winston Nagan, University of Florida
• Canada Opposes The United Nations’ Declaration of 2007 Recognizing the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Is Canada’s Strident Opposition an Anomaly or a Symptom of a Troubling Transformational Shift in Canadian Values?
  Terrance P. Power, Professor, Royal Roads University, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada
• Wilberforce’s Work is Not Done: Ending Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery
  Michelle Crawford Rickert, Assistant Professor, Liberty University, Helms School of Government
• The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act:  Paving The Way for Equal Pay Claims
  Bonnie L. Roach, Associate Professor, Ohio University

Human Rights from a Latin American Perspective
Saulo Jose Casali Bahia, Federal Judge, Professor of Law, Federal University of Bahia, Brazil

Abstract:
This paper deals with human rights from a Latin American perspective and, more specifically, from the Brazilian one. Human rights are present in the Brazilian Constitution, and Brazil, like the other Latin American countries, adopted the majority of international conventions about human rights. The real problem isn’t the absence of a normative or formal prevision in constitutional texts, which is common in almost all Latin American nations, but of their implementation, for the Judiciary, which is now in a hard position and must implement public policies in view of the omission of the Executive and Legislative Powers in implementing them. From an international perspective, we examine the international protection of human rights and Brazilian law, with an emphasis on the Inter-American Human Rights System and on the constitutional problems that arose with the signing of the Treaty of Rome which created the International Criminal Court. Finally, we work out the domestic and international perspectives of the issue of social justice, human rights and poverty.

Promoting Sustainability in Rural Development the Role of Land Property: Usi Civici In Sardinia (Italy)
Angela Cacciarru, Department of Geography, University of North Carolina

Abstract
In rural development, compliance with the rule of the market appears to limit the range of land use models that can be implemented at the local level. In the Ogliastra province, of the Italian autonomous region of Sardinia, however, local grassroots practices by landusers displays a more diverse and interesting landscape than might be expected. A myriad of land management practices, including long-standing customary patterns of common use, and varying definitions of land property, persist within seemingly unitary private property regimes. This hybrid situation reflects “legal pluralism,” and a long history of success at balancing local needs and regional policies, and of managing ever-changing national and global economic pressures on local resources.  
In Ogliastra, customary common land use practices (usi civici, or civic uses) are widespread and operate to preserve territorial sustainability, enhance public access to natural resources, and protect the livelihoods of local residents.  Recent Sardinian, Italian, and European rural development planning has finally begun to acknowledge the value of these customary land use practices, and incorporate them into recent development plans. In Ogliastra, and in Sardinia more widely, this effort has been furthered through the pioneering work of Territorial Laboratories, provincial-level commissions that bring officials and researchers together with local landusers for problem solving on questions of land management in this complex situation.   

Ethiopia in the New Millennium: Issues of Democratic Governance
Solomon Addis Getahun, Assistant Professor of African and African Diaspora History, Central Michigan University

Abstract
This paper seeks to examine the roots of conflict in Ethiopia. It illustrates how the culture of intolerance and sense of entitlement, especially among the educated elite, has remained an impediment for the development of democratic governance.
Pre-twentieth century Ethiopia, by and large, was a society governed by Judeo-Christian beliefs and norms that revolve around honesty, loyalty, integrity and respect to elders and the law—the common law. However, with the introduction of Western education and the brief Italian occupation, these norms and beliefs were eroded but without a substitute. The country’s educated elite, which vies to rule the country, lack a firm grounding in ideas of Western democracy. Yet, it also lacks footing in traditional rules and norms of governance which resulted in a perpetual conflict and disregard for human rights.

Culture, Government and Markets
Koushik Ghosh, Professor and Co-Chair, Department of Economics, Central Washington University

Abstract
 In this paper I explore the nature of self-interest, and the notion that culture in its interactions with self-interest has been instrumental in bringing about the present financial crisis. In particular, I pursue a discussion in the paper that interrogates the question: what is the role of culture in such crises, and the role of government in imposing morality on the markets? This paper argues that government through its institutions has a critical role to play in maintaining vigilance and the telling of the right story to prevent such crises in the future. In particular policymakers should pay attention to research that emphasizes the persistent role of animal spirits in leading us to repeated crashes and should craft institutions that do not assume that individuals are rational economic agents whose pursuit of unmitigated self-interest will lead to the greater good.

Human Rights and Socio-Economic Justice: The Global Challenge
Professor Winston Nagan, University of Florida

Introduction
The challenge presented by the theme of this round table certainly does not lack for magnitude in scope or import: we set out this week to explore the global quest for human rights. It is my obligation to introduce the theme with a bow of respectful deference to the challenges that human rights pose for legal and political theory.  The issues, of course, are innumerable and can only be touched upon superficially during our week here.  Broadly speaking, the professional culture of human rights has developed into a distinct and important branch dominated by legal culture and its attendant professionalism. However, a great deal of human rights concerns do not necessarily fall within the legal culture and its human rights practices. Of particular relevance here is the perspective of human rights associated with political culture. Tension between the political and juridical aspects of human rights is palpable. Thus, some “rights” are regarded as quintessentially juridical, and the development of the specific institutions of law are likewise regarded as a natural fit for the specific prescription, application and enforcement of human rights as law. Essentially, this means that human rights problems may be reduced to the processes of legal advocacy within institutions like human rights commissions and courts which are easily identified as juridical. Additionally, human rights are often prescribed, applied and enforced in ordinary municipal courts as well as courts specialized to state constitutional law.

When most of us talk about a clash of civilizations, we think of Samuel P. Huntington’s 1993 prophesy that the most likely pending source of cultural conflict would be between the followers of Islam and Christianity (Huntington 1993). But, with the advancement of a new era of globalization in the 1980s, another clash has re-emerged. Three hundred and seventy million indigenous people, located in over 5,000 distinct cultural communities, are required increasingly to defend their historical claims and rights against the encroaching global economic interests coveting access to their resource-rich lands. Capping 22-years of raucous debate, on September 13, 2007 the General Assembly passed the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Only Canada and three other developed countries, the United States, Australia, and New Zealand remain strongly opposed to this long awaited, non-binding UN declaration. This paper examines the case for Canada’s continued opposition to what, on its face, seems to be an anomaly in the support for cultural and human rights’ values long espoused by Canada; and further, if this position is not an anomaly, is it a symptom of a much deeper and more troubling transformational shift in Canadian values?

Wilberforce’s Work is Not Done: Ending Human Trafficking and Modern Day Slavery
Michelle Crawford Rickert, Assistant Professor, Liberty University, Helms School of Government

Abstract
Since slavery has been made illegal in nearly all countries in the world, and as modern advances allow more attention to be focused on other social improvements to make the lives of people better, there is a dark and hidden underbelly around the world that most people do not want to hear about. The fact is, that while the battle over the legal status of slavery has been won, as have many of the cultural battles regarding the wrongfulness of enslaving another human being, more slaves exist in the world at this moment than were trafficked in over 350 years of trans-Atlantic slavery combined—by almost a 2-to-1 margin. The author seeks to refocus the 21st century reader on what Wilberforce called the “wickedness” that is the slave trade by examining the historical challenges and successes in abolition and then discussing the modern manifestation of slavery and the forms in which it emerges. The author then discusses modern legal attempts to attack the underground markets on both the supply and demand side, both of which extend throughout the globe, complicating this issue immensely. The author tells several true stories of trafficking victims’ experiences to give a human face to the injustices that are perpetrated and to give the reader a sense of the diversity of victim types, methods of enslavement, and motivations of slaveholders. The author concludes that given the modern complexities and the already illegal nature of slavery and trafficking in persons a multi-faceted response is needed at the international, national, NGO, and personal levels to detect slavery, rescue the weak from injustice and oppression, prosecute offenders, and rehabilitate and provide stability for victims.

The Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act:  Paving The Way for Equal Pay Claims
Bonnie L. Roach, Associate Professor, Ohio University

ABSTRACT
It is an established fact that more women are entering the labor market and entering a work world which, on the surface, appears to provide equal rights to women workers.  Although there are a number of statutory protections against discrimination in the workplace, women are still being paid significantly less than men which results in a loss of many thousands of dollars over a woman’s working life.  The answer to this situation would seem to be recovery through litigation, yet the Supreme Court has decided several cases which makes it virtually impossible for a plaintiff to bring a viable Equal Pay claim.  The Supreme Court decided that a plaintiff can only bring an Equal Pay claim 180 days after the initial discriminatory decision to pay a female worker differently than her male counterpart.  Since many women are not aware of the pay differential at the start of their employment, they are automatically unable to bring a claim.

The Lilly Ledbetter Act, first signed into law by President Obama, overturns the Supreme Court’s decision and treats each paycheck as a separate act of discrimination where each act represents a new act of discrimination.  Women will now be able to bring forth their claims of discrimination 180 days after each paycheck.  This paper examines the decision that led to the Act, and to the provisions of the Act itself.

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