The ‘Groundhog Day’ of the Human Trafficking for Sexual Exploitation Debate: New Directions in Criminological Understanding

This paper considers the intellectual framework that is used to understand human trafficking and the limitations that it imposes on the criminological study of this phenomenon. First, there is a brief historical perspective which allows for comparisons between current debates and the moral crusades of the Victorian/Edwardian social purists. The contemporary focus on trafficking for sexual exploitation, rooted in Victorian/Edwardian construction has, the authors argue, narrowed the policy remit and the criminological investigation into human trafficking. The paper then proceeds to address the interaction between these enduring (historical) myths, the role of trans-national organised crime and the constraining effects of the contemporary intellectual framework. It is argued that in order to challenge the cyclical nature of the debates, it is necessary to make redundant the use of the term human trafficking and to widen the criminological lens through which we consider the problem. In doing so, we hope to highlight those groups whose experiences are missing or marginalised in the current construction of the problem and urge a reconsideration of the way in which criminology approaches this issue.     

Traffick jam: a policy review of the United States’ Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000

The United States enacted the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000 to combat organized networks specializing in the illicit transport of human beings across political and geographical boundaries. This response has engendered conflicting definitions and competing agendas attributable to the definition set forth by the TVPA, which divides the crime into ‘sex’ verses ‘labor’ trafficking. The European Union (EU) adopted a different and detailed definition introduced by the United Nations. This paper explores the disparity in anti-trafficking policies of the United States and the EU. By contrasting these efforts, recommendations to strengthen U.S. policy by adapting certain EU practices to an American context are suggested.     

Britain and European Human Rights Law: An Author’s Apology

Netherlands International Law Review - In four books published between 1990 and 2008, I, along with my two co-authors, was very optimistic about the up-ward trajectory of European human rights law,...     

Director’s liability and investor protection: a law and finance perspective

This article conducts an analysis of director’s liability in listed firms using modern finance theory. The paper describes how the use of special general clauses in Danish law regulates director’s liability. It is shown how risk and return combinations may assist in determining whether management has violated the business judgment rule. The analysis shows that this legal doctrine is optimal from an economic perspective. The article introduces the concept of “temporal relatively of the shareholder equality principle” which can be used to determine whether the interests of minority shareholders have been set aside. It is shown that the principle of shareholder equality must be subjected to both an ex ante, as well as an ex post assessment. Moreover, courts should be reluctant to interfere in situations where there has been an unequal distribution of gain (or loss) ex post. The theoretical arguments are illustrated by analyzing a leading Danish court case that involved the squeeze out of minority shareholders in the Danish telecom company. The paper also analyzes the incentive effects of derivate suits and suits commenced by individual shareholders. It is shown that the former creates a free rider problem whereas in the latter situation, shareholders are not fully able to internalize their externalities.     

Positive obligations under the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights: the duty of the Nigerian Government to enact a Freedom of Information Act

Beginning with the Independence Constitution of 1960, the right to freedom of information and other civil and political rights have been guaranteed by successive Nigerian Constitutions as fundamental human rights. The African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Ratification and Enforcement) Act, which incorporated the provisions of the African Charter on Human and People’s Right into Nigerian law in 1983 consolidated these and a plethora of other social, economic and cultural rights and imposed a positive duty on the government to adopt legislative and other measures to give them effect. This article develops this potentially revolutionary principle of positive obligations, which amazingly remains unsung and unused more than a quarter of a century after it became an integral part of Nigerian law. The first part of the article proposes the principle as the most effective basis to compel the enactment of a Freedom of Information legislation, which successive governments have refused to enact despite overwhelming public support and sustained lobbying for a Freedom of Information Bill first introduced in the National Assembly in 1997. The second part critically analyses the latest (2007) version of the Bill. It concludes that its provisions are inadequate to give effect to the right to freedom of information in view of the legal and bureaucratic environment under which it will operate, and suggests remedial measures.     

Responsibility and Control: Fischer’s and Ravizza’s Theory of Moral Responsibility

Law and Philosophy -     

Problems with the Human Rights Act 1998 and How to Remedy Them: Is a Bill of Rights the Answer?

Recently there has been much discussion of the prospect of replacing, or supplementing, the Human Rights Act 1998 (HRA) with a British bill of rights. The Government, opposition Conservative Party and others have published detailed plans and research reports. Whilst there has been some limited examination of the alleged failures of the HRA in providing effective legal protection for human rights, the debate has not been accompanied by a thorough examination of these types of problems with the HRA, free from political criticisms. Drawing on research concerning aspects of the HRA carried out over the past ten years, it is possible to identify concrete problems which have prevented the HRA from meeting the objectives originally set for it. But given the limitations of the present debate, future plans do not adequately address many of these problems making it uncertain how effective any new bill of rights will actually be.     

Policing Women’s Bodies in an Illiberal Society: The Case of Ireland

This journal article outlines the history of the policing women’s bodies in Ireland in the context of law, crime and reproduction. It does this by means of three case studies. The first case study explores the policing of women’s bodies in relation to sexuality. The second case study focuses on reproduction and the policing of women’s bodies in relation to reproduction. The third and final case study considers the policing of women’s bodies in relation to abortion. Taken together, these three case studies provide an overview of the capacity, and indeed the readiness, that exists in Irish society to police women’s bodies and to do so particularly in relation to sexuality and reproduction.     

‘It’s deemed unmanly’: men’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV)

This study investigated male victims’ experiences of female-perpetrated intimate partner violence (IPV). Seven participants were interviewed and the data were analysed using Interpretative phenomenological analysis (IPA). Four essential themes were revealed. (1) Participants identified themselves as victims of abuse (experiencing physical and multiple forms of abuse). (2) They felt they were victims of controlling abuse (through the use of children and isolation). (3) Respondents experienced manipulation through gendered stereotypes of abuse. (4) They felt it was different because they were men. The participants within this study were often deeply affected by the abuse they had experienced. Previous research has found male abusers use societal structures and norms to enable their abuse. The participants in this study felt that their female abusers were equally adept doing this, although the mechanisms were different. Further research should look at the processes by which abusers of either gender control and abuse their victims.     

‘Alien family’: The impact of the Aliens Act 1935 and subsequent Orders on the family in Ireland, 1933–1945

This article examines the consequences of Irish ‘aliens’ policy on families fleeing Nazi Germany using case studies of Irish German-speaking families and German-speaking families to ascertain the difficulties they faced. Analysis of the applications process undergone by families in order to secure a safe-haven from the reaches of the Third Reich reveals the main concerns of the Irish establishment and how these matters affected the potential safety of some individuals above others because of how they were officially categorised. Juxtaposing those who were considered an asset to Irish society against those who were not granted refuge this study traces the process both endured. While this article outlines the Irish government policy on refugees it focuses more particularly on how civil servants and government agencies implemented such policies and the subsequent impact on refugee family units affected by the Nazi regime.1 1?My doctoral research forms part of the German-speaking exiles in Ireland Project an initiative led by Dr Gisela Holfter in the Centre for Irish-German Studies at the University of Limerick. The overall project is attempting to fill a previous void in international exile studies, from an Irish perspective see Holfter, Gisela (Ed.). (2006 Holfter, Gisela, ed. 2006. German-speaking Exiles in Ireland 1933-1945, Amsterdam: Rodopi. New York [Google Scholar]). German-speaking Exiles in Ireland 1933-1945 Amsterdam/New York: Rodopi. This article attempts to reconcile internal policy, international relations and the effect these had on the lives of ordinary people both German-speaking and Irish. It will conclude by recognising the importance to the Irish authorities of the former two elements while acknowledging that despite them there were some successes for refugees although they were of least consequence in the priorities of the day.