Race, Reparative Justice, and Climate Change-Related Migration

The question of how to appropriately respond to migration linked to climate change is increasingly being debated in academia, in government and policy circles, and, crucially, in international legal and climate policy forums. These debates often center on data and on understanding the true numbers of people who might migrate in the context of climate change, and how much of this migration can accurately be linked to climate change, or on the security and logistical concerns associated with responding to this “challenge,” or on the appropriate legal box into which people migrating in this context can be shoved. Too often, what gets left out of these debates is the genuine lived experiences of the people whose homes and ways of life are threatened in a changing climate, and the historical and current economic, social, and cultural forces that created that threat. In this Article, I add to the growing body of literature that is remedying this oversight by looking at climate change-related migration through a climate justice lens, and particularly by calling attention to the racialization of the “climate migrant” and the ways that racialized colonial and neocolonial systems have shaped who is subject to migration in the context of climate change and how they are received and perceived. This inquiry unites work on the racialized nature of international migration law and governance with work on the racialized nature of climate change impacts and policy, and particularly those proposing climate change reparations and migration as reparation. I argue that these considerations of the impact of race and colonialism on climate change-related migration, and the related need for a reparative justice approach, have been particularly absent just where they are most needed: in the international community’s efforts, through the United Nations Framework on Convention on Climate Change and related processes, to craft a meaningful global response to the climate crisis. Including a reparatory justice perspective in the international response to climate change-related migration will ensure that that response more effectively addresses the concerns and needs of affected individuals and communities and forges a future that does not perpetuate the injustices of the past

The Law and AI as an “Apex Collaborator”: Legal Frameworks for Optimized Cooperation

Law fundamentally exists to enable human cooperation, providing frameworks for everything from basic contracts to complex international agreements. As artificial intelligence systems grow more sophisticated, they may enable new ways that collaborative activity can occur. We posit the possibility of a new kind of AI entity: the “Apex Collaborator,” a computational system with capabilities for cooperation and partnership that are superior, in at least some ways, to those of humans. Just as apex predators shape the ecosystems in which they live through predation, Apex Collaborators would shape human-AI networks through their ability to enhance peaceful coexistence, collective problem-solving, and shared decision-making. “AI as an Apex Collaborator” flips the normal scripts of “AI as danger” or “AI as passive deliverer of benefits to humans,” instead conceiving of AI as a catalyst and enabler capable of lifting human abilities to cooperate above their evolutionary trajectory. This Article maps the legal architecture needed to guide AI development toward this collaborative potential, while simultaneously mapping fundamental implications particular coding decisions may have for the law. We address key areas requiring reform: liability regimes governing potential harms to humans, property, or other AIs, copyright law to enable AI training, structures and strictures for AI self-determination, clear accountability for AI-assisted actions and AI agents, interoperability standards, and alignment requirements. The Article proposes specific proactive and enforcement mechanisms for AI-ogenic conflict resolution, military restrictions, and data protection including crossborder transfer controls. We outline pathways to foster beneficial collaboration while preventing harmful applications. In particular, we explore the potential for AIs acting as Apex Collaborators to support humanity’s transition to sustainability. Our framework recognizes that as AI systems advance toward apex collaboration capabilities, they may need to participate in their own governance, monitoring and responding to not only harmful AI developments but also previously impossible benefits to humanity

The Protection of Geographical Indications Under Comparative Lens: Whether Law Artificially Creates Scarcity of Goods

The economic principles of supply and demand dictate that market prices are contingent on the conditions under which supply and demand converge. Within this theoretical framework, the concepts of scarcity and abundance assume paramount significance. When goods are scarce, prices tend to escalate, while in cases of abundant supply, prices tend to decline. But what factors determine scarcity and abundance? In many cases, scarcity is inherent to the nature of the commodity (for example, diamonds are rarer than common stones). In other cases, such as geographical indications, scarcity is constructed through the legal denomination associated with the commodity, thereby creating an artificial scarcity by accentuating certain particularities—geographical, physical, or cultural—regardless of their actual availability in nature. From this economic perspective, geographical indications represent the legal name under which, and through which, such market engineering is carried out, giving rise to different and conflicting interests. To what extent does this legal engineering of markets invite a negative reading, and to what extent a positive one

Geographical Indications for Agricultural Products: Inconsistencies and Conflicts In Europe and the Global Arena

Food systems are regulated by a global and hybrid legal framework. In fact, while supranational and international sources play an increasingly important role, private regulators are also becoming more and more involved alongside traditional public policy-makers. Within this context, Geographical Indications (GIs) serve as the main tool in the European Union and beyond to protect quality agri-food products. This Article aims to explore these instruments in depth in order to analyze several critical aspects from the perspective of global governance, i.e., the networked, hybrid, and diffuse legal space that develops through the participation, negotiation, and strategic interaction between public and private regulators at all levels of law-making

Virtual Harm, Real Consequences: Constitutional Justifications for Criminalizing AI-Generated Child Pornography

Advances in artificial intelligence (AI) have enabled the creation of hyper-realistic child sexual abuse images without any real child involved. These AI-generated depictions pose a unique challenge: they replicate the most pernicious form of pornography—child pornography—while potentially being claimed as “speech” immune from regulation. This paper argues that it is both constitutionally permissible and morally imperative to criminalize AI-generated child pornography. This article presents two doctrinal pathways to justify a ban. First, such content can be treated as unprotected speech under existing First Amendment exceptions. Courts have long held that child pornography and obscenity lie outside First Amendment protection, and a carefully defined prohibition on AI-synthesized child sexual abuse material can fit within these categories or be analogized to contraband, thus sidestepping strict scrutiny. Second, even if considered protected expression, a narrowly tailored ban can survive strict scrutiny by advancing the compelling interest of protecting children and society from sexual exploitation. This paper demonstrates that lawmakers can define the offense to cover only realistic, valueless depictions virtually indistinguishable from real child pornography, thereby targeting the core harm while avoiding overbreadth. This article concludes that a well-crafted prohibition on AIgenerated child porn not only withstands constitutional scrutiny but is a necessary extension of child protection into the digital age

Comparing Access to Land: Drawing Parallels in Diverse Jurisdictions

By exploring the intersection between transitional justice initiatives and transformative constitutionalism, this article proposes that fruitful comparative study covering similarities and differences between diverse definitions of property—challenges and possibilities of accessing it and the main characteristics of the disputes over it—in four jurisdictions can be advanced. A close examination of the classic liberal paradigm framing the transitional process reveals the ways in which a progressive and justice-driven understanding of property falls short in all the countries considered. To examine this, we look at how property clauses, substantively and procedurally, are construed in transformative constitutions sitting at the heart of the liberal project animating political transitions

The New European Union Regulation on Geographical Indications for Craft and Industrial Products and the Protection of Lace of Cantù : A Work in Progress

Regulation (EU) 2023/2411 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 18 October 2023 has introduced the protection of geographical indications for craft and industrial products. The contribution aims at investigating how the Regulation may have implications in the fashion world. In particular, it will focus on a particular case study undertaken in Northern Italy, concerning the possibility of protecting the “Lace of Cantù” through a geographical indications for craft