Reclaiming Refugee Rights as Human Rights

On April 5, 2019, PILR held their triennial symposium titled: Revisiting Human Rights: The Universal Declaration at 70. As a reflection of the event, a few panelists composed contribution pieces reflecting on the topic

African refugees in South Africa are often unable to access their rights

South Africa has some of the world’s most progressive refugee legislation. So why do refugees have such a troubled time? Roni Amit explains

Deciphering molecular circuits from genetic variation underlying transcriptional responsiveness to stimuli

Individual genetic variation affects gene expression in response to stimuli, often by influencing complex molecular circuits. Here we combine genomic and intermediate-scale transcriptional profiling with computational methods to identify variants that affect the responsiveness of genes to stimuli (responsiveness QTLs; reQTLs) and to position these variants in molecular circuit diagrams. We apply this approach to study variation in transcriptional responsiveness to pathogen components in dendritic cells from recombinant inbred mouse strains. We identify reQTLs that correlate with particular stimuli and position them in known pathways. For example, in response to a virus-like stimulus, a trans-acting variant acts as an activator of the antiviral response; using RNAi, we identify Rgs16 as the likely causal gene. Our approach charts an experimental and analytic path to decipher the mechanisms underlying genetic variation in circuits that control responses to stimuli

Stem and progenitor cells in myelodysplastic syndromes show aberrant stage-specific expansion and harbor genetic and epigenetic alterations

Even though hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) dysfunction is presumed in myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS), the exact nature of quantitative and qualitative alterations is unknown. We conducted a study of phenotypic and molecular alterations in highly fractionated stem and progenitor populations in a variety of MDS subtypes. We observed an expansion of the phenotypically primitive long-term HSCs (lineage ؊ /CD34 ؉ /CD38 ؊ /CD90 ؉ ) in MDS, which was most pronounced in higher-risk cases. These MDS HSCs demonstrated dysplastic clonogenic activity. Examination of progenitors revealed that lower-risk MDS i

El discurso de la seguridad y la detención en Sudáfrica

El ejemplo de Sudáfrica resulta instructivo a la hora de demostrar la limitación y los peligros de la creciente predilección por la detención como herramienta de gestión de la migración

Judges without borders: international human rights law in domestic courts

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Washington, 2004The judicial branch has long been viewed as the weakest branch of government. Yet remarkably, the domestic judiciary has emerged as a significant actor on the international stage. Around the world, domestic courts are issuing rulings that shatter the long-standing norm of sovereignty while advancing the human rights norms found in international law---a process I call the domestication of international law. Through this process, international human rights law has gone from an almost entirely rhetorical statement of ideals to a domestically enforceable system of law. International human rights norms have begun to provide the citizens of the world with basic legal protections that they can enforce judicially. As a result, the "least dangerous branch" of government has become a major force in the pursuit of international justice.The domestication process sheds new light on existing theoretical understandings of the relevance of both the courts and of international law. This dissertation traces the evolution of this process: from the relative isolation of U.S. tort law, where the seminal transformation of international norms into practical legal protections received little notice; to the halls of Britain's highest court, where the entire world watched as the Law Lords determined the fate of a former head of state; to the culmination in Israel's highest court, which issued a direct challenge to its own executive and legislature on a fundamental matter of security. To account for the domestication process, this dissertation has identified the central factors that these cases have in common. First, as activist judiciaries engaged in public law litigation, domestic courts began to promote more internationally oriented rights discourse. Second, they seized on the opportunity to expand their rights-based activism by incorporating international norms based on democracy and individual rights. These norms were in ascendancy after the end of the Cold War gave rise to newly democratizing states. Domestic courts took note of the widespread recognition of democracy during this period and transformed this recognition into a set of substantive legal obligations. Finally, these courts were acting as members of an international community of justices---the global judiciary

Security rhetoric and detention in South Africa

The increasing reliance on detention as a migration management tool has given rise to growing rights abuses, corruption and illegality that, while justified through a security discourse, has failed to fulfil its security goals. The South Africa example is instructive in demonstrating both the limits and the dangers of such an approach

Making migrants 'il-legible': The policies and practices of documentation in post-apartheid South Africa

In South Africa, the Department of Home Affairs (DHA) - the department charged with managing migration - has struggled to control growing migration flows, particularly the increased demand on the asylum system. The DHA has both relied on and sought to undermine documentation attempts as part of its migration management efforts. These shifting practices reveal an official ambivalence toward granting foreign migrants documents and the rights that accompany them. Ensuring that foreign migrants remain undocumented fulfils the DHA's objective of facilitating their removal, but it undercuts the administration's ability to know who is in the country, another expressed DHA goal. Examining two documentation schemes - the asylum system, and the three-month documentation programme targeting undocumented Zimbabweans - this article highlights these conflicting purposes. It explores the DHA's administrative strategies and practices to withhold or deny documentation, and hence legal rights, to foreign migrants even when its stated goal is documentation. Looking at the role that documentation plays in state administration, the article argues that the street-level organisational approach and its focus on implementation best captures the actions of the DHA, underscoring the ways in which street-level bureaucrats can influence documentation policy and practice by determining who gets access to documents