Principal speaker
Professor Aaron Fellmeth
The United States has a deeply ambivalent relationship with international human rights law. Its government frequently represents the country as a historical leader in the field, yet it has ratified fewer human rights treaties than any other liberal democracy. Moreover, the United States has a dualist system, and those treaties it has ratified have not been implemented in domestic legislation. They are consequently unenforceable in U.S. courts. In short, notwithstanding its rhetoric, the United States do not have "human rights," as that concept exists in public international law. This does not mean human rights are utterly irrelevant in the United States. It means their influence on the functioning of the legal system is inherently marginal.
The effort to use international human rights law in U.S. courts to challenge Donald Trump's attempt to ban the immigration of most Muslims into the United States, although successful though far, paradoxically illustrates how the domestic legal order subverts U.S. compliance with international human rights law.
About the speaker
Aaron Fellmeth is a Professor of law and a Willard H. Pedrick Distinguished Research Scholar in the Sandra Day O'Connor College of Law. He is also a faculty fellow with the Center for Law, Science and Innovation, and the Center for Law and Global Affairs at Arizona State University. He is a leading expert in public international law and international business transactions.
Aaron has published extensively on international legal theory, the history of international law, the international law of armed conflict, international trade law, human rights, and intellectual property law. He teaches Public International Law, International Business Transactions, International Law of Armed Conflict, International Human Rights Law, and Intellectual Property Law.
Aaron's work has been cited several times by federal courts and in testimony before Congress. He has served as an Executive Advisory Committee member of International Legal Materials and is currently on the Board of Directors of the International Law Association (American Branch) and the chair of its International Human Rights Committee.
About this event
Light lunch is provided. Professor Aaron Fellmeth is presenting at the Nathan campus with a videolink to the Gold Coast campus.
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RSVP
RSVP on or before Wednesday 25 April 2018 , by email lawfutures@griffith.edu.au , or by phone (07) 3735 4386