MPIA and Use of Arbitration: Bypassing the WTO Appellate Body
Between a rock (trade wars) and a hard place (U.S. critiques), the WTO Appellate Body has been passing through some turbulent times. Due to the paralysis of the Appellate Body, the European Union (EU) and some other twenty countries have agreed on an arrangement, known as the Multiparty Interim Appeal Arbitration Arrangement (MPIA), which allows [...]
“The man who laughs has not yet heard the terrible news.” -Bertolt Brecht Any explicit comparisons of the Trump presidency with the Third Reich will elicit multiple cries of horror and execration across the United States, even when it had first been admitted that this American administration is similarly misleading and existentially dangerous. Nonetheless, to [...]
A lawsuit brought by a lesbian in China has raised the profile of same-sex parenting in a country where marriage rights are not recognized. Split from her partner last year, Zhang Peiyi is suing for custody of one of the children they parented together and visitation rights for the other. Zhang’s former partner is currently [...]
The Disproportionate Measures Undertaken to Protect Refugees in COVID-19
“The greatest nations are defined by how they treat their weakest inhabitants.” -Jorge Ramos The COVID-19 outbreak has caused an upsurge in humanitarian crises, affecting millions of refugees across the globe. In these unprecedented times, the rights of the refugees are most vulnerable. Refugees are the forgotten ones, with the least access to essentials required [...]
Collective Failure in Protecting the Fundamental Rights of Migrant Laborers
During this entire period of three back-to-back lockdowns with a fourth coming soon, if there is a group who has suffered the most, it is the migrant laborers. When the lockdown was announced at very short notice and all transportation was immediately halted, these inter-State migrant workers became victims of this pandemic in a different [...]
COVID-19 and the Impending Need for Global Health Governance
Countries around the world are working to alleviate the vast challenges the COVID-19 pandemic is posing. Confronting this global problem isn’t possible without international cooperation. COVID-19 has implications for public health and the global economy. Endemic diseases contribute to the economic burden by impacting health, livelihoods, agricultural productivity and ecosystems. The SARS outbreak of 2003 [...]
Hostile Cyberoperations Against Medical Facilities and Their Impunity
Cyberoperations against healthcare providers and testing facilities are thriving in the U.S. and beyond. An unsuccessful act against the U.S. Department and Health and Human Services was intended to undermine the administrations’ response to the current crisis. Operations against several Czech Hospitals and the Paris Hospital Authority attempted to disable networks of healthcare providers and [...]
COVID-19, the Government's Response, and India's Sustainable Development Goals
In his famous novel, The Plague, Albert Camus discussed the idea of plague as being akin to a despotic rule under which everyone, starting from the warden to the humblest delinquent, was under a life sentence. This insight is true for any pandemic including COVID–19 because the infection spreading microbe infects both rich and poor [...]
Under the immense human and economic loss caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, some countries have mentioned that they are willing to file lawsuits against China. Do they have any basis for filing a lawsuit? In the current state of international law, is the claimant State required to prove negligence or breach of a international legal [...]
On the 29th of April 2020, the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) released its Annual Report for 2020. The report has recommended the US State Department to classify the People’s Republic of China as a “Country of Particular Concern” in Tier I and impose targeted sanctions on China for engaging in violations [...]
