Commentaries by Matiangai Sirleaf

COVID-19 and Allocating Responsibility for Pandemics

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COVID-19 and Allocating Responsibility for Pandemics

Matiangai Sirleaf

March 31, 2020 11:41:30 am

“The world is contending with the increasing incidence and severity of a wide range of highly infectious diseases.” These words appear in Responsibility for Epidemics, an article I wrote in 2018. There have of course been dire warnings about a global pandemic for a while. In Responsibility for Epidemics, I argue that a broader conceptualization [...]

THIS DAY @ LAW

Georgia became first US state to ban lynching

On December 20, 1893, Georgia became the first state in the Union to pass a law against lynching, making the act punishable by four years in prison. The statute was not particularly effective—read the text of the 1899 pamphlet Lynch Law in Georgia by anti-lynching activist Ida Wells-Barnett.

UN Drug Trafficking Convention signed

On December 20, 1988, the United Nations Convention Against Illicit Traffic in Narcotic Drugs and Psychotropic Substances was signed in Vienna, Austria. The treaty provides mechanisms for international coordination in preventing the manufacture and distribution of drugs worldwide. Over 170 countries have signed the treaty to date.