Special Representative of the Secretary-General on the Issue of Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises (SRSG) John Ruggie referred to the “Protect, Respect, and Remedy” Framework (PRR Framework) and the UN Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights (Guiding Principles) as a polycentric governance system. However, the exact meaning of this phrase has not been very carefully elucidated. This Article analyzes that description in the conte

Piracy has reemerged with a vengeance in the twenty-first century. Although it is confined primarily to the horn of Africa, piracy poses a significant problem to commercial shipping companies that need to traverse the Gulf of Aden for business. In response to modern-day piracy, shipowners have begun to employ privately armed contractors for protection. Countries and international organizations have recently developed regulations to address this growth in private maritime secu

The Kimberley Process did not end the major diamond wars, but it entirely changed the way the trade in rough diamonds was managed and reported. It made large transactions in illicit stones more difficult, and the very fact of the KP negotiations helped to starve rebel armies of weapons and ammunition. The KP was the creation of many dedicated people in government, industry, and civil society, but it was civil society that raised the alarm, conducted most of the research, crea

This Article discusses how international agreements impact the ability of science and technology to enhance food security.  International agreements, domestic laws, and regulations have the power to promote scientific research and the adoption of new technology through effective, efficient, and predictable science-based regulatory systems, or to impede development and adoption of new technology by miring it in burdensome or unnecessary regulations.  This Article examines the

This Article considers the response of the Organization for African Unity (the OAU, founded in 1963) and its successor, the African Union (the AU, which began operating in 2003) to coups d’état, since 1997.  The Article addresses these organizations’ policies concerning unconstitutional changes of government, as well as the application of these policies.  In considering these issues, the Article examines the response of the AU to the coups in Togo (2005), Mauritania (2005 and

This Article provides a critical appraisal of the newly adopted African IDPs Convention.  In particular, it offers a detailed analysis of the Convention’s transformation of the UN Guiding Principles into legally binding rules for the management of the phenomenon of internal displacement in Africa.  By definition, internally displaced persons (IDPs) are persons who have not crossed international frontiers and are citizens of the state within which they find themselves.  Althou