Human Rights

This Essay problematizes the increased propertization and commodification of education and calls for a rethink of the emergent concept of “education theft” through the lens of intellectual property and human rights. This concept refers to the phenomenon where parents, or legal guardians, enroll children in schools outside their school districts by intentionally violating the residency requirements. The Essay begins by revisiting the debate...

International human rights law is often associated with the progressive expansion of justice and freedom. But that link cannot be taken for granted. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) is attempting to transform human rights into an instrument of twenty-first century global authoritarianism. This Note seeks to fill a significant lacuna in the literature by focusing on China’s efforts at the regional, national, and subnational levels to socialize...

The United States is the single remaining United Nations (UN) member state that has not ratified the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), the most important international human rights treaty governing children’s rights. This Note focuses on a key objection to U.S. ratification of the CRC: the fear that its emphasis on children’s rights threatens parents’ rights under U.S. law. This Note uses Article 12 of the CRC, which recognizes...