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The Largest Global Producers of E-Waste And the Need for Change
Get PDFE-waste, short for electronic waste, is a term used to describe end-of-life electronic products. In recent years there has been a sharp rise in the demand for electronic products, and production has ramped up to meet the demand. A landslide of e-waste is being generated in tandem, exacerbated by increased global access to electronic devices, quickening innovation rates, and device obsolescence. According to projections by the UN’s Global E-waste Monitor 2020, e-waste is the most rapidly growing domestic waste-stream in the world. Due to the hazardous nature of the components contained in many electronic products, the proper handling of e-waste disposal is imperative to protect both the environment and human health. Unfortunately, the proper recycling and disposal of e-waste can be costly, which has resulted in the dumping of e-waste onto economically disadvantaged countries. The dumping of e-waste onto countries with less means to decline it, and without the means to safely dispose of it, leads to negative ramifications for local environments and for the health of local populations. Many countries have imposed regulations attempting to address the issues presented by the global e-waste explosion. In 2018, China enacted a robust ban on solid waste imports. The 2018 ban resulted in over two hundred criminal cases and sanctions being imposed on over eight hundred companies. Although this ban proved effective in reducing the flood of e-waste into China, it revealed that nation-wide bans cannot currently resolve the issue of dumping alone. E-waste which previously would have been transported to China simply was diverted to countries with less regulation. Both China and the European Union have implemented Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations to regulate e-waste. EPR places responsibility for the collection and proper disposal of e-waste onto the producers of electronic products. Despite an extensive and long-standing body of regulation addressing e-waste through EPR, e-waste continues to be one of the fastest growing domestic waste streams. Two methods which may better address global e-waste management are the use of the All Actors Approach and the establishment of ecocide as an international crime
Contracting Against Slavery: Corporate Accountability for Human Rights Supply Chain Violations
Get PDFThe United States Supreme Court decision in Nestlé USA, Inc. v. Doe effectively closed the door for forced laborers in the global supply chain to sue corporations headquartered in the United States for aiding and abetting in their human trafficking under the Alien Tort Statute. At the same time, however, the European Union and Canada are passing legislative measures that increase corporate accountability for human rights supply chain violations. This note argues that, in light of the Nestlé decision, contracts can be an effective mechanism for corporate accountability in the United States and that multi-national corporations will be incentivized to incorporate these contracts throughout the supply chain as a means of compliance with the European Union and Canadian statutory schemes
Giving Meaning to the Apostrophe in Victim[’]s Rights
Get PDFThere is a lack of consistency in how courts interpret the use or placement of an apostrophe on “victim.” While this may seem like a minor grammatical or typological error, it has a tremendous effect on victim’s rights, as it virtually erases the victim due to the confusion over the ownership of said rights. This essay analyzes how the placement of the apostrophe, in cases dealing with subpoenas duces tecum, have led courts to interpret victim rights in multiple ways, but all with the same outcome—excluding the actual victim from consideration. This causes the actual victims, even when the court does hold that they have ownership of their rights, to be denied true agency over those rights. This essay proposes how to close the gap between mere rights ownership and true victim agency by requiring counsel for victims of crimes
The Rules of the Malpractice Game: Affidavit of Merit Statutes, Erie, and the Cautionary Tale of an Overbroad Application of Rule 11
Get PDFIn an effort to combat the rise in potentially frivolous lawsuits against professionals, including physicians, attorneys, and journalists, states have passed malpractice legislation requiring plaintiffs to file an affidavit of merit (AOM) attesting to the validity of their claims. However, these AOM statutes may conflict with Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 11, which provides that “a pleading need not be verified or accompanied by an affidavit” unless a rule or statute states otherwise. This is a classic Erie/choice-of-law problem for federal courts sitting in diversity, which are tasked with applying federal procedural law and state substantive law, and now must determine whether these statutes are substantive or procedural in nature. The circuit courts of appeals are split in deciding whether these AOM statutes apply, particularly in light of Rule 11’s silence on whether its exception pertains to both federal and state rules and statutes, or federal rules and statutes only. This note proposes a solution to the circuit split by reading the exception in Rule 11 as inclusive of state rules and statutes, as per precedent and the Supreme Court’s teachings of federal rule construction, thereby permitting their application in diverse federal courts and avoiding the murky substantive/procedural debate. In doing so, courts not only vindicate valid state interests of protecting professionals from lengthy and costly litigation, but also better promote the aims of Erie/choice-of-law doctrine and preserve crucial federalism and separation of power principles underlying our system of governance
Rotten Social Background and Mass Incarceration: Who Is a Victim?
Get PDFDespite the theoretical right to be heard at different junctures in the criminal legal system, in practice, the right is unsecured for many accused and convicted of various offenses. Criminal defendants are rarely heard at trial, upon sentencing, or at parole board interviews to determine eligibility for release. Consequently, these individuals are not able to offer explanations for their behavior. This is particularly harmful given the role that “severe environmental deprivation” or, sometimes controversially referred to as “rotten social background,” plays in criminal behavior. Research now indicates that societal shortcomings, including a lack of healthcare, education, and employment opportunities, combined with hyperaggressive policing and draconian sentencing for law violations, play a significant role in criminality. In other words, individual traits are not the driver of criminal behavior. Yet, the inability of those involved in the system to share evidence of their social background, and the refusal of actors in the system to view these factors as significantly mitigating, if not excusing, means that the problem is only swept under the rug. This essay aims to expose the explicit and implicit silencing of criminal defendants and the concomitant erasure of societal fault in criminal behavior and thus, in mass incarceration
Where in the World: Protecting Indigenous Textiles in Guatemala Through Geographical Indications
Get PDFThere is a current movement by indigenous weavers in Guatemala to protect their textile designs due to the harm caused by the absence of the weavers’ intellectual property ownership over the designs and patterns. The exploitation and appropriation of their designs by domestic and international companies has hurt weavers’ livelihoods and has led to culturally inappropriate and insensitive uses of religious and traditional patterns. Conventional intellectual property law (copyright, trademark, and patent law) fails to protect indigenous peoples’ intellectual property rights. A key weakness within conventional intellectual property law is the emphasis and focus on individuality of the creation process. Indigenous communities’ intellectual property is part of a collective and communal creation and ownership because it is created over generations and ingrained in each community’s culture. Another area of intellectual property law that could offer better protections for the indigenous textile designs is geographical indications. A subset of intellectual property, geographical indications have been used all over the world to protect regional goods. This Note argues that the indigenous weavers in Guatemala should register their textile products as geographical indications to better protect the intellectual property rights of their textile designs. A geographical indication does not belong to an individual, but to producers within the geographical area, therefore, it would create a collective or a cultural group intellectual property right. The geographical indication would go further than the ability of conventional intellectual property rights and empower the indigenous Guatemalan communities to protect their collective and communal creations that have been created over generations. It would give the weavers and their communities control over their heritage and culture
