Justia columnist Joanne Mariner, an attorney and the head of Hunter College’s Human Rights Program, discusses the ongoing humanitarian emergency in Somalia. Mariner explains that with tens of thousands of people having already died of starvation, and half a million children now at risk of dying, the situation is dire and pressing. She sets forth some of the key reasons that aid organizations are finding it difficult to provide assistance in the country—from fighting in the capital; to the aggressive tactics of the militant group that controls much of Somalia, Al Shabaab; to U.S. federal laws that that bar material assistance to that group (which is categorized by the United States as a terrorist group). Mariner details the substance and effect of the U.S. laws at issue, and the conundrum of attempting to get humanitarian aid into an area where it may be siphoned off by armed groups, and where even non-Americans can face U.S. prosecutions under the U.S. “material assistance” law. Finally, Mariner explains a new U.S. interpretation of the law at issue, which may somewhat improve the situation—but she also urges the U.S. to go further, in order to alleviate fears that humanitarian aid will be miscategorized as aid to terrorism.
Justia columnist and U. Washington law professor Anita Ramasastry provides important background on the United States’ debt ceiling debate, explaining exactly why the United States—unlike other countries—has only one option when the risk of sovereign default looms: self help. Ramasastry first considers how other countries typically handle sovereign default or distress, then covers the reasons why the United States’ situation is very different, and concludes by examining why there has been such a great need for Congress and President Obama to reach a resolution of this issue.
Justia columnist and Cardozo law professor Marci A. Hamilton urges that the Catholic Church urgently needs to take responsibility—and foster an ethic of accountability—regarding clergy child-sex-abuse cases. In describing the path that she argues the Church must take, Hamilton compliments a recent speech by Irish Prime Minister Enda Kenny, and a book by Jason Berry on money and the Church. As she explains, these writings, too, call for responsibility and accountability from the Church, and for the enforcement of civil law by the courts, in clergy child-sex-abuse cases.
Justia columnist Joanne Mariner, attorney and director of Hunter College’s Human Rights Program, discusses the situation in Somalia, which is experiencing a famine in the midst of armed conflict—leading refugees to flee the country for Kenya and Ethiopia. The situation, as Mariner explains, has created a humanitarian emergency and has led to a horrifyingly high death rate of both refugees and those still in Somalia. Though the Somali regime’s ban on foreign aid has been lifted, Mariner explains that extremely broad U.S. restrictions on “material support to terrorist organizations” have made innocent humanitarian groups wary of providing aid in areas controlled by Al Shabaab, the Al Qaeda-affiliated Islamist group that controls most of Somalia’s territory. Mariner calls for expedited licenses ASAP, so that humanitarian groups can operate free of fear, and calls for legal reform for the future.
