Books by Laurel Fletcher
Editors Angana P. Chatterji, Shashi Buluswar, and Mallika Kaur
Statement Navanethem Pillay
Forew... more Editors Angana P. Chatterji, Shashi Buluswar, and Mallika Kaur
Statement Navanethem Pillay
Foreword Veena Das
Contributors Angana P. Chatterji, Mallika Kaur, Roxanna Altholz,
Paola Bacchetta, Rajvinder Singh Bains, Mihir Desai, Laurel E. Fletcher, Parvez Imroz, Jeremy J. Sarkin, and Pei Wu
Conflicted Democracies and Gendered Violence elucidates the centrality of political and foundational violence in the governance of conflicted democracies in the postcolony, calling attention to the urgent need for transformation. Spectacular and quotidian gendered and sexualized violence by states and collectives holds in place fraught and unjust histories and relations between elites and subalterns, majoritarian subjects and non-dominant “Others.” At the intersections of nationalist and decolonial confrontations, such violence regularizes states of emergency and exception. Through oral history, archival, and legal research undertaken over three years, this interdisciplinary work underscores the need for transitional and transformative justice mechanisms in conflicted democracies to address protracted conflict (focusing on their internal dimensions) and social upheaval. India serves as a case in point, exemplified by ongoing and recent conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab and episodic social upheavals in Gujarat (in 2002) and Odisha (in 2008). Victim-survivor narratives of counter-memory, historical records, and legal analyses of formative cases detail the depth and texture of social suffering and illustrate the inadequacy and inhumanity of official responses to events of extraordinary violence. Expanding on methods in justice and accountability and espousing the right to heal, scholars and practitioners raise critical questions regarding the state, civil society, and diverse institutions, and the most elemental of constituents: victimized-survivors.
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo25369045.html
Papers by Laurel Fletcher
Rape and other forms of sexual violence are common features of the social upheaval and mass viole... more Rape and other forms of sexual violence are common features of the social upheaval and mass violence that has marred post-independent India. This report examines efforts in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, and Odisha by women victims of sexual violence to access justice and the response by India. Based on this analysis and applicable international standards, the report makes specific recommendation for actions by the Indian State to address common institutional weaknesses.
Access to Justice for Women: India's Response to Sexual Violence in Conflict and Social Upheaval
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Rape and other forms of sexual violence are common features of the social upheaval and mass viole... more Rape and other forms of sexual violence are common features of the social upheaval and mass violence that has marred post-independent India. This report examines efforts in Punjab, Jammu & Kashmir, Gujarat, and Odisha by women victims of sexual violence to access justice and the response by India. Based on this analysis and applicable international standards, the report makes specific recommendation for actions by the Indian State to address common institutional weaknesses.
Freedom Denied: Forced Labor in California
Human Rights Center, Feb 1, 2005
Hidden Slaves: Forced Labor in the United States
Human Rights Center, Sep 1, 2004
Page 1. ...
Guantánamo and its aftermath : U.S. detention and interrogation practices and their impact on former detainees
Ms. FLETCHER: I will be discussing rape as a war crime and other related issues.
Human rights and mass disaster: lessons from the 2004 tsunami
Asia-Pacific Journal of Public Health
This paper describes the results of an investigation into how the December, 2004 tsunami and its ... more This paper describes the results of an investigation into how the December, 2004 tsunami and its aftermath affected the human rights of the survivors. Teams of researchers interviewed survivors, government officials, representatives of international and local nongovernmental organisations, UN officials, the military, police, and other key informants in India, Sri Lanka, the Maldives, Indonesia, and Thailand. We also analysed newspaper articles, reports released by governments, UN agencies, NGOs, and private humanitarian aid groups, and we examined the laws and policies related to survivors' welfare in the affected countries. We found worsening of prior human rights violations, inequities in aid distribution, lack of accountability and impunity, poor coordination of aid, lack of community participation in reconstruction, including coastal redevelopment. Corruption and preexisting conflict negatively impact humanitarian interventions. We make recommendations to international agenc...
In the weeks following the events of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration granted the CIA ... more In the weeks following the events of September 11, 2001, the Bush administration granted the CIA authority to set up detention facilities known as ‘black sites’ outside the United States, and to employ new interrogation procedures on suspected terrorists taken into custody. Recently released legal memoranda by the US Department of Justice’s Office of Legal Counsel condoned the use of several interrogation techniques (such as water-boarding and prolonged sleep deprivation), which the US itself had previously condemned as torture. This paper examines the legal rationalizations the Bush administration advanced to circumvent international and national laws prohibiting torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. It also juxtaposes these rationalizations with medical evidence of the physical and psychological effects of torture and other forms of cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment. Finally, it recommends several prohibitions and safeguards that the Obama admin...
workers faced, researchers surveyed key informants (legal advocates, health care providers, and o... more workers faced, researchers surveyed key informants (legal advocates, health care providers, and other groups and organizations involved in rebuilding New Orleans) in the community and randomly interviewed documented and undocumented workers throughout the affected areas.
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
Hurricane Katrina, which landed just east of New Orleans, Louisiana on the morning of August 29, ... more Hurricane Katrina, which landed just east of New Orleans, Louisiana on the morning of August 29, 2005, displaced hundreds of thousands of citizens, caused over 1,800 fatalities, and left much of the city in ruins. In its aftermath,
An explosive video released in spring 2010, by Elizabeth Cheney, accused the Obama Administration... more An explosive video released in spring 2010, by Elizabeth Cheney, accused the Obama Administration of hiring "terrorist" lawyers to guide national security. The so-called "al Qaeda Seven" had represented or advocated for the rights of Guantanamo detainees before joining the Administration. The ensuing debate raised important questions about the relation of lawyers to politics in times of threats to national security. Do, and should, lawyers share the values of their clients? Should lawyers be guided by a normative vision for the legal profession? In other words, what consideration, if any, should lawyers pay to the larger social values implicated in their work? This Article explores these questions by examining two dominant conceptions of lawyers deployed by critics and supporters of Guantanamo lawyers: cause lawyers and neutral partisan lawyers. This Article argues that neither model adequately explains the motivations and behaviors of Guantdnamo habeas lawyers during the period between the Supreme Court decisions in Rasul and Boumediene.
In the Shadow of War: A Study of Habeas Attorneys Representing Guantánamo Detainees
SSRN Electronic Journal, 2000
ABSTRACT Lawyers for Guantánamo detainees have been instrumental in shaping the country’s legal r... more ABSTRACT Lawyers for Guantánamo detainees have been instrumental in shaping the country’s legal response to the threat of terrorism. Yet we know very little about the unique challenges they have faced in their work. This paper seeks to address this gap by examining the experiences the habeas attorneys representing Guantánamo detainees. This group has been the only non-governmental personnel with access to detainees who had the opportunity and arguably the responsibility to reveal what they could about their clients and their clients’ experiences “inside the wire.” Studying their experiences provides new knowledge about the nature of legal practice of habeas attorneys for Guantánamo detainees. It also deepens our understanding of the role of law and the legal profession in the nation’s efforts to combat terrorism. Who are the attorneys representing Guantánamo detainees? What is the nature of this representation? What lessons can we learn from the experience of habeas counsel about the role of lawyers during this chapter in United States legal history? To answer these questions, we conducted an interview study of eighteen attorneys who served as lead counsel in habeas petitions on behalf of 164 of the estimated 430 Guantánamo detainees who have had legal representation, or approximately 38% of represented detainees. We also interviewed 32 key informants who worked in and around the Guantánamo detention system including former military personnel stationed at Guantánamo, interpreters who worked at the camp, current and former government officials, and representatives of 2 nongovernmental organizations. The interview data is supplemented by legal documents, media stories, reports by government sources and non-governmental organizations, and scholarly literature. Several themes emerge from the findings that illuminate the dynamics of the practicalities, politics, and professional identity of Guantanamo detainee habeas counsel. The study found that the conditions of confinement, limitations on access to detainees, and the limits of the law shaped and constrained attorney-clients relationship between detainees and their habeas counsel. Conditions of confinement were harsh and respondent found their clients’ health deteriorated over time which in turn eroded attorney-client relations. In addition, habeas counsel used broad public advocacy strategies to challenge outside the courtroom the Bush Administration’s characterization of all Guantánamo detainees as hardened terrorists and publicize their clients’ conditions of confinement and treatment to turn around public opinion and influence the Supreme Court. Finally, professional identity and commitment to the rule of law were critical to fueling habeas counsels’ motivation to represent Guantánamo detainees. Habeas counsel were drawn from different practice areas in the bar but shared a common moral narrative about their professional role in the larger drama of the Bush Administration’s counterterrorism efforts. Lawyers have been instrumental in building a public record of the human consequences of U.S. Guantanamo policy and underscore the contribution of the legal profession to democratic governance.
Organization & Environment, 2009
The arrival of Latino immigrant workers and the weakening of federal labor regulations after Hurr... more The arrival of Latino immigrant workers and the weakening of federal labor regulations after Hurricane Katrina raised concerns about labor conditions and workers' rights. We carried out a survey of workers at 212 randomly selected addresses in the city of New Orleans, successfully interviewing 212 out of 351 workers approached (40% refusal rate). Workers were asked about their demographic, employment, and health characteristics, as well as violations of human rights they may have experienced. The survey was supplemented with in-depth qualitative interviews with Latino workers and key informants in Louisiana and Mississippi. Our study showed that Latino workers, particularly undocumented workers, experienced lower wages, more nonpayment of wages and/or overtime wages, and fewer worker protections than non-Latino workers. The poorer treatment of Latino and undocumented workers is thought to reflect employers' perception of them as a disposable labor force. Indeed, few of the workers who arrived after Katrina, and especially low percentages of Latinos and undocumented workers, intended to settle in New Orleans.
Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 2004
We present several key findings regarding the patterns in the outflow, the characteristics of the... more We present several key findings regarding the patterns in the outflow, the characteristics of the population, and the treatment of those expelled by Dominican government officials. Our research indicates that those leaving the country are not afforded due process and frequently suffer abuses at the hands of government officials. These findings challenge many prevailing assumptions about the profile and treatment of this population. The study proposes measures to improve the migration system between the two countries so as to reduce the vulnerability to human rights deprivations of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.
Human Rights Quarterly, 2009
Berkeley Women's LJ, 1994
workers faced, researchers surveyed key informants (legal advocates, health care providers, and o... more workers faced, researchers surveyed key informants (legal advocates, health care providers, and other groups and organizations involved in rebuilding New Orleans) in the community and randomly interviewed documented and undocumented workers throughout the affected areas.
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Books by Laurel Fletcher
Statement Navanethem Pillay
Foreword Veena Das
Contributors Angana P. Chatterji, Mallika Kaur, Roxanna Altholz,
Paola Bacchetta, Rajvinder Singh Bains, Mihir Desai, Laurel E. Fletcher, Parvez Imroz, Jeremy J. Sarkin, and Pei Wu
Conflicted Democracies and Gendered Violence elucidates the centrality of political and foundational violence in the governance of conflicted democracies in the postcolony, calling attention to the urgent need for transformation. Spectacular and quotidian gendered and sexualized violence by states and collectives holds in place fraught and unjust histories and relations between elites and subalterns, majoritarian subjects and non-dominant “Others.” At the intersections of nationalist and decolonial confrontations, such violence regularizes states of emergency and exception. Through oral history, archival, and legal research undertaken over three years, this interdisciplinary work underscores the need for transitional and transformative justice mechanisms in conflicted democracies to address protracted conflict (focusing on their internal dimensions) and social upheaval. India serves as a case in point, exemplified by ongoing and recent conflicts in Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab and episodic social upheavals in Gujarat (in 2002) and Odisha (in 2008). Victim-survivor narratives of counter-memory, historical records, and legal analyses of formative cases detail the depth and texture of social suffering and illustrate the inadequacy and inhumanity of official responses to events of extraordinary violence. Expanding on methods in justice and accountability and espousing the right to heal, scholars and practitioners raise critical questions regarding the state, civil society, and diverse institutions, and the most elemental of constituents: victimized-survivors.
http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo25369045.html
Papers by Laurel Fletcher