Human rights in context: International law and spatial injustice in New Orleans, Louisiana
Studies in Law, Politics, and Society
ISBN: 978-1-78350-785-6, eISBN: 978-1-78350-786-3
Publication date: 1 January 2014
Abstract
This article looks at the relationship between human rights law and geography. Drawing from a meeting of the UN Human Rights Committee (HRC), the article explores how the right to life was legally interpreted to apply to the loss of life associated with Hurricane Katrina. In particular, the article argues that the HRC’s legal interpretation of the right to life shifted as part of a discussion between the United States and nongovernmental organizations. The shift incorporated a more nuanced understanding of the spatial dimension of injustice by including preexisting inequalities and ongoing internal displacement in the analysis of human rights obligations related to the hurricane. The HRC meeting and the legal interpretations arising from that meeting therefore provide an example of Seyla Benhabib’s concept of “democratic iterations” as well as an example of how law can be “spatialized” through international legal processes.
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Acknowledgements
Acknowledgments
I would like to thank the anonymous reviewer at Studies, whose careful and detailed comments have substantially improved the piece. I would also like to thank my many friends and colleagues who have provided feedback, thoughts, and recommendations – I am extremely grateful for all of their support and the many insightful recommendations that have improved this article. Any mistakes are my own.
Citation
Carmalt, J. (2014), "Human rights in context: International law and spatial injustice in New Orleans, Louisiana", Studies in Law, Politics, and Society (Studies in Law, Politics, and Society, Vol. 63), Emerald Group Publishing Limited, Leeds, pp. 147-181. https://doi.org/10.1108/S1059-4337(2014)0000063004
Publisher
:Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Copyright © 2014 Emerald Group Publishing Limited