Nathan Donnelly, Staff Member On February 21st, 2019 SpaceIL, an Israeli nonprofit organization, successfully launched what could become the first private spacecraft to touchdown on the moon.[1] Although SpaceIL is currently the only private organization to successfully launch a moon rover, it is not alone in this endeavor. In 2007, the Google Lunar X Prize…
Continue ReadingDavid Woger, Staff Member After a year of negotiations, President Trump, Mexico Enrique Peña Nieto the President of Mexico, and Justin Trudeau the Prime Minister of Canada have signed the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), the successor to the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). While all three countries have signed the agreement, their comments have…
Continue ReadingBy Caroline Sell, Staff Member This October 2018, world leaders and stakeholders gathered to reaffirm the principles of the Declaration of Alma-Ata through the Astana Declaration on Primary Health Care.[1] Led by a partnership between the World Health Organization (WHO), under the direction of Director-General Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, and the United Nations Children’s Fund…
Continue ReadingBy Sam Horowitz, Staff Member On October 17, 2018, the Cannabis Act came into effect in Canada and recreational marijuana became legal.[1] Canada became the second country in the world—after Uruguay—and the only country in the G20 to legalize the drug.[2] Half a century and hundreds of billions of dollars into the war on drugs,[3]…
Continue ReadingBy Rebecca Rosefelt, Staff Member Childhood is a relatively new concept,[1] and juvenile justice systems like those in Western democracies gained steam with the industrial revolution.[2] However, one issue has been of contention since at least the fifth century: at what age does society hold a person criminally liable?[3] Standards still vary across the globe,…
Continue ReadingBy Eric Ryu, MJIL Staff Member Even though the documented human rights abuses in North Korea is extensive, they are a party to four major international human rights treaties: International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)[1], International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights[2], Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC)[3], and Convention…
Continue ReadingBy Cayla Ebert, MJIL Staff Member In President-elect Trump’s recently-released First 100 Days Plan, Trump promises to withdraw the United States from the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) if the three members cannot renegotiate more favorable terms.[1] As for many campaign promises made this past election season, people are asking: “Can he really do…
Continue ReadingDavid Archer, MJIL Staff Member Last week, the MJIL hosted a symposium that touched on several important issues in international law, including the landscape around trade agreements, with special focus on the GATT and WTO agreements. In observing the relative absence of development in global free trade talks since the Doha round, one participant observed…
Continue ReadingE. Catlynne Shadakofsky, MJIL Staff Member Despite the growing awareness and international support for legal reform providing protection for children in the work force, social and economic factors continue to present large obstacles standing in the way of laws’ positive impact. Even after the adoption of laws changing the structure of employing children, historically, the…
Continue ReadingNikesh Patel, MJIL Staff Member Recently, the Government of India approved a new Model Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT). The Model BIT will provide the terms and conditions for India’s future trade negotiations, including the renegotiations of some its 83 existing BITs and ongoing negotiations with the United States.[1] Often, the difficulty for structuring a BIT…
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