Scholarship
Constance de la Vega's SSRN page
Books & Book Chapters
"Customary International Law," in 1 David P. Forsythe, Encyclopedia of Human Rights 451 (Oxford University Press, 2009)
"Jus Cogens," in 3 David P. Forsythe, Encyclopedia of Human Rights 301 (Oxford University Press, 2009)
International Human Rights Law: An Introduction (Philadelphia, Pa.: University of Pennsylvania Press, 2007) (with David S. Weissbrodt).
"Advocates Should Use Applicable International Standards to Address Violations of Undocumented Migrant Workers in the United States," chapter 21 of: Bayefsky, Anne, ed., Human Rights and Refugees, Internally Displaced Persons and Migrant Workers: Essays in Memory of Joan Fitzpatrick and Arthur Helton, (Leiden; Boston: M. Nijhoff, c2006), reprinted in 3 Hastings Race and Poverty Law Journal 35 (2005) (with Conchita Lozano-Batista).
Articles
"The Special Measures Mandate of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Race Discrimination: Lessons from the United States and South Africa," ILSA Journal of International and Comparative Law (forthcoming 2010); draft on SSRN.
"Back from the Council," 102 American Society of International Law Proceedings 335 (2008).
"Sentencing Our Children to Die in Prison: Global Law and Practice," 42 University of San Francisco Law Review 983 (2008) (with Michelle Leighton). (A version of Sentencing Our Children to Die in Prison is available from the University of San Francisco School of Law Center for Law and Global Justice.)
"Women in Peacekeeping and Peacemaking: Devising Solutions to the Demand side of Trafficking," 12 William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law 437 (2006) (with Chelsea E. HaleyNelson).
"Human Rights And Trade: Inconsistent Application of Treaty Law in the United States," 9
UCLA Journal of International Law and Foreign Affairs 1 (2004).
"Amici Curiae Urge The U.S. Supreme Court to Consider International Human Rights Law in Juvenile Death Penalty Case," 42 Santa Clara Law Review 1041 (2002).
"The Death Penalty." [special issue] 13 Peace Review 493-565 (2001) (co-editor with Steven F. Shatz).
Book Review of Diarmuid Rossa Phelan Revolt or Revolution: The Constitutional Boundaries of the European Community, 22 Human Rights Quarterly 603 (May 2000).
"The Supreme Court of the United States Has Been Called Upon to Determine the Legality of the Juvenile Death Penalty in Michael Domingues v. State of Nevada" (Sixteenth Annual International Law Symposium: "Rights of Children in the New Millenium"), 21 Whittier Law Review 215 (1999) (with Jennifer Fiore).
Book Review of Cholewinksi, Ryszard, Migrant Workers in International Human Rights Law: Their Protection in Countries of Employment (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1997), 21 Human Rights Quarterly 229 (1999).
"Can a United States Treaty Reservation Provide a Sanctuary for the Juvenile Death Penalty?" 32 University of San Francisco Law Review 735 (1998) (with Jennifer Brown).
"Civil Rights During the 1990's: New Treaty Law Could Help Immensely," 65 University of Cincinnati Law Review 423 (Winter 1997).
"The Right to Equal Education: Merely a Guiding Principle or Customary International Legal Right?" 11 Harvard Blackletter Law Journal 37 (1994).
"Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights" (Tenth Annual International Law Symposium 1993), 15 Whittier Law Review 471 (1994).
"U.N. Responds to Problems of The Homeless," in Frank Northen Magill Great Events From History II: Human Rights Series (Pasadena, Calif.: Salem Press, c1992) (de la Vega, et. al.).
"Using International Human Rights Law in Legal Services Cases," 22 Clearinghouse Review 1242 (1989).
"The Symposium on International Human Rights Law in State and Federal Courts: Comments," 18 International Lawyer 69 (1984).
"Application of International Human Rights Law in State and Federal Courts," 18 Texas International Law Journal 291 (1983) (with Kathryn Burke, Sandra Coliver, and Stephen Rosenbaum).
"Thirty-fifth session of the Sub-Commission of Protection of Minorities," 8 Human Rights Internet Reporter (September-November, 1982) (de la Vega, et. al.).
Amicus & other Briefs
Author, with Michelle Leighton and Neil A.F. Popovic, of amicus curiae brief on the issue of juvenile life sentences without parole. Brief for Amnesty International, et al. as Amici Curiae Supporting Petitioners, Graham v. Florida (No. 08-7412) and Sullivan v. Florida (No. 08-7621).
Author of Petitioners' Response to the Reply of the U.S. Government in the Case of — as Stated in the Petition Alleging Violations of His Human Rights by the United States of America and the State of California, Human Rights Advocates and fos*ters v. United States (No. P-120-07) (alleging human rights violations arising from 18-year delay between conviction in capital case and hearing of first appeal by California Supreme Court.)
Blog Posts & Opinion Pieces
"CERD General Recommendation 32 on Special Measures," posting to IntLawGrrls (October 17, 2009).
Letter to the editor, California Lawyer magazine (September 2009).
Time for US to reaffirm commitment to principles enshrined 60 years ago in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, posting to IntLawGrrls (November 6, 2008).
Presentations and Lectures
"The Special Measures Mandate of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination: Lessons from the United States and South Africa," during the panel "International and Comparative Perspectives - Race, Sex, Trade, and Terror," presentation at the 14th Annual LatCrit Conference "Outsiders Inside: Critical Outsider Theory and Praxis in the Policymaking of the New American Regime" at American University-Washington College of Law, Washington, D.C. (October 3, 2009).
"The Special Measures Mandate of the International Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Racial Discrimination: Lessons from the United States and South Africa," presentation at the Northern California International Law Scholars Roundtable, co-sponsored by the UC Davis California International Law Center and ASIL-West, the regional division of The American Society of International Law, Davis, Caliornia (September 11, 2009).
Panelist, "Looking Within: Domestic Advocacy Using International Human Rights Law," The 2009 Stefan A. Riesenfeld Symposium: Beyond the Bush Era: International Human Rights Law Looking Forward (University of California Berkeley School of Law, April 23, 2009).
Panelist, "The Impact of Human Rights Law on Civil Legal Services," 11th Annual Trina Grillo Public Interest and Social Justice Retreat, Stanford Law School (February 21, 2009).
Speaker on using international human rights law to broaden the availability of affirmative action in the U.S., Human Rights Advocates 30th Anniversary Celebration, "Dialogue on Racism and International Human Rights Standards — 60 Years After the Adoption of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights," Berkeley, California (October 25, 2008).
Panelist, "The United Nations Human Rights Council: What Would Eleanor Roosevelt Say," American Branch of the International Law Association's International Law Weekend 2008, "The United States and International Law: Legal Traditions and Future Possibilities," New York City (October 18, 2008).
Panelist, "Just Back from the Human Rights Council," American Society of International Law's 102d Annual Meeting, Washington D.C. (April 11, 2008). Panel article to be published in the American Society of International Law Proceedings.
Presentation on the effects of the movement and dumping of toxic wastes on the enjoyment of human rights, 7th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, March 3-28, 2008, Geneva, Switzerland (March 10, 2008).
"Protecting the Human Rights of Migrants in the United States," presentation at the 7th Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, March 3-28, 2008, Geneva, Switzerland (March 7, 2008)
