Papers by Audrey Comstock
The International Journal of Human Rights
Accepted, Pre-Proof version at International Journal of Human Rights. In 2017, to address the inc... more Accepted, Pre-Proof version at International Journal of Human Rights. In 2017, to address the increasingly visible and prevalent occurrence of peacekeeper sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of civilians under their protection, the UN Secretary-General created a Voluntary Compact on state behavior. As of 2020, 103 states signed the agreement. Building on the robust literatures of human rights law, sexual abuse, and conflict, I examine whether signing the Voluntary Compact has any relationship with the levels of reported abuse, punishing accused SEA perpetrators, and funding victim relief efforts. Through quantitative analysis of annual reports of reports of SEA and punishment actions from the UN Conduct in Field Missions unit 2007-2019, I find that Troop Contributing Countries that signed were more likely to issue national-level punishments in cases of severe abuse and to contribute to victim funding. However, there is not a clear finding of any reduction of reported abuse following signature. I conclude by discussing the Voluntary Compact as a mixed-success story for soft international law so far. Given its lack of teeth, this finding is important as the UN and other international organizations continue to prevent and punish peacekeeper SEA and use nonbinding international law.
The Journal of Legislative Studies
This is the accepted, pre-proof version. Manuscript accepted by the Journal of Legislative Studie... more This is the accepted, pre-proof version. Manuscript accepted by the Journal of Legislative Studies 8/25/2022. This paper investigates the relationship between domestic legislative veto players and human rights treaty commitment. While research connects legislative veto players with ratification delays, I argue that legislative veto players also shape the timing of nonbinding treaty signature. Confronted with the possibility of ratification delay or rejection, executives in states requiring legislative approval for ratification sign treaties earlier as signature does not require the legislature. The results of quantitative analyses strongly support the argument. Examining treaty signature timing of four core UN human rights treaties (ICCPR, CAT, CEDW, and CRC), I find an overall significant and positive relationship between the requirement of legislatures to approve ratification and earlier treaty signature timing. Executives are responding to legislative veto player delays by speeding up treaty signing. This article contributes to the study of international law and domestic politics by further connecting ratification approval processes to commitment timing.
Journal of International Relations, 2016
The LGBT community is explicitly targeted in many areas of the world through discriminatory state... more The LGBT community is explicitly targeted in many areas of the world through discriminatory state policies and practices including lengthy imprisonment and death. Research examining the relationship between foreign aid and human rights conditions has yet to fully situate gay rights within the aid allocation relationship. In 2011, President Obama issued a memo directing U.S. foreign aid policy to explicitly take gay rights levels into consideration in aid allocation. This article begins to explore the effect, if any, of the policy change. This article traces gay rights practices and U.S. foreign aid amounts from 2009-2014 in Uganda and Nigeria. The descriptive analysis sheds light on the relationship between gay rights and foreign aid during a time of foreign aid policy change. Through these two cases, I find that U.S. foreign aid increased slightly over time while violence and policies against the LGBT population worsened in Nigeria and Uganda. In conclusion, I call for future resea...
International Journal of Human Rights , 2022
Accepted, Pre-Proof version at International Journal of Human Rights. In 2017, to address the in... more Accepted, Pre-Proof version at International Journal of Human Rights. In 2017, to address the increasingly visible and prevalent occurrence of peacekeeper sexual exploitation and abuse (SEA) of civilians under their protection, the UN Secretary-General created a Voluntary Compact on state behavior. As of 2020, 103 states signed the agreement. Building on the robust literatures of human rights law, sexual abuse, and conflict, I examine whether signing the Voluntary Compact has any relationship with the levels of reported abuse, punishing accused SEA perpetrators, and funding victim relief efforts. Through quantitative analysis of annual reports of reports of SEA and punishment actions from the UN Conduct in Field Missions unit 2007-2019, I find that Troop Contributing Countries that signed were more likely to issue national-level punishments in cases of severe abuse and to contribute to victim funding. However, there is not a clear finding of any reduction of reported abuse following signature. I conclude by discussing the Voluntary Compact as a mixed-success story for soft international law so far. Given its lack of teeth, this finding is important as the UN and other international organizations continue to prevent and punish peacekeeper SEA and use nonbinding international law.
Journal of Legislative Studies , 2022
This is the accepted, pre-proof version. Manuscript accepted by the Journal of Legislative Studi... more This is the accepted, pre-proof version. Manuscript accepted by the Journal of Legislative Studies 8/25/2022. This paper investigates the relationship between domestic legislative veto players and human rights treaty commitment. While research connects legislative veto players with ratification delays, I argue that legislative veto players also shape the timing of nonbinding treaty signature. Confronted with the possibility of ratification delay or rejection, executives in states requiring legislative approval for ratification sign treaties earlier as signature does not require the legislature. The results of quantitative analyses strongly support the argument. Examining treaty signature timing of four core UN human rights treaties (ICCPR, CAT, CEDW, and CRC), I find an overall significant and positive relationship between the requirement of legislatures to approve ratification and earlier treaty signature timing. Executives are responding to legislative veto player delays by speeding up treaty signing. This article contributes to the study of international law and domestic politics by further connecting ratification approval processes to commitment timing.
Journal of Human Rights , 2021
(accepted at Journal of Human Rights in September 2021 this is an accepted pre-proof version) In... more (accepted at Journal of Human Rights in September 2021 this is an accepted pre-proof version) International relations scholars note the importance of negotiations and the importance of socialization in shaping state human rights. So far, we know surprisingly little about how negotiation participation shapes human rights practices. I argue that human rights treaty negotiations socialize states in important ways through repeated interactions in a formal institutional structure. Focusing on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, I test whether negotiating states improved, worsened, or made no changes in their rights practices. Using data on UN negotiation participation, I find that negotiating the treaties contributed to improvements in state human rights practices. This finding was the strongest around 10 years after treaty creation, though was significant over decades after treaty creation. The finding held against robustness checks. This research contributes to the study of human rights law, compliance, and socialization within international organizations.
Research Handbook on Law and Courts , 2019
International treaties are the primary legal means through which states bind themselves to global... more International treaties are the primary legal means through which states bind themselves to global human rights standards. There is great variation in how quickly states ratify human rights treaties. While some states are able to ratify treaties quickly in a year or less, other states take years or even decades to do so. Domestic procedures requiring legislative approval for ratification account for much of the delay. States without legislative requirements
enable heads of state (and their representatives) to ratify without a prolonged domestic political approval process. The interaction between domestic legislatures, ratification requirements, and court implementation of international treaties affects (1) how quickly states ratify and (2) the timing of implementation and compliance with the treaty. Through the examination of the Netherlands CEDAW ratification in this chapter, I argue that its domestic legal and political configuration contributed to meaningful changes in women’s rights that happened prior to ratification. The findings challenge the traditional approach that uses ratification as the key point around which to measure behavioral change and compliance with international human rights law.
Human Rights Review, 2019
A rich literature examines human rights treaty commitment and compliance. A subset of this litera... more A rich literature examines human rights treaty commitment and compliance. A subset of this literature has begun to examine the international legal actions states make following treaty ratification. I argue that the ways that states legally engage with treaties following commitment to UN human rights treaties is much more nuanced and differentiated than scholars have thus far presented via Reservation, Understanding, and Declaration. I introduce a first descriptive analysis of what I term Post-Commitment Actions (PCAs) to UN human rights treaties and generate varying hypotheses of why different PCAs have different relationships with expected human rights practices. I conduct a preliminary statistical analysis of the effect of PCAs on human rights practices and find that they are varied and important. Some PCAs result in improved human rights, while others result in worse human rights. I conclude by calling for further future study into these treaty actions.
Book Reviews by Audrey Comstock
Perspectives on Politics, 2022
Perspectives on Politics, 2022
Books by Audrey Comstock
Cambridge University Press, 2021
International treaties are the primary means for codifying global human rights standards. However... more International treaties are the primary means for codifying global human rights standards. However, nation-states are able to make their own choices in how to legally commit to human rights treaties. A state commits to a treaty through four commitment acts: signature, ratification, accession, and succession. These acts signify diverging legal paths with distinct contexts and mechanisms for rights change reflecting legalization, negotiation, sovereignty, and domestic constraints. How a state moves through these actions determines how, when, and to what extent it will comply with the human rights treaties it commits to. Using legal, archival, and quantitative analysis this important book shows that disentangling legal paths to commitment reveals distinct and significant compliance outcomes. Legal context matters for human rights and has important implications for the conceptualization of treaty commitment, the consideration of non-binding commitment, and an optimistic outlook for the impact of human rights treaties.
repeats by Audrey Comstock
Human Rights Review, 2018
A rich literature examines human rights treaty commitment and compliance. A subset of this litera... more A rich literature examines human rights treaty commitment and compliance. A subset of this literature has begun to examine the international legal actions states make following treaty ratification. I argue that the ways that states legally engage with treaties following commitment to UN human rights treaties is much more nuanced and differentiated than scholars have thus far presented via Reservation, Understanding, and Declaration. I introduce a first descriptive analysis of what I term Post-Commitment Actions (PCAs) to UN human rights treaties and generate varying hypotheses of why different PCAs have different relationships with expected human rights practices. I conduct a preliminary statistical analysis of the effect of PCAs on human rights practices and find that they are varied and important. Some PCAs result in improved human rights, while others result in worse human rights. I conclude by calling for further future study into these treaty actions.
Research Handbook on Law and Courts, 2019
International treaties are the primary legal means through which states bind themselves to global... more International treaties are the primary legal means through which states bind themselves to global human rights standards. There is great variation in how quickly states ratify human rights treaties. While some states are able to ratify treaties quickly in a year or less, other states take years or even decades to do so. Domestic procedures requiring legislative approval for ratification account for much of the delay. States without legislative requirements enable heads of state (and their representatives) to ratify without a prolonged domestic political approval process. The interaction between domestic legislatures, ratification requirements, and court implementation of international treaties affects (1) how quickly states ratify and (2) the timing of implementation and compliance with the treaty. Through the examination of the Netherlands CEDAW ratification in this chapter, I argue that its domestic legal and political configuration contributed to meaningful changes in women’s rights that happened prior to ratification. The findings challenge the traditional approach that uses ratification as the key point around which to measure behavioral change and compliance with international human rights law.
International treaties are the primary means for codifying global human rights standards. However... more International treaties are the primary means for codifying global human rights standards. However, nation-states are able to make their own choices in how to legally commit to human rights treaties. A state commits to a treaty through four commitment acts: signature, ratification, accession, and succession. These acts signify diverging legal paths with distinct contexts and mechanisms for rights change reflecting legalization, negotiation, sovereignty, and domestic constraints. How a state moves through these actions determines how, when, and to what extent it will comply with the human rights treaties it commits to. Using legal, archival, and quantitative analysis this important book shows that disentangling legal paths to commitment reveals distinct and significant compliance outcomes. Legal context matters for human rights and has important implications for the conceptualization of treaty commitment, the consideration of non-binding commitment, and an optimistic outlook for the impact of human rights treaties.
Journal of Human Rights, 2022
(accepted at Journal of Human Rights in September 2021 this is an accepted pre-proof version) Int... more (accepted at Journal of Human Rights in September 2021 this is an accepted pre-proof version) International relations scholars note the importance of negotiations and the importance of socialization in shaping state human rights. So far, we know surprisingly little about how negotiation participation shapes human rights practices. I argue that human rights treaty negotiations socialize states in important ways through repeated interactions in a formal institutional structure. Focusing on the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Convention on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination against Women, I test whether negotiating states improved, worsened, or made no changes in their rights practices. Using data on UN negotiation participation, I find that negotiating the treaties contributed to improvements in state human rights practices. This finding was the strongest around 10 years after treaty creation, though was significant over decades after treaty creation. The finding held against robustness checks. This research contributes to the study of human rights law, compliance, and socialization within international organizations.
Drafts by Audrey Comstock
A growing subset of peacekeeping literature focuses on explaining peacekeeper sexual abuse and ex... more A growing subset of peacekeeping literature focuses on explaining peacekeeper sexual abuse and exploitation (SEA) of civilians within post-conflict protection. However, what happens after the abuse has received limited attention. I build on previous studies by examining UN and Troop Contributing Country (TCC) punishment of peacekeeper abuse allegations. I argue that the international naming and shaming attention around child victims of the abuse increases the chances that peacekeepers are punished for the abuse. I argue that presence of child victims increases the likelihood that peacekeepers are punished. I highlight two mechanisms through which the presence of child victims increases the chance of punishment 1) the increased moral and legal obligation of UN member states to protect children 2) the increased shaming and media focus on child victims, which heightens public focus and is mechanism of punishment toward the UN and TCC. The empirical analyses of UN and TCC punishment actions between 2007-2017 provide robust support for the general argument that the presence of child victims increases peacekeeper punishment.
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Papers by Audrey Comstock
enable heads of state (and their representatives) to ratify without a prolonged domestic political approval process. The interaction between domestic legislatures, ratification requirements, and court implementation of international treaties affects (1) how quickly states ratify and (2) the timing of implementation and compliance with the treaty. Through the examination of the Netherlands CEDAW ratification in this chapter, I argue that its domestic legal and political configuration contributed to meaningful changes in women’s rights that happened prior to ratification. The findings challenge the traditional approach that uses ratification as the key point around which to measure behavioral change and compliance with international human rights law.
Book Reviews by Audrey Comstock
Books by Audrey Comstock
repeats by Audrey Comstock
Drafts by Audrey Comstock
enable heads of state (and their representatives) to ratify without a prolonged domestic political approval process. The interaction between domestic legislatures, ratification requirements, and court implementation of international treaties affects (1) how quickly states ratify and (2) the timing of implementation and compliance with the treaty. Through the examination of the Netherlands CEDAW ratification in this chapter, I argue that its domestic legal and political configuration contributed to meaningful changes in women’s rights that happened prior to ratification. The findings challenge the traditional approach that uses ratification as the key point around which to measure behavioral change and compliance with international human rights law.