Female Genital Mutilation as Violence Against Women: A Narrative of Promoting Abandonment

Today, women and girls are less likely to undergo female genital mutilation (FGM) than decades ago. However, the practice is still near-universal in some countries. FGM is still practiced because societies still hold their traditional values and norms. According to UNICEF, at least 200 million women and girls have been subjected to the practice in 30 countries, mainly those in Asia and Africa. This study aimed to analyze FGM as violence against women relating to the communities and their beliefs by addressing the status quo and the legality of FGM practices in Indonesia, Egypt, and Yemen. It accounted for the state's role in preventing, handling, and safeguarding the victims of FGM practices. This study used the socio-legal method by critically analyzing the legislation for further implications for legal subjects. This study showed that FGM was a form of violence against women which have a role in the perpetual violation of women's rights. It identified the difference in practice, prevalence, legality, and the state's role in FGM in Indonesia, Egypt, and Yemen. It suggested to prevent FGM practices through mobilizing political will and funding, strengthening healthcare providers' awareness and knowledge, building a supportive legislative and regulatory environment, and reinforcing monitoring, evaluation, and accountability. KEYWORDS: Women’s Rights, Female Genital Mutilation, Violence Against Women.

Corporate Social Responsibility and MNCs: An Appraisal from Investment Treaty Law Perspective

Recent investment treaties recognize corporate social responsibility (CSR) as a mechanism for regulating corporate behavior concerning the protection and promotion of human rights, social and environmental standards. These treaties often include a universally recognized soft law version of CSR developed by the International Labor Organization (ILO) and the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), considered prominent sources of CSR voluntary standards. This study analyzed significant advances in including such voluntary standards in investment treaty law, which led to implementing globally agreed norms regarding sustainable development into action. In addition to the inclusion of CSR standards in legally binding documents, this study argued that the practical issues involved in implementing the CSR standards should be addressed from the perspective of capital-dependent developing countries. To this end, this study adopted the due diligence test to apply CSR standards in cross-border investments better. For this purpose, theoretical analysis that combined descriptive and analytical approaches based on the available primary and secondary sources best suited current research. The study showed that applying CSR standards in capital-dependent developing countries was only possible when corporate, home state, and the host government took appropriate actions at the policy level. It concluded that such additional measures were needed to effectively implement CSR standards emphasizing prevention was better than cure and ensuring the appropriate due diligence process by the relevant parties. KEYWORDS: Corporate Social Responsibility, Investment Laws, Developing Countries.

Corporate Legal Liability for Corruption in the Private Sector

Corruption in the private sector has been an emerging issue in Indonesia, regarded to become a serious problem to the rule of law. In this case, the problem is the difficulty in tracking down perpetrators of corruption in the private sector since legal accountability does not pay serious attention. For example, the Rolls Royce case involved many jurisdictions in Indonesia that experienced obstacles due to limited authority and low commitment from the country. This study aimed to examine how private sector corruption is linked to legitimizing bribery by foreigners by answering the following questions: what is the legal liability of corporations as perpetrators of corruption in the private sector? What are the legal mechanisms in Indonesia for understanding private sector corruption? In this study, the socio-legal method was used to analyze corruption as a national and international crime to respond to the raised legal issues. The socio-legal method is a legal research method that can do more than regulate the law. The results indicated that the pattern of corruption in the private sector for officials could result in corrupt policies. Furthermore, for the private sector, it can lead to unfair business competition. Therefore, it must be handled immediately so corruption cases in the private sector cannot continue to occur, causing harm to the public and indirectly affecting the country. KEYWORDS: Corruption, Criminal Liability, Private Sector.

Philosophy of Law: A Very Short Introduction by Raymond Wacks

The article is a book review that supposedly does not need an abstract

Legal Analysis of the Nature of Cyber Currency in Iran: A Comparison to EU Law

Electronic money as the monetary value stored in an electronic instrument is the last step in the gradual evolution of money, described as the immaterialization and invisibility of money. It is an emerging phenomenon that can perform the functions and duties of money. This study aimed to investigate the legal concept of cyber currency in Iran-Islamic and EU law in a comparative view. This study mainly considered e-money as a payment method and discusses it from different perspectives. In analyzing the legal nature of this phenomenon, it used two different approaches by combining an empirical-analytical method and a comparative study. The first approach was to analyze the nature of electronic money as a type of money. The second was to analyze the nature of electronic money in the light of non-monetary theories and describe it as one of the legal institutions used in business. This study concluded that electronic money would have different legal effects in its legal analysis, depending on who the publisher and acceptor are and how its publication and circulation process is defined and explained. The description of electronic money in the form of non-monetary theories ignored its role as an efficient payment tool in today's advanced business environment. KEYWORDS: Electronic Money, Cyber Currency, Islamic Law.

COVID-19 Pandemic and Simultaneous Regional Head Elections in Indonesia

The COVID-19 pandemic hurts almost all sectors, particularly the government, like the simultaneous Regional Head Election. The Indonesian government, along with the General Election Commission and the Indonesian House of Representatives through the Government Regulation in Lieu of Law No. 2 of 2020, agreed to postpone it until December 2020 to reduce the spread of COVID-19. To date, the pandemic has not ended yet, considered that the delay might be ineffective. Another issue was the emergence of other simultaneous elections in 2024, in which several steps have begun to be implemented this year. This study aimed to discuss the issue of the simultaneous regional head elections during the pandemic. It raised two issues. First, while the elections were still held to avoid vacancies, their implementation must be adjusted to the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, while the elections were postponed until the pandemic ends, the Acting Officer, as another alternative, should be given full authority to the Acting Officer so that the government could be administered optimally. The study combined doctrinal and empirical legal research. The primary data sources were the laws and regulations relating to the Regional Head Elections in Indonesia and interviews from the Election Supervisory Committee in Surabaya, Indonesia. This study showed that the simultaneous elections during the COVID-19 pandemic could still avoid vacancies, and its implementation was adjusted to the pandemic situation. Therefore, it implemented strict health protocols despite the more detailed and comprehensive-time simulations to adjust the overall implementation of the upcoming election stages. Also, the internet infrastructure was prevalent to support the elections. Finally, the government established the guidelines for Regional Head Election based on the COVID-19 health protocol. KEYWORDS: COVID-19 Pandemic, Regional Head Election, Regional Head Authority.

Optimizing Omnibus Law in Indonesia: A Legal Enquiry on the Use of Artificial Intelligence for Legislative Drafting

Omnibus law is often regarded as a practical solution to harmonize and synchronize statutory regulations. In practice, the application of this model tends to be pragmatic and less democratic. This paper aims to analyze the essential considerations for selecting the omnibus law model in Indonesia, following its implementation challenges and the relevance of using Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the legislation. By combining doctrinal and socio-legal research methods, this paper answers the legal enquiry for optimizing AI through omnibus law model legislation. The results of this study indicate that AI cannot immediately replace the role of the legislative institution but it merely acts as a "tool" and not as a "determinant" in the legislative process. In this context, there are two AI features that can assist legislative bodies in designing the omnibus law model; they are document review as a construction scanner for legislation and predictive analytics as a prediction system. Both features can help legislative bodies optimize the omnibus law model, which tends to have a high complexity level. As a follow-up, the government should establish a special institution to optimizing the AI-based legislation. KEYWORDS: Omnibus Law, Artificial Intelligence, Legislative Drafting, Public Participation.

Examining the Reproductive Rights in the Wake of COVID-19 Pandemic in Nigeria

The prospect of achieving sustainable reproductive rights protection in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic in Nigeria has remained an intractable problem. To identify and recognize reproductive rights, it is necessary to comprehend that reproductive right embraces certain human rights recognized in national and international laws, including international human rights’ documents. This paper examines the existing Nigeria laws on reproductive and health rights and ascertains the extent to which it has continually and predictably addressed the reproductive rights protection problem. There is a significant protection gap in the national human rights architecture. At the international level, among the poorer adolescent girls between the age of 15-19 years, it frequently results in early pregnancy and, of course, unsafe abortion. Thus, this gap relates in particular to questions on lack of access to family planning services. This paper argues that improvement of reproductive and sexual health goes far beyond the right to life and the right to health of women and girls. To guarantee Nigeria's reproductive rights, a more integral response to these critical human rights and development challenges can address Nigeria's protection gap. This paper adopts an analytical and qualitative approach by referring to existing pieces of literature achieved by the synthesis of ideas. This paper concludes that the adoption of a new approach to policies and programs on preventable maternal mortality and morbidity guarantees the right to attain the highest standard of sexual reproductive health in Nigeria. KEYWORDS: Reproductive Rights, Health Issues, COVID-19 Pandemic, Nigeria.

The Dark Side of Tobacco Industry's CSR: A Socio-Legal Analysis of the Indonesian Corporate Hegemony Campaign

This paper aims to seek the legal substance's core problem to reveal how the hegemony latently operates. By doing so, it deconstructs the established dogma about the industry's misperceived social reputation that frequently serves as justifications favoring the industry. As the only country in the Asia-Pacific region that has not yet accessed the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), Indonesia faces an alarming smoking prevalence rate. The situation has worsened during the COVID-19 outbreak because excessive tobacco smoking behavior increases people’s health vulnerability. Despite the destructive impact, most Indonesian citizens share a common belief about the tobacco industry's importance to the economy. Narratives on economic contribution and the industry’s philanthropic campaigns display the industry as the protagonist sector and play a significant role in creating a false public opinion on the tobacco industry's reputation. Using a qualitative socio-legal approach, this paper critically describes how the industry uses the hegemonic methods manifested in CSR campaigns, which contradict the ethical principle to secure its market dominance. As a result, the partial legal approach to tobacco control regarding CSR encountered minimalist market interventions from the government, which emerges as the main causes of such an anomaly. As the tobacco control challenge predictably gets more difficult on the verge of an economic downturn, the urgency of accessing the FCTC is highly crucial to saving us from the upcoming demographic calamity. KEYWORDS: Tobacco Industry, Business & Human Rights, Corporate Hegemony.

Constitutional Complaint in Indonesia Through the Lens of Legal Certainty

To date, there is no trial mechanism for Indonesian citizens to claim their rights through the constitutional complaint, even if the Constitutional Court has existed since 2003. In fact, civil rights guaranteed in the 1945 Constitution are often ignored by the government even though these rights are essential in promoting the rule of law. This paper aims to revisit the range of constitutional complaints and further consequences about the legal certainty by taking into account the rationale of civil rights protection following the establishment of the Constitutional Court for adjudicating civil complaints. This study uses juridical research with normative and comparative approaches. In this context, a constitutional complaint is different from the judicial review for which, the actions of government officials are deemed to be detrimental and violate the constitutional rights of citizens. Rather, it is an adjudication for protecting civil rights when it is found the constitutional rights are breached by the government so that each citizen has legal standing before the Constitutional Court. As for the effort to apply legal certainty to constitutional complaints, a legal basis is needed, namely the laws that regulate and their application. By doing so, it can be implemented after amending the 1945 Constitution that outlines the additional power-wielding to the Constitutional Court. KEYWORDS: Constitutional Complaint, Constitutional Court, Indonesian Constitution.