At the cutting edge of education and advocacy, the International Human Rights Clinic is a force driving tangible change in human rights.
Action: We’re on the front lines, fighting for human rights and humanitarian protection through litigation, research, and unyielding advocacy. Working hand-in-hand with communities and partner organizations, we dismantle systemic injustices, effecting immediate and lasting change.
Education: We’re not just shaping lawyers; we’re cultivating ethical champions for human rights. Through immersive projects, mentorship, and profound reflection, we equip minds ready to confront today’s challenges head-on.
Innovation: We’re not content with the status quo. We’re trailblazers, constantly devising new strategies and technologies to tackle urgent human rights issues. Through dynamic teamwork and innovative problem-solving, we’re shaping a brighter, more just future, starting right now.
IHRC’s docket draws on clinicians’ established expertise and networks in six broad areas, while remaining responsive to emerging needs and the evolving field. Our practice spans: (1) accountability & remedies, (2) armed conflict & civilian protection, (3) climate justice & the environment, (4) gender, race & non-discrimination, (5) protecting fundamental freedoms, and (6) social & economic justice.
Students are involved in all aspects of their projects—conceptualizing goals and formulating strategies, interviewing witnesses and experts, researching and drafting reports, treaties, and legal briefs, and presenting findings before courts and international bodies. We employ a variety of lawyering methods tailored to the needs of each project, such as advocacy, strategic litigation, research and analysis, norm building and treaty drafting, and documentation and reporting. Project work is informed by clinical seminars that combine case studies, role plays, interactions with practitioners and community members, critical reflection, and workshops of clinical projects.
Clinical Human Rights Practice
The International Human Rights Clinic’s docket draws on clinicians’ established expertise and networks in six broad areas, while remaining dynamic and responsive to emerging needs and the evolving field. Our practice includes: accountability and remedies, armed conflict and civilian protection, climate justice and the environment, gender, race, and non-discrimination, protecting fundamental freedoms, and social & economic justice. The Clinic employs a variety of lawyering methods that are tailored to the needs of each project, such as research and analysis, advocacy, strategic litigation, norm building and treaty drafting, and documentation and reporting.
How to Register
The International Human Rights Clinic is offered in the Fall and Spring semesters. You can learn about the required clinical course component, clinical credits and the clinical registration process by reading the course catalog description and exploring the links in this section.
The clinic also offers a 3L-only clinic option in the fall (International Human Rights Clinic – 3L Leadership Training with Advanced Seminar). This option is for students who have already completed a semester of the International Human Rights Clinic. This option has an early drop deadline of June 1, 2023.
Meet the Instructors
Susan Farbstein
Director; Clinical Professor of Law
Bonnie Docherty
Associate Director; Lecturer on Law
Anna Crowe
Associate Director; Lecturer on Law
Beatrice Lindstrom
Senior Clinical Instructor; Lecturer on Law
Aminta Ossom
Senior Clinical Instructor; Lecturer on Law
Daniel Levine-Spound
Clinical Teaching Fellow, Supervising Attorney of HLS Advocates for Human Rights; Lecturer on Law
Staff Members
| Kelsey Ryan | Program and Communications Manager | keryan@law.harvard.edu |
| Sanjana Nayak | Program Assistant | snayak@law.harvard.edu |
In the News
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Student Perspectives | Fall 2024
Students offer reflections on their first semseter in the International Human Rights Clinic.
December 9, 2024
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Watch: Jumping in to Human Rights Practice: Recent Alumni Reflect on a Shifting Field
On September 30, the International Human Rights Clinic hosted a panel discussion with recent Clinic alumni at the forefront of the human rights practice. Watch to hear about their personal journeys, from navigating early career challenges to celebrating unexpected wins.
October 24, 2024
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Curbing the Trade in Policing Equipment to Rights Abusers Video: How to Make a Torture-Free Trade Treaty Effective
As the culmination of two semester’s work, in May the Clinic convened an expert roundtable and hosted a public event on torture-free trade with the Geneva Graduate Institute’s Global Governance Centre.
July 22, 2024
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Clinical Project Leads to Academic Article in Harvard Human Rights Journal about the Role of Non-State Actors in Enforced Disappearances
The most recent print edition of the Harvard Human Rights Journal features an article co-authored by Clinical Director Susan Farbstein, Americas Director at the International Federation for Human Rights Jimena Reyes, and clinical alumni Sabrina Ochoa, JD ’24, Rebecca Gore, LLM ’23, Adriana Bones, JD ’24, Nitika Khaitan, LLM ’23, and Victoria Abut, JD ’24.
July 8, 2024