Aminta Ossom

Aminta Ossom is a Lecturer on Law and Senior Clinical Instructor in the International Human Rights Clinic, where she supervises projects focused on human rights and the global economy. She is also associated with the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, where she contributes to Justice Matters, a human rights podcast. 

Ossom’s recent clinic collaborations have focused on the rights of workers in the informal economy, the relationship between climate change and socio-economic inequality, and accountability for human rights abuses in global supply chains. In addition to economic and social rights research, she has interests in human rights diplomacy, the role of identity in advocacy, and symbioses between civil and human rights movements. 

Prior to joining the International Human Rights Clinic in Fall 2019, Ossom was a human rights officer at the United Nations, where she supported the Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture and the special rapporteurs of the Human Rights Council in fact-finding, advocacy, and training in Africa, Latin America, Southeast Asia, and Europe. She returned to the United Nations in the summer of 2022 to staff the UN Permanent Forum on People of African Descent in advance of its inaugural session.

Earlier in her career, Ossom taught at Fordham Law School as a Crowley Fellow in International Human Rights and Adjunct Professor of Law. She also worked in the field of international criminal justice, including as a Satter Human Rights Fellow with Amnesty International. In addition to a JD from Harvard Law School, Ossom holds a Masters in African Politics from SOAS, University of London, and a BA from the University of Oklahoma.