Clinics & SPOs
International Human Rights Clinic
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Brianna Banks named winner of Stuntz Memorial Award
May 20, 2022
This year, Brianna Banks was named the 2022 winner of the William J. Stuntz Memorial Award for Justice, Human Dignity, and Compassion, which recognizes a graduating student who has demonstrated an exemplary commitment to the principles of justice, human dignity, and compassion while at Harvard Law School.
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Harvard Representation Initiative supports members of the Harvard community affected by the crisis in Ukraine
April 7, 2022
The Harvard Representation Initiative is supporting some Ukranian members of the Harvard community by providing immigration legal representation and social work support, offering options to keep them and their families safe.
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Harvard Law School’s team has won the national round of the 2021-2022 Philip C. Jessup International Moot Court Competition and will advance to the international round, to be held from March 24 through April 10.
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Russian forces are using weapons widely banned across the world, says Harvard Law expert
March 3, 2022
As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues to unfold, of particular concern, says arms expert Bonnie Docherty, is the reported use of cluster munitions and other explosives in highly populated areas.
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Since January 2020, Rez Gardi has been living in Duhok, in Iraq’s autonomous Kurdistan Region.
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An activist at home in the world
June 14, 2021
Ais has been immersed in a blend of advocacy, legal scholarship, and community building.
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Trusted to listen
December 28, 2020
After her first interview in Afghanistan, Nicolette Waldman ’13 realized she had found the career she was meant to pursue.
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Pursuing U.S. accountability for child slavery abroad
December 9, 2020
In October, the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School filed an amicus curiae brief on behalf of legal historians in the consolidated cases against two U.S.-based chocolate companies alleged to have aided and abetted child slavery in West Africa.
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Harvard Law receives record number of Skadden Fellowships
December 5, 2020
Nine HLS students and alumni awarded prestigious Skadden Fellowship for public service.
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Training the next generation of international women’s rights advocates
November 16, 2020
Since joining Harvard Law School, Salma Waheedi, a clinical instructor and lecturer on law in the International Human Rights Clinic, has devoted a major part of her teaching and clinical legal practice to training students to become effective international women’s rights advocates.
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Confronting conflict pollution
September 30, 2020
A new report from the HLS International Human Rights Clinic and the Conflict and Environment Observatory establishes a new framework for addressing human harm resulting from the environmental consequences of conflict.
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Event series explores racial justice and human rights
September 23, 2020
The Human Rights Program launches a series of talks exploring issues of racial justice and human rights. The inaugural event, “Advocating While Black,” takes place on Sept. 24 .
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After months of delays, the International Human Rights Clinic filed an amicus brief in June in Doe. et al. v. Chiquita Brands International, a suit that seeks accountability for Chiquita's actions during the Colombian armed conflict from 1997 to 2004.
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U.S. appeals court rules against former Bolivian president and defense minister over 2003 massacre
August 5, 2020
On August 3, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit vacated a trial court judgment that had been entered in favor of Bolivia’s former president, Gonzalo Sánchez de Lozada, and former defense minister, José Carlos Sánchez Berzaín, for the massacre of unarmed Indigenous people in 2003.
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New report documents human rights abuses in Bolivia
July 31, 2020
Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic and the University Network for Human Rights released a report Monday documenting widespread human rights abuses carried out under Bolivia’s interim president since she assumed power in November 2019.
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Beatrice Lindstrom, clinical instructor and supervising attorney in the International Human Rights Clinic, has been working for nearly a decade to secure accountability from the U.N. for a devastating cholera outbreak caused by UN peacekeepers in Haiti in 2010.
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This year, the Harvard Law School Office of Clinical and Pro Bono Programs has recognized six students from the Class of 2020 for their outstanding clinical and pro bono work.
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In a Q&A, Yee Htun, clinical instructor in the International Human Rights Clinic, talks about systemic discrimination and violence against ethnic Rohingya in Myanmar and how Rohingya refugees are coping in the midst of a global pandemic.
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Finding human solutions to global problems
February 6, 2020
With headlines declaring 2019 the year that the world woke up to climate change, Aminta Ossom ’09 sees hope in approaching the issue from a specific angle: human rights.
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Mail priorities: Madelyn Petersen ’19 works to keep communities connected in rural Iowa
December 6, 2019
As a member of Harvard Law School’s International Human Rights Clinic, Madelyn Petersen '19 and several other students traveled to northwest Iowa to study how the federal government’s plan to potentially privatize the U.S. Postal Service might affect the small, largely rural communities there.
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Human rights seminar tackles barriers to women’s leadership
December 3, 2019
This fall, Harvard Law School Clinical Professor Susan Farbstein ’04 is teaching "Human Rights Careers: Strategic Leadership Workshop," a seminar focused on advocacy and leadership for students interested in careers in human rights or social justice.
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In Q&A, Bonnie Docherty discusses humanitarian disarmament
October 9, 2019
Bonnie Docherty ’01, associate director the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative (ACCPI) at Harvard Law School, discusses humanitarian disarmament, and a recent discussion with Hiroshima survivor Setsuko Thurlow.
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Gallery: From the atomic bomb to the Nobel Peace Prize
October 4, 2019
Photo exhibit traces the history of nuclear weapons from the devastation of early use and testing to the current global effort to eliminate them.
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In his work with Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic and beyond, Paras Shah '19 has always centered his approach to human rights on inclusion.
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JET-Powered Learning
August 21, 2019
1L January Experiential Term courses focus on skills-building, collaboration and self-reflection
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Dalia Deak ’19 is this year’s winner of the individual David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Award, given each year to the student who embodies the pro bono spirit of the late professor and exemplifies putting theory into practice through clinical work.
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Radhika Kapoor LL.M. ’19 came to HLS to take advantage of Harvard’s institutional expertise in international law, humanitarian law and post-conflict stability—and to foster her love of reading.
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Lindsay Bailey’19, Lisandra Novo’19 and Elisa Quiroz ’19 are the winners of the team 2019 David Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award.
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Back to Myanmar with fresh insights
November 27, 2018
When Myanmar’s military junta tightened its grip in the late ’80s to quash a nationwide democracy movement, Yee Htun fled the brutal crackdown on dissent along with her mother, a doctor turned human rights activist, and three siblings. After five years in a refugee camp in Thailand, they immigrated to Canada as government-sponsored refugees, unsure of when they might return home.
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Experiential and Impactful
June 28, 2018
In May 2018, a federal magistrate issued a temporary injunction to prevent the U.S. Department of Education from forcing former students of for-profit Corinthian Colleges…
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Evolving and Adapting: The HLS Clinical Landscape
June 26, 2018
More than 100 years after students started the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau, there are now 40 clinics and Student Practice Organizations at HLS, focused on everything from cyberlaw to veterans’ rights.
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In recognition of their demonstrated excellence in representing clients and undertaking advocacy or policy reform projects, Amy Volz ’18 and Ha Ryong Jung (Michael) ’18 were named the 2018 recipients of the David A. Grossman Exemplary Clinical Student Award, named in honor of the late Clinical Professor David Grossman ’88.
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In his time at Harvard Law School, Ha Ryong (Michael) Jung ’18 has completed extensive coursework and clinical training in children’s rights, human rights and child protection, criminal justice, international and foreign law, and human rights advocacy and negotiation to shape a future career in child advocacy.
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“After a decade of tireless fighting, a measure of justice”
April 13, 2018
When the verdict came down, most of the litigation team was in the second row of the courtroom, leaning forward, tense with the waiting, trembling at times. But Thomas Becker '08 was in the front row, arm around the shoulders of Felicidad Rosa Huanca Quispe, whose father was shot dead in the street all those years ago.
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Natalie Trigo Reyes ’19 wants to help vulnerable communities—starting at home in Puerto Rico
April 5, 2018
After Hurricane Maria roared over Puerto Rico in 2017, Puerto Rican native Natalie Trigo Reyes ’19 felt “completely overwhelmed.” Within days, however, she raised $40,000 for relief efforts, collected truckloads of emergency goods, and helped plan the school’s response to the disaster.
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Jury finds former Bolivian president responsible for extrajudicial killings of indigenous people; awards $10M in damages
April 3, 2018
In a landmark decision today, a federal jury found the former president of Bolivia and his minister of defense responsible for extrajudicial killings carried out by the Bolivian military. The landmark litigation began with a collaboration between Bolivian partners and the Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic
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Humanitarian Disarmament: The Way Ahead
March 21, 2018
Earlier this month, about two dozen international experts gathered for “Humanitarian Disarmament: The Way Ahead,” the inaugural conference of the Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection Initiative (ACCPI) at Harvard Law School.
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Basking in that Oslo glow
January 17, 2018
2017 was a year of notable accomplishments for Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC), and for Bonnie Docherty '01, associate director of Armed Conflict and Civilian Protection and lecturer on law at HLS.
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The International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (ICAN), with which Harvard's International Human Rights Clinic collaborated during the negotiations of a nuclear weapon ban treaty, received the Nobel Peace Prize today. IHRC joined ICAN and UK-based disarmament organization Article 36 in the efforts for the new Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons.
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Harvard Law School has announced that the family of the late Samuel Pisar LL.M. ’55 S.J.D. ’59, has endowed a professorship and a fund to support the International Human Rights Clinic.
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Human Rights Clinic calls on ICC to investigate Chiquita Brands for complicity in crimes against humanity
May 23, 2017
On May 18, on behalf of affected Colombian communities, a coalition of human rights groups including the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School called on the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate the complicity of executives at Chiquita Brands International in crimes against humanity.
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In the wake of executive orders restricting immigration, HLS clinic provides legal support and advocacy
February 1, 2017
The Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program has been addressing the legal concerns of Harvard students, faculty, staff, and individuals affected in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by recent executive action on immigration.
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Human Rights Clinic releases report on Syrian refugees and documentation of legal status
December 2, 2016
Harvard Law School's International Human Rights Clinic has released a new report, "Securing Status: Syrian refugees and the documentation of legal status, identity, and family relationships in Jordan," that details the challenges Syrian refugees living outside refugee camps encounter obtaining official documents from the Government of Jordan.
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Another ‘Angry Granny’ on Climate Justice
November 18, 2016
In a recent conversation at HLS with Dean Martha Minow, Mary Robinson, former president of Ireland and U.N. special envoy on El Niño and climate change, told the story of how she came to be an “Angry Granny” on the topic of climate change, starting with her discussions with people in the most deeply affected communities.
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Celebrating National Pro Bono Week at HLS
October 25, 2016
In late October Harvard Law School celebrated National Pro Bono Week with a number of events to honor the outstanding work of lawyers who volunteer their time to help people in their communities.
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Students honored at class day ceremony
May 26, 2016
A number of Harvard Law students from the Class of ’16 received special awards this year during the 2016 Class Day ceremony on May 25. The students were recognized for their outstanding leadership, citizenship, compassion and dedication to their studies and the profession.
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In a report issued last week, the Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic and Human Rights Watch call for countries to retain meaningful human control over weapons systems and ban fully autonomous weapons, also known as 'killer robots.'