News​

• The Human Rights Institute and Mwatana Human Rights call for US Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin to open new investigations into civilian deaths and injuries in Yemen from American operations.

• The Global Movement for Black Lives grant is looking for one upper-year student (2L, 3L, LLMs) to join as a research assistant and teaching assistant. Researchers will work with the grant project team to learn about and engage with global and sub-Saharan African movements for Black lives.

• HRI's Human Rights Resilience Project is calling for applications for the "Defenders Wellbeing Collective" - a unique space for leaders of grassroots, community, and survivor-led human rights organizations or movements globally to reflect, experiment, share, and learn together about how best to support greater wellbeing and resilience within their organizations and movements. 

• HRI's Anjli Parrin moderated a side event on the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the members of religious or belief minorities, hosted by the Permanent Missions of Poland and Brazil to the United Nations in New York. 
• HRI is proud to have worked with these 12 outstanding graduates who received fellowships and awards for their human rights work.
• HRI partner PEN Norway publishes a report analyzing indictments in freedom of expression cases in Turkey. HRI's Sarah Mehta wrote the introduction and collaborated on planning and advocacy for the project this past year.
• Faculty co-director Sarah Knuckey, HRI visitor Waleed Alhariri, and Human Rights Clinic alumn Amanda McNally co-author an article in the Health and Human Rights Journal on mental health and Yemen.
• Priyanka Motaparthy is quoted in an Intercept article on the Pentagon's failure to fully report civilian casualties.
• The Columbia Law School Clinic and Mwatana for Human Rights welcome new civilian casualty acknowledgment from US military, call for comprehensive accounting of civilian harm in Yemen.
• Six Columbia Law School graduates receive Human Rights Institute commendations for their demonstrated commitment to human rights.
• "Innovations for Advancing Women's Rights: Beijing+25 and Beyond," the Fall 2020 - Spring 2021 event series co-hosted by HRI and the Global Health Justice and Governance Program at the Mailman School of Public Health, concludes.
• HRI co-organizes the Fifth Annual Student Paper Symposium, taking place on Friday, March 19th.
• HRI co-sponsors Rightslink's Human Rights Week event series, "Beyond Six Feet: Human Rights in the Shadow of COVID."
• The Human Rights Institute hosted four events for students, faculty, and practitioners to foster ongoing dialogue and reflection on progress and challenges in achieving racial justice. 
• The Human Rights Clinic signed a letter by its partners calling on the United Nations Security Council to ensure accountability for Yemen.
• Columbia’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights (Indigenous Peoples’ Rights Program) and the International Indigenous Women’s Forum (IIWF/FIMI) launch a Seminar Series, "Indigenous Women Leaders at Columbia," as part of FIMI’s Global Leadership School of Indigenous Women.
• Pre-election fighting in the Central African Republic threatens a fragile peace, warn Human Rights Clinic students Kate McFarland LLM '21 and Brandon Vines '22 in an article published in Just Security, alongside HRI's Anjli Parrin and Central African human rights activist AbdoulAziz Sali. 
• Human Rights Clinic alumna Libby McAvoy's short piece, "Centering the 'source' in open source investigation," is published by OpenGlobalRights.
• Recent U.N. review echoes Human Rights Clinic's recommendations for the United States to improve sanitation and housing conditions, and to stop criminalizing poverty.
• On Human Rights Day, JoAnn Kamuf Ward and Sarah Alshawish publish an article for Just Security on state and local human rights efforts in the United States.
• HRI and Columbia Law School's LL.M. program announce the 2020-2021 Human Rights Fellows, seven outstanding lawyers committed to battling fundamental injustices around the world, from immigration rights to gender equality to sustainable investment.
• Catherine Flowers, a long-standing project partner drawing attention to sanitation crises in the US, publishes an article in The Grist featuring JoAnn Kamuf ward, Director of the Human Rights in the US project. 
• The Human Rights Institute has endorsed a landmark report published by the High Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom entitled Report on Providing Safe Refuge to Journalists at Risk. The Report was authored by Professor Can Yeginsu, member of the High Level Panel and Senior Fellow at the Human Rights Institute.
• The Human Rights Institute issues a statement concerning the results of the 2020 Presidential election. 
• Mwatana for Human Rights and the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic call for UN to support detained and sentenced Yemeni journalists
• Congratulations to Catherine Coleman Flowers, a long-standing project partner drawing attention to American sanitation crises, for being awarded the 2020 MacArthur Fellowship.
• Professor Sarah Knuckey, Benjamin Hoffman, Jeremy Perelman, Gulika Reddy, Alejandra Ancheita, and Meetali Jain co-author an article that examines power between human rights advocates and "victims" and shares tactics for moving from disempowerment to rightsholder agency.
• The Human Rights Institute, in collaboration with the CCR, ACLU, and US Human Rights Network launched an initiative to show support for human rights at the state and local levels in advance of the UPR of the US and the November election. Human Rights in the US Project Director, JoAnn Kamuf Ward and Program Assistant Sarah Alshawish highlight the pivotal need for support for human rights and systemic change in the wake of COVID and police violence
• The American Red Cross invites law students to apply to the 7^th Annual Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law (IHL) Competition, an opportunity to bring together leading IHL practitioners, military academy cadets, and law students to explore this fascinating area of law.
• HRI announces its Fall 2020 virtual event series, Innovations for Advancing Women’s Rights: Beijing +25 & Beyond in collaboration with the Global Health Justice and Governance Program at the Mailman School of Public Health and the Feminist and Women's Movement Action Plan. 
• Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum hosts a Webinar on September 9th entitled "Non-State-based grievance mechanisms: An expert discussion on new legal and policy developments."
• The TrialWatch initiative publishes a report on the trial of Turkish academic Tuna Ahmed Altinel, charged with offenses under Turkey's anti-terrorism law for organizing an event on human rights abuses. Find more information here.
• The Human Rights Clinic and our partners at Mwatana for Human Rights recently submitted a report to the UN Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights. The release note can be found here.
• Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute invites candidates for the position of Managing Director.
• The TrialWatch project of the Columbia Human Rights Clinic issues a report on the Bangkok trial of four individuals, finding their trial and conviction for "membership in a secret society" violated international law. More information can be found here. 
• Professor Sarah Knuckey highlights eight key flaws of the report by Secretary Pompeo's Unalienable Rights Commission, warns of the potential harmful impacts, and emphasizes the need for rebuke.
• In a comment to the Unalienable Rights Commission, JoAnn Kamuf Ward, CREEJ, the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, PHRGE, and the US Human Rights Network assert that the U.S.' efforts to unilaterally redefine international human rights principles undermine racial justice and equality.
• The Human Rights Clinic releases a report on the criminal defamation trial of an indigenous activist and retired government official in Thailand. The report, published as part of the TrialWatch initiative, finds the trial violated international human rights standards. More information can be found here. 
• JoAnn Kamuf Ward co-authors and submits a paper to UN Special Rapporteurs on the connection between COVID-19 and rural access to sanitation in the United States.
• Human Rights Institute announces the 2020 awardees of its Commendation for Leadership and Commitment in Human Rights.
• Ellie Dupler ’20 discusses her experience working with the Human Rights Institute and the Clinic in her graduation video.
• Bamisope Adeyanju ’20, LL.M. shares her experience working with the Human Rights Clinic in her graduation video.
• Program assistant Sarah Alshawish publishes a piece in The New Humanitarian about using takeaways from past pandemics to inform COVID-19 response.
• HRI co-organizes a meeting for the UN Human Rights Treaty Bodies to strengthen the treaty body system, with a focus on human rights reporting, internal coordination, and increased review capacity.
• Sarah Cleveland shares an overview of international law protections to cyber operations targeting the health care sector, in a critical joint statement.
• Sarah Jackson, Amnesty International's deputy regional director for East Africa, the Horn, and the Great Lakes; and former HRI Practitioner-in-Residence investigates how international human rights groups move towards transformative solidarity instead of acting for people
• HRI is co-sponsoring a webinar on how cities and communities can address the housing crisis exposed by COVID-19 and advance the right to housing, featuring former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing staffers. Other co-sponsors include the UPR Cities Project of the US Human Rights Cities Alliance, US Human Rights Network, and Pittsburgh Human Rights City Alliance.
• The Human Rights Institute responds to the impacts of COVID-19.
• It is vital to ensure that upcoming UN human rights reviews evaluate government responses to the current pandemic, stresses JoAnn Kamuf Ward in a Just Security blog.
• HRI launches an event series titled "COVID-19: Advancing Rights and Justice During a Pandemic," bringing together scholars and practitioners to discuss the threats we face, and how we might respond.
• Clare Skinner '20 LL.M. highlights that for women at risk of domestic violence, staying home due to COVID-19 is not safe. 
• Kazakhstan’s draft law on peaceful assemblies should be reconsidered, writes faculty co-director Sarah Cleveland in a legal opinion published by the International Commission of Jurists.
• HRI concludes semester-long event series on human rights and peacebuilding to discuss and share approaches, challenges, and strategies from both fields to advance justice and long-term peace.
• HRI co-organizes a briefing of 36 governments from around the world to highlight the ways that ongoing lack of access to water and sanitation exacerbate the impacts of COVID-19 in rural US communities.
• JoAnn Kamuf Ward, Director of the Human Rights in the US Project, publishes a new piece, "How Advocates are Advancing Racial Justice through Advocacy for Reparations and via Restorative Justice Initiatives," on the Human Rights at Home Blog.
• Racial Justice Symposium explores strategies to secure reparations and restorative justice in the U.S.
• HRI hosts the Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network 2020 Human Rights in the U.S. Symposium/CLE: “Racial Justice, Restoration, and Inclusion: Human Rights Principles and Local Practice.”
• HRI to host the Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network’s (BHRH) Annual Human Rights in the U.S. Symposium/CLE on May 1^st, entitled “Racial Justice, Restoration, and Inclusion:  Human Rights Principles and Local Practice.”
• JoAnn Kamuf Ward, HRI's Director of Human Rights in the U.S. Project, writes about human rights lessons from COVID-19, highlighting that equality requires economic and social rights protections.
• U.S. COVID-19 Response Must Prioritize Sanitation for Rural Communities, write Aroosa Khokher ’21, JD and Bamisope Adeyanju ’20, LLM for the Human Rights at Home Blog. 
• HRI joint submission to the U.S. State Department Commission on the Unalienable Rights emphasizes the centrality of economic and social rights to human rights and equality. 
• HRI to host a talk titled "COVID-19 in Conflict: What to Expect? And What Can be Done?," featuring Azadeh Moaveni, Project Director, Gender Project, International Crisis Group; Cordula Droege, Chief Legal Adviser and Head of the Legal Division, International Committee of the Red Cross; Farea Al-Muslimi, Co-Founder and Chairman, Sanaa Center for Strategic Studies; and Kate Kizer, Policy Director, Win Without War.
• HRI hosts a talk titled "Innovating Human Rights: Responsibility, Hope, and Strategy in Crisis," featuring César Rodríguez-Garavito, Visiting Professor of Clinical Law, NYU School of Law; Director, OpenGlobalRights; and Kathryn Sikkink, Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
• Columbia Law joins new initiative to advance media freedom globally under the leadership of Professor Sarah Cleveland and HRI Senior Fellow Can Yeginsu.
• As part of her work with the Columbia Law Human Rights Clinic, Shannon Marcoux '21 J.D. discusses how COVID-19 is a disproportionately devastating disease for the Marshallese in Hawai’i.
• HRI hosts a talk titled "Flattening the Pandemic Curve While Upholding Digital and Information Rights," featuring Adebayo Okeowo, Program Manager, Africa, WITNESS; Diego Naranjo, Head of Policy, European Digital Rights; Maria Luisa Stasi, Senior Legal Officer, Article 19; and Michael Pisa, Policy Fellow, Center for Global Development, as part of an event series on COVID-19 and justice. 
• HRI hosts a talk titled "COVID-19's Impact on Health, Housing, Water, and Sanitation: Socioeconomic Rights in Crisis," featuring Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing; Catherine Flowers, Founder, Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice (CREEJ); and Gregg Gonsalves, Professor of Law and Epidemiology, and Co-Director of the Global Health Justice Partnership, Yale University, as part of an event series on COVID-19 and justice.
• HRI hosts a talk titled "Impacts of COVID-19 on Marginalized Groups: Implications for Policy and Advocacy," featuring Amanda Klasing, Acting Co-Director, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch; Charanya Krishnaswami, Americas Advocacy Director, Amnesty International USA; and Vincent Warren, Executive Director, Center for Constitutional Rights, as part of an event series on COVID-19 and justice.
• HRI hosts a talk titled "States of Emergency and Government Powers in and After the Pandemic," featuring Fionnuala Ni Aolain, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms While Countering Terrorism; Isabel Linzer, Research Associate, Freedom House; and Yaqiu Wang, China Researcher, Human Rights Watch.
• HRI co-organizes the Fourth Annual Columbia Law School Human Rights Symposium despite the COVID-19 pandemic. 
• Professor Sarah Knuckey co-authors book chapter on digital human rights investigations and mental health risks to advocates, in volume on using open source information to further human rights accountability.
• Human Rights Clinic alumnae Yasmin Dagne ’18 J.D. documents how resettled communities due to Guinea’s Souapiti Dam are struggling to feed their families, restore their livelihoods, and live with dignity.
• Congratulations to our leading partner in the work on war crimes and mass graves, the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), for being nominated for the 2020 Nobel Peace Prize!
• “Pompeo’s Rights Commission is worse than feared,” warns Professor Sarah Knuckey, highlighting concerns to watch.
• Economic and social rights are essential for equality and racial justice explains a joint submission to the Unalienable Rights by HRI and the Center for Rural Enterprise and Environmental Justice. 
• Even as COVID-19 reveals deep inequities, the Trump administration continues to downplay the significance of economic and social rights, writes JoAnn Kamuf Ward, Director of Human Rights in the U.S. Project.
• HRI calls on federal actors to shift course and protect historically marginalized communities that are bearing the brunt of the health impacts and economic harms of COVID-19.
• Priyanka Motaparthy, Director of Project on Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict, and Human Rights, discusses what a legal investigation into civilian casualties caused by the U.S.'s Baghdadi Raid in Syria should include.
• Professor Sarah Cleveland is appointed to the 5-member UN Conciliation Commission for the CERD dispute between Qatar and the UAE.
• Professor Sarah Cleveland writes about freedom and nondiscrimination on the basis of religion, reflecting on the case of banning the full-face veil.
• A lawsuit against the Trump Administration over the design, conduct, and goals of the Commission on Unalienable Rights references and quotes article by JoAnn Kamuf Ward.
• HRI co-hosts a talk titled "Methods of Resistance Under Occupation in Kashmir and Palestine," featuring Lana Tatour, Ibrahim Abu-Lughod Fellow, Center for Palestine Studies, Columbia University; Mahum Shabir, Harvard College & CUNY Law School, Stand with Kashmir Network.
• Professor Sarah Cleveland and HRI Senior Fellow Amal Clooney convene at Chatham House to discuss the new report of the High-Level Panel of Legal Experts on Media Freedom on the use of targeted sanctions to protect journalists.
• Human Rights Clinic students learn about global advocacy from international expert and HRI Practitioner-in-Residence Anna Macdonald, who led the successful campaign for the Arms Trade Treaty.
• HRI co-hosts a talk titled "From Detention to Detention: Resisting the School-to-Prison Pipeline," featuring Seann Riley and Dekaila Wilson, Directors of the NYU Suspension Representation Project.
• U.S. military too often fails to investigate civilian deaths, new report by HRI and the Center for Civilians in Conflict finds after analyzing over 200 military investigations. 
• HRI hosts a talk titled "Human Rights and Peacebuilding: Disciplinary Tensions and Possibilities for Collaboration" with Kristina Eberbach, Deputy Director, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, School of International and Public Affairs (SIPA), Columbia University; Zachary Metz, Director of Peace Building Practice, Consensus, and Adjunct Assistant Professor, SIPA, Columbia University; Jayathma Wickramanayake, Secretary General’s Envoy on Youth, United Nations.
• HRI hosts Anna Macdonald, International Arms Control Expert and Practitioner-in-Residence at HRI for career consultations with Columbia Law students. 
• Extensive data and analysis conducted by HRI's Security Force Monitor support an investigation of drug-related killings in the Philippines, which is highlighted by Columbia's School of Journalism for its positive impact.
• HRI co-organizes a launch event of our recent report on U.S. military investigations and civilian harm, featuring panelists Priyanka Motaparthy, Director, Project on Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict, and Human Rights, HRI; Dan Mahanty, Director, U.S. Program, CIVIC; Ian Brasure, Attorney Advisor, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; Andrea Prasow, Acting Washington Director, Human Rights Watch.
• New initiative by Columbia Law Alumni Anna Bulman '15 and Ria Singh Sawhney '17 uses illustration to highlight the relevance of human rights in everyday life.
• Clinical Teaching Fellow Gulika Reddy facilitates a workshop on mental health, trauma, and resilience in Bangkok for individuals working in the peacebuilding field. 
• HRI hosts a talk titled "Unmaking Citizenship in India" with Aman Wadud, human rights lawyer and founder of the Justice and Liberty Initiative; and Rohit De, Associate Professor at Yale University.
• HRI hosts a talk about the book Rescuing Human Rights: A Radically Moderate Approach, featuring author Hurst Hannum, Professor of International Law at The Fletcher School, Tufts University; Elsa Stamatopoulou, Former Chief of the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Director of the Indigenous Peoples' Rights Program at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights; and Inga Winkler, Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Human Rights Program at Columbia University's Institute for the Study of Human Rights.
• Daniel Newton '19 joins HRI as Legal Fellow with the Project on War Crimes and Mass Graves, bringing in transnational experience in community-based human rights work.
• Pursuant to Vietnam's UN human rights review, Professor Sarah Cleveland delivers a workshop to its government on implementing the Human Rights Committees' recommendations.
• HRI and IAOHRA testimony on impacts of federal policy on the right to housing gets quoted in U.S. Commission on Civil Rights report.
• Human Rights Clinic students Anita Yandle '21 and Kimberly Mejía-Cuéllar '21 monitor a sedition trial in Thailand and deliver a trial monitor training at Thammasat University.
• TrialWatch Legal Fellow Sarah Mehta co-delivers a trial monitoring training at the Global Network for Public Interest Law (PILnet) Forum in Singapore, focusing on trials posing a high risk of human rights violations.
• HRI hosts a talk about the book Future Histories: What Ada Lovelace, Tom Paine, and the Paris Commune Can Teach Us about Digital Technology, featuring author Lizzie O'Shea, a lawyer and Davis Projects for Peace Prize Recipient.
• Turkey restores access to Wikipedia after almost three years. HRI Senior Fellow and lead barrister on the case before the European Court of Human Rights, Can Yeginsu, comments on lifting the ban.
• Professor Sarah Knuckey and the Human Rights Institute seek research assistants for spring 2020. Interested students can apply here.
• The call for papers for the Columbia Law School Human Rights Student Paper Symposium is now open. The Annual Symposium aims to foster the development of student scholarship and stimulate debate on human rights challenges and opportunities.
• HRI hosts a talk about the book For the Love of Humanity: The World Tribunal on Iraq, featuring author Ayça Çubukçu, Associate Professor in Human Rights and Co-Director of LSE Human Rights, the London School of Economics and Political Science. 
• HRI's Legal Fellow Sarah Mehta organizes a TrialWatch convening in Thailand in collaboration with the Clooney Foundation for Justice, focusing on trial monitoring strategies to protect freedom of expression.
• JoAnn Kamuf Ward files an amicus brief on behalf of CCR, Human Rights Watch, and LatinoJustice PRLDEF, arguing that a Florida law requiring local police to cooperate with ICE contravenes human rights principles.
• HRI hosts a talk titled "Confronting Racism and Patriarchy in Brazil’s Judiciary," with Brazilian Federal Judge Adriana Cruz.
• HRI hosts a talk titled "International Treaties as Instruments to Advance Human Rights: Opportunities and Challenges," featuring Anna Macdonald, International Arms Control Expert; Practitioner-in-Residence, HRI. 
• Security Force Monitor updates its database of U.S. foreign military trainings to include 11,000 new training entries from this year’s State Department and Department of Defense's report to Congress.
• HRI's Clinical Teaching Fellow Gulika Reddy co-facilitates a training with Kashmiri partners on conducting participatory action research.
• Human Rights Clinic students Clare Skinner ’20 and Ellie Dupler ’20 report on their recent trip to Beirut, where they attended a workshop tied to the Clinic's ongoing advocacy work on the right to mental health in Yemen.
• HRI hosts a panel to discuss the book Rescuing Human Rights: A Radically Moderate Approach, featuring Hurst Hannum, Professor of International Law, The Fletcher School, Tufts University and book author; Elsa Stamatopoulou, Former Chief of the Secretariat of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues and Director, Indigenous Peoples Rights Program, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University; Inga Winkler, Lecturer and Director of Undergraduate Studies for the Human Rights Program, Institute for the Study of Human Rights, Columbia University.​
   

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