Clinic: International Human Rights Advocacy (714-1)
Instructors
Bridget Arimond
312 503 5280
RB 839
Office Hours: By appointment
Meeting Info
Rubloff Building 836: Mon 2:35PM - 3:50PM
Overview of class
Plans for our Spring Semester 2023 projects:
1. Amicus brief to the Constitutional Court of Ecuador on behalf of Afro-Ecuadorian abacaderos, who for generations have lived and toiled in abject poverty on the Furukawa abaca plantation, arguing that under international law, the situation of the abacaderos constitutes serfdom and/or forced labor, which are prohibited forms of modern day slavery.
2. Amicus brief to the Constitutional Court of Georgia, drawing from international law and comparative "best practices" to argue that victims of domestic violence have a right to a speedy means of obtaining a divorce.
3. Report and submission to UN human rights mechanisms on US failures of investigation and accountability for gross human rights violations against Haitian migrants at Del Rio, Texas, including abuses by CBP officers on horseback, with NGO partners RAICES and Haitian Bridge Alliance.
4. Continuing advocacy efforts, as opportunities arise, on behalf of an Indigenous Guji community that is suffering devastating effects due to toxic contamination from the Lega Dembi gold mine.
5. Possible participation in advocacy at the UN in collaboration with EQUAL GROUND, a Sri Lanka LGBTIQ NGO, with whom we prepared two reports in Spring 2022. Review at UN has been postponed due to crisis in Sri Lanka, but is now scheduled for early 2023. 6. Continuing work (as needed) with the Geneva-based International Platform for Corporate Liability to organize a World Peoples' Tribunal on Climate Change and Corporate Liability, tentatively planned for 2023 in Dar es Salaam.
One or two other projects may be added; student suggestions are welcome.
Registration Requirements
PRE-REQ: IHR LLMs need advance instructor permission to bid. No prerequisites for JDs. LLMs other than IHR LLMs may not bid for this course, but may request permission to enroll if seats are available at the conclusion of bidding. Although some prior knowledge of human rights law or basic concepts of public international law is beneficial, students without any such background have done fine in this clinic in the past.
Class Attributes
Satisfies Experiential Learning degree req
International Law PracticeArea in course
Enrollment Requirements
Enrollment Requirements: MSL Students are not eligible to enroll