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PROGRAM OVERVIEW
Students in the International Women's Human
Rights Law Clinic (IWHR) engage in change-lawyering through litigation and
advocacy, locally and globally. In conjunction with women’s rights advocates,
human rights lawyers, and grass-roots organizations in the United States and
abroad, we advocate on behalf of individual clients in the context of promoting
change in both national and international human rights law.
We urge
international lawmaking institutions to redefine and implement human rights that
will provide greater protection to, among others, those victimized by gender and
sexual violence, and to advance reproductive and sexual rights as well as
economic and social rights. In the United States, we represent immigrant
domestic workers and other victims of human rights abuses with international and
domestic claims in U.S. courts, as well as file amicus curiae briefs in
domestic cases with significant and otherwise overlooked international
dimensions.
Widely recognized for its expertise and contributions to the
jurisprudence and practice of human rights, IWHR clinic enables students to
engage in cutting edge work under close clinical supervision. We maintain an
eclectic docket of cases and projects to provide both in-depth and broad
experiences. Our goal is to develop a sound understanding of international human
rights, as well as sharpen the lawyering skills necessary for effective law
reform-oriented advocacy work applicable in both U.S. and international
contexts.
The field of women's human rights enables students to learn how
to identify gender-specific problems and challenge apparently neutral, but
exclusionary human rights frameworks. This approach provides a transferable
experience of simultaneously working with the diverse perspectives of the
marginalized, generally, but focusing specifically on gender issues which are
multi-dimensional, incorporating diversities among women in terms of race,
ethnicity, geopolitical context, economic and other status, including
discrimination based on non-hetero-normative sexual and gender identities. By
addressing problems through the lens of human rights, students build capacity to
use international human rights frameworks and institutions to reexamine and
challenge the narrower rights approach of the U.S. Constitution in domestic and
international fora while developing lawyering skills applicable purely to U.S.
law reform efforts.
TYPICAL STUDENT PRACTICE
The two
semesters of the IWHR Clinic offer students a number of work options from which
to choose. In the course of a year, students work directly on one or more cases
or projects. Some students represent individual clients, while others work with
legal and activist partners here and abroad on various advocacy projects.
Because we encourage collaboration, students are assigned to teams and also
often work with lawyers outside the clinic. The teams meet weekly with their
supervisors, as well as individually if necessary, to discuss their projects and
benefit from each other's experiences.
Some of our recent projects
include:
- Representation of immigrant
domestic workers in federal litigation involving domestic and international
issues under the Alien Tort Claims Act, the Trafficking Victims Protection Act,
and domestic law claims. For example, we represent a South Asian domestic
worker suing the Government of Kuwait and a high-ranking Kuwaiti diplomat for
the damages she suffered when she was trafficked to the United States and held
in slave-like conditions in the diplomat’s Manhattan home. This case is the
first seeking to hold a foreign government responsible for the acts of its
diplomats, and part of a larger effort to restrict diplomatic immunity for such
offenses. A copy of the Complaint filed
in the action can be accessed here. A copy of the Court’s
decision permitting service on the Diplomats in France using alternate means of
service can be accessed here. Another pending case, now in
discovery, involves a client who was trafficked by her step-sister at age 16
and forced to work around the clock without pay and without being permitted to
attend school. A copy of the Complaint filed in this action can be accessed here and a copy of the IWHR Clinic’s Memorandum in Opposition to Motion
to Dismiss can be accessed here. The Clinic also recently
filed an action on behalf of the former domestic worker of two United Nations
employees who was paid about 50 cents per hour for seven years of work, despite
United Nations and United States State Department regulations requiring that
domestic workers brought to the United States by employees of international
organizations be paid at least the minimum wage. A copy of the Complaint filed
in the action can be accessed here.
- Preparation of amicus
curiae briefs for international and domestic courts, including the U.S.
Supreme Court, Circuit Courts, the international criminal tribunals and
national courts considering issues with human rights dimensions. We have
submitted briefs to the U.S. Supreme Court regarding enforcement against
domestic violence in Brzonkala v. Morrison (a copy of the Brief filed
by IWHR can be accessed here) and City of Castle Rock
v. Gonzales (a copy of the Brief filed by IWHR can be accessed here), to the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the
former Yugoslavia resulting in recognition of rape as torture and genocide and,
on behalf of local advocates, to foreign courts regarding a challenge to the
Slovakian criminal abortion law. We are currently preparing an amicus
brief for the Peruvian courts urging prosecution of sexual violence as torture
that occurred during the civil war.
- Drafting of legislation and international documents, such as draft
legislation for the U.S. Congress to revise the 2006 Military Commission Act and
a draft of a General Comment on prevention of torture now under consideration by
the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT).
- Preparation of critical reports in conjunction with various UN bodies,
including the UN human rights treaty bodies. Last year we prepared a shadow
report (critical NGO report) to the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT)
critiquing the U.S. for the gender violence and abuse at Abu Ghraib prison in
Iraq and for non-effective enforcement of laws in the U.S. against domestic
violence. Another shadow report to CAT prepared with Chilean colleagues
addressed the coerced confession and torture perpetrated by Chilean hospitals
and police on women suffering from complications of abortions by withholding
medical treatment until the women either confessed to self-abortion or
identified who had performed the procedures. CAT concurred with our position and
firmly censored Chile.
- Preparation of petitions and amicus briefs for the Inter-American
Commission on Human rights. We are preparing an amicus brief supporting
the right of a lesbian judge in Chile to regain custody of her children taken
from her by the local courts. We are supporting the ACLU’s petition on behalf of
the plaintiff in the Supreme Court case, City of Castlerock v. Gonzales,
for redress of U.S. failure to ensure the enforcement of her protective order.
On behalf of the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign and others, we
prepared a petition challenging violations of economic and social rights in the
U.S. in regard to cutbacks on access to welfare, housing and health, and have
filed numerous communications on gender violence with the participation of
Haitian women’s groups, the first resulting in the first declaration by a human
rights body that rape is torture.
- Preparation of written materials and presentations for UN discussions and
negotiations. In l997-2000, IWHR was legal secretariat to the Women’s Caucus for
Gender Justice, enabling students to research and vet Caucus positions,
submitted as Recommendations and Commentary, and to participate in its
international delegations in the negotiations.
- Providing expert support to NGO human rights initiatives. Students served as
assistant legal advisors to and drafted the Judgment for the Judges of the
International Women’s Criminal Tribunal on Japan’s Military Sexual Slavery
(Comfort Women).
DISTINCTIVE SKILLS FOCUS
Our projects
and skills agenda are designed to prepare students for a broad range of law
reform both in the representation of clients presenting novel issues and through
advocacy for legal and policy change with official bodies in collaboration with
activist groups, experts and lawyers. We choose our work initially on what will
constitute a multi-faceted learning experience for students and, in that
context, on the needs of the human rights activists and effective strategies for
social change. IWHR students may choose to carry a client caseload or work on
one or two larger cases or projects.
In keeping with the law reform
orientation of IWHR, all students have substantial opportunity to develop and
refine strategic thinking, legal research, creative theory, and clear,
persuasive writing skills. Our federal litigation permits students to engage in
client counseling and negotiation, draft and defend legal documents, engage in
investigation and discovery, and present in court. Our international projects
involve working with partners, as well as opportunities for presentation to or
lobbying of international bodies or working with NGO colleagues in presentations
and collective strategic decision-making.
CLASSROOM
COMPONENT
The IWHR seminar meets twice weekly for a total of 5-6
hours per week to broaden the students' working knowledge and critiques of human
rights frameworks, principles, strategies and institutions generally, in
addition to developing and sharpening lawyering skills necessary to excel at
project work.
The first semester addresses the critical and gender focus
on foundational questions of international law: what constitutes legal authority
in international law and how it is made, identification of the actors, including
the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and how power is distributed,
and what is/should be the relation between U.S. and international law. We
generally examine developments in international criminal law, under the Alien
Tort Claims Act and other federal statutes.
The second semester looks
critically at the relation of gender to the broader human rights frameworks
encompassing political, civil, economic, social and cultural rights, and
compares them to U.S. law. We explore particular issues, such as gender
discrimination, sexual orientation and transgender identities, trafficking,
health rights, religion and culture, as well as the impact of neo-liberal
globalization on human rights. Throughout the entire year, we address the
potential and limitations of gender, intersectional and human rights approaches,
multi-cultural issues and strategies for advancing human international rights in
the U.S., as well as the relationship between legal and political strategies for
social change.
Approximately one session per week is devoted to skills
training, including international and domestic legal research, effective writing
and editing, case planning, interviewing, client counseling, oral advocacy,
taking of depositions and testimony, multi-cultural and ethical issues arising
in all contexts. To the extent possible, we utilize our on-going project work in
the skills training so that students can learn from each other and about each
other’s work. Some classes involve observation and critical assessment of
official UN or domestic judicial processes and others involve rounds where
students present their work and seek the strategic input of clinic
colleagues.
CLINIC GRADUATES
The clinic prepares students
to work in any legal environment. Although our work has an international focus,
the skills learned here are important for all legal work and much of our work
involves representing clients in U.S. courts. In addition to substantive human
rights knowledge, former students emphasize the value of IWHR in honing their
litigation and advocacy skills, and capacity to challenge injustice through
creative, strategic thinking.
Our graduates work in a variety of
capacities in national and international venues:
- As judicial clerks in New York and New Jersey state courts, U.S. and
Australian federal courts, the Court of International Trade, and the
international ad hoc tribunals
- In legal aid and legal services offices, plaintiff-side employment firms,
and immigration firms and programs
- At UN Missions or domestic and international legal advocacy organizations
such as the Center for Constitutional Rights, DRUM-Desis Rising Up and Moving,
the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Committee, the Women’s Caucus for
Gender Justice, the International Disability Rights Caucus (which just finished
negotiating the new treaty), and in humanitarian relief projects
- In voluntary bar association and public interest activities
- In further academic study and faculty positions
SOCIAL JUSTICE
MISSION
IWHR Clinic's social justice mission is two-fold:
- To provide counsel and support to victims, activists and movements
responsive to evolving demands for social justice addressing primarily gender
issues
- To graduate students with foundational knowledge of international law,
well-honed change-oriented lawyering skills and a sensitivity to role and
multi-cultural perspectives
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Faculty in the Program
Rhonda Copelon
Andrew
Fields
Vahida Nainar
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