Advanced Human Rights Clinic

Catalog description

The Advanced Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic affords an excellent opportunity for students interested in international human rights law to practice law in the transnational setting of international human rights litigation and other forms of human rights advocacy while providing assistance to individuals seeking asylum in the United States. Globally, legal issues stand at the intersection of domestic civil rights law and the developing law of international human rights. Joining the ranks of a select group of human rights clinics in the country, the Cardozo Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic is the only law school clinic focused on issues of human rights and mass atrocities. The overall objective of the clinic is to give law students first-hand experience with the range of activities in which lawyers engage to promote respect for human rights, and the diverse ways in which the law is utilized to advance social change. In particular, the Clinic focuses on the prevention of mass atrocities, the protection of persons suffering from mass human rights abuses, and the rebuilding of societies in the aftermath of mass human rights violations. Doctrinally, the Clinic focuses, among other things, on international human rights, genocide prevention, international criminal law, asylum and refugee law, anti-discrimination law, minority rights, and transitional justice. Each student will be expected to work on one human rights case project and to represent an individual seeking asylum in the United States. The Clinic represents individuals and institutions, including United Nations Agencies, non-governmental organizations, and public interest law firms. As a general rule, Clinic cases and projects will fall into four broad areas: Litigation and advocacy before international and regional human rights tribunals and treaty bodies concerning minority rights,…