Practice

The Clinic’s projects are designed and implemented in partnership with impacted communities and civil society. Community agency and power are values at the core of the Clinic’s work. Student teams, with close supervision and mentorship from Clinic supervisors, support our project partners’ efforts to prevent and redress human rights violations and foster peace and justice. The Clinic currently works on three broad issue areas: peace and justice, equality and non-discrimination, climate justice, and rights across borders.

Issue Areas

Soldier with a rifle near military armored car.

Peace and Justice

Conflicts around the world are often sites of mass human rights violations. These violations are often compounded by the failure to acknowledge and account for the resulting harms and prevent their recurrence. The Clinic supports partners in South Asia and the Horn of Africa to advance human rights and foster just and sustainable peace.
Group of people marching for human rights in New York City.

Equality and Non-Discrimination

People face serious and enduring rights abuses across the globe on the basis of multiple and overlapping aspects of their identity, including religion, sexuality, gender, disability, nationality, and ethnicity. The Clinic works with partners in East Africa and the Caribbean to prevent and respond to violations facing the LGBTQI+ community.
shim

Climate Justice

The global climate change crisis has already had massive international human rights implications. Marginalized communities disproportionately bear the brunt of natural disasters, and the Clinic collaborates with partners worldwide to advocate for equitable solutions as the world confronts the challenges of climate change.
Emigrants Leaving Country

Rights Across Borders

When people or information traverse borders human rights are often at risk. People on the move frequently face abuse and lack access to due process, protection, and justice for crimes committed against them. Through engagement with partners across the Americas, including in El Salvador, Panama, Colombia, and the United States, the Clinic supports efforts to protect the rights of migrants and address the factors forcing them from their homes.

Peace and Justice

IHR&CRC Highlights: Peace and Justice 1

Spring 2023

Nate Vincent Quigley (’24), Max Han (’24), and Mathew Aaron Sperling (’24) assisted peacebuilding organizations to research the impact of legal changes in an area of protracted conflict on human rights. They conducted legal research and interviews, and also traveled to Belfast and Derry to conduct a comparative study on the Northern Ireland peace process.
IHR&CRC Highlights: Peace and Justice

Fall 2023

Riley Burton (’25), Rebecca Sadock (’25), Michelle Shim (’25), and Max Han (’24) assisted peacebuilding partner organizations to research the impact of legal changes in an area of protracted conflict on human rights. Building on the work of Spring 2023’s team, they conducted legal research and interviews to support the design of a new framework for dialogue.
Student Experience 15

Spring 2024

Cole Blum (‘25), Sophie Carroll (‘25), and Hank Sparks (‘25) assisted peacebuilding partner organizations to research the impact of legal changes in an area of protracted conflict on human rights. They developed and conducted a human rights workshop for peacebuilding practitioners to inform the design of a new framework for dialogue. They also conducted research on interdisciplinary approaches to advancing justice and peace in regions impacted by conflict through interviews with human rights and peacebuilding practitioners.
Practice 3

Fall 2024

Marianne Nader ('26), Jason Qu ('26), and Isabel Parkley ('26) supported peacebuilding efforts in an area of protracted conflict. The team conducted a training program for peacebuilding practitioners, equipping them with legal expertise to strengthen their negotiation positions. They also authored a comprehensive policy brief outlining recommendations to bridge the divide between human rights and peacebuilding approaches in conflict resolution. The guide is being used by practitioners in the region to develop collaborative strategies for advancing sustainable peace and justice. The team collaborated with partners in Liberia and the United States to research and recommend gender-responsive approaches for incorporation into transitional justice mechanisms in Liberia.

Equality and Non-Discrimination

Clinic as a Space for Reflection and Growth

Spring 2023

Anya Weinstock (’24), Ducan Bowen Ranslem (’24), and Roshan Natarajan (’24) worked with Jamaican LGBTQI+ organizations to ensure Jamaican trans voices were heard in ongoing litigation before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. They drafted and filed an amicus brief, with human rights clinics at the University of Pennsylvania and University of Chicago, in a case before the Commission related to the murder of a sixteen-year-old transgender Jamaican child, Dwayne Jones.
IHR&CRC Highlights: Equality and Non-Discrimination

Fall 2023

Maya King (’25), Masha Miura (’24), and Bojan Srbinovski (’24) supported advocacy efforts to overturn Uganda’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act, the second draconian law of its nature in a decade. The Act applies the death penalty to "aggravated homosexuality", criminalizes consensual same-sex sexual relations with life imprisonment, and imposes a duty to report on Ugandans who provide housing, healthcare, and essential services to members of the LGBTQI+ community. In collaboration with a leading human rights organization, they drafted public-facing materials to raise awareness about the Act and provided research support for strategic litigation efforts to promote the rights of the LBGTQI+ community.
Student Experience 16

Spring 2024

Jordan Walker (‘25), Emma Dougherty (‘25), and Moira Lieto (‘24) provided legal research and analysis for litigation efforts to overturn Uganda’s 2023 Anti-Homosexuality Act following a Constitutional Court decision that upheld most of the draconian law. The Constitutional Court judgment is under appeal in the Supreme Court. They also conducted research on killings of LGBTQI+ persons in the Americas for an upcoming thematic report by Morris Tidball Binz, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions
Group of people marching for human rights in New York City.

Spring 2024

In collaboration with the Stanford Center for Racial Justice, Advanced Clinic students Bojan Srbinovski (‘24), Masha Miura (‘24), Roshan Natarajan (‘24), Maya King (‘25), Anya Weinstock (‘24), and Michelle Shim (‘25) conducted research for Ashwini K.P., the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of racism, on the discriminatory use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education for her upcoming thematic report on AI and racial discrimination.
Practice 4

Fall 2024

Aidel Townsley ('26), Zehua Li ('26), and advanced clinic student Emma Dougherty ('25), worked with our Clinic partner, Chapter Four Uganda on litigation challenging discriminatory laws and practices against people suspected of being part of the LGBTQI+ community in Uganda. The team drafted affidavits for a legal and a psychologist expert. The team also drafted a report on the colonial origins of Uganda's penal code provisions, detailing how these laws, still on the books from colonial times, are commonly weaponized to prosecute LGBTQI+ persons and others for expressions of their sexuality, and to suppress free speech and assembly.

Climate Justice

Practice 2

Fall 2024

Jasmine Betancourt ('26), Nissim Roffe Piket ('26), and Victoria Osanyinpeju ('26) worked closely with our Clinic parter, Dejusticia, a leading human rights and think tank organization in Colombia, to support their work surrounding the United Nations' Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16). The team observed negotiations at COP 16, held in Cali, Colombia in November 2024. Following COP 16, the team drafted several reports for Dejusticia, including an analysis of the impact of COP 16 outcomes on COP 29, the global climate change conference of the parties held in November in Baku, Azerbaijan. The team also researched and wrote a legal report on the commitments made by State parties at COP 16 and their compliance with international human right law. Finally, the team collaborated with the Transnational Law Institute at King's College London to draft a research report regarding violations of the right to natural resources as a novel legal theory for addressing the triple crisis of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The report will be utilized in a submission to the United Nations Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Rights Across Borders

Clinic Practice

Spring 2023

Audrey Spensley (’23) and Carolina Abboud (’23) worked with partner organizations to document ongoing arbitrary arrests in El Salvador and the impact of the use of unreliable data-sharing between El Salvador and the United States. They collected cases from immigration lawyers across the United States that highlighted the concerning use of unsubstantiated allegations by El Salvadoran to deny immigration relief. They drafted and filed a complaint with the Office of Civil Rights and Civil Liberties within the Department of Homeland Security.
Practice 1

Fall 2023

Anna Howell (’24), Dorna Movasseghi (’25), and Ellie Farrin (’25) conducted a delegation to Panama with the Haitian Bridge Alliance to examine access to justice for migrants crossing the dangerous Darien jungle on the border between Panama and Colombia. They held meetings with both high-ranking government officials and international non-profit organizations to collect information for the development of recommendations to the Panamanian government. They drafted a robust letter to officials detailing improvements needed to better provide access to justice for victims of sexual violence and other crimes.
Student Experience 7

Spring 2024

Erin Williams (‘25), Camila Chabayta (‘25), and Will Steere (‘25) worked closely with Colombian partner organization, Center for the Study of Law, Justice and Society – Dejusticia, to examine and document expanded border externalization by the United States into South America. They traveled to Bogota, Colombia, to conduct interviews and produced an array of research tools and materials to inform future publications and advocacy efforts.