Center News/Faculty and Staff Updates
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Human Rights Brief Volume 19 | Issue 2 Article 13 2012 Center News/Faculty and Staff pU dates Human Rights Brief Follow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.wcl.american.edu/hrbrief Part of the Legal Education Commons Recommended Citation Human Rights Brief. "Center News/Faculty and Staff pdU ates." Human Rights Brief 19, no. 2 (2012): 68-71. This Column is brought to you for free and open access by the Washington College of Law Journals & Law Reviews at Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. It has been accepted for inclusion in Human Rights Brief by an authorized administrator of Digital Commons @ American University Washington College of Law. For more information, please contact [email protected]. : Center News/Faculty and Staff Updates CENTER AND Faculty Updates CENTER NEWS GROUNDBREAKING RESEARCH WITH semester program for law students to learn SUCCESSFUL POST-TRAFFICKING RE/ about various human rights education MARYLAND LEGAL AID BUREAU AND INTEGRATION IN NEPAL UNDERWAY pedagogies and to teach RFK’s Speak TEXAS RIO GRANDE LEGAL AID BY CENTER’S PROGRAM ON HUMAN Truth to Power (STTP) human rights SELECTED AS LOCAL HUMAN RIGHTS TRAFFICKING AND FORCED LABOR curriculum in local high schools. The pro- LAWYERING PROJECT PARTNERS The Center’s Program on Human gram will create an innovative, replicable model for experiential learning and teach- The Center’s Local Human Rights Trafficking and Forced Labor is midway ing of human rights. It is unique in its focus Lawyering Projects works with legal aid into a first-of-its-kind study to investi- on training students on the use of differ- organizations to provide training, coaching, gate the re/integration strategies of women ent strategies and methodologies to create mentoring and technical assistance for who are living in Kathmandu Valley after points of entry for discussion of rights- integrating international human rights having been trafficked into forced prostitu- based issues; refining understandings of norms into domestic legal aid work in the tion in India. The study involves qualitative ways to talk about rights to different audi- U.S. Funded by the Ford Foundation, the interviews and focus group discussions ences; and providing practical experience of project is the first of its kind — working with 30 women who escaped or were examining hard legal issues with non-legal at the state level to incorporate human rescued and repatriated to Nepal from 2 audiences. The pilot program will be taught rights norms, language and strategies to 8 years ago, and then entered the care as part of the Fall 2012 WCL curriculum. into domestic work to help advocate for of one of two Nepal NGOs. The study increased protections. will investigate women who, for various Speak Truth to Power, a project of reasons, have not returned to their natal/ the Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice After receiving more than 10 applica- family and community, and have sought to and Human Rights, uses the experiences tions from legal aid organizations across live independently in urban Nepal society of human rights defenders from around the United States, the Center selected (Kathmandu). This is a positive deviance the world to educate students and others Maryland Legal Aid Bureau, Inc. (www. study and the sample women have been about human rights and empower them to mdlab.org) and Texas Rio Grande Legal purposively selected for their re/integra- understand and operationalize the rights Aid, Inc. (www.trla.org) as its Project tion success. The Program is collaborating framework in their own lives. The project’s Partners for the Local Human Rights with a Nepalese research institute and an renowned human rights curriculum, which Lawyering Project. Maryland Legal Aid expert consultant in Nepal. has been taught to thousands of students in Bureau and Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid Africa, Asia, Europe and the United States, are both highly respected and creative This pioneering research will collect encourages youth to become personally legal aid organizations with a demon- valuable information on NGO service involved in the protection of human rights. strated commitment to human rights. delivery and on successful self-initiated re/integration strategies, leading to recom- The STTP Law Project builds on the success The Project has also established an mendations to strengthen NGO practices of the STTP curriculum, and expands on Advisory Board with over twenty members, to support the re/integration of return- more than two decades of work by the Center consisting of leading legal aid attorneys ees and to address the legal and social to help prepare law students to effectively and human rights experts from across the obstacles of discrimination and stigma discuss and advocate for human rights. United States. Work on this project expands that prevents many former victims from on nearly ten years of work by the Center rebuilding their lives. HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH RESEARCHER in promoting human rights law in the U.S. JOINS ON-THE-GROUND JOURNALIST Through trainings, workshops, mentoring, The culminating report will be final- TO HIGHLIGHT ETHICS IN RESEARCH and research, the Center seeks to enhance ized by early Summer 2012. For more ISSUES IN POST-EARTHQUAKE HAITI understanding of international law and its information on the Center’s Program on applications to domestic social justice work. Human Trafficking and Forced Labor, The Center and the American University The Center aims to bridge the gap between visit: www.RightsWork.org. Washington College of Law International the U.S. role in actively promoting human Human Rights Law Clinic hosted an expert panel discussion on November 7, to discuss rights abroad and recognition of interna- CENTER PARTNERS WITH ROBERT and debate the challenges of human rights tional law and standards within the U.S. ENNEDY CENTER FOR JUSTICE F. K research and investigative journalism in legal system. For more information, visit AND HUMAN RIGHTS TO DEVELOP a post-disaster setting. Amanda Klasing the Local Human Rights Lawyering Project IONEERING HUMAN RIGHTS EDUCATION P is a Researcher in the Women’s Rights at http://www.wcl.american.edu/humright/ ROGRAM FOR LAW STUDENTS AND P Division of Human Rights Watch (HRW) center/locallawyering.cfm. IGH SCHooL STUDENTS H and author of “Nobody Remembers Us”: The Center has partnered with the Failure to Protect Women and Girls’ Right Robert F. Kennedy Center for Justice to Health and Security in Post Earthquake and Human Rights (RFK) to create a one Haiti. Kathie Klarreich is a well-known Published by Digital Commons @ American University Washington College68 of Law, 2012 1 Human Rights Brief, Vol. 19, Iss. 2 [2012], Art. 13 journalist and author on Haiti and a Knight THE RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT INDONESIAN MIGRANT RIGHTS International Journalism Fellow at HRW. TODAY: DID LIBYA KILL R2P? DEFENDER ANIS HIDAYA SPEAKS ON The panel addressed logistical challenges, EXAMINES EMERGING ISSUE IN ABUSE AND PROTECTION OF MIGRANT potential obstacles to acquiring true and INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW WORKERS informed consent from interviewees, and The invocation of the emerging doc- On November 3, the Center and the limitations of the legal framework. The trine of the Responsibility to Protect was WCL Women and the Law Program hosted event received international press coverage seen as a watershed moment for the devel- a panel discussion featuring Anis Hidayah, and was featured on Voice of America’s opment of the principle. With the over- recipient of Human Rights Watch’s 2011 Creole Service: http://www.voanews.com/ throw of the Khaddafi regime, the status Alison Des Forges Award. Striving to pro- creole/news/Yon-Fowom-sou-Dwa-Fanm- of R2P and how it was applied is now in tect and promote the rights of Indonesian ak-Timoun-ann-Ayiti-133827168.html question. On November 15, the Center’s migrant workers abroad, Ms. Hidayah cur- Student Advisory Board convened a panel rently serves as the Executive Director of HUMAN RIGHTS FILM SERIES discussion with three experts on the sta- Migrant Care, a non-governmental orga- HIGHLIGHTS FOUR FILMS RAISING tus of the doctrine of the Responsibility nization based in Jakarta, Indonesia. Ms. THE PROFILE OF KEY ISSUES; AWARDS to Protect (R2P) in light of the crisis in Hidayah spoke about her work monitoring GRANT TO ASPIRING HUMAN RIGHTS Libya. UN Security Council Resolution abuse of Indonesian domestic workers in FILMMAKER 1973 provided the international commu- countries such as Kuwait, Malaysia and nity with authority to intervene to protect Saudi Arabia, and advocating for their The 12th Annual Human Rights Film civilians in Libya. Speakers included (in protection by calling for better labor laws, Series, first organized in 2000 and co- alphabetical order): Jonas Claes, Senior oversight of recruitment practices, and sponsored by the American University Program Specialist, U.S. Institute of more effective immigration policies. Center for Social Media (CSM), show- Peace, Center for Conflict Management; cases the power of film to educate and Don Kraus, Chief Executive Officer, advocate about human rights. Four excep- ANTI-SLAVERY EXPERT AND SURVIVOR Citizens for Global Solutions; and Prof. tional documentary films that exhibit SHARES GHANA’S EXPERIENCE Clovis Maksoud, Professor at WCL excellence in filmmaking and explore a and the American University School of On Thursday, February 9th, the Center’s broad spectrum of human rights issues International Service (SIS) and Director of Program on Human Trafficking and Forced are screened each fall. The 2011 selec- the Center for the Global South at SIS. The Labor welcomed James Kofi Annan, a tions were: If A Tree Falls: A Story of the panel was moderated by Student Advisory prominent figure in the global anti-slavery Earth Liberation Front; How To Die In Board member Kaitlin Brush. The event movement, to speak to the WCL com- Oregon; The Redemption of General Butt was webcast live with 40 remote loca- munity about issues concerning Ghana’s Naked; and Not in Our Town: Light in tions participating in the discussion via live law and policy enforcement in the context the Darkness.