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Register on Zoom for Lessons from the Cholera Epidemic at this link. October 2020 marks the 10-year anniversary of UN peacekeepers’ introduction of cholera to Haiti. The resulting epidemic has killed over 10,000 people and caused immeasurable losses in Haiti. The UN’s reluctance to accept responsibility and to remedy affected communities has also tested the organization’s commitment to human rights…

The phenomenon of multi-stakeholder initiatives (MSIs) has spread rapidly across the globe since the 1990s, with governments and multinational corporations (MNCs) alike promoting them as the new solution to the global governance gap even before they were fully road-tested. Civil society organizations (CSOs) saw them as a way to engage MNCs on the environmental and social problems exacerbated by global…

Register for “Advocating While Black” on Zoom at this link. Aspects of human rights work may present particular challenges and opportunities for practitioners of color. Human rights advocates work cross-culturally and undertake work that often requires international travel or relocation abroad. Pathways into the field are often relationship-dependent, and once in the profession, expectations about an advocate’s identity can impact…

Armed conflicts and military activities take a toll on the environment that significantly affects both people and ecosystems. The pollution they cause inflicts severe and long-term physical, psychological, socioeconomic, and cultural harm. While UN bodies have begun to address toxic remnants of war, a framework to meet the short- and long-term needs of those affected has been absent. Harvard Law…

Freedom of religion or belief may be “limited” under most national constitutions and international human rights treaties on grounds of public safety, order, health or morals, and the rights of others.  Please join us for a discussion with Gehan Guantilleke on how constitutional and treaty provisions are vulnerable to majoritarian infiltration. The webinar will explore case studies from Sri Lanka, Pakistan,…

This summer, the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) was lucky to host three Harvard Law School interns. Marie Sintim, IHRC Program Assistant, spoke with Sondra Anton JD’22 recently about her experience interning remotely in the Clinic. Sondra was also a Summer Fellow with the Human Rights Program, an opportunity that awards funding to students to intern at human rights organizations…

Please join us for an upcoming webinar featuring Zakia Soman and Dr. Noorjehan Safia Niaz, co-founders of Bharatiya Muslim Mahila Andolan (BMMA) and co-authors of “Indian Muslim Women’s Movement: For Gender Justice and Equal Citizenship.” The webinar will discuss their pioneering activism for equal rights and equal citizenship of Muslim women in India, advocacy strategies, challenges of advocating women’s rights…

Multi-stakeholder Initiatives (MSIs) emerged in the 1990s as frameworks for engagement between governments, the private sector and civil society organizations (CSOs) to address human rights issues in business. There are currently several sector-specific MSIs around the world originally conceived to address problems, ranging from labor abuse to corruption, in agriculture, extractive industries, forests, the environment and beyond. After more than…

Q&A with Rebecca Tweedie JD’21 Last month, the Institute for Multi-Stakeholder Initiative Integrity (MSI Integrity) reflected on 10 years of trying to make the world better for workers and rights-holders in the business world in a new report, “Not Fit-for-Purpose.” MSI Integrity, an organization Amelia Evans LLM’12 and Human Rights Program and International Human Rights Clinic Co-Director Tyler Giannini co-founded in…

If everything had gone according to schedule, the International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC) would have filed an amicus curiae brief in December 2019 in a case against Chiquita Brands International, the world’s largest banana company. The suit, on behalf of families who suffered mass atrocities by paramilitary groups during the Colombian armed conflict, seeks accountability for the reign of terror Chiquita aided and abetted…