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Rebecca Gore, LLM '23 discusses her experience in the International Human Rights Clinic and her work with Susan Farbstein on the Disappearances in Mexico project.

Bonnie Docherty, scholar on humanitarian disarmament, says the weapons endanger civilians now and in the future Editors note: this article was originally published in Harvard Law Today. In July, President Joe Biden’s administration announced that it would soon begin sending cluster munitions to Ukraine to support the country’s fight against Russia’s invasion. The weapons, which have been used extensively by Russia…

To be successful, human rights work requires a mix of vision and tenacity – the ability to see a problem clearly and then develop creative solutions. The Harvard Law School International Human Rights Clinic recently spoke with three alumni from the classes of 2018, 2016, and 2014, who are charting their own paths and creating change through innovative thinking, from Cambodia and Geneva to Texas and South Africa.

President Joe Biden’s recent decision to transfer U.S. cluster munitions to Ukraine will exacerbate a humanitarian crisis and break with a widely followed international norm. The move encourages the proliferation of weapons that have been banned by over 120 countries because they endanger civilians both during strikes and for months, years, and even decades afterward. Having witnessed the gruesome impact of cluster munitions first-hand, I find the U.S. rationale for transferring them weak on multiple fronts.

On the second anniversary of the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse, the Global Justice Clinic and the International Human Rights Clinic at Harvard Law School submitted a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken and Assistant Secretary Brian Nichols calling on the U.S. government to cease to support the de facto Ariel Henry administration. Progress on human rights and…

When she was in the seventh grade, Samantha Gogol Lint, J.D. ’20, took a class that changed her life. An elective in constitutional law set Lint on the path to becoming an attorney. Now, three years after her graduation from Harvard Law School, Lint is a part of a team building, and winning, some of the most creative and complicated…

Fifteen years ago this week, Irish Ambassador Daithí Ó Ceallaigh brought down his gavel at a conference in Dublin, signaling the adoption of the Convention on Cluster Munitions. In the years since, 123 countries have joined the treaty, which has proven an effective tool to prevent and remediate the civilian suffering caused by these indiscriminate weapons.

In May, Susan Farbstein spoke at the Just Society Workshop hosted by the Council on Foreign Relations in New York about where the human rights movement has been successful through collaboration and where it has fallen behind, including in advancing diversity and equity internally within human rights organizations. Below is a link CFR’s recording of the full panel.

In the Vienna Action Plan, adopted in 2022 at the first annual meeting of the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW), states parties resolved to establish reporting guidelines on victim assistance, environmental remediation, and international cooperation and assistance. By regularly reporting on national measures taken to implement their Article 6 and 7 obligations, states parties could significantly enhance…