Student Perspectives

In Pursuit of Justice: Supporting Roma Communities through Clinic Work

January 8, 2025

Giovanna Garcia '25 reflects on her work in the International Human Rights Clinic.

Ending International Trade in Law Enforcement Equipment Used for Torture

January 7, 2025

During the Fall 2024 semester, Shayna Toh ’25 worked on the Torture-Free Trade team under the supervision of Anna Crowe. Watch to learn more about Shayna’s experience advocating for a torture-free trade treaty and her travel to New York for UN advocacy and to attend the Humanitarian Disarmament Forum.

Chiquita Litigation: After the Jury Verdict

January 3, 2025

As part of the Student Perspectives Series, we sat down with two members of the Fall 2024 Chiquita Team to discuss their project work and insights.

Student Perspectives | Fall 2024

December 9, 2024

Students offer reflections on their first semseter in the International Human Rights Clinic.

Seeking Accountability for North Korean Atrocities: An Interview with Erika Suh Holmberg, Monica Jung Hyun Lee, Jasmine Shin, and Ethan Shin

Editor’s note: This article was first published on Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights Spotlight Series page.

Incendiary Weapons: Views from the Frontlines and the Financial Sector

December 15, 2021

This post originally appeared on humanitariandisarmament.org’s Disarmament Dialogue blog. Videos of the panelists are available there. As states gathered in Geneva, Switzerland, for a major UN disarmament conference, a recent online event illuminated the cruel effects of incendiary weapons and the need for stronger international law. Incendiary weapons, which produce heat and fire through the chemical reaction of a flammable…

New Voices against Incendiary Weapons: Healthcare Professionals, Burn Survivor Groups Demand Stronger Law

December 7, 2021

Incendiary weapons, which produce heat and fire through the chemical reaction of a flammable substance, cause grievous injury and long-term suffering for civilians. Protocol III of the Convention on Conventional Weapons (CCW) prohibits and regulates certain uses of incendiary weapons, but it contains loopholes that have limited its effectiveness. As CCW states parties prepare to discuss these weapons and Protocol…

COP26 as Greenwashing? How a Human Rights Approach Can Shift Us Away from the Greenwashing Trap

November 29, 2021

This month, world leaders and business executives convened in Glasgow for COP26, the 26th United Nations climate conference. Outside the conference rooms, a different kind of convening took place, as hundreds of thousands of activists gathered in Glasgow and globally to demand more immediate and drastic action on climate change. Amongst these protesters was Greta Thunberg, who repeatedly referred to…

Earth Day 2021: What the Yamuna River Teaches Us About Climate Change and Human Rights

You may have seen images of Hindu devotees immersing themselves in large clouds of white foam floating through the Yamuna River in Delhi, India. But what may seem otherworldly belies something much more sinister: a river of deep religious and life-giving significance for millions of people, teeming with toxic industrial and residential pollutants. Alongside three other Harvard Law School students…

Earth Day 2021: Environmental Justice is a Human Rights Struggle

The United States has an environmental human rights problem. Across the country, communities of color and lower socioeconomic status are disproportionately located close to chemical processing plants, power plants, and other industrial facilities and shoulder the burden of domestic environmental contamination. Air and water quality standards frequently fail to protect these communities, leading to detrimental health impacts and continued contamination.…