New York University School of Law has long been at the forefront of scholarly work on civil liberties and human rights. In 2002, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice was established to bring together and expand the rich array of teaching, research, clinical, internship, and publishing activities undertaken within the Law School on issues of international human rights law.
What's New
Student Opportunity
Joint International Law and Human Rights Scholarship Conference
Call for Submissions: Deadline: Monday, January 31, 2012- The Institute for International Law and Justice and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice are pleased to announce a joint International Law and Human Rights Scholarship Conference to be held on February 29-March 2, 2012 (papers on the topic of human rights will be presented on March 1). The conference, open to current NYU School of Law JD, LLM, and JSD students, will provide an opportunity for the presentation of papers, discussion, and debate on a broad set of international law issues. The purpose of the conference is to encourage the development of scholarship by giving students an opportunity to present works-in-progress in a constructive and collaborative environment.
Several students will be selected to briefly present their papers and will receive comments from an interdisciplinary group of faculty members and practitioners, who will lead open discussion and debate following presentations. In addition, the best submission on human rights will be featured
Students writing in all areas of international law are invited to submit papers by Monday January 31, 2012. Papers received after the deadline will not be considered.
While we invite works-in-progress, papers should be complete, fully cited, and ready for circulation at the time of submission. Although there is no strict page limit for submissions, selected papers should ideally not exceed 30 double-spaced pages
Please email questions and submissions to Angelina Fisher
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Faculty Director, Smita Narula, co-authors Huffington Post article "'High Tech, Low Pay: Let the Workers Behind Our Electronics Be Heard"
August 4, 2011- Apple may be reporting record company sales in 2011, but one thing the company is not making noise about are the details surrounding a string of recent tragedies at the Chinese factory where so much of Apple's current success story is based. The explosion in May at the Foxconn plant in the city of Chengdu in Southwestern China -- where Apple's highly coveted iPad 2 is produced -- has reignited concerns among corporate accountability activists. That explosion, which killed three workers and injured 16 others, urges us to ask once again: who are the people behind our beloved hi-tech products? And how can we "lean back" with our shiny new information devices while these electronic sweatshop workers are treated as disposable as last year's iPhone?
PRESS RELEASE
CHRGJ Welcomes Release of U.S. Strategy on Preventing Violent Extremism
August 3, 2011—The Global Justice Clinic of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law welcomes the White House’s release of its strategy Empowering Local Partners to Prevent Violent Extremism in the United States, but expresses concern about the extent to which it co-opts a wide range of community engagement tools, including social services, to prevent violent extremism and its emphasis on Muslim communities. As demonstrated in the Center’s July 2011 163-page report A Decade Lost: Locating Gender in U.S. Counter-Terrorism, this approach of defining community integration as counter-terrorism—recently rejected in the United Kingdom after being in place since 2007—further securitizes engagement with Muslim communities and makes women in these communities unsafe.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Report "Targeted and Entrapped" cited in Counterpunch,"Droneland"
July 18, 2011- A new continent has emerged on our atlas: it is Droneland. The borders of Droneland run from Libya to Somalia to Yemen to Afghanistan to Pakistan. The Reaper and the Predator stalk the air, driven by young people in distant bases. A necklace of American power, these bases throttle the globe in a silent embrace. The New America Foundation estimates that the U. S. drone attacks in Pakistan alone have killed between 1,579 and 2,490 civilians since 2004. Last year, the UN investigator on extrajudicial killings Philip Alston noted that these attacks might very well be illegal. The UK-based Reprieve is seeking an international arrest warrant against John Rizzo, acting general counsel for the CIA, who told Newsweek in February that he approved at least one drone strike per month. This would be a minor earthquake on Droneland, if the accusation were not shelved somewhere in the topsy-turvy offices of Scotland Yard.
PRESS RELEASE
CHRGJ: Women and Sexual Minorities are Invisible Victims of U.S. Counter-Terrorism
July 18, 2011—The U.S. government must take steps to stop women and sexual minorities around the world from becoming invisible victims of its counter-terrorism policies, said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law today, as it released a groundbreaking report on the issue. The 163 page report—A Decade Lost: Locating Gender in U.S. Counter-Terrorism—is the first account of how U.S. counter-terrorism efforts have undermined the rights of women and sexual minorities. These policies have also failed to protect women and sexual minorities from terrorism, despite the Obama Administration’s position that women’s inequality threatens national security.
STAFF PUBLICATION
CHRGJ Faculty Director Margaret Satterthwaite publishes article: "Measuring the way forward in Haiti: grounding disaster relief in the legal framework of human rights"
July 2011—This article provides results from an online survey of humanitarian workers and volunteers that was conducted in May and June 2010. The purpose of the survey was to understand how the humanitarian aid system adopts or incorporates human rights into its post-natural disaster work and metrics. Data collected from Haiti suggest that humanitarians have embraced a rights-based approach but that they do not agree about how this is defined or about what standards and indicators can be considered rights-based.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Senior Research Fellow and Advocacy Fellow cited in New York Magazine,"Little Gitmo"
On August 4, 2004, Yassin Aref was walking along West Street in a run-down part of downtown Albany. It was about 11 p.m., and he had just finished delivering evening prayer at the storefront mosque around the corner, where he had been the imam for nearly four years. Caught up in his thoughts, he might not have noticed the car parked across from his two-story building if a man hadn’t called out his name.
PRESS RELEASE
Rights Groups Launch Online Hub for Corporate Accountability
Available here in Spanish:Defensores de Derechos Lanzan Portal Digital sobre las Empresas y los Derechos Humanos
Available here in French: Des Groupes de Defense de Droits Humains Lancent un Hub en Ligne pour la Responsabilisation des Entreprises
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Breifing Paper cited in the Riverdale Press,"Report says FBI baited Newburgh 4"
Were the four Newburgh, N.Y. men convicted of plotting to blow up two Riverdale synagogues in 2009 entrapped by the FBI? A report, “Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the ‘Homegrown Threat’ in the United States,” argues that they were.
CHRGJ Faculty Director Margaret Satterthwaite cited in Christian Science Monitor,"A new way to measure human rights may revolutionize global advocacy"
...Focusing on the “core rights” of adequate housing, education, food, healthy, work, and social security, SERF takes a substantive and contextual approach that asks, firstly, the extent to which a nation’s people are enjoying these rights and, secondly, the extent to which countries are feasibly obligated to fulfill these rights. In order to deal with the immense variety of governments around the world, SERF is relying on GDP as a proxy for state capacity, something which NYU law professor Margaret Satterthwaite suggested may be problematic at the panel on Friday...
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in Examiner.com,"Sexual assault legal experts mobilize in Haiti"
As the images of Haiti begin to fade from the media, filthy living conditions and the psychological aftershocks remain. In the midst of Haiti’s attempt to rebuild, a new epidemic crisis emerges and that is the ongoing sexual violence directed against women and girls. Releasing a strategic plan for family housing for an estimated 1.3 million Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) who occupy 1,000 camps in the region, the government of Haiti is beginning a new focus in the handling of sexual violence with promises to push legislative measures throughout the system. The goal is to bring greater security to all women and girls in Haiti.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in WNYC News,"Use of Informants in Terror Cases May Create Entrapment, NYU Report Claims"
The use of informants in high-profile terror cases constitutes a form of entrapment that targets Muslim Americans, a new report issued by New York University's School of Law charges. The report argues FBI and NYPD informants incited violence during circumstances in which there otherwise would not have been, pointing to three terror cases: Newburgh 4, Shahawar Matin Siraj and the Fort Dix 5. The report was issued by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University's School of Law.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in Colorlines, "Report Documents Fake Terror Threats Concocted by FBI and NYPD"
May 23, 2011- Shahawar Matin Siraj immigrated to Queens, N.Y., from Pakistan with his family when he was 16. Siraj began working at his uncle’s Islamic bookshop in Queens where, soon after 9/11, an undercover police officer began coming around and engaging Siraj in conversations about politics and religion. Whatever Siraj said to the officer in those conversations, it was enough for NYPD to soon assign another undercover officer to befriend the young man as well.
That second officer showed Siraj images of victims of American wars in the Middle East and of Guantanamo Bay, and began making up stories about secret terrorist organizations inside the U.S. Over the next year, the undercover agent prodded Siraj to devise a plan to detonate a bomb in New York City, as a means of responding to the U.S. government’s violence. Siraj first agreed but eventually refused to actively participate in the plot, saying, “No, I don’t want to do it.” But after more repeated prodding of the young man, Siraj finally agreed to act as a lookout for others.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in Sign On San Diego, "Local task force fights terrorism on many fronts"
May 22, 2011- They do some of the most important, clandestine law enforcement work in San Diego County, yet most of their dealings never make headlines.The more than 100 investigators, FBI agents and intelligence analysts who are part of the local FBI’s Joint Terrorism Task Force are fine with that because it means they’re doing their job — thwarting terrorist attacks on U.S. soil.
“We disrupt things day in and day out,” said FBI Special Agent Matt Brown, a supervisor in the multi-agency task force. “The vast majority of what we do is prevention.” While the task force’s mission has remained unchanged since forming 13 years ago, how that mission is accomplished has evolved considerably in the past decade following the terrorism attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in Philly.com, "Monday appeal for Fort Dix Five"
May 22, 2011- It's an uphill battle, they privately concede, and given the evidence and tenor of the times, they are decided underdogs.But lawyers for the Fort Dix Five will get a chance Monday to convince a federal appellate panel that their clients' convictions should be overturned or, alternatively, that the five imprisoned terrorists should be granted new trials.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in LA Times, "Muslims targeted in U.S. terrorism cases, report says"
May 19, 2011- U.S. government tactics in pursuing domestic terrorism cases target and entrap Muslim community members and fail to enhance public safety, according to a report released Wednesday by a human rights center at New York University's law school. The government's use of surveillance, paid informants and invented terrorism plots prompts human rights concerns, according to the report by NYU's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. The authors examined three high-profile cases in New York and New Jersey that they said raised questions about the role of the FBI and New York Police Department in creating the perception of a homegrown terrorism threat.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in Jadaliyya, "Entrapment and Racialization: The 'Homegrown' Canard"
May 18, 2011- A new report out today from New York University School of Law’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) describes how American counterterrorism efforts have singled out Muslim Americans by “sending paid, trained informants into mosques and Muslim communities.” The report finds that more than 200 people have been prosecuted in terrorism-related cases – cases which have been proudly trumpeted as hallmarks of a successful counterterrorism program. Recently, however, questions about police entrapment have become more urgent. CHRGJ speaks with former FBI agents, lawmakers, and advocacy organizations who all worry that the police are creating their own “homegrown” terrorism plots, “foiling” them for the cameras, and sending Muslim Americans to prison. This report arrives at a very timely moment, as a controversy over a “sting” operation like those described in the report is unfolding right now.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in Village Voice, "Shahawar Matin Siraj, Newburgh 4 and the Fort Dix 5: All Lured Into Terror Plot By Overzealous FBI Informants, New Report Claims"
May 18, 2011- A new report out of the NYU Law School slams the feds and the NYPD for conduct in three recent terrorism cases, saying that the government should end the practice of sending "paid informants into Muslim communities or families without any particularized suspicion of criminal activity." The report, called "Targeted and Entrapped," was compiled by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and the International Human Rights Clinic at the NYU School of Law.
PRESS RELEASE
U.S. Must Stop Targeting Muslims in Counterterrorism Investigations
May 11, 2011- The U.S. government must stop its discriminatory targeting of Muslim communities in counter-terrorism investigations said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law today, as it released a report on the issue. The government’s use of intrusive surveillance, untrained paid informants, and manufactured terrorism plots raise serious human rights concerns that must immediately be addressed, said the group.
The Report, Targeted and Entrapped: Manufacturing the “Homegrown Threat” in the United States, critically examines three high-profile domestic terrorism prosecutions and raises serious questions about the role of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the New York City Police Department (NYPD) in constructing the specter of “homegrown” terrorism through the deployment of paid informants to encourage terrorist plots in Muslim communities.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Senior Research Scholar & Advocacy Fellow Anma Akbar in Huffington Post Op Ed, "Abusing Immigration Law to Target Muslims"
May 18, 2011- Imagine being thrown in jail in the United States for over four years, not because you had violated any laws, or even because the government thought you were about to commit a crime, but because government officials believed that you may engage in criminal acts at some point in the future. This is the story of Tareq Abu Fayad, a 24-year-old Palestinian who came to the United States in 2007 on a valid immigrant visa to be reunited with his family. And Abu Fayad doesn't stand alone. He is one of an untold number of Muslim immigrants deported, detained and denied immigration benefits on the basis of religious practices and associations, political beliefs and country of origin.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Briefing Paper cited in Multi-America's "The end of NSEERS, one of the most contentious post-9/11 national security programs"
May 17, 2011- The Migration Policy Institute has published a brief history and analysis of the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System, known as NSEERS, which was terminated in recent weeks by Homeland Security. Implemented after the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, it was one of the most controversial national security programs established during that time.The idea was to collect information, fingerprints, and photographs of certain individuals entering and living in the United States, and to monitor their whereabouts. Its primary focus was on men from Muslim-majority countries.
PRESS RELEASE
CHRGJ Calls on Indian Government to Address Farmer Suicide Crisis.
May 11, 2011- The Indian government must uphold its human rights obligations by responding immediately to its farmer suicide crisis, said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) in a new report released today. The report, Every Thirty Minutes: Farmer Suicides, Human Rights, and the Agrarian Crisis in India, looks critically at India’s farmer suicide epidemic—which has been claimed the lives of an estimated 250,000 farmers since 1995—and proposes steps that the government should take toward upholding the human rights of this vulnerable population.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
CHRGJ Faculty Director, Smita Narula, featured on Democracy Now
Faculty director Smita Narula discusses new CHRGJ report with Amy Goodman in "'Every 30 Minutes': Crushed by Debt and Neo-Liberal Reforms, Indian Farmers Commit Suicide At Staggering Rate."
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
Women Turn Spotlight on Haiti's Silent Rape Epidemic
March 29, 2011- Some 14 months after Haiti's earthquake, activists say there is an ongoing epidemic of rape and gender-based violence (GBV) in the country's more than 1,000 squalid displaced persons camps, where nearly a million people are still awaiting permanent housing. According to Annie Gell, Bureau des Avocats Internationaux's coordinator of the Rape Accountability and Prevention Project in Port-au-Prince, "The lack of lighting, the lack of patrols, the inability of women to lock their doors" contribute to the "incredibly insecure situation for women and girls" in the camps.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
Faculty Director Meg Satterthwaite and Research Director Jayne Huckerby featured in the Washington Post's "African commission asked to take case challenging CIA rendition program"
February 28, 2011- A case filed before an African judicial body could open a new front in efforts by human rights groups to hold the CIA and its partners accountable for what they allege was the torture of innocent victims in secret "black site" prisons around the world. The case involves Mohammed al-Asad, who said he was arrested in late 2003 at his home in Tanzania, blindfolded and flown to a secret prison in Djibouti. He said he was subjected to two weeks of torture and inhuman treatment in a clandestine CIA rendition and detentions program designed to nab suspected terrorists. From Djibouti, human rights activists say, Asad was dispatched into a network of secret CIA prisons in Afghanistan and Eastern Europe, before being jailed in his native Yemen. In 2006, Asad was released, without being charged with a terrorism-related crime.
PRESS RELEASE
Rights Groups: U.S. Government Targeting Muslims via U.S. Immigration System
CHRGJ and AALDEF Call for Immigration Reform, Transparency, Rights Protections
(New York, May 4, 2011)The U.S. government’s aggressive use of the immigration system in its counterterrorism efforts discriminates against Muslims and violates international human rights law, said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law and the Asian American Legal and Education Defense Fund (AALDEF) as they released a Briefing Paper on the issue today.
PRESS RELEASE
African Commission Urged to Take on Groundbreaking Extraordinary Rendition Case
Case against Djibouti is First to Challenge African Cooperation in CIA Secret Detention Program
(New York and London, February 28, 2011)–The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights should require Djibouti to answer for abuses it committed as part of the CIA’s secret detention and rendition program, said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law and the international human rights law organization, INTERIGHTS in a legal filing today. The two organizations urged the African Commission to officially accept the first-ever international case exposing an African country’s role in the U.S. rendition, secret detention, and torture program. The case—made public today—was confidentially filed in December 2009 on behalf of their client, Mohammed al-Asad, a Yemeni national who was detained in Djibouti in December 2003 and January 2004 as part of the CIA’s secret detention and rendition program. In addition to secretly detaining al-Asad, Djibouti was responsible for transferring him into the “black site” prison program, where he spent some sixteen months in secret and incommunicado detention. In May 2005, al-Asad was transferred to Yemen, where he resides freely today.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
Coalition of Organizations Call on Haiti to Prosecute Jean-Claude Duvalier
*** Vèsyon Kreyol swiv anba a
*** Version française à la suite
January 20, 2011
As organizations concerned with human rights in Haiti, we call on the Government of Haiti to immediately take steps to investigate and prosecute Jean-Claude Duvalier for human rights violations committed during his 1971-86 rule of Haiti. Scores of human rights investigations, legal cases, victim testimonies, and in-depth reports provide ample evidence to commence formal proceedings against Jean-Claude Duvalier. While the primary responsibility to investigate and prosecute Duvalier rests squarely with the Government of Haiti, we call on the international community to provide all needed assistance to enable Haiti to fully and promptly investigate and prosecute him. Given the fragile state of Haiti’s infrastructure following the January 12, 2010 earthquake and the current cholera and electoral crises, significant international assistance may be needed.
During Jean-Claude Duvalier’s regime, systematic killings, “disappearances,” torture, and other ill-treatment were widespread. These crimes were often carried out by the infamous paramilitary force known as the Tontons Macoutes (or officially as the Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale), as well as special units of the armed forces of Haiti and local authorities empowered with brutal force. The crimes left many thousands dead, wounded, or in exile and amounted to crimes against humanity. Under international law, Haiti is obligated to investigate and prosecute such acts, which are not subject to otherwise relevant statutes of limitation.
Jean-Claude Duvalier’s arrival in Port-au-Prince on January 16 provides the Government of Haiti an unprecedented opportunity to right the wrongs of the past through the rule of law. By thoroughly investigating and effectively prosecuting these crimes, the Government of Haiti would finally end the impunity that Duvalier has enjoyed since he fled into exile in France in 1986. It would also provide well-deserved hope to those who have waited decades for their persecutors to be brought to justice. And–at a crucial moment in the country’s political process—it will demonstrate that while the constitution may be paper, it can be mightier than the bayonet.
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20 Janvye 2011
Antan ke òganizasyon ki konsène ak dwa moun an Ayiti, nou mande Gouvènman Ayiti-a pou li pran imedyatman tout mezi pou fè ankèt ak pouswiv Jean-Claude Duvalier pou vyolasyon dwa moun pandan ane li te fè sou pouvwa-a de 1971 a 1986. Nòt nan ankèt dwa moun, afè jiridik, temwayaj viktim, ak rapò detaye bay ase prèv pou kòmanse pwosedi fòmèl kont Jean-Claude Duvalier. Pandan ke responsabilite prensipal pouf è ankèt ak pouswi Duvalier chita franchman sou do Gouvènman Ayiti-a, nou mande kominote entènasyonal la pou bay tout èd ki nesesè pou Ayiti kapab fè ankèt ak pouswiv li tout bon, epi prese. Daprè jan eta efrastrikti Ayiti frajil aprè tranblemendetè 12 janvye 2010 la, ak kriz ki gen kounye-a akòz kolera ak eleksyon-an, yo ka bezwen anpil èd kote kominote entènasyonal la. Sou pouvwa Jean-Claude Duvalier, asasinay, “disparisyon”, tòti, ak lòt move tretman te konn fèt toupatou. Apil fwa krim sa yo se fòs paramilitè ke yo konnen sou non Tonton Makout (oswa ofisyèlman sou non Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale) kit e konn fè yo, ansanm ak tout inite spesyal fòs lame Dayiti ansanm ak otorite local yo kit e genyen yon fò brital. Krim sa yo fè plis pase mil moun mouri, blese, oswa an ekzil, ak lòt krim kont limanite. Daprè dwa entènasyonal la, Ayiti oblije fè envestigasyon ak pouswiv jan de zak sa yo, ki pa ale anba lwa sou limitasyon yo.
Jean-Claude Duvalier ki vini nan Pòtoprens nan dat 18 janvye-a bay Gouvènman Ayiti-a yon gwo opòtinite pou ranje tout sa ki te fèt mal nan lepase daprè lalwa. Lè fè yon bon envestigasyon ak ale devan lajistis pou krim sa yo, Gouvènman Ayiti-a tap fini ak zafè enpinite ke Duvalier tap jwi depi lè li te ale nan egzil an Frans an 1986. An mèm tan sa t’ap bay lespwa bay tout sa ki t’ap tann depi lontan ke moun ki t’ap pèsekite yo-a pase devan lajistis. Epi – nan yon moman enpòtan nan pwosesis politik peyi-a – l’ap montre ke menm si konstitisyon-an se papye, li gen plis pouvwa pase bayonet.
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20 Janvier 2011
Sachant que plusieurs organisations s’inquiètent de la situation des droits humains à Haïti, nous demandons au Gouvernement d’Haïti de prendre immédiatement les moyens nécessaires pour enquêter et poursuivre Jean-Claude Duvalier pour les violations des droits humains commises durant sa présidence à Haïti de 1971 a 1986. Des dizaines d’enquêtes, d’affaires juridiques, de témoignages de victimes et de rapports en profondeur relativement aux droits humains donnent de nombreuses preuves pour initier des procédures juridiques et politiques formelles contre Jean-Claude Duvalier. Sachant que la responsabilité première d’enquêter et de poursuivre Duvalier reste définitivement du ressort du Gouvernement d’Haïti, nous en appelons à la communauté internationale pour fournir toute l’assistance nécessaire pour permettre à Haïti d’enquêter et de poursuivre Duvalier de manière complète et prompte. Compte tenu l’infrastructure fragile de l’État haïtien suite au tremblement de terre du 12 Janvier 2010, à la vague actuelle de choléra frappant la population et suite aux différentes crises électorales, une assistance internationale significative sera nécessaire. Durant le régime de Jean-Claude Duvalier, des persécutions systématiques, des disparitions forcées, de la torture et autres traitements dégradants furent répandus. Ces crimes ont souvent été commis par les forces paramilitaires connues sous le nom de Tontons Macoutes (ou officiellement sous les Volontaires de la Sécurité Nationale), ainsi que par les unités spéciales des forces armées d’Haïti et les autorités locales prises sous la force brutale. Les crimes ont laissé des milliers de morts, de blessés ou d’exilés, soit assimilables à des crimes contre l’humanité. Sous le droit international, Haïti a l’obligation d’enquêter et de poursuivre ces actes, qui ne sont pas assujettis à d’autres délais de prescription pertinents. L’arrivée de Jean-Claude Duvalier à Port-au-Prince le 16 Janvier 2011 fournit au Gouvernement d’Haïti une opportunité inédite de redresser les torts du passé à l’aide de la règle de droit. En approfondissant les enquêtes et en poursuivant efficacement ces crimes, le Gouvernement d’Haïti pourrait finalement mettre un terme à l’impunité dont Duvalier a pu jouir depuis le moment de son départ en exil en France en 1986. Cela donnerait également un espoir bien mérité à tous ceux qui ont attendu des décennies pour que les persécuteurs soient amenés en justice. Finalement, dans un moment crucial du processus politique haïtien, une telle action montrerait que même si la constitution ne semble être qu’un morceau de papier, elle peut être plus puissante que la baïonnette.
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|
Organization |
Contact Person |
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Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of Law |
Meg Satterthwaite |
|
Partners in Health |
Dr. Paul Farmer |
|
Center for Constitutional Rights |
Bill Quigley |
|
Allan K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, Yale Law School |
James Silk |
|
Human Rights Clinic University of Miami School of Law |
Caroline Bettinger-López |
|
Asociación Nacional de Centros (ANC) |
Francisco Soberón Garrido |
|
International Human Rights Law Clinic and Human Rights Program, University of Virginia School of Law |
Deena R. Hurwitz |
|
Human Rights Litigation and International Advocacy Clinic, University of Minnesota Law School |
Jennifer M. Green |
|
International Action Ties |
Mark Snyder |
|
Friends of the Earth – Amigos de la Tierra |
Gustavo Castro Soto |
|
Comisión de Derechos Humanos (COMISEDH) |
Miguel Huerta Barrón |
|
Immigration Clinic, William S. Boyd School of Law, University of Nevada |
Fatma E. Marouf |
|
Leitner Center for International Law and Justice, Fordham Las School |
Martin S. Flaherty |
|
Other Worlds |
Beverly Bell |
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Lamp for Haiti Foundation |
Thomas M. Griffin |
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Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, University of Cincinnati College of Law |
Bert Lockwood |
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Refugio del Rio Grande, Inc. |
Lisa S. Brodyaga |
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Immigrant Rights Project, University of Tulsa College of Law |
Elizabeth McCormick |
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Immigration Law Clinic, University of California Davis School of Law |
Holly Cooper |
|
Red Mexicana de Acción frente al Libre Comercio (RMALC) |
Marco Antonio Velázquez Navarrete |
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Alianza Mexicana por la Autodeterminación de los Pueblos (AMAP) |
Marco Antonio Velázquez Navarrete |
|
Center for Justice & Accountability |
Kathy Roberts |
|
UnityAyiti |
Brennan Bollman |
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Canada Haiti Action Network/Reseau de solidarite Canada-Haiti |
Roger Annis |
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Center for Gender & Refugee Studies, University of California Hastings College of the Law |
Karen Musalo |
|
Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti |
Brian Concannon |
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Haitian National Coalition for the Environment (KNAA) |
Isaac Cherestal |
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Haiti Dream Keeper Archives |
Michelle Karshan |
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Center for Social Justice, Seton Hall University School of Law |
Lori A. Nessel |
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Beyond Borders |
David Diggs |
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Bri Kouri Nouvèl Gaye |
Etant Dupain |
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Let Haiti Live |
Melinda Miles |
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Mennonite Central Committee (MCC) Haiti |
Alexis Erkert Depp |
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Physicians for Haiti |
Rishi Rattan |
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International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL) |
Jeanne Mirer |
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MADRE |
Diana Duarte |
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United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers of America (UE) |
Robin Alexander |
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Instituto Peruano de Educacion en Derechos Humas y la Paz (IPDEDEHP) |
Pablo Zavala |
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St. Boniface Haiti Foundation |
Linda Canniff |
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Montreal-Haiti Solidarity Committee |
Darren Ell |
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School of the Americas Watch (SOA Watch) |
Nico Udu-Gama |
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UCF Haitian Sutdies Project |
Kevin Meehan |
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All-African People’s Revolutionary Party (GC) |
Bob Brown |
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Paloma Institute |
Guy R. Knudsen |
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Global Exchange |
Tom Miller |
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Green Cities Fund, Inc. |
Tom Miller |
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Institute of Redress & Recovery at Santa Clara University |
Beth Van Schaack |
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Alliance for Global Justice |
Chuck Kaufman |
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Central American Legal Assistance |
Anne Pilsbury |
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Nicaragua Center for Community Action (NICCA) |
Diana Bohn |
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St Louis Inter-Faith Committee on Latin America |
Marilyn Lorenz |
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The National Lawyers Guild Internaitonal Committee |
Charlotte Kates |
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Konpay |
Amy Fotta |
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National Latino Farmers & Ranchers Trade Association |
Stephen Bartlett |
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Kentucky Interfaith Taskforce on Latin America and the Caribbean (KITLAC) |
Stephen Bartlett |
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Essex Transitional Justice Network, University of Essex |
Diana Morales-Lourido |
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National Lawyers Guild Task Force on the Americas |
Judy Somberg |
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American Association of Jurists (AAJ) |
Vanessa Ramos |
PRESS RELEASE
CHRGJ Survey Suggests Alarming Levels of Sexual Violence in Haiti’s IDP Camps
March 16, 2011- An alarmingly high proportion of households surveyed in Haiti’s camps for the internally displaced (IDP) have been victimized by sexual violence since the earthquake, said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) in a briefing paper released today. The Center—based at NYU School of Law—released the paper just days before Haitians are set to return to the polls to vote in a Presidential run-off. The paper makes public the preliminary findings of its survey on gender-based violence and access to food and water, conducted in January 2011 in several IDP camps in Port-au-Prince. The findings add weight to what human rights groups and victims groups have been saying for several months now: that sexual violence and the fear of sexual violence are common in the camps and that significant changes in security and access to basic resources are required. “Since the earthquake, women’s groups have been receiving daily reports of sexual assault occurring while women engage in ordinary activities, such as walking to gather water or washing in the morning,” said Margaret Satterthwaite, a Faculty Director at CHRGJ and the Principal Investigator for the survey. “The results of this survey amplify these reports through empirical data and suggest that immediate action is needed to prevent further assaults.”
REPORT
CHRGJ Publishes Briefing Paper on Sexual Violence in Haiti's IDP Camps
March 16, 2011- In January 2011, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law conducted a survey of households in four camps for internally displaced persons (IDPs) in and around Port-au-Prince, Haiti. This briefing paper presents preliminary data from the survey,focusing on reported incidents of sexual violence. An alarming 14% of households surveyed reported that, since the earthquake, one or more members of their household had been victimized by rape or unwanted touching or both.
March 16, 2011- En janvier 2011, le Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) de la NYU School of Law a mené un sondage auprès des ménages dans quatre camps de déplacés internes au sein et autour de Port-au-Prince, à Haïti. Ce document d’information présente les données préliminaires de l’enquête et met l’accent principalement sur les incidents de violence sexuelle signalés. Un pourcentage alarmant de 14 % des ménages interrogés ont rapporté que depuis le tremblement de terre, un ou plusieurs membres de leur ménage ont été victimes de viol, d’attouchements ou des deux à la fois.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
Faculty Co-Chair, Philip Alston, Interviewed in the Oxford Journal:"The Challenges of Responding to Extrajudicial Executions"
January 5, 2011- In our continuing series of reflections by human rights practitioners on their work, Philip Alston reflects here on his six-year term as UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, completed in July 2010. In the interview, Professor Alston addresses some of the methodological challenges faced by UN Special Procedures in their work – and in particular, highlights the need for greater context-specific analysis in reporting. He also speaks about some of the key themes that feature prominently in many of his country visit reports – including impunity, corruption, witness protection, police accountability, targeted killings, and election-related violence and killings.
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
International Human Rights Clinic Alum, Rajeev Goyal, featured in The New Yorker: "Village Voice: The Peace Corps Brightest Hope"
December 20, 2010- Jay-Z loves the Peace Corps. He's never said so publicly, and there's no reference to volunteerism in any of his two hundred and twenty-four songs. But Rajeev Goyal believes that he knows the rapper's true heart. 'Jay-Z and Beyonce are both very interested in helping the Peace Corps," Rajeev told me once. He said that last year he was on the phone with somebody who claimed he could arrange for Jay-Z and Beyonce to speak at a Peace Corps rally that Rajeev was organizing in Washington, D.C. But their appearance fell through, which sometimes happens to Rajeev's most ambitious plans. He was unable to get an audience with the Dalai Lama in Dharamsala to request a letter from His Holiness asking Congress to give more money to the Peace Corps. Once, he asked Maureen Orth, a writer for Vanity Fair and Tim Russert's widow, to contact Senator Barbara Mikulski, of Maryland, in a manner so roundabout that it was like driving from D.C. to Baltimore via the Deep South. "He asked me to ask James Carville to ask Bill Clinton to call Senator Mikulski," Orth told me. "And that's just one of four e-mails that I got from him in a day!" Orth didn’t telephone Carville, but on another occasion she called a senator on his cell phone in the middle of a meeting. "It was outrageous, but I did it for Rajeev," she said like everybody, she used his first name when talking about him. Orth admired Rajeev's willingness to try anything, especially since he had appeared in Washington as if" he was dropped in there from a cloud." She said, 'Who else would fly on miles all the way to Hawaii to try to see Obama's sister? And get it done! I wish he had been a reality series."
Rajeev Goyal is thirty-one years old, but he could pass for a college student. He stands only five and a half feet tall, with dark skin and long-lashed eyes. He has the portable confidence of the second generation immigrant-no matter where he goes, he knows there are benefits to being an outsider. In the part of eastern Nepal where Rajeev served as a Peace Corps volunteer from 2001 to 2003, people sometimes weep when his name is mentioned. Locals refer to him as Shiva, the god who is also the source of the Ganges River. Old folks tum on a tap and say, 'This is what he gave us." In the halls of Congress, most people have no idea what to make of him. For the past two years, he has approached the place as if it were just another Nepali settlement with a caste system to untangle. He figured out the Washington equivalent of village-well routes-hallways, hearing rooms, and coffee shops where anybody can hang around and meet a member of Congress. "He just picked off Democrats and Republicans one by one," Sam Farr, a Democratic congressman from California, told me. "I don't know lobbyists who are that persistent." Others complained that his unorthodox approach was too personal, but even critics acknowledged the results. During the past two years, funding for the Peace Corps has increased by record amounts, despite partisanship in Congress and a brutal economic climate. 'Tve been in the Congress for seventeen years, and always lobbying for the Peace Corps, but I've never been as effective as I have in the last two sessions," Farr said. "And I would attribute that to Rajeev."
HIGHLIGHT FROM THE CENTER
International Human Rights Clinic Alum, Brian Concannon Jr., featured in the Boston Globe: "US Will Pay for Haitian Vote Fraud"
December 15, 2010- The decision last Thursday to recount the votes in Haiti’s disputed elections is like rearranging the chairs on the Titanic. As this week’s continued protests demonstrate, it will not avoid the catastrophe. Resolving Haiti’s election woes requires the financial backers of the flawed election process — especially the United States — to reverse course and insist on new, inclusive elections run by a new, inclusive electoral council.
Tweet 4 people Tweeted thisSubmit to DiggdiggsdiggYahoo! Buzz ShareThis Haitian voters see the fraud and disorganization of the Nov. 28 election as part of a long campaign to reduce competition to President René Préval’s INITE party in both presidential and legislative elections. The Provisional Electoral Council, which ran the election, was hand-picked by Préval, and excluded 15 political parties from the legislative elections, including Haiti’s most popular, Fanmi Lavalas, whose leader, former president Jean-Bertrand Aristide, remains in forced exile. The electoral council also excluded 15 candidates from the presidential race without issuing a comprehensive explanation. During the months preceding the elections, Haitians complained about the voter registration program. In the end, over 100,000 voters who had registered did not receive their voting cards. More than 75 percent of voters with cards stayed home on election day.
REPORT
New CHRGJ Briefing Paper Looks at U.S. Government's Targeting of Muslims in Immigration System
Under the Radar: Muslims Deported, Detained, and Denied on Unsubstantiated Terrorism Allegations
CHRGJ announced the release of our latest report Under the Radar: Muslims Deported, Detained, and Denied on Unsubstantiated Terrorism Allegations. The U.S. government’s aggressive use of the immigration system in its counterterrorism efforts discriminates against Muslims and violates international human rights law, said the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law and the Asian American Legal and Education Defense Fund (AALDEF) as they released a Briefing Paper on the issue today. The Briefing Paper, "Under the Radar: Muslims Deported, Detained, and Denied on Unsubstantiated Terrorism Allegations," exposes the many ways in which U.S. officials take advantage of the lax standards and lack of transparency that mark the immigration system as particularly ripe for abuse.
The Briefing Paper includes a number of case studies that suggest extremely problematic patterns of the U.S. government’s targeting of Muslims through the immigration system. The Briefing Paper details how the U.S. government is:
•Making unsubstantiated terrorism-related allegations against Muslim immigrants without bringing official charges in cases involving ordinary immigration violations.
•Subjecting Muslim immigrants to detention in cases involving minor violations that, ordinarily, do not entail detention.
•Imposing flimsy immigration charges—such as false statement charges for failure to disclose tenuous ties to Muslim charitable organizations—in a manner that targets Muslim immigrants for religious and political activities and affiliations.
•Applying overbroad statutory language of the terrorism bar provisions of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) to remove, bar, and detain Muslims.
•Relying on vulnerable immigration status to coerce Muslim immigrants to become informants for federal law enforcement officials.
REPORT
CHRGJ Releases New Report on the Right to Food
Sak Vid Pa Kanpe: The Impact of U.S. Food Aid on Human Rights in Haiti
CHRGJ announced the release of our latest report Sak Vid Pa Kanpe: The Impact of U.S. Food Aid on Human Rights in Haiti. The title of this report draws on a Haitian proverb which laments that a sack cannot stand if it is empty—a powerful metaphor for the importance of food and sustenance to one’s capacity to “stand” and function. Living in the most impoverished nation in the Western Hemisphere, the Haitian people know all too well how vital access to food is to their daily survival. However, many Haitians have also experienced the unintended negative consequences of U.S. food aid programs. While these programs often help people in times of crisis, many also run afoul of the human right to food by undermining the local economy, eroding agricultural self-reliance, and failing to include Haitians in their design and implementation. This report presents the findings of a study on the right to food in Haiti jointly undertaken by four organizations--the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law, Partners In Health, the RFK Center for Justice and Human Rights, and Zanmi Lasante--based on a survey undertaken in the town of Hinche and additional desk research and interviews.
This report draws on both human rights and public health methodologies to assess the impact of food aid programs on the right to food in Hinche. It finds that while U.S. food aid may provide nourishment to many people, the way in which it is procured, delivered, and administered often interferes with Haitians’ human rights by failing to improve long-term food security. The report sets out concrete recommendations calling on the U.S. government to transform food aid in accordance with human rights principles so that food in Haiti is: economically and physically accessible; adequate in quantity, quality, and nutrition; culturally acceptable; available; and sustainable. At a time when the Haitian people are facing the monumental task of rebuilding their country after the devastating January 12, 2010 earthquake, it is vital that donor countries and NGOs adopt approaches that advance and respect Haitians’ human rights. Only then will U.S. policy respond to the Haitian people as they “stand up” and lead themselves into a more promising future.
Read Sak Vid Pa Kanpe: The Impact of U.S. Food Aid on Human Rights in Haiti
