Opportunities for Deferred Graduates and Furloughed Associates
Fellowship with the UN Special Rapporteur on Extrajudicial Executions
About the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions
Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, is responsible for investigating and responding to unlawful killings in countries throughout the world. His work is supported by the Project on Extrajudicial Executions, at the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, NYU School of Law. The Project is directed by Sarah Knuckey, and its Senior Adviser is Hina Shamsi. The Special Rapporteur and Project on Extrajudicial Executions activities include: research into allegations of unlawful killings; provision of training and organization of conferences and research directed at understanding and reducing unlawful killings; extensive consultation with domestic and international civil society and UN actors on issues within the Special Rapporteur's mandate; fact-finding missions and preparation of reports on country situations; critical and theoretical study of the law and policy related to unlawful killings; legal and policy research to inform reform measur es.
More information on the mandate of the Special Rapporteur and about the work of the Project is available at www.extrajudicialexecutions.org.
Fellowship with the UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial executions
The fellow would work closely with Professor Philip Alston, the UN Special Rapporteur, and with the Project Director and the Project's Senior Adviser. The fellow will assist in the conceptualization, research and implementation of two specific projects. The first project will examine "targeted killings" under international law, with an anticipated focus on targeting based on alleged “direct participation in hostilities” in non-international armed conflict. It aims to assess the human rights and humanitarian law implications of recent legal and political developments. The second project is on the methodology, nature, and problems of human rights fact-finding. This project aims to assess, from a multidisciplinary perspective (including forensic science, anthropology, criminal justice etc.), the current methodologies employed by human rights advocates, the obstacles to effective fact-finding, the problems with the approaches employed, and how fact-finding can be improved. Each project will culminate i n a conference or consultation of experts, and the publication of research and findings.
Fellows should submit a resume, statement of interest, and two recent writing samples to Sarah Knuckey, sarah.knuckey@nyu.edu. Applications will be accepted and considered on a rolling basis.
Fellowships on Caste Discrimination, FOIA Litigation, and Business and Human Rights Database
The CHRGJ has opportunities for deferred graduates and furloughed associates to come work on one or more of the following projects at the Center. All of the projects are under the rubric of the CHRGJ and/or its project, the International Human Rights Clinic. Please note that these are the three core projects; if you or your firm has someone who is extremely interested in being placed at the Center but would like to work on one of our other key thematic areas of work, we would consider this.
Caste Discrimination
The Center has consistently worked to widen the human rights movement’s anti-discrimination agenda to move beyond the race paradigm to also look at discrimination based on caste, religion, ethnicity, gender, sexuality, immigration status, as well as race. To date, the Center has published a number of landmark reports pertaining to caste discrimination in South Asia (India and Nepal) and continues to engage in a number of research and advocacy projects related to caste discrimination. Specifically the work involved in this project entails: developing and implementing strategies to ensure that caste-based discrimination is addressed in Nepal’s new constitution and other transitional justice mechanisms; developing a U.S. advocacy strategy on caste discrimination; research caste-based discrimination in other countries in South Asia; and identifying “best practice” models for addressing caste-based discrimination.
FOIA Litigation
In 2007, along with Amnesty International USA, and the Center for Constitutional Rights, the International Human Rights Clinic, a project of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at New York University School of Law, filed suit in the Southern District of New York against the CIA and other federal government agencies for failing to properly respond to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests seeking information regarding the U.S.'s “black site” and extraordinary rendition program. Since then, Plaintiffs have been litigating through intensive motion practice and negotiating the government's searching, processing, and release of responsive documents. The work involved includes development of strategy, oral and written negotiation, legal research and brief writing, media and public advocacy.
Business and Human Rights Documentation Project
CHRGJ along with the International Network for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR-Net) is developing a dynamic web-based advocacy and educational resource called the Business and Human Rights Documentation Project (B-HRD.org). B-HRD.org utilizes a rights-based framework to identify the impact businesses have across industries and regions on the full spectrum of rights embodied under international law. In addition to providing a user-friendly tool for locating reliable reporting and other sources of information on business activity that affects human rights, B-HRD.org will provide users with updated information concerning certain key, ongoing situations of human rights abuses, draw attention to relevant case law and media coverage, highlight the work of organizations or individuals who have attempted to seek redress for the alleged abuses, and promulgate urgent action messages as appropriate. Finally, B-HRD.org will also link users to scholarly working papers on issues surrounding business and h uman rights as part of an effort to disseminate such scholarship and to encourage additional contributions to the field.
Interested candidates should submit a resume, statement of interest, and furlough/deferral terms to Veerle Opgenhaffen at opgenhaffen@exchange.law.nyu.edu. Applications will be accepted and considered on a rolling basis.