Events

2008 Events

Wòch Nan Soley: The Denial of the Right to Water in Haiti (June 23, 2008)

By surveying community water sources, meeting with community leaders and employing human rights and public health methodologies to assess the right to water in Haiti this cutting-edge right to water project resulted in a report which analyzes the devastating consequences of the failure of the Inter-American Development Bank to disburse approximately $54 million in life-saving loans for water and sanitation improvements. The implementing organizations seek to contribute to a change in policy so that international financial institutions, national governments and other entities respect the full range of human rights for people impacted by development projects.

Join us for presentations and discussions with the study's investigators and authors including:

Prof. Margaret Satterthwaite, NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice;
Amanda Klasing, NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights;
Dr. Evan Lyon, Partners In Health;
Monika Kalra Varma, RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights;
Jude Jean and Loune Viaud, Zanmi Lasante.

Event Flyer

NYU School of Law’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and International Human Rights Clinic released and discussed the latest groundbreaking report on caste discrimination in Nepal. (April 21, 2008)

Panelists:
Ratna Bagchand, President, Lawyers National Campaign Against Untouchability (LANCAU), Nepal
Neville Dastoor, International Human Rights Clinic
Jayne Huckerby, Research Director, CHRGJ
Prof. Smita Narula, Faculty Director, CHRGJ and International Human Rights Clinic
Tafadzwa Pasipanodya, International Human Rights Clinic

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Morning Talk with Wolfgang Kaleck (April 16, 2008)

NYU’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice hosted Wolfgang Kaleck, Founder & General Secretary, European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights Universal Jurisdiction and the Quest for Accountability for Human Rights Violations in the "War on Terror" for an intimate talk followed by an informal Q & A

The European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) is an independent, non-profit civil society organization based in Berlin. It is dedicated to protecting and fighting for the rights guaranteed by domestic laws and constitutions, the European Convention on Human Rights, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and other international human rights instruments, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the United Nations Convention against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. ECCHR uses litigation proactively to advance the law to support ethnic and social minorities and those affected by human rights violations of all kinds. It is actively committed to the rights of those whose human rights are endangered and who do not have access to legal resources. One of ECCHR’s tasks is to train attorneys and lawyers in human rights work and to strengthen the movement for civil and human rights in Germany and Europe.

For more info on the ECCHR: ecchr.eu/home_en.html

For more info on the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice: www.chrgj.org

"Does Truth have Borders? Transitional Justice and the Liberian Diaspora Experience" (April 15, 2008)

"Does Truth have Borders? Transitional Justice and the Liberian Diaspora Experience" featured a multidisciplinary group of speakers commenting on their experiences working with the Liberian Diaspora in the United States--most notably the local Staten Island community--and its efforts to engage with the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The panelists spoke to the legal, social, cultural, and psychological challenges to addressing Liberia's history of mass atrocity.

With an estimated 25% of the original Liberian population now living in exile throughout the globe, their inclusion in the current truth-seeking effort has been seen as especially crucial to creating a full picture of the violations suffered during Liberia's long civil war. This experience also marks the first time any official truth-seeking body has sought to integrate a Diaspora's voice as an essential part of its core investigations into what took place in that country's past.

Given that Diaspora communities are often composed of both former victims and perpetrators--including former child soldiers and others whose guilt may be difficult to categorize--and given that these populations often face precarious immigration status, the Liberian Diaspora experience in the US offers up a particularly compelling case study for anyone seeking to grasp the complexities of truth-seeking and dealing with the past.

For more background information on the Liberian Diaspora project, please see liberiatrc.mnadvocates.org/Learn_More.html

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Photographs by Iraqi Civilians (April 14, 2008)

NYU School of Law’s Center for Human Rights and Global Justice hosted a reception to welcome the NYU and New York communities to their new space. This was also the first official viewing of the Iraqi photo exhibit; the result of just ten rolls of film shot in 2004 by a handful of ordinary Iraqi civilians documenting their lives. The images truly speak to a common humanity and tell the stories of daily lives going on amidst the devastation and disruption of this brutal conflict. (To learn more about the project, please see: www.pixelpress.org/iraqi_civil/intro.html

This showing was the first of a collaborative effort between the Center and Professor Fred Ritchin's department at Tisch, which CHRGJ launched to bridge some of the institutional divides here at NYU, with the goal of bringing together a wide array of disciplines and mediums around a shared commitment to human rights. To that end, CHRGJ anticipates having many more showings like this one in the future.

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Fifth Annual Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference (April 3, 2008)

The Center held its 5th Annual Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference. (More: Agenda)

Law Students for Human Rights and the NYU Law ACLU present: A Discussion on The Use of International Human Rights Law and Strategies in Domestic Advocacy (March 25, 2008)

Featured:
Caroline Bettinger-López, Human Rights Fellow and Attorney at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute and Clinic.
Meg Satterthwaite, Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Law of the International Human Rights Clinic
Steven Watt, Senior Staff Attorney with the ACLU Human Rights Program, specializing in litigation before federal courts and international tribunals.

Caroline Bettinger-López
Caroline Bettinger-López is the Human Rights Fellow and Attorney at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute and Clinic. Her principal interests include gender and race discrimination, human rights, immigrants’ rights, and violence against women. Ms. Bettinger-Lopez engages in litigation and other forms of advocacy before the Inter-American human rights system, United Nations, and state and federal courts. She primarily focuses on U.S. human rights projects, including the development and implementation of domestic human rights strategies for HRI and its partners, and the supervision of cases and projects for the Human Rights Clinic. She is a member of the International Human Rights Committee of the New York City Bar Association. Prior to joining Columbia, Ms. Bettinger-Lopez was a Skadden Fellow and Staff Attorney at the ACLU Women’s Rights Project and a law clerk for the Honorable Sterling Johnson, Jr. in the Eastern District of New York. Ms. Bettinger-Lopez is a graduate of Columbia Law School, where she received her J.D., and the University of Michigan, where she received her B.A. in Anthropology. She is author of “International Union, U.A.W. v. Johnson Controls: The History of Litigation Alliances and Mobilization to Challenge Fetal Protection Policies,” in Civil Rights Stories (Foundation Press) (with Susan Sturm, forthcoming, 2008); “Jessica Gonzales v. United States: An Emerging Model for Domestic Violence and Human Rights Advocacy in the United States,” (Harvard Human Rights Law Journal) (forthcoming, Spring 2008); and Cuban-Jewish Journeys: Searching for Identity, Home, and History in Miami (Univ. of Tennessee Press, 2000).

Meg Satterthwaite
Margaret Satterthwaite is a Faculty Director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law, and Assistant Professor of Clinical Law of the International Human Rights Clinic. She also serves as Faculty Director of the Root-Tilden Kern program. Her recent scholarship includes Rendered Meaningless: Extraordinary Rendition and the Rule of Law (published in the George Washington Law Review in 2007) and Human Rights Advocacy Stories (co-edited with Deena Hurwitz and Douglas Ford, forthcoming), a volume in the Law Stories series. Satterthwaite joined the NYU faculty in 2006 after many years in the human rights field. Her human rights career began before law school: between 1990 and 1996, she co-founded and then directed Amnesty International USA's program on the human rights of those persecuted on the basis of their sexual orientation. Satterthwaite also completed a Master's Degree and served as International Programs Coordinator for the human rights education organization Street Law, where she helped develop curriculum in human rights and legal literacy, as well as conducting workshops and training sessions for human rights advocates and legal professionals. In 1995, she was employed as a human rights investigator by the Haitian National Truth and Justice Commission. After receiving her law degree from NYU in 1999, Satterthwaite clerked for Judge Betty Fletcher of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The following year she was the Furman Fellow at the Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, where she focused on emergency law and collusion in Northern Ireland. In 2002, Satterthwaite clerked at the International Court of Justice in The Hague. Between 2002 and 2003, Satterthwaite was a human rights consultant for the United Nations, working with the human rights section of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM). In 2003, she was hired as Research Director of NYU's Center for Human Rights and Global Justice. She joined the full-time faculty in January 2006. Satterthwaite's research interests include human rights in the "war on terror," economic and social rights, and the human rights of migrants. She a member of the National Security Task Force of the City Bar of New York and is Co-Chair of the Human Rights Interest Group of the American Society of International Law.

Steven M. Watt
Steven M. Watt is a senior staff attorney with the Human Rights Program, specializing in litigation before federal courts and international tribunals. Watt is counsel in El Masri v. Tenet, and Mohamed v. Jeppesen, challenges to the CIA’s extraordinary rendition program; Ali v. Rumsfeld, a suit challenging U.S. interrogation and detention practices in Afghanistan and Iraq; Sabbithi v. Kuwait, a case on behalf of three Indian women trafficked into the U.S. and enslaved by their diplomat employers; and Gonzales v. United States, a case before the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights on behalf of a victim of domestic violence. Prior to joining the ACLU, Watt was a Human Rights Fellow at the Center for Constitutional Rights, where he focused on post-9/11 litigation, including Rasul v. Bush, a case involving the detention of Guantánamo Bay detainees; Arar v. Ashcroft, the first legal challenge to extraordinary rendition; and Turkmen v. Ashcroft, a case involving the detention of Arab, South Asian and Muslim men rounded up after the September 11, 2001, attacks. Before coming to the United States, Watt worked for three years as a public defender and legal policy consultant for the Solomon Islands government, managed refugee camps in Tanzania, worked for a community-based development HIV/AIDS program in Uganda and assisted emergency programs for the internally displaced in Liberia. Originally from Scotland, Watt holds a law degree from the University of Aberdeen, a Diploma in Legal Practice from the University of Edinburgh, and an LL.M. in International Human Rights from the University of Notre Dame.

International Humanitarian Law: 25th Annual Seminar for Diplomats accredited to the United Nations (March 5-6, 2008)

The Seminar on International Humanitarian Law (IHL), organized by the International committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and New York University School of Law, is designated for diplomats accredited to the United Nations (UN) and aims to familiarize them with IHL and the ICRC, particularly its mandate and role as promoter of IHL and its relations wit hteh UN. The Seminar also discusses current challenges facing both IHL and humanitarian action for civilians affected by armed conflict. It takes stock of developments in IHL during the last 25 years and assesses the contribution of criminal prosecutions and justice to the development of this body of law and to enhancing respect thereof.

2008 marked the 25th session of the Seminar, which has been organized every year since 1983. To celebrate the anniversary the agenda included, in addition to different keynote speakers:

a keynote lecture (the "Ninth Hauser Lecture") by Dr. Jakob Kellenberger, President of the ICRC.
a "Presidents' Panel on the contribution of International and National Criminal Courts to the development of IHL".

Objectives and Outline of Presentations

Agenda

Discussions with Nils Melzer, ICRC (Feb. 22, 2008)

The Project on Extrajudicial Executions of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at New York University School of Law presented

CIVILIANS AS VICTIMS AND PARTICIPANTS:
WHAT IS “DIRECT PARTICIPATION IN HOSTILITIES” UNDER INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW?

a talk and discussion with

DR. NILS MELZER

LEGAL ADVISER, INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE OF THE RED CROSS

Time: Friday, February 22, 1-3pm
Location: Furman Hall, Room 328 (245 Sullivan St., bet. Washington Sq. S. & W. 3rd)

Following the talk, was a discussion with Dr. Melzer, moderated by William Abresch, Director, Project on Extrajudicial Executions

It is a commonplace that international humanitarian law prohibits the targeting of civilians. But there is an exception: Civilians taking a “direct part in hostilities” lose their legal protection from attack. As attention has shifted from traditional conflicts between uniformed armies to messier conflicts involving private military contractors, part-time rebels, and criminal and terrorist organizations, the need to understand exactly what direct participation in hostilities means has become increasingly urgent.

Since 2004, Nils Melzer has been responsible for an expert process aimed at clarifying what direct participation in hostilities means. In the framework of this process, four informal Expert Meetings were organized in the Hague and Geneva, which brought together around forty legal experts representing military, governmental and academic circles, as well as international and non-governmental organizations. The final meeting was held earlier this month.

Since 1999, Dr. Melzer has served with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), first as a Field Delegate in the Balkans (1999-2000) and the Middle East (2001-2002), then as a Legal Adviser to the ICRC’s Operations Department covering the Middle East and Africa (2002-2004), and now as a Legal Advisor in the ICRC’s Legal Division. Melzer’s doctoral thesis, “Targeted Killing under the International Normative Paradigms of Law Enforcement and Hostilities” is forthcoming from Oxford University Press.

Event Flyer

CHRGJ & HRW Report Launch - On the Margins of Profit: Rights at Risk in the Global Economy (February 19, 2008)

The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice (CHRGJ) at NYU School of Law and Human Rights Watch launched their new report on the diverse human rights impacts of business activity, On the Margins of Profit: Rights at Risk in the Global Economy. The 53-page report presents examples – drawn from more than ten years of HRW research – of wide-ranging business-related human rights abuses and the obstacles to justice often encountered by the victims of such abuse.

Smita Narula speaking at the Reception

The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice and the South Asian Bar Association of New York held a Fundraising Reception for the CHRGJ’s Documentary Project, Americans on Hold: Profiling, Citizenship, and the "War on Terror” (Feb. 7, 2008)

An enlightening and intimate evening of refreshments,cocktails, live music from classical guitarist Daniel Reyes-Llinas, and a dramatic reading of testimonials by actor Riz Mirza and company. The performance was complemented by brief presentations featuring Center director Smita Narula, documentary filmmaker Bill Horn, and community leader, Mohammad Razvi.