From NYU to the World:

Amanda Klasing
JD candidate 2008

Right to Water Project, Port-de-Paix, Haiti

"In 2007 and 2008, I served as the primary investigator on a Right to Water Project that was a collaborative effort between NYU's International Human Rights Clinic, the RFK Memorial Center for Human Rights, and Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health/Haiti). The project was an innovative approach to the documentation of violations of the right t0 water and the impact of those violations on the right to health. My position involved overseeing the implementation of the study, based on quantitative and qualitative research instruments. During the spring semester, this entailed applying for approval from the Internal Review Board at the university, drafting participant consent forms, and designing a household survey to the human right to water. Over the summer, I traveled to Haiti and worked with two Haitian co-investigators. Together, we set up and attended meetings with local officials, coordinated with a physician in the development of a right to water/right to health household survey, and tested the quality of water and undertook various other activities.

A typical day working on the project required me to rise early; the church bells in town began tolling at 5:30 am. I lived in the same location with my two Haitian co-investigators and we prepared for the day over breakfast. Shortly after breakfast, we would begin our survey work or focus groups. Conducting interviews at randomly chosen households allowed us an opportunity to meet many people in the community and our morning walks to our survey locations presented the chance to speak to many community members. At the end of the project, I felt very close to the community.

After I finished my time in the clinic, I worked with a clinic team during 2007-2008, as well as staff from RFK and ZL to finalize and publish a human rights report based partially on the data gathered while I was in Haiti. Conducting this study was a defining moment in my career and in my life. Through the IHRC, I was able to do the work I came to law school to do and it was more amazing than I could ever have imagined."

International Human Rights Clinic

The International Human Rights Clinic at NYU School of Law, co-taught by CHRGJ Faculty Directors Professor Smita Narula and Professor Margaret Satterthwaite, explores multifaceted approaches to human rights advocacy in both domestic and international settings. Through seminar discussions, simulations and fieldwork, the course will emphasize practical skills, including investigating and documenting human rights violations; advocating before United Nations, regional, and national human rights bodies; and engaging with global human rights campaigns. Students also address questions of ethical, political and professional accountability related to human rights work.

Tila village, Rolpa district, March 14, 2005: Hundreds watch a traditional dance performance during a Maoist “cultural program.”

Fieldwork consists of projects undertaken for: 1) human rights organizations in the United States and abroad; and 2) intergovernmental human rights experts and bodies (including the United Nations). Fieldwork focuses on a wide range of issues, such as: economic and social rights; human rights in the "war against terror," the accountability of non-state actors for human rights abuses; and the human rights of groups marginalized on the basis of caste, ethnicity, race, gender, and sexuality, among other categories. These projects give students an opportunity to assist in formulating policy and legal responses to current human rights problems.

The International Human Rights Clinic works with non-governmental and intergovernmental human rights organizations, partnering with groups based in the United States and abroad. Working as legal advisers, co-counsel, or advocacy partners, clinic students work side-by-side with human rights activists from around the world. Past and current projects include:

Human Rights Abuses in the "War on Terror"

Access to Justice for NYC Immigrant Communities

Gender and Human Rights

Caste Discrimination

Economic and Social Rights

International Justice

Accountability of International Actors

Human Rights within the U.N.

Human Rights Monitoring

Human Rights Abuses in the "War on Terror"

NYU’s International Human Rights Clinic and Center for Human Rights and Global Justice are recognized leaders in the fight to end human rights abuses in the "War on Terror." Through stand-alone research programs and collaborative projects with leading organizations, the Clinic has deepened the legal analysis available to the human rights movement at this crucial time. Clinic students have contributed to reports, drafted legal filings, and organized strategy meetings concerning issues such as extraordinary rendition, secret detention, and shoot-to-kill policies. Examples of selected projects are described below.

During 2003-04, the Clinic collaborated with the New York City Bar’s International Human Rights Committee. Angelina Fisher (LLM. ’04) and Jane Stratton (LLM ’04) researched torture and extraordinary rendition for a report released by the Committee concerning the torture and ill-treatment of detainees in the "War on Terror." During the Spring 2004 semester, Bassina Farbenblum (LLM. ’04) continued this research, laying the groundwork for a joint City Bar-NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice report entitled Torture by Proxy: International and Domestic Law Applicable to "Extraordinary Rendition." During the Spring 2005 semester, Rich Vagas (JD ’05) and Cyrus Dugger (JD ’06) investigated cases of "disappearance" -- cases which were later detailed in a report released by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice entitled Fate and Whereabouts Unknown: Detainees in the "War on Terror."

Center staff and Clinic students at launch of report Americans on Hold: Profiling, Citizenship, and the "War on Terror"

Over several semesters, the Clinic has partnered with Amnesty International (AI) to expose the practices of extraordinary rendition and secret detention. In the Fall 2005 semester, Marcia Bento (LLM ’06) and Lisa Avalos (JD ’06) researched cases of illegal rendition for AI; in the Spring 2006 semester, Ralf Kanitz (LLM ’06) continued the work. This research informed two AI reports on extraordinary rendition, Below the Radar: Secret Flights to Torture and "Disappearance" and Partners in Crime: Europe's Role in U.S. Renditions. During the Fall 2005 semester, Laura Thomas examined ways to use the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) to seek documents concerning rendition and secret detentions. This work culminated in Spring semester 2006, with the joint filing by AI and the Clinic of two FOIA Requests to a wide array of U.S. agencies allegedly involved in secret detentions, for records concerning "disappeared" detainees including "ghost" and unregistered prisoners. Amnesty International released a Press Release, 15 August, 2006 on this filing.

Since Fall 2005, the Clinic has worked closely with the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) to fight the secret detention of individuals suspected of involvement in terrorism. During the Fall 2005 semester, Liz Sepper (JD ’06), Sharan Parmar (LLM ’06), and Arlen Benjamin-Gomez (JD ’06) examined U.S. and international law prohibiting secret detention. During the Spring 2006 semester, this work took on renewed urgency following revelations about the existence of secret U.S. prisons in Europe and elsewhere. Andrew Hudson (LLM ’06), Shilpi Upadhyaya (JD ’06), and Colleen Peppard (JD ’06) continued to work with CCR attorneys to address this human rights challenge.

In Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 a number of clinic students participated in the research and writing of Irreversible Consequences: Racial Profiling and Lethal Force in the 'War on Terror.' The report, which was released by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice in May 2006, critiques two trends in "shoot-to-kill" policies designed for use against those suspected of taking part in terrorist activity: 1) the use of certain behavioral and other indicators to detect a suicide bomber that act as proxies for religious, racial, ethnic and nationality profiling; and 2) the removal of the usual safeguards that attach to the use of force when responding to the threat of suicide bombers. Clinic students Vrinda Grover (LLM ’06) and Adrian Friedman (LLM ’06) were co-authors of the report, while Susan Pappy (JD ’06), Tatiana Pataria (LLM ’06), Annie Lai (JD ’06) and Amanda Rawls (JD ’06) provided extensive research assistance.

Access to Justice for NYC Immigrant Communities

Since the Spring of 2004 the International Human Rights Clinic has worked to improve access to justice for immigrant communities in New York City; in particular, communities most affected by post-September 11, 2001 policies. Our focus on these issues serves as a reminder to students that issues affecting local communities can equally be worked on using an international human rights framework.

In the Spring 2004 semester, the Clinic began providing critical capacity building support to the Legal Access Network for South Asians (LANSA)--a start up organization that seeks to improve access to legal services for indigent South Asians in New York City. Gwion Lewis (LLM ’04) worked closely with LANSA to create the organization’s promotional material, research funding options, and evaluate infrastructure needs for setting up a multilingual legal referral hotline.

In the Fall 2004 semester, Jim Wormington (LLM ’05) and Hetal Dhagat (JD) developed a comprehensive model for improving access to legal services for indigent South Asians in New York City. Through numerous interviews with community organization leaders, attorneys, and pro bono coordinators at law firms, Wormington and Dhagat put together a detailed model that reflected parties’ concerns. Wormington and Dhagat also actively recruited students, attorneys and other volunteers to put this model into practice. Priya Pillai (LLM ’05) expanded on these efforts in the Spring 2005 semester by creating an intranet database system to help facilitate intakes and track case referrals.

Wormington and Dhagat also researched and prepared a comprehensive training manual and resources portfolio for the Indian Institute of Paralegal Studies.

In the Fall 2005 and Spring 2006 semesters, the Clinic partnered with the Council of People’s Organization (COPO) to address the access to justice needs of the South Asian community in Brooklyn. Clinic students Susan Pappy (JD ’06) and Tatiana Pataraia (LLM ’06) researched issues relating to legal challenges facing South Asian immigrant communities in Brooklyn, focusing on the problem of detentions and deportations post-September 11, 2001. Pappy and Pataraia also assisted clients at immigration clinics and in the months following the earthquake that struck Pakistan and Kashmir in October 2005, participated directly in COPO’s earthquake relief efforts.

In the Spring 2006 semester, Annie Lai (JD ’06) and Amanda Rawls (JD ’06) worked with COPO to create a legal database cataloging the kinds of problems faced by members of the local Pakistani and Bangladeshi community in Brooklyn. The database will enable COPO to track the emerging unmet needs of the community and will provide a rich source of information about the broad impact of post-September 11, 2001 government policies on immigrants of color.

Gender and Human Rights

Working with both domestic and international non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the International Human Rights Clinic has consistently focused on issues related to gender and human rights. Specifically, the Clinic has supported the work of NGOs such as Human Rights Watch (Women’s Rights Division), Amnesty International USA, the Center for Reproductive Rights, and Malaysia-based International Women’s Rights Action Watch - Asia/Pacific by providing legal research and advocacy support for initiatives focusing on issues such as reproductive rights, sexual violence, HIV/AIDS, the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people, and women’s access to social and economic rights. Selected projects are described below.

In the Spring 2005 semester Jennifer Turner (JD ’06) supported advocacy efforts related to HRW’s work on sexual violence in Rwanda. Specifically, she helped design and implement an advocacy campaign to address barriers to justice for victims of sexual violence. Turner also analyzed and suggested changes to proposed legislation and U.S. asylum regulations to minimize the negative impact on asylum seekers fleeing gender-based persecution; and researched and wrote memos on trafficking of women, U.N. treaty body statements on the right to abortion, and the International Criminal Court’s formulation of the crime of rape.

In the Spring 2006 semester Tigist Dessalegn (LLM ’06) prepared a comprehensive background paper on the social, political, legal and cultural systems that may detrimentally affect women’s access to antiretroviral therapy in an African country. Dessalegn also helped identify relevant NGO and state actors that may be able to assist Human Rights Watch in its research and advocacy efforts related to this project.

Since Spring 2004 the Clinic has assisted the Center for Reproductive Rights’ (CRR) international program in a variety of research, advocacy, publication, and litigation projects. In the Spring 2004 semester Allison Dolph (JD ’05) and Melissa Brown (JD ’04) worked on a variety of CRR projects focusing on China, India, and the United States.

Among other projects, in the Fall 2004 semester Ritu Gambhir (LLM ’05) assisted CRR in researching and writing their publication: Women of the World: Laws and Policies Affecting Their Reproductive Lives, East and Southeast Asia. Joanna Pozen (JD ’05) worked on a petition before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of a rape survivor who was denied her legal right to an abortion by state authorities in Mexico. In March 2006, CRR and its partners in Mexico reached a landmark settlement with the government of Mexico; in addition to a monetary settlement, the Mexican government will issue a decree regulating guidelines for access to abortion for women who have been raped. The government also agreed to provide Paulina (the rape survivor) and her son significant compensation for health care, education, and professional development.

In the Spring 2005 semester Clinic student Habib Nassar helped CRR conceptualize and devise its strategy for expanding its work to include the Middle East region. In the Fall 2005 semester Andre Verani (JD ’05) helped draft a shadow letter to the U.N. Human Rights Committee on the state of reproductive rights in Brazil; wrote a summary of Brazil’s National Policy Plan for Women; and assisted with the preparation of a petition to be filed by CRR before a U.N. human rights body. Nelson Wen (JD ’06) drafted and edited a portion of CRR’s advocacy manual on litigating reproductive rights; and assisted in the drafting of a shadow letter for the U.N. Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women on the situation of reproductive rights in Thailand.

In Spring 2006, Reilly Dempsey (JD ’06) researched and supported the drafting of a petition to be filed by CRR before a U.N. human rights body, while Laurel White (JD ’06) helped develop the Center’s strategy for challenging government-sponsored abstinence-only education programs.

Partnering with the International Women's Rights Action Watch-Asia/Pacific (IWRAW) in Malaysia, the Clinic has provided support to training and capacity-building initiatives concerning women’s economic and social rights. During the Fall 2003 semester, Jayne Huckerby (LLM ’04), Laurice Chen (JD ’04), and Anika Rennie (JD ’05) researched the right to health for women under international law and helped prepare a training module on the topic for a litigation manual. During Spring Semester 2005, Milimo Moyo (LLM ’05) researched leading economic and social rights cases for an IWRAW project on women’s economic and social rights.

During Spring Semester 2004, Clinic students Gaylynn Burroughs (JD ’05, LLM ’06) and Ramapriya Gopalakrishnan (LLM ’04) provided legal analysis of the rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people for Amnesty International USA (AIUSA). This work was undertaken to support AIUSA’s major report, Stonewalled.

Caste Discrimination

Smita Narula at the briefing on shadow report Hidden Apartheid

To date, the human rights movement’s anti-discrimination agenda has been largely framed and dominated by the race relations paradigm. Our lens is wider and brings into focus discrimination on the basis of caste, gender, sexuality, and immigration status. Addressing the rights of relatively neglected groups such as Dalits or so-called untouchables in South Asia is a central component of the Clinic and Center’s research and advocacy work. Selected projects are described below:

In the Fall 2003 semester Sabrina Mahtani (LLM ’04) investigated the extent of caste discrimination in South Asian diaspora communities in the United States and the United Kingdom. She included her findings in a report prepared for the International Dalit Solidarity Network (IDSN) to support IDSN’s efforts to promote the inclusion of caste discrimination in the mandate of the U.N. Sub-Commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights.

In the Spring 2005 semester the Clinic researched and wrote a report published by the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice on the role of caste discrimination in the conflict in Nepal. The report, titled The Missing Piece of the Puzzle: Caste Discrimination and the Conflict in Nepal , has been circulated to E.U. officials, relevant U.N. mechanisms and agencies, and international financial institutions and development agencies with programs and projects in Nepal. It is increasingly being referenced in the devising of appropriate policy responses (by the U.N., international financial institutions (IFIs), the E.U. and others) that take into account caste discrimination as a root cause of the conflict. Clinic student Rajeev Goyal (JD ’06) co-authored the report and provided first-hand accounts of his experiences dealing with caste discrimination while he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nepal.

Economic and Social Rights

The International Human Rights Clinic and the Centerpartners with organizations in the United States and abroad to advance economic and social rights in all parts of the world. This work has emphasized partnerships in which the Clinic’s legal expertise provides support for advocacy efforts to promote economic and social rights. Examples of selected projects are described below.

Dr. David Walton, M.D., Monika Kalra Varma and Prof. Margaret Satterthwaite at Haiti Panel (March 2007).

Since Fall 2003, the International Human Rights Clinic has partnered with the Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights (RFK) to provide advocacy support and legal advice to RFK Human Rights Award winner Loune Viaud, director of Zanmi Lasante (Partners in Health), a socio-medical complex in rural Haiti. During the Spring 2004 semester, Aarthi Belani (JD ’04, LLM ’05) worked with RFK and Viaud to ensure that the right to health was part of the international community’s response to the crisis following the departure of then-President Aristide. During the Fall 2004 semester, Larissa Annoual (JD ’05) investigated women’s rights efforts underway on the ground. During 2005-06, the Clinic worked with RFK and Zanmi Lasante to prepare for a hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). During the Fall 2005 semester, Mary Ellen Payne (JD ’06) and Wook-Jin Hong (LLM ’06) researched the obligations of member states of the Organization of American States for economic and social rights in Haiti. During the Spring 2006 semester, Jordan Fletcher (JD ’06) and Swan Sallmard (LLM ’06) completed this research and wrote a brief that they submitted to the IACHR during a hearing before the Commission in Washington, D.C. focusing on economic and social rights in Haiti.

In the Spring 2004 semester the Clinic worked with the Center for Economic and Social Rights to help promote the inclusion of economic and social rights in the new Iraqi constitution. Margo Kaplan (JD ’04) took a comparative approach to this work, examining the incorporation of economic and social rights in the basic law of other countries.

The Clinic has worked with Human Rights in China (HRIC) on several economic and social rights projects. During the Fall 2004 semester, Chris Delphin (JD ’05) and Fiona McLeay (LLM ’05) contributed to the development of a framework for measuring human rights-related trade commitments as part of HRIC’s project on human rights, investment and trade. During the Spring 2005 semester, Graciela Caterina Cappellari (LLM ’05) continued this work, while Tara Lyle (LLM ’05) examined the status of economic and social rights in China.

In the Spring 2006 semester the Clinic worked with the New York-based National Economic and Social Rights Initiative (NESRI) to support their Hurricane Katrina Human Rights Documentation Project. Clinic student Miranda Johnson (JD ’06) assisted in the development of materials describing the relevant human rights standards that govern the local and national relief and response efforts in the wake of natural disasters. Johnson drafted an analytical brief, in collaboration with local and national housing rights groups, which defined the human right to housing and the right to return in the post-hurricane context in the Gulf Region.

International Justice

The International Human Rights Clinic has worked to advance international justice through partnerships with a variety of organizations. These endeavors are aimed at ending impunity and holding grave abusers to account, while ensuring that fair trial standards and due process norms are respected. Examples of selected projects are described below.

In the Fall 2003 semester the Clinic provided research support for the Human Rights Watch Asia Division report documenting serious human rights abuses, war crimes, and crimes against humanity that occurred from April 1992 to March 1993 in Afghanistan. Clinic students Angelina Fisher (LLM ’04) and Jane Stratton (LLM ’04) conducted both secondary and primary research, which included locating and interviewing Afghan diaspora community members in the United States who witnessed the atrocities that are the subject of Human Rights Watch report, Blood-Stained Hands.

Also in Fall 2003 Devyani Prabhat (LLM ’04) supported the efforts of Indian non-governmental organizations (NGOs) fighting impunity in the aftermath of the 2002 massacres of Muslims in Gujarat, India. Prabhat helped track witness harassment and evidence tampering in key massacre cases.

During the Fall 2004 semester, the Clinic provided support to the Special Court for Sierra Leone, which is mandated to try those most responsible for violations committed during the civil war in Sierra Leone. Lisa Genn (JD ’06), Yemi Olowoyeye (JD ’05), and David Freedman (JD ’05) analyzed cutting-edge issues in international criminal law for background papers submitted to the Court’s Defence Office.

In the Spring 2004 semester Thomas Unger (LLM ’04) researched and drafted legal memoranda on comparative criminal law looking at issues of witness protection and the role of the public prosecutor in high profile cases. The research supported efforts by the Centre for Justice and Peace in Mumbai, India to file public interest litigation before the Supreme Court on lack of accountability for the 2002 massacres in Gujarat.

During the Spring 2005 semester, the Clinic partnered with the Center for Justice and Accountability in its quest to hold Haitian paramilitary leader Emmanuel Constant to account for massive violations carried out by the Revolutionary Front for the Advancement and Progress of Haiti (FRAPH). Tristan Ostrowski (JD ’06) contributed legal research and advice to the team litigating Doe v. Constant.

Accountability of International Actors

Both the Clinic and the Center have stressed the need to focus on the accountability of international actors for human rights violations and their increasingly determinative role in individuals’ and communities’ access to basic human rights. The extent to which these actors may be held accountable under international human rights law, however, is still subject to much debate. The International Human Rights Clinic has worked to promote the accountability of international actors. Examples of selected projects are described below.

In the Fall 2005 semester Bill Van Esveld (JD ’07) researched the emerging human rights responsibilities of corporations for the Business and Human Rights division at Human Rights Watch. This research aimed to elucidate current views of corporate liability for complicity in human rights abuses, as determined by the corporate "sphere of influence." Van Esveld also contributed greatly to the research and writing of a joint NGO report on human rights and the extractive industry.

Human Rights Within the U.N.

The Clinic has contributed legal analysis and advice to a variety of organizations concerning the role of human rights in U.N. bodies such as the Security Council, the General Assembly, and the Economic and Social Council. Examples of selected projects are described below.

During the Fall 2003 semester, the Clinic worked with Amnesty International’s United Nations office to monitor and report on the human rights-related work of the General Assembly and the Security Council. Aleksandr Shapovalov (LLM ’04) and Jessica Kramer (JD ’04) attended General Assembly sessions and reported on relevant developments. Shapovalov also investigated the human rights impact of Security Council actions concerning terrorism, while Kramer examined the human rights elements of U.N.-brokered peace agreements.

In the Spring 2004 semester the Clinic worked with the Center for Economic and Social Rights to research the potential for holding the Security Council accountable under international law for violations of economic and social rights in Iraq. Robin Geiss (LLM ’04) wrote an extensively researched memo for CESR; he later published an article on the same topic in the Harvard Human Rights Law Journal.

Through the Clinic’s collaboration with Human Rights in China, Tara Lyle (LLM ’05) researched standards concerning the participation of non-governmental organizations in U.N. activities during Spring semester 2005.

Human Rights Monitoring

The International Human Rights Clinic has worked with Human Rights Watch since Spring 2004 to support its research and monitoring functions and to provide Clinic students with the valuable experience of engaging in hands-on human rights monitoring. Selected projects are described below.

In the Fall 2004 semester, Dan Hardy (JD ’05) and Natasha Bakht (LLM ’05) worked with the Asia Division of Human Rights Watch to monitor human rights developments in Malaysia; draft the World Report 2005 chapters on India and Malaysia; and research and write legal memoranda on violations of international humanitarian law in South Asia.

Also in Spring 2005 David Barksdale (JD ’05) assisted in research and advocacy efforts relating to the abuse of detainees held by the United States in the Middle East, South Asia and Cuba. Barksdale organized the information he and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) had collected from various sources into a searchable database of victims, perpetrators, and allegations of abuse that formed the foundation for the a joint Detainee Abuse and Accountability database project between Human Rights First, Human Rights Watch and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.

Student Opportunities

From NYU to the World:

Amanda Klasing JD candidate 2008

Right to Water Project, Port-de-Paix, Haiti

International Human Rights Clinic

Human Rights Abuses in the "War on Terror"

Access to Justice for NYC Immigrant Communities

Gender and Human Rights

Caste Discrimination

Economic and Social Rights

International Justice

Accountability of International Actors

Human Rights Within the U.N.

Human Rights Monitoring

Amanda Klasing
JD candidate 2008