Below are some examples of the projects recently undertaken by the International Human Rights Clinic. Please contact us if you would like further information on these projects.
- Judicial Training Manual on Fair Trial Standards for Trial Judges in India: Students researched and drafted a manual that will be published and used for in the official Indian training program for trial judges in India. The manual covers rules relating to arrest, detention, trial procedures, and sentencing. For each phase in the criminal process, the manual describes the applicable international and Indian statutory law, how current legal practice deviates from the law, and suggests ways in which the judiciary can help bridge the gap between law and practice.
- Hearing of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on the Right to Education for Minorities in the Americas: Students wrote a report for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights dealing with access to education for minorities in Colombia. The Clinic presented the report in a hearing before the body in Washington, D.C. on March 12, 2008. Witnesses from Latin America, our client organization, and Professor Kalantry testified at the hearing. In researching the report, students conducted field-work in Colombia during December 2007, where they interviewed Afro-Colombian leaders, indigenous community members, a constitutional court justice, a senator, the vice-minister of education, and local school teachers. The purpose of the hearing and our project was to draw attention to limits on access to education for Afro-descendants and indigenous peoples in the Americas.
- Intervention in the European Court of Human Rights on Reproductive Rights on Behalf of the Special Rapporteur for Health: Students drafted an amicus brief on behalf of Paul Hunt, the U.N. Special Rapporteur for Health, for a case in which the petitioner was denied the right to receive prenatal testing.
- Brief in the Federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit Interpreting the U.N. Convention Against Torture: Students drafted and filed briefs to the Federal Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit for case in which we are arguing that deporting our client to Haiti—where he is likely to die in a Haitian prison for lack of medication, food and water—violates U.S. obligations under the U.N. Convention Against Torture.
