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International Human Rights Law Clinic

The International Human Rights Law Clinic allows students to design and implement creative solutions to advance the global struggle for the protection of human rights.

Students work on innovative human rights projects on behalf of individuals and marginalized communities that have been the targets of repression and violence. In addition, they prepare and conduct litigation before national and international judicial forums concerning human rights violations. They also engage in interdisciplinary empirical studies of the impact of human rights abuses--research that aims to achieve policy outcomes. Clinic projects frequently involve policy analysis and the drafting of statutes and standards to govern the conduct of state and non-state actors.

The Clinic currently works in four focal areas:

• Promoting Human Rights Within the United States;
• Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights;
• Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights; and
• Accountability and Transitional Justice.

Some examples of Clinic students' work include:

• developing standards to guide Internet companies operating in countries whose governments limit privacy or free expression in cyberspace;
• combating human trafficking and forced labor in California;
• advocating for victims of torture and disappearance in Guatemala;
• fighting discrimination in the Dominican Republic; and
• documenting the human rights impact of Hurricane Katrina on Latino workers.

Students enrolled in the clinic also take a seminar course that provides a forum for exploring the links between legal theory and their cases and projects.

Applying to the Clinic
The International Human Rights Law Clinic accepts applications twice per year, generally in October (for the following Spring Semester) and April (for the following Fall Semester). The October Application is now available here (.doc).

Reading for clinic orientation (January 9, 2009)
William Quigley Letter to a Law Student Interested in Social Justice