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A Rights-Based Approach to Combating Poverty: Economic, Social & Cultural Rights

The Clinic's longest-running program has pioneered a rights-based strategy to combat poverty. It creatively surmounts barriers to the judicial enforcement of economic, social, and cultural rights while building the capacity of local groups to make use of these rights.

Collective Remedies for Violations of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights
In Spring 2007, the clinic partnered with the University of San Andres in Argentina in a multinational effort to elaborate the minimum core content of the right of access to justice in international human rights law. The goal of the project is to inform the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights' understanding of the nature and scope of state obligations to provide effective remedies to protect social, economic and cultural rights. Clinic students worked closely with San Andres Professor and Inter-American Commissioner Victor Abramovich to analyze the use of large group litigation, such as class actions, to vindicate collective social rights in the United States.

Civil Registration and Education Case ( Yean v. Bosico v. Dominican Republic )
Since 1998 clinic students have worked to expand human rights protections of Dominican-born children of Haitian migrant workers living in the Dominican Republic. The clinic, in collaboration with the Center for Justice and International Law and the Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico-Haitianas , filed a complaint before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights on behalf of our clients, two young girls who were denied birth certificates. Without official recognition of their birth in the country, our clients and hundreds of thousands of other Dominican-born children of Haitian ancestry are denied the right to attend public school and are vulnerable to arbitrary expulsion. In 2003, the case was referred to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights .

On October 7, 2005 the Inter-American Court issued a historic ruling recognizing the right of Dominican-born children of Haitian ancestry to nationality and education (press release: English | Spanish). The Inter-American Court found the Dominican Republic had discriminatorily denied our clients their birth certificates and violated their right to nationality, equal treatment, a name, among other rights. The binding ruling ordered the Dominican Republic to reform its birth registration system, open primary schools to all children regardless of their race, ethnicity or legal status, hold a public ceremony to recognize responsibility for the violations and ask forgiveness from the victims in addition to other measures.

The case has received widespread attention, including articles in the Miami Herald and the New York Times.

Financial support for this project comes from the Mertz Gilmore Foundation.

Mass Expulsions from the Dominican Republic
The clinic has initiated legal action against the Dominican Republic before the Inter-American Commission for Human Rights to combat illegal mass expulsions of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian ancestry from the Dominican Republic. Along with a coalition of non-governmental organizations (NGOs), the clinic represents seven families who were illegally expelled from the Dominican Republic. The lawsuit seeks changes to the Dominican's deportation system to ensure due process guarantees.

As a result of our efforts, in spring 2002 the government issued "safe passage" documents to our clients that permit them to travel to and work in the Dominican Republic pending the outcome of the court case.

In October of 2005, the Commission admitted the case and a decision on the merits is pending.

Dominican Republic and Haiti: Forced Migration Study
As part of its activities to promote the human rights of Haitians in the Dominican Republic, the clinic conducted a study of forced migration of Haitians from the country titled "Unwelcome Guests: A Study of Expulsions of Haitians and Haitians of Dominican Descent from the Dominican Republic to Haiti." This unique, interdisciplinary study utilizes demographic data as well as interviews to identify patterns of the forced migration and experiences of Haitians and Dominicans of Haitian descent. The study offers the first statistical analysis of migration flows through a demographic assessment of this vulnerable population. The study indicates that those leaving the country are not afforded due process and frequently suffer abuses at the hands of government officials. These findings challenge many prevailing assumptions about the profile and treatment of this vulnerable population. To address the antecedents to the outflows as well as the abuses of migrants, the study makes recommendations to improve the migration system between the two countries so as to reduce the vulnerability to human rights deprivations of Haitians in the Dominican Republic.

En Espanol
La Clínica Internacional de Derechos Humanos de Boalt Hall ha llevado a cabo el informe "Huéspedes Mal Recibidos: Un Estudio de las Expulsiones de Haitianos y Dominicanos de Ascendencia Haitiana de la República Dominicana a Haití," trabajo realizado sobre la base de información demográfica y entrevistas que tiene por objeto identificar los patrones de la migración forzada y las experiencias de haitianos y dominicanos de ascendencia haitiana expulsados de la República Dominicana a Haití entre agosto del 1999 y julio del 2000. El estudio provee el primer análisis estadístico de flujos migratorios a través de una investigación demográfica de esta población vulnerable. Si bien la migración forzada de haitianos de la República Dominicana ha sido tema de varios informes y planteos legales internacionales, ha habido poca información cuantitativa referida a este delicado asunto.

El estudio ofrece algunos hallazgos importantes acerca de los patrones de salida, las características de la población afectada y el tratamiento recibido por los expulsados por parte de las autoridades dominicanas, y señala que a los expulsados no se les respeta el derecho al debido proceso, y que con con frecuencia son víctimas de abuso por parte de agentes gubernamentales. Estos hallazgos desafían muchas de las presuposiciones comunes referidas al perfil y tratamiento de esta población. Como contribución destinada a la erradicación de los causas de las expulsiones y los abusos hacia los migrantes, el estudio aporta recomendaciones sobre cómo mejorar el sistema de migración entre los dos países para reducir la vulnerabilidad de los haitianos en la República Dominicana frente a las violaciones de sus derechos humanos.

En Francais
La Clinique Internationale des Droits Humains a complété un rapport intitulé Invités Indésirables: Une étude sur les expulsions d'Haïtiens et Haïtiens d'origine dominicaine de la République Dominicaine vers Haïti . Il s'agit d'un travail interdisciplinaire basé sur une série de données démographiques et d'entrevues. Cette méthodologie est utilisée pour identifier les tendances générales de cette migration forcée et pour comprendre les expériences des Haïtiens et Dominicains d'origine haïtienne qui ont quitté la République Dominicaine pour arriver à Haïti entre les mois d'Août 1999 et de Juillet 2000.

Cette étude offre une analyse statistique des flux migratoires de par une évaluation démographique des populations vulnérables en question. Bien que les migrations forcées de Haïtiens vers la République Dominicaine ont été un sujet d'intérêt pour de nombreux rapports et procédures légales internationales, il existe tout de même très peu de données quantitatives à cet égard. Cette étude a rendue compte de certains facteurs clés concernant la structure des exodes migratoires, les caractéristiques de cette population ainsi que le traitement des expulsés de la part des autorités dominicaines. L'étude indique que ceux sortant du pays ne sont offerts aucun procès dû et se retrouve souvent à la merci d'autorités gouvernementales abusives. Sur ce, ces conclusions remettent en question de nombreux présupposés à l'égard du profil démographique de cette population ainsi que de son traitement. Afin d'adresser les abus et exodes antécédents, l'étude propose plusieurs recommandations dans l'espoir d'améliorer le système migratoire existant entre les deux pays et de réduire la privation des droits humains des Haïtiens de la République Dominicaine.

The 2004 Tsunami and Human Rights
Clinic students worked on a study released by the UC Berkeley's Human Rights Center "After the Tsunami: Human Rights of Vulnerable Populations." The report is based on interviews conducted in March and April of 2005 with tsunami survivors, government officials, human rights activists, and aid workers in five tsunami-affected countries - India, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, the Maldives and Thailand. The study found that throughout countries affected by the tsunami, survivors continue to suffer inequities in aid distribution, human rights abuses, and the inability to have input into reconstruction planning and policy, and recommends concrete steps to address these issues. The clinic was invited to brief Eric P. Schwartz, United Nations Deputy Special Envoy for Tsunami Recovery about the study's findings to contribute to the work that former President Clinton's office is undertaking in the upcoming months. The UN has adopted Operational Guidelines on Human Rights and Natural Disasters which address the human rights concerns of persons affected by natural disasters.

Sri Lanka Access to HIV Medicines Project
Clinic students achieved a groundbreaking victory in the struggle to provide global access to HIV medicines. The Sri Lankan Ministry of Health announced it will start treating HIV infected individuals with anti-retroviral medicines. Clinic students produced a Memorandum Addressing the Need for a Treatment Agenda that sets forth a proposal to provide HIV medicines in Sri Lanka on behalf of the AIDS Coalition for Care, Education, and Support Services, a Sri Lankan non-governmental organization. The brief was submitted to the Sri Lankan Ministry of Health and the World Bank in the context of a pending funding proposal from Sri Lanka before the international financial institution. Two students presented the project in June 2002 at the World AIDS Conference in Barcelona.

Mexico Labor Project
In partnership with the Center for Latin American Studies , the clinic initiated a project regarding globalization, labor and human rights. The goal was to provide California unionists with an analytical framework to interpret environmental contamination and impoverished living conditions of Mexican workers within the context of the tri-state trade North American Free Trade Agreement. Students conducted an assessment and planning mission and facilitated a visit of rank and file members of the International Brotherhood of Machinists to the San Diego-Tijuana border to witness firsthand the effects of NAFTA.

In This Section

Accountability and Transitional Justice
Counter-Terrorism and Human Rights
A Rights-Based Approach to Combating Poverty: Economic, Social & Cultural Rights
Promoting Human Rights Within the United States