The Honorable G. William and Ariadna Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, is Berkeley Law’s international and comparative legal think tank.
The Miller Institute seeks to support populations often overlooked or unprotected by existing legal infrastructure. We focus on urgent challenges that demand innovative, global approaches, including promoting the rule of law, fighting systemic corruption and supporting human rights. Our work is guided by the distinguished international and comparative law faculty at Berkeley Law and informed by the expertise of scholars and practitioners from across campus and world-wide. Our approach is collaborative, interdisciplinary and strategic and our work targets critical situations where we are distinctively equipped to promote lasting change.
Updates & Events
Climate Change Policy Paper The Miller Institute, in collaboration with the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Center for Law & Global Justice at the University of San Francisco School of Law, has jointly released a white paper, Protecting People and the Planet, A Proposal to Address the Human Rights Impacts of Climate Change Policy. The purpose of the white paper is to ensure that responses to global climate changes are effective, sustainable, and advance global human development, security, equality, and freedom, this paper proposes that the Conference of Parties (COP) mandate a process within the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) to support states in the development and implementation of policy. This process, to include the full range of stakeholders would ensure that all mitigation and adaptation policies incorporate international human rights standards and best practices. Read the white paper here.
Climate Justice Open Letter to President Obama As the United States reenters the negotiations on climate change, the Miller Institute, along with several U.S. based organizations have sent a letter to President Obama urging him to renew the commitment of U.S. to promote social justice worldwide by ensuring that human rights and humanitarian concerns are formally integrated into all mitigation and adaptation strategies adopted both at the Copenhagen Conference and afterward. Read the letter, here.
Third Party Intervention in the European Court of Human Rights on the case of Kaos GL v Turkey The Miller Institute along with Human Rights Watch and Article 19 submitteda third party intervention to the European Court of Human Rights on the case of Kaos GL v Turkey. The case raises critical questions regarding the obligations of states to protect rights of sexual expression of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people under Article 10 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms. This submission draws on rights-based analyses of selected laws and jurisprudence from international, regional, and national systems, to consider limitations of sexual expression on “public morality” grounds. Drafters included two Berkeley Law students, Janaki Gandhi and Celeste Kaufman, and Alice M. Miller, Lecturer-in-Residence, and Miller Senior Fellow. Read the intervention here.
International Program for Judicial Studies
The Miller Institute offers advanced training to judges and government officials from around the world on core legal issues ranging from judicial ethics to international norms. With world-class faculty
and cutting edge
instruction on emerging topics, the program seeks to strengthen the capabilities and professionalism of judiciaries and better equip them to tackle today’s complex problems. The rigorous classroom instruction is complemented by a firsthand view of the American legal system, through private meetings with the staff of government agencies, bar associations, courts, law firms and The program is specifically tailored ... [more] For more information on our Rule of Law Project please click here.
