Clinic News

Co-Director Laurel Fletcher and Student David Maxson Harris ’21 Write “The Case for U.S. Social Justice Movements to Go InternationalCalifornia Law Review (10/20)

Co-Director Roxanna Altholz talks about the clinic’s role in “Tracking Suspects Who Never Thought Anyone Would Look,” a new podcast from Bloomberg.com. (8/10/20)  

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has decided to move forward with the first case involving a killing by U.S. law enforcement (Co-Director Roxanna Altholz is co-counsel with Alliance San Diego). (7/30/20)

The clinic joined efforts with the organization REDRESS to file a complaint with the United Nations Human Rights Committee on behalf of a British citizen tortured by Sri Lankan officials. (6/29/20)

Co-Director Roxanna Altholz on laws and law enforcement behaviors that undermine the human rights of Black and Latino victims of violence as part of “Berkeley Law Conversations: Race & Policing.” (6/8/20)

Clinic students traveled to Liberia  with clinic Co-Director Laurel Fletcher and Teaching Fellow Tamara Morgenthau to interview indigenous community members fighting to have their land rights recognized. (5/6/20)

Co-Director Roxanna Altholz discusses her “Living with Impunity” report on KPFA. (3/17/20)

Co-Director Laurel Fletcher discusses the evolution of the field of transitional justice on the Justice Visions podcast. (4/1/20)

“Like Crawling on Broken Glass”: The Aftermath of Gun Violence California Magazine, (2/25/20)

Berkeley became the first city to pass a resolution supporting A New Border Vision. Read about the clinic’s work to bring the New Border Vision before Bay Area governments. Watch Vanessa Rivas-Bernardy ’21 speak at the Berkeley City Council meeting.  (1/28/20)

“Living with Impunity: Unsolved Murders in Oakland and the Human Rights Impact on Victims’ Family Members” presents work by clinic Co-Director Roxanna Altholz and other researchers who found that surviving family members often were victimized a second time as law enforcement and other agencies treated them with indifference—and even hostility. Read more about the Living with Impunity report. (1/23/20)

Clinic student David Harris ’21 addressed the Berkeley Unified School District Board last week about A New Border Vision. Clinic co-directors Roxanna Altholz and Laurel Fletcher helped the Southern Border Communities Coalition draft the vision to help build momentum for a state and congressional resolution on border policies. Watch David Harris speak in this video. (1/8/20)

Clinic Co-Director Roxanna Altholz, former member of an international team that investigated the murder of Berta Cáceres, winner of the 2015 Goldman Environmental Prize, says the problem is bigger than the lack of progress on company president Roberto David Castillo Mejía’s case and that her murder was the culmination of years of coordinated corruption and violence. (12/21/19)

Read the International Human Rights Law Clinic’s fall 2019 newsletter.

Clinic Co-Director Roxanna Altholz ’99 worked with four Berkeley Law students on an amicus brief filed Dec. 23 to encourage the U.S. Supreme Court to take the case of Melida Teresa Luna-Garcia. Altholz traveled with two of them to Ciudad Juárez to interview 23 asylum seekers in person. Their stories, and those of a dozen others, form the backbone of the brief. Univision also covered the clinic’s work on the brief here. (12/19/19)

Clinic Co-Director Roxanna Altholz is one of the lawyers representing migrants in an amicus brief to be filed in the Supreme Court saying El Paso border agents are undermining asylum cases by using false addresses on migrant papers. (12/19/19)

Co-Director Roxanna Altholz spoke at an Open Society Foundations discussion on “Financing Atrocity, Forging Accountability: New Strategies for International Justice.” (5/28/19)

Students combat child labor and slavery in the Ivory Coast’s chocolate industry, by conducting a fact-finding mission to the Ivory Coast and putting together a consumer fraud case against chocolate companies. (5/28/19)

Co-Director Roxanna Altholz moderated a World Affairs event on “Land, Environment & Global Justice: Sierra Leone and Around the World.” (5/16/19)

Clinic joins migrant rights organizations to create a New Border Vision, co-sponsoring an event with the Southern Border Communities Coalition to shape a vision that expands public safety, protects human rights, and welcomes residents and newcomers on U.S. borders. (5/14/19)

Clinical Teaching Fellow Tamara Morgenthau moderated a discussion on “After Jesner: The Future of the Alien Tort Statute.” (4/10/19) 

Co-Director Laurel Fletcher was the keynote speaker at a racial justice conference: “What Can International Transitional Justice Offer to U.S. Social Justice Movements?” (4/12/19)

Co-Director Roxanna Altholz speaks about clinical pedagogy at a conference in Mexico. (3/30/19)

Co-Directors Laurel Fletcher and Roxanna Altholz joined other international human rights and immigration law professors, clinics, and organizations in submitting an amicus brief to U.S. federal court arguing that the U.S. government’s practices of family separation and arbitrary detention of asylum seekers violate binding international law. (2/14/19)

Co-Director Laurel Fletcher was a 2019 Herbert Smith Freehills Vistor at the University of Cambridge and delivered a lecture at the Lauterpacht Centre for International Law: “Let’s Talk About the Boteros: Law, Memory, and the Torture Memos at Berkeley Law.”

Clinical Teaching Fellow Tamara Morgenthau appeared as counsel for interveners before the Supreme Court of Canada in the case Nevsun Resources Ltd. v. Gize Yebeyo Araya, et al. seeking to hold a Canadian corporation liable for human rights abuses at an Eritrean mine.

Berkeley Law’s 20-year commitment to human rights through the International Human Rights Law Clinic and the Human Rights Center was highlighted in a fall 2018 Transcript magazine feature story.

Co-Director Roxanna Altholz testified about the remains of migrants who disappeared along the United States border before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in support of the Forensic Border Coalition (10/2018).

Clinical Teaching Fellow Tamara Morgenthau participated in a Berkeley Law panel on “Is a Habitable Planet a Human Right? Juliana v. the United States.” (10/23/18)

Daughter of Slain Environmentalist Connects Migrant Caravan to Honduran Government’s Failures (11/02/2018)

Group seeks U.S. DNA to identify missing migrants (10/05/2018)

Deadly Corruption in Honduras (3/13/2018)

Honduras arrests ‘mastermind’ behind Berta Caceres’ murder (3/3/2018)

Honduras Police Arrest Executive in Killing of Berta Cáceres, Indigenous Activist (3/3/2018)

Berta Cáceres murder: ex-Honduran military intelligence officer arrested (3/2/2018)

Honduras arrests alleged mastermind behind activist’s murder (3/2/2018)

Moving from Rights Eroded to Rights Realized (1/9/2018)

Clinic Director’s blog post on the conceptual foundations of transitional justice (12/20/2017)

New Report Spotlights Repression of Human Rights Activists (12/11/2017)

IHRLC 2017 end-of-year newsletter (12/2017)

The Honduran Candidate: President Juan Orlando Hernández is moving closer to authoritarian rule (11/23/2017)

Clinic Helps Investigate Death of Honduran Environmental Activist (11/7/2017)

Audio: Clinic associate director interviewed by BBC World Service about the murder of Honduran human rights defender (11/2/2017)

Environmentalist’s murder a criminal plot, new report says (11/2/2017)

Video: Murder of Berta Caceres part of coordinated plot: lawyer team (11/1/2017)

Hydro Electric Firm, Honduran Military Planned Berta Caceres Murder (11/1/2017)

Un informe internacional señala que agentes estatales y la hidroeléctrica DESA estuvieron implicados en el asesinato de Berta Cáceres (11/1/2017)

Abogados denuncian que el asesinato de Berta Cáceres no fue un hecho aislado sino un complot (11/1/2017)

Berta Cáceres Murder Report Underscores Criminal Ties of Honduras Business, State (11/1/2017)

International team of lawyers says plot existed to kill Honduran activist Berta Caceres (10/31/2017)

Asesinato de Berta Cáceres fue estructurado desde el 2012 por altos ejecutivos de DESA: GAIPE (10/31/2017)

Nobel laureates demand justice for slain Honduran activist Berta Caceres (10/31/2017)

Murder of Berta Caceres part of calculated plot: report (10/31/2017)

Report: Coordinated plot to murder Honduran activist Caceres (10/31/2017)

Agentes del Estado habrían “planeado, ejecutado y encubierto” el asesinato de Berta Cáceres, dice informe (10/30/2017)

Student blog post in IntLawGrrls about GQUAL Campaign for gender justice (10/29/2017)

Who Ordered Killing of Honduran Activist? Evidence of Broad Plot Is Found (10/28/2017)

Clinic Director participates in mock debate on gender quotas for international bodies at International Criminal Court (10/3/2017)

Clinic founding director’s win paves way for prosecution of Salvadoran generals for 1989 murder of Jesuit priests (8/21/2017)

Clinic supports a widow’s quest to make border patrol pay for killing her husband (6/21/2017)

New Report Critical of World Bank’s Internal Watchdog (4/6/2017)

Clinic students post blog about their research project and its connection to International Women’s Day (3/14/2017)

16 Years After Father’s Killing, Colombian Family Sees Justice In U.S. Court (3/4/2017)

Harrowing Testimony Influences Drug Lord’s 16-Year Sentence (3/3/2017)

Clinic associate director Roxanna Altholz in Honduras investigating murder of Honduran human rights activist as member of international legal team of experts (11/15/2016)

Clinic students post blog about their experiences as researchers at feminist forum in Brazil (11/2016)

IHRLC 2016 end-of-year newsletter (11/2016)

The secret history of Colombia’s paramilitaries and the U.S. war on drugs (9/10/2016)

Death on the border: family suing U.S. for “torturing and killing” Latino father at California-Mexico line, botching investigation (4/8/2016)

Family asks human rights panel for help in San Diego border death (3/30/2016)

Clinic files petition claiming human rights abuses by U.S. Customs and Border Protection (3/30/2016)

Professor Roxanna Altholz on Democracy Now discussing the case the clinic filed against the US for unlawful killing on the U.S.-Mexico border (3/30/2016)

Clinic gains key victory for victims of heinous crime by Colombian drug lord (3/17/2016)

Justice, interrupted (3/15/2016)

Subminimum wage violates international human rights standards (2/9/2016)

Richard Weir ’16 awarded ‘golden ticket’ fellowship (1/11/2016)

Washington Post article cites clinic tipped worker report highlighting lack of safety net for service workers (12/22/2015)

Campus researchers find flaws in Indian government’s response to sexual violence (11/16/2015)

New report faults India’s response to sexual violence against women (11/4/2015)

Allison Davenport and Robert Birgeneau blog about “DREAMers and the future of our nation (10/6/2015)

Border patrol: clinic provides legal roadmap for families of those killed by federal agents (9/2/2015)

The Dominican Republic must stop expulsions of Haitians (7/5/2015)

Fellowships awarded to Bina Patel ’16 and Evelyn Rangel-Medina ’16 (5/14/2015)

IHRLC students submit report on the right to water to U.S. UPR Review in Geneva (5/11/2015)

New IHRLC report highlights challenges for undocumented students at UC Berkeley (5/6/2015)

Abigail Ludwig ’15 Wins Sax Prize for Clinical Advocacy (5/5/2015)

Persuasive powers: clinic’s work shapes U.N. report on U.S. torture (12/4/2014)

IHRLC 2014 end-of-year newsletter (12/2014)

Clinic’s work on torture informs questions at U.N. CAT Committee review (video) (11/20/2014)

Stakeholders tackle environmental issues for United Nations review (11/17/2014)

Clinic student Bina Patel ’16 blogs about review of U.S. torture committee (11/2014)

IHRLC releases shadow report to torture committee on Guantánamo (10/6/2014)

New clinic fellowship awarded to Katie Lynn Anderson ’15 (6/12/2014)

Students explore victims’ rights with South Asian advocates (3/20/2014)

Jose Antonio Vargas films for immigration reform (3/5/2014)

New fellowship to help students pursue careers in human rights (11/25/2013)

The International Human Rights Law Clinic’s 15-year legacy (9/24/2013)

Berkeley Law program helps U.C.’s undocumented students (9/9/2013)

Allison Davenport speaks out on TRUST Act (8/19/2013)

Clinic’s work supports U.N.’s new approach to sexual violence (7/25/2013)

New report lays groundwork for accountability for sexual violence against men in armed conflict (7/15/2013)

Clinic offers road map to implement human right to water in California (5/14/2013)

Law students lend a hand to undocumented students (5/10/2013)

DREAM Act students meet to talk immigration reform, college costs…and dating?! (4/29/2013)

Clinic hails victory for Guatemalan civil war victims (1/16/2013)

New report on urgent measures issued by human rights bodies (12/7/2012)

New report details abuse and discrimination against LGBT community in El Salvador (7/5/2012)

IntLawGrrls: introducing Briana Abrams, Sophie Kaiser & Maya Karwande (5/5/2012)

Law clinic plays leading role in Guatemalan human rights case (5/3/2012)

IntLawGrrls: guest bloggers: Saira Hussain, Peggy Li & Shayla Johnson (12/7/2011)

More to justice than just a trial (12/6/2011)

Dominico-Haitian activist and clinic collaborator Sonia Pierre dies at age 48 (12/5/2011)

New report urges reparations for victims of Khmer Rouge regime (12/2/2011)

KR victims face rocky road to reparations (11/18/2011)

Students examine climate for LGBT and HIV population in El Salvador (3/21/2011)