James (Jim) Cavallaro is the Executive Director of the University Network for Human Rights. He has taught human rights law and practice for nearly a quarter century, most recently at Yale Law School (2020 – present), Stanford Law School (2011-2019), and Harvard Law School (2002-2011). At both Harvard and Stanford, he established and directed human rights clinics and ran human rights centers. Cavallaro has overseen dozens of projects with scores of students in over twenty countries.
From 1988-1990, Cavallaro worked for rights groups opposing the Pinochet dictatorship in Chile. In 1994, he opened a joint office for Human Rights Watch and the Center for Justice and International Law in Rio de Janeiro and served as director, overseeing research, reporting, and litigation before the Inter-American system’s human rights bodies. In 1999, he founded the Global Justice Center, a leading Brazilian human rights NGO.
In June 2013, Cavallaro was elected to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. He served as President of that body from 2016-2017.
Cavallaro has authored or co-authored dozens of books, reports, and articles on human rights issues, a list of which is available below. He is fluent in English, Spanish, and Portuguese and speaks Italian and French.
A list of over 100 of his publications is available here. Among his most recent works are:
- Doctrine, Practice, and Advocacy in the Inter-American Human Rights System (Oxford University Press, 2019).
- When Prosecution is Not Enough: How the International Criminal Court Can Prevent Atrocity and Advance Accountability by Emulating Regional Human Rights Institutions (Yale Journal of International Law, 2020).
- Reducing Bias in Human Rights Fact-Finding:The Potential of the Clinical Simulation Model to Overcome Ethical, Practical, and Cultural Tensions in “Foreign” Contexts (Human Rights Quarterly, 2020).
Education
J.D., Berkeley Law (1992)
A.B., Harvard University (1984)
Ph.D., Pablo de Olavide (Seville, Spain) (1999/2014)