International Human Rights Law Program

The International Human Rights Law Program at UCLA School of Law, the first program of its kind in southern California, brings together cutting-edge human rights education, scholarship, advocacy and policy-oriented research. As one of the finest research universities in the world, situated at a major global crossroads and in one of the most diverse regions in the country, UCLA is emerging as a vital center for international human rights work. To learn more, read the Program's inaugural report here.

Upcoming Events

Media Freedom in the Maghreb with Abdelaziz Nouaydi, University Mohamed V, Rabat
Friday, February 5, 12:30 p.m. 352 Haines Hall (co-sponsored with the Center for Near Eastern Studies)
Israel, the Palestinians, and International Law (Part three of our co-sponsored series on the Goldstone Report) with Daniel Taub, Principal Deputy Legal Adviser, State of Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Monday, February 8, 4:30 p.m., 1347 Law Building (co-sponsored with the Burkle Center for International Relations and the Israel Studies Program)
Journalists Under Fire: An Independent Reporter's View from Chechnya, Iraq and Afghanistan, with Anne Nivat, Award-Winning War Reporter and Writer; Thursday, February 11, 12:00 p.m., 10383 Bunche Hall (co-sponsored with the Center for European and Eurasian Studies)
Letter to Anna, The Story of Journalist Anna Politkovskaya's Death with Marina Goldovskaya, Elena Milashina, and Anne Nivat; Saturday, February 13, 7:30 pm; Billy Wilder Theater, Hammer Museum (co-sponsored as part of the International Institute's Human Rights Film Series)
Special Lecture by Adam Michnik; key figure in the Polish Solidarity movement; Editor in Chief, Gazeta Wyborcza; "History, Memory, and Human Rights: The Politics of Reconciliation and Retribution"; Wednesday, February 17, 4:00 pm, 1447 Law Building (co-sponsored with the Center for European and Eurasian Studies )
RSVP to humanrights@law.ucla.edu
Trafficking with the Traffickers: Undercover Research among the Organs Mafia
with Nancy Scheper-Hughes, Moderated by Professor Gail Kligman; Tuesday, March 2, 3:15 p.m. 1347 Law Building

Events

The Program co-sponsored two events with the Burkle Center on International Relations in early December. On December 2, David Kaye, Executive Director of the Program, spoke about international law and the UN Human Rights Council's Goldstone Report related to the 2008-2009 conflict in Gaza. On December 3, we welcomed U.S. Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations Ambassador Alejandro Wolff. Podcasts for both events are available here.
The week of November 16th we welcomed two special events with Human Rights Watch. On Monday the 16th, at 4:30 p.m. in Law School Room 1447, Sarah Leah Whitson of Human Rights Watch will discuss the Goldstone Report, the first in a three part series discussing the report and international law. On Tuesday the 17th, at 12:15 p.m. in Law School Room 1430, two extraordinary human rights defenders - Daniel Bekele from Ethiopia and Elena Milashina from Russia - spoke about their experiences.
Stephen Gardbaum, Professor at UCLA Law, spoke about statutory bills of rights as a mode of protecting human rights in the United Kingdom, New Zealand, Canada and Australia on November 10th.
Jack Healey, former head of Amnesty International USA, spoke passionately about the importance of confronting those who abuse human rights at an early stage on November 4th.
Paul Hoffman, one of the leading human rights lawyers in the United States, discussed his efforts to hold accountable those individuals and corporations aiding and abetting the commission of mass atrocities worldwide on October 29th.
Assistant Secretary of State Esther Brimmer, one of President Barack Obama's top diplomats, spoke on October 28th about the Administration's efforts to reengage on human rights and other areas of multilateral affairs. Read the story or listen to Dr. Brimmer's talk and Q&A.
On October 21st, the Human Rights Program - in collaboration with the International Institute and the Film School - presented a special screening of The Reckoning, the Sundance-shown documentary about the International Criminal Court. A special panel afterward, moderated by local anti-genocide activist Janice Kamenir Reznik, included one of the country's leading activist on Darfur, Uganda and Congo, John Prendergast, and two leading academics, UCLA's Maximo Langer and Loyola's Cesare Romano. Listen to the panel discussion.
Somaly Mam, one of the leading figures in the movement to end slavery and human trafficking, spoke to a packed audience on September 30th. Mam, one of Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People this year, addressed the crisis of trafficking and how it impacts individuals and their societies. See the video here and read a story here.
On September 16th, John Hall of Chapman Law School discussed the challenges facing the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the hybrid international-national court trying senior leaders of the Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia.
Kal Raustiala, UCLA Law Professor and Director of the Burkle Center, discussed his new book, Does the Constitution Follow the Flag? in a special book talk at the Law School on August 26th.
Peter McCloskey, a senior trial lawyer at the Yugoslavia tribunal and one of the leading prosecutors of those responsible for the genocide at Srebrenica, spoke about the challenges of prosecuting genocide on August 19th.

News

International Justice Clinic participates in the 8th Meeting of the Assembly of States Parties to the ICC Rome Statute. See the story in UCLA Today.
David Kaye publishes ASIL Insight on The Goldstone Report.
Kal Raustiala publishes ASIL Insight, Is Bagram the New Guantanamo?
UCLA faculty engage in the debate over the future of detainees at Guantanamo: Kal Raustiala in The Huffington Post and David Kaye on Al Jazeera International.
California Lawyer magazine profiles the Human Rights Program's Clinic on International Justice.
David Kaye participates in three-day Dust Up exchange on the L.A. Times website concerning the release of 2002 and 2005 legal memos authorizing the Bush Administration's interrogation policy.
Justice Hassan Jallow, Chief Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, delivers a special lunchtime lecture at the Law School on April 16.
The Honorable Louise Arbour, former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and chief prosecutor for the international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, delivers a Regents Lecture at the Law School on March 16.
David Kaye publishes op-ed in the L.A. Times on implications for U.S. policy of the arrest warrant for Sudan's President Bashir.
President Haris Silajdzic of Bosnia & Herzegovina delivers an important policy address at the Law School on February 17.
Kal Raustiala discusses implications of the U.S.-Iraq Status of Forces Agreement in an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times.

In the Spotlight: Recent Faculty Publications

Lara Stemple, Men, HIV/AIDS, and Human Rights. Peacock, Dean; Stemple, Lara; Sawires, Sharif; Coates, Thomas J. JAIDS Journal of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndromes. 51():S119-S125, July 2009.
Kal Raustiala, Does the Constitution Follow the Flag? The Evolution of Territoriality in American Law (Oxford 2009).
Lara Stemple, Male Rape and Human Rights, 60 Hastings L.J. 605 (February 2009).
Stephen Gardbaum, The Myth and the Reality of American Constitutional Exceptionalism, 107 Mich. L. Rev. 391 (2008).
Stephen Gardbaum, Human Rights and International Constitutionalism, in Ruling the World? Constitutionalism, International Law and Global Government (edited by Jeff Dunoff and Joel Trachtman, 2008).
David Kaye, Complexity in the Law of War, in Miller and Bratspies, eds., Progress in International Law (Martinus Nijhoff 2008).
Maximo Langer, Introduction: Damaška and Comparative Law (with John Jackson and Peter Tillers) in Crime, Procedure, and Evidence in a Comparative and International Context (edited by John Jackson, Maximo Langer and Peter Tillers, Hart Publishing (2008).
Lara Stemple, Health and Human Rights in Today's Fight against HIV/AIDS, 22 AIDS S113 (2008).
Asli U. Bali, From Subjects to Citizens? The Shifting Paradigm of Electoral Authoritarianism in the Middle East, __ J. Middle East L. & Governance __ (2008).
Jonathan Zasloff, Dean's List: Power, Institutions, and Achesonian Diplomacy, 102 American Journal of International Law __ (forthcoming, 2008) (review essay).
Scott Cummings, The Internationalization of Public Interest Law, 57 Duke Law Journal 891 (2008).
David Kaye, Review: David Kennedy's Of War and Law, 102 American Journal of International Law 400 (2008).