These Indigenous lawyers have led historic legal victories, including ICJ and ITLOS climate advisory opinions, where the highest courts ruled that nation-states must prevent climate harm, protect human rights, and act urgently to cut emissions.
Learn about the unique intersection of international, human rights, and environmental law that Indigenous people must navigate. Hosted by UCLA Law student and member of the Environmental Law Society Gregory Loui, with The Promise Institute's Joe Berra and Native Nations Law and Policy Center's Lauren van Schilfgaarde moderating Q&A.
Co-sponsored by The Promise Institute for Human Rights, the Native Nations Law and Policy Center, the Emmett Institute, and the Environmental Law Society.
Lunch will be provided.
March 30th 12:15PM-1:15PM Room: 1347 (available through Zoom as well)
Register Now: https://forms.gle/5L1FXfPwCkv1SEqt6
WHAT IS HAPPENING IN SUDAN?
A conversation with former Human Rights Watch researcher and expert on Sudan, Jehanne Henry
Sudan has been devastated by war over the past two years and hundreds of thousands of people have fled the conflict, facing starvation and terrible conditions in refugee camps.
Join us online for a Zoom webinar (students who'll already be on campus are also invited to join us for a group viewing) to hear from Jehanne Henry, a human rights lawyer, researcher and advocate whose focus is on armed conflicts and transitional justice. Jehanne will share updates and insights about the ongoing conflict in Sudan, as well as sharing more about her own career working to expose human rights violations.
Jehanne Henry is a human rights lawyer, researcher and advocate with a particular focus on armed conflicts and transitional justice. Between 2007 and 2020 she was a researcher and director in Human Rights Watch’s Africa division focusing on Sudan, South Sudan, and East Africa. She led numerous fact finding missions across the region, authored dozens of reports, opinion pieces and articles on human rights issues, and appeared in international media outlets. From late 2020 - 2021 she served as an adviser in Sudan’s transitional government. She continues to work with Sudanese and international human rights groups in the wider Sahel, East, and Horn of Africa regions.
She is also a rostered expert with the Justice Rapid Response, a non-resident scholar at the Middle East Institute, and adjunct faculty in the Human Rights Program at Hunter College. Previously, Henry served with the UN, USAID, and NGOs in other conflict and post-conflict zones including Darfur, Kosovo and Cambodia. She worked at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and clerked for a US federal judge in the Southern District of NY. She has a BA in Philosophy from Columbia College and a JD from the University of Texas School of Law.
March 11, 2026 at 12:30pm Pacific
Online Only
Register for WebinarMarch 11, 2026 at 12:30pm Pacific
UCLA Law Room 2448
STUDENTS ONLYRegister for In-Person Only
On the morning of January 13, a group of UCLA School of Law students enjoyed a rare opportunity to visit the Mexican consulate in Los Angeles. There, they observed lawyers who were hard at work on many of the most pressing immigration matters. They also received a special briefing regarding Mexico’s responses to the current ICE arrests, including the role of habeas corpus petitions at immigrant detention centers, and about ongoing economic relations between the two countries.
UCLA School of Law professors Stephen Bainbridge and Kal Raustiala have been included in a prestigious new ranking of the top legal
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J.D. Business Law & Policy
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J.D. International and Comparative Law
Climate Emergency and Human Rights
Roadmap for the Implementation of the Advisory Opinion of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights OC-32/25
The webinar will analyze the practical and strategic implications of the recent Advisory Opinion OC 32/25, issued by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The Opinion represents a fundamental development in international human rights law on climate issues, recognizing a jus cogens norm to prevent irreparable damage to the climate and the environment, reinforcing substantive and procedural rights, enshrining Nature as a subject of rights, and establishing differentiated obligations for States.
The panelists will respond to this key question: How are you using, or proposing to use, OC 32/25 in the context of national and international norm-setting, strategic litigation, legislation and public policy, social movements in defense of land and nature, and the rights of Indigenous peoples?
*This event will be held in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation into English.
Emergencia Climática y Derechos Humanos: Hoja de Ruta para la Implementación de la Opinión Consultiva de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos OC-32/25
El webinar analizará los alcances prácticos y estratégicos de la reciente Opinión Consultiva OC 32/25, emitida por la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos. La Opinión representa un desarrollo fundamental del derecho internacional de los derechos humanos en materia climática, al reconocer una norma jus cogens de prevenir daños irreparables al clima y al medioambiente, reforzar los derechos sustantivos y procedimentales, y consagrar a la Naturaleza como sujeto de derechos, estableciendo obligaciones diferenciadas para los Estados.
Los panelistas respondrán a esta pregunta matriz: Cómo están utilizando, o proponen utilizar, la OC 32/25 dentro del ámbito de la creación de la normatividad nacional e internacional, el litigio estratégico, legislación y políticas públicas, movimientos sociales en defensa de la tierra y la naturaleza, y derechos de los pueblos Indígenas?
*El evento se desarrollará en español y contará con interpretación simultánea al inglés.
Featuring/Presentando
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Sibelys Mejia
- Program Coordinator for Territories, Environmental Justice, and Peace at ILEX Legal Action
- Coordinadora de la Línea de Territorios, Justicia Ambiental y Paz de ILEX Acción Jurídica
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Mariana Campos
- Coordinator of the Latin American Front of World’s Youth for Climate Justice
- Coordinadora del Frente de Latinoamérica para World´s Youth for Climate Justice
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Gustavo Redin
- Environmental Lawyer, President of CEDENMA
- Abogado Ambientalista, Presidente de CEDENMA
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Itzel Silva Monroy
- Legal Director, EarthRights Internatonal Latin American Office
- Directora Legal, EarthRights International Oficina de Latinoamerica
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Moderated by/Moderado por Joseph Berra
- Director, Human Rights in the Americas Project,The Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA
- Director, Proyecto de Derechos Humanos en las Américas, El Institute de la Promesa de los Derechos Humanos de UCLA
Thursday, December 4, 2025
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
(Los Angeles, PST / UTC-8)
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
(Mexico City, CST / UTC-6)
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
(Bogotá & Lima, COT / PET / UTC-5)
Zoom Webinar Only
In Spanish with Interpretation in English
Jueves, 4 de Diciembre 2025
12:00 p.m. – 1:30 p.m.
(Los Ángeles, PST / UTC-8)
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
(Ciudad de México, CST / UTC-6)
3:00 p.m. – 4:30 p.m.
(Bogotá & Lima, COT / PET / UTC-5)
Solo seminario web de Zoom
Evento en Español con interpretación en Ingles
AND THE CRISIS OF
WORLD ORDER
Broken Spaces, Sandy Snowden, Textile/Quilt
The world today is on an accelerated path toward rising authoritarianism, widening inequality, and unsustainable growth. This time of crisis has strained peaceful relations between people and nations, and has caused the decline of human rights.
Featuring a keynote from Dr. Albert Barume, UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples, this day-long Conference seeks to engage the structural forces shaping our world in this moment and explore critically the role and relevance of human rights as a moral, political, and legal force for social action and transformative justice.
Where does the human rights project stand in relation to the struggle for human dignity, equality, repair of our relationship to the Earth, and the creation of alternative models of social life and organization? What is the role of legal frameworks and international institutions in ordering the world toward these values? What gives us reason for hope in this moment?
FRIDAY, JANUARY 23, 2026UCLA SCHOOL OF LAW
IN-PERSON ONLY
WE WERE THRILLED TO REACH REGISTRATION CAPACITY QUICKLY. FOR THOSE INTERESTED IN ATTENDING WHO ARE NOT YET REGISTERED, PLEASE EMAIL US TO BE ADDED TO OUR WAITLIST: PROMISEINSTITUTE@LAW.UCLA.EDU
This event will feature lawyers representing people currently detained in Salvadoran prisons. We'll hear from a Salvadoran lawyer who has been representing Salvadorans arbitrarily detained as part of the government's current enforcement against gang associates.
We'll also hear from UCLA Law student, Andrew Beale, who was The Promise Institute Summer Fellow at the Centro de Intercambio y Solidaridad. He will speak briefly about his work as a summer fellow.
Additionally, we'll hear from Silvia Serna who is part of Global Strategic Litigation Council and is working alongside three other organizations to represent people (who have been deported to El Salvador from the United States and then detained in Salvadoran custody) before the IACHR.
Monday, November 10, 2025
12:15 PM Pacific Time
Hybrid Event: On Zoom Webinar and at UCLA Law Room 1457
Register to AttendThe Promise Institute for Human Rights (Los Angeles) acknowledges our presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Gabrielino/Tongva peoples.
UCLA School of Law professor Anna Spain Bradley, an expert in international law, international dispute resolution, and human rights, has been appointed to the MacArthur Foundation Chair in International Justice and Human Rights at the law school.