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Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law

Events & Activities

As part of our commitment to help law students attain the knowledge and practical skills they need to work in the field of human rights, the Center organizes numerous events annually, including panel discussions, workshops, seminars, expert convenings, and more, that address听a variety of issues. The Center serves as a human rights resource for the entire 国产小呦女 community, creating human rights community-building initiatives among main campus students and faculty designed to engage and inspire students to incorporate knowledge of and respect for human rights in their future careers. The Center seeks to impact and shape the global conversation around key human rights issues, creating forums for discussion to focus attention on emerging developments through conferences, workshops, seminars, and expert convenings.

Human Rights Reading Group

Human Rights Reading Group

This monthly series features faculty, staff, visiting scholar, and student speakers in a roundtable discussion that allows students to confront the dilemmas and issues that arise in connection with human rights, focusing on how acknowledgement of such critiques can help advocates better navigate the field with creativity and critical reflection.

Introduction to Human Rights & International Humanitarian Law

Introduction to Human Rights & International Humanitarian Law

Each semester, the Center hosts a series of introductory workshops on various intersections of human rights and international humanitarian law that are designed to educate and engage students about basic issues in the field. Past lectures include disability rights, human rights and business, environmental law, IHL, among others.

Human Rights Skills Series

Human Rights Skills Series

The Center holds a series of workshops designed to introduce students to the professional skills relevant to careers in human rights. Led by experienced practitioners in the field, the seminars allow participants to develop sector-specific skills and competencies prioritized by today鈥檚 human rights and public interest employers. Topics have included grant-writing, strategic communications, and program management.

Human Rights Coffee Hour

Human Rights Coffee Hour

The Center鈥檚 Student Advisory Board organizes a series of informal coffee hour conversations in conjunction with different student organizations, attracting AUWCL students and faculty who participate in thoughtful, robust conversations on a variety of human rights-related topics. Topics have included islamophobia, economic discrimination, movement lawyering, and climate change, among others.

Rapid Response Events

Rapid Response Events

The Center hosts 鈥渞apid response鈥 events, creating space for discussion of immediate pressing human rights-related events as they are taking place: from a Ferguson Town Hall meeting held hours after the decision not to indict was announced, to an event on the Egyptian Revolution as Hosni Mubarak was stepping down, and, more recently, a teach-in on the implications of President Trump鈥檚 immigration ban a day after the executive order took effect.

Human Rights Film Series

Human Rights Film Series

The Human Rights Film Series, first organized in 2000 and co-sponsored with the Center for Media and Social Impact (CMSi) based at the School of Communication, showcases the power of film to educate and advocate about human rights. Each fall, 国产小呦女screens four exceptional documentary films that exhibit excellence in filmmaking and explore a broad spectrum of human rights issues. Following each screening, the audience has the opportunity to engage filmmakers, human rights advocates, and 国产小呦女faculty experts in discussion about the film and its issues.

Campus-Wide Events

Campus-Wide Events

The Center works with students and faculty across AU鈥檚 six colleges to create and implement human rights programming that cuts across disciplines, leveraging the university鈥檚 rich academic resources and the vitality of the university鈥檚 activist student body to create spaces for discussion of contemporary human rights issues. Among other events, the Center spearheaded AU鈥檚 first campus-wide conference on the Obama Administration and Human Rights, collaborating with more than 17 offices across the university to bring the event to fruition.

Cross-Campus Partnerships

Cross-Campus Partnerships

For nearly three decades, the Center has cultivated vibrant partnerships with colleagues across disciplines and departments, creating joint endeavors, such as a human rights defender speaker series with the Kay Spiritual Life Center; panel discussions around gender and justice issues in the Americas with the Center for Latino and Latin American Studies; mapping human rights opportunities at 国产小呦女in conjunction with the Office of the Provost; and coordinating the Scholar Rescue Fund with faculty from the School of International Service.

Local Community Engagement

Local Community Engagement

The Center worked with teachers and students at the Thurgood Marshall Academy Public Charter School in Washington, D.C. to support the school鈥檚 international law and human rights education programming. Center staff and members of the Student Advisory Board serve as judges for TMA鈥檚 annual moot court competition. TMA high school students researched and wrote sections of an appellate brief and presented oral arguments on the legality of a drug testing policy. Center staff and students observed the presentations and provided feedback, as well as perspectives about working in human rights and international law. Center faculty and staff also served as guest lecturers for upper-level honors classes, leading interactive lessons on contemporary human rights issues, such as the rights of migrants.

30th Anniversary Series

30th Anniversary Series

In spring 2021, the Center celebrated its 30th Anniversary with a week-long series of events starting March 29 designed to commemorate the role the Center has played in developing and implementing cutting-edge human rights programming at AUWCL. Events featured discussions with renowned human rights experts, including disability rights advocate and former Special Advisor for International Disability Rights Judith Heumann and UN High Commission of Human Rights Michelle Bachelet, closed events exclusively for AUWCL students and alumni, and a social media campaign featuring Center faculty who will share how they Champion What Matters.

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A Global Lawyer: A Symposium Celebrating the Contributions of Herman Schwartz to the Rule of Law

A Global Lawyer: A Symposium Celebrating the Contributions of Herman Schwartz to the Rule of Law

On Friday, September 27 Professor Emeritus Herman Schwartz was recognized for his world-renowned legal legacy during 鈥淎 Global Lawyer: A Symposium Celebrating the Contributions of Herman Schwartz to the Rule of Law.鈥 Professor Schwartz鈥檚 distinguished career has focused attention on the cause of human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of law. From the UN to Helsinki Watch, and from Israel and Eastern Europe to the United States, his work on emerging democracies, constitutional reform, and rule of law has inspired a generation of students, scholars, and practitioners to engage in this important work. The day-long symposium was followed by a private dinner honoring Professor Schwartz, featuring U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. In her remarks before the crowd of nearly 200 guests, Justice Ginsburg recalled many of the ways Professor Schwartz鈥檚 distinguished career has focused attention on human rights, civil liberties, and the rule of the law both in the U.S. and around the world. During the dinner, a congressional citation of merit was presented by Emeritus Professor and Congressman Jamie Raskin (D-Md).

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