Law Commons^™

Submission To The Us State Department Commission On The Unalienable Rights, Catherine Coleman Flowers, Joann Kamuf Ward

Human Rights Institute

This submission emphasizes the centrality of economic and social rights to human rights and highlights how advocating for a hierarchy of rights that downplays their equal status is contrary to widely-recognized international norms, ignores the lived experience of individuals, and will serve to further entrench inequality. The submission urges the Commission to recognize and reaffirm the full panoply of human rights found in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and subsequent human rights agreements. The discussion highlights the negative implications of a narrowed conceptualization of human rights, emphasizing that a circumscribed vision of human rights will perpetuate a system …

Advancing Racial Justice And Human Rights: Rights-Based Strategies For The Current Era, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

On June 1, 2018, the Human Rights Institute convened its 15th annual CLE Symposium on Human Rights in the United States, a signature event of the Human Rights Institute’s Bringing Human Rights Lawyers’ Network. The day-long event brought together more than 150 leading U.S. lawyers, activists, and academics, along with federal and local government representatives to share strategies to advance racial justice within a domestic and global context increasingly hostile to human rights.

This report highlights key takeaways and themes from the Symposium, drawing from speakers’ remarks and their advocacy. It also serves as a basic human rights primer, describing …

State And Local Human Rights Agencies: Recommendations For Advancing Opportunity And Equality Through An International Human Rights Framework, Human Rights Institute, International Association Of Official Human Rights Agencies (Iaohra)

Human Rights Institute

State and local human rights agencies can play a critical role in promoting and protecting human rights close to home. State and local human rights and human relations commissions already operate every day to prevent and eliminate discrimination. These institutions have multiple functions that include enforcing anti-discrimination laws, engaging in community education and training and advocacy. Central to their mission is encouraging and facilitating institutional change to eradicate discrimination and promote equal opportunity. Thus, advancing human rights protections intersects with and, in fact, supports the work of state and local human rights and human relations commissions to encourage and ensure …

Human Rights, Social Justice And State Law: A Manual For Creative Lawyering, Program On Human Rights And The Global Economy, National Economic And Social Rights Initiative (Nesri), Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

This manual is written to help lawyers consider the role of transnational law as an interpretive tool in state constitutional and other state law litigation to protect economic and social rights.9 In Chapter I, the manual provides an overview of the relationship between state law and transnational law. In Chapter II, the manual covers key economic and social rights and provides examples of how courts have found those rights to be justiciable in a range of contexts. The principal economic and social rights discussed in Chapter II are:

• The right to health
• The right to housing
• The right to food …