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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 …

Human Rights Racism, Anna Spain Bradley

Publications

International human rights law seeks to eliminate racial discrimination in the world through treaties that bind and norms that transform. Yet law’s impact on eradicating racism has not matched its intent. Racism, in all of its forms, remains a massive cause of discrimination, indignity, and lack of equality for millions of people in the world today. This Article investigates why. Applying a critical race theory analysis of the legal history and doctrinal development of race and racism in international law, Professor Spain Bradley identifies law’s historical preference for framing legal protections around the concept of racial discrimination. She further exposes …

Birthright Citizenship Under Attack: How Dominican Nationality Laws May Be The Future Of U.S. Exclusion, Ediberto Román, Ernesto Sagas

Faculty Publications

Attacks on birthright citizenship periodically emerge in the United States, particularly during presidential election cycles. Indeed, blaming immigrants for the country’s woes is a common strategy for conservative politicians, and the campaign leading up to the 2016 presidential election was not an exception. Several of the Republican presidential candidates raised the issue, with President Donald Trump making it the hallmark of his immigration reform platform. Trump promised that, if elected, his administration would “end birthright citizenship.” In the Dominican Republic, ending birthright citizenship and curbing immigration are now enshrined into law, resulting from a significant constitutional redefinition of Dominican citizenship …

Human Rights Recommendations To The United States: A Desk Reference For State And Local Human Rights Agencies, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

State and local human rights and human relations agencies play a pivotal role in promoting and protecting human rights across the country. Indeed, state and local agencies work on a daily basis to foster equality and eradicate discrimination. Through education, monitoring, and addressing human rights issues, they ensure the ability of the United States to make human rights a reality in local communities.

To assist state and local agencies in doing this work, this resource distills the core human rights principles that fall under the jurisdiction of many state and local agencies, and offers guidance to strengthen the culture of …

The Need For Comprehensive Federal Outreach And Mechanisms To Support State And Local Implementation Of The Convention, Human Rights Institute, International Association Of Official Human Rights Agencies (Iaohra)

Human Rights Institute

Compliance with the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”) requires effective federal coordination with, and education of, state and local governments. In ratifying the CAT, the United States indicated that state and local governments share authority to implement the treaty. This includes the over 150 state and local civil and human rights agencies that enforce federal, state and local human and civil rights laws and/or conduct research, training and education, and issue policy recommendations within the United States (“Human Rights Agencies”). It also includes the full array of state and local officials with decision-making and enforcement authority, including governors, state attorneys general, …

Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute Joins Delegation At United Nations For Review Of U.S. Human Rights Record, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

New York, August 11, 2014 – This week, Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute (HRI) will travel to Geneva, Switzerland this week to participate in a significant review of the United States’ human rights record by the United Nations.

Equal Access To Justice: Ensuring Meaningful Access To Counsel In Civil Cases, Including Immigration Proceedings, Human Rights Institute, Program On Human Rights And The Global Economy

Human Rights Institute

Only a small fraction of the legal problems experienced by low‐income and poor people living in the United States — less than one in five — are addressed with the assistance of legal representation. Many people who are low‐income and poor in the United States cannot afford legal representation to protect their rights when facing a crisis such as eviction, foreclosure, domestic violence, workplace discrimination, termination of subsistence income or medical assistance, loss of child custody, or deportation.

There is no federal constitutional right to counsel in civil cases, including in immigration proceedings. On the contrary, the Supreme Court has …

The Need For Effective Federal Outreach And Mechanisms To Coordinate And Support Federal, State And Local Implementation Of The Convention, Human Rights Institute, International Association Of Official Human Rights Agencies (Iaohra)

Human Rights Institute

As this Committee has consistently recognized, compliance with the CERD requires effective coordination between federal, state, and local governments. In ratifying the CERD, the United States indicated that state and local governments share authority to implement the treaty. This includes the over 150 state and local civil and human rights agencies that enforce federal, state and local human and civil rights laws and/or conduct research, training and education, and issue policy recommendations within the United States (“Human Rights Agencies”). It also encompasses the full array of state and local officials with decision-making and enforcement authority, including governors, state attorneys general, …

Bringing Human Rights Home: How State And Local Governments Can Use Human Rights To Advance Local Policy, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

State and local governments play an essential role in promoting and protecting human rights. Within the United States, agencies and officials at the municipal, city, county and state levels can help fulfill human rights by ensuring dignity, equality and opportunity for everyone in their jurisdiction.

Recognizing the value of human rights, state and local agencies and officials across the United States are incorporating international human rights standards in their daily work. As illustrated by examples throughout this report, integrating human rights into local law, policy and practice can enhance government decision-making and respond directly to local needs. It also allows …

A Future Of Equality For Virginia's Tribes: Reform The Federal Recognition Process To Repair Injustice, Katherine A. Womack

Law Student Publications

This article first examines the historical background of the Virginian-American Indian identity after European contact in Part I. This section looks at the early interactions between American Indians and colonial settlers, the treaties that defined American Indian identity, and the first government-to-government relationships between the tribes and colonial powers. It also follows the changing social attitudes toward American Indians. Part II discusses how social attitudes in the early twentieth century about American Indians led to long-reaching legal effects for Virginian-American Indians. Part III details the federal recognition process, and discusses how and why it denies Virginia’s tribes an equal place …

Using Human Rights Mechanisms Of The United Nations To Advance Economic Justice, Risa E. Kaufman, Joann Kamuf Ward

Human Rights Institute

As a growing number of social justice lawyers employ human rights standards and strategies to advocate for their clients. human rights mechanisms of the United Nations have become a promising way for lawyers to work toward economic justice. These mechanisms are not only an alternative to traditional litigation and administrative advocacy but also unique opportunities for collaboration among U.S. civil society groups and engagement with policymakers. Because they are grounded in international human 1ights norms. human rights mechanisms have the potential to deal with social and economic issues beyond the reach of traditional domestic protections. By strategically using these mechanisms. …

Human Rights And Domestic Violence: An Advocacy Manual, Human Rights Clinic

Human Rights Institute

Though international law is traditionally called “the law of nations,” it governs far more than relations between the countries of the world. International human rights law pushes the boundaries of State responsibility and allows individuals to directly demand accountability for both governmental action and inaction that violates basic human rights. International human rights treaties declare the minimum standards by which States (i.e. nation-states, or countries) are expected to comply. The theme of the 2010 Fourteenth Annual Domestic Violence Conference at Fordham Law School, “Expanding Our Vision: Human Rights, Victims’ Rights, and Approaches to Diverse Families,” for which this manual was …

The Road To Rights: Establishing A Domestic Human Rights Institution In The United States, Leadership Conference Education Fund, Human Rights Institute

Human Rights Institute

While human rights are often discussed as international standards, they are realized first and foremost at home. Respect for human rights is a domestic endeavor — the promotion, protection and fulfillment of these rights falls to national and local governments, not to international bodies. Because the front line of human rights is domestic, full realization of these rights requires coordination and dialogue between civil society, national policy-making bodies and local institutions.

U.S. human rights advocates have continually emphasized that “human rights begin at home,” and it is only when the full spectrum of rights are recognized and protected in local …

Legislating Racial Fairness In Criminal Justice, Olatunde C.A. Johnson

Faculty Scholarship

Twenty years ago, in McCleskey v. Kemp, the Supreme Court rejected a capital defendant's claim that statistical evidence of racial discrimination in the administration of Georgia's death penalty system constituted a violation of the Eighth and Fourteenth Amendments. Yet, even as McCleskey effectively bars constitutional challenges to racial disparities in the criminal justice system where invidious bias is difficult to establish, the Court invites advocates to pursue legislation as a remedy to racial disparities. Indeed, the McCleskey Court offers as a rationale for its ruling the judiciary's institutional incompetence to remedy these disparities, holding that "McCleskey's arguments are best …

Injustice Casts Shadow On History Of State Executions, John Bessler

All Faculty Scholarship

This article, published in the StarTribune of Minneapolis, discusses the history of lynchings and executions in the State of Minnesota. It specifically discusses miscarriages of justice that have taken place in Minnesota, along with highlighting other problems associated with capital punishment.

Recognizing The Interdependence Of Rights In The Antidiscrimination Context Through The World Conference Against Racism , Catherine Powell, Jennifer H. Lee

Faculty Scholarship

This background paper assesses the importance of integrating gender into efforts to address racial discrimination and related intolerance in the WCAR process. While this background paper primarily focuses on racial discrimination, the analysis may be applied to xenophobia and related intolerance where these experiences are "raced" experiences. Addressing these forms of intolerance in a comprehensive manner requires unmasking the ways in which race intersects with gender and other status. A gender analysis is needed to make racism more fully visible, because "racial discrimination does not always affect men and women equally or in the same way." Women often experience compounded …