International Human Rights Clinic
Photo credits: Cedric Favero, Julien Harneis, United Nations Photo, Ian Miller, Anirban Ganguly. Reproduced with permission.
Introduction
The International Human Rights Clinic gives students the opportunity to work on projects and cases, both local and international, which confront the most pressing human rights concerns of our day. Under the supervision of Clinic Director Professor Hannah Garry, students seek justice on behalf of victims, hold perpetrators of serious human rights abuses accountable and work towards progressive development of the law. Through this experience, students acquire knowledge and skills for effective international lawyering and human rights advocacy while supporting the critical work of human rights advocates and organizations worldwide.
"I grew up hearing stories of the Holocaust and was instructed often of my special responsibility... not to ignore, and thereby allow, similar crimes committed in my time. This clinic gives me an opportunity to do work in which I strongly believe."
- Brian Rifkin,'11
Clinic News
-- LAWYERS WITHOUT BORDERS (USC TROJAN FAMILY MAGAZINE - SPRING 2012)
By Gilien Silsby
Three USC Gould graduates grapple with the world's most harrowing cases - genocide and war crimes committed in Cambodia, Rwanda and the Balkans.
-- SHANNON RAJ '11 AND SEEPAN PARSEGHIAN '11 PARTICIPATE IN RENDERING OF THE ICTR BIZIMUNGU ET AL. JUDGEMENT
Shannon Raj, LexisNexis International Human Rights Fellow, writes in the LexisNexis November newsletter: "On September 30th, I had the incredible opportunity to sit in the courtroom as part of Judges' Chambers to hear the judgement read in the case of Bizimungu, et al..."
-- PRESS RELEASE: USC INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS CLINIC CO-SPONSORS TALK BY JUDGE JOAN DONOGHUE, INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
At a recent noontime discussion with about 150 USC Law students, faculty and guests, Donoghue shared her thoughts, and experiences on the ICJ and described several upcoming cases on the docket.
-- PRESS RELEASE: SIX CLINIC STUDENTS OVERSEAS AT INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNALS, CLICK HERE
More than a dozen USC Gould School of Law alumni and friends have donated over $35,000 to support sending six International Human Rights Clinic students to do judicial internships at International Tribunals in Tanzania, Phnom Penh and The Hague. This summer and fall, Brian Rifkin, '11, and Aysha Pamukcu, '11, are at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia;
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Seepan Parseghian, '11, Shannon Raj, '11, and Jamie Hoffman, '11, are at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; and Trevar Kolodny, '11 is at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Mr. and Mrs. Bob Roth, of the USC Law Board of Councilors, supported two Roth International Human Rights Fellows - Brian Rifkin and Seepan Parseghian. LexisNexis supported Shannon Raj as the LexisNexis International Human Rights Fellow and the rest of the students were substantially supported by USC Law Board of Councilors and alumni.
- SHANNON RAJ, '11 FEATURED AS RULE OF LAW HERO IN LEXISNEXIS NEWSLETTER
LexisNexis writes: "Meet one of our Rule of Law Heroes, Shannon Raj, a 3L from USC Law School, who will be spending this fall in Rwanda assisting Judges at the International Criminal Tribunal. Over the next few months, we will follow Shannon in her journey to advance Rule of Law in Rwanda."
Caseload
Clinic students are partnering with Judges and legal staff in the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha, Tanzania, on cases involving prosecution of high level government officials and politicians for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes that resulted in widespread atrocities and killing of millions in Rwanda. They are also working on accountability for mass atrocities committed in Cambodia at the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia.
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Clinic Director: Professor Hannah Garry
Professor Hannah Garry joined USC law faculty in the fall of 2010. She arrived from University of Colorado Law, where she was visiting faculty and taught international law courses as well as initiated an experiential learning course supervising students on Guantanamo and Alien Tort Statute cases. Garry has worked on international human rights and international criminal law issues since 1994 with a number of organizations including Oxford University; Makerere University in Kampala, Uganda; the UN International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda; the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees; the European Court of Human Rights; and the International Human Rights Law Group (now Global Rights). She has experience in Europe, Africa and Asia.
Garry has also spoken and written widely on protection of refugee rights in Africa under national and international law; protection of refugee rights under the European Convention on Human Rights; asylum law and policy within the European Union; state responsibility and compensation for refugee flows under international law; victims' rights and restorative justice in international criminal law; corporate criminal responsibility under international criminal law; and corporate social responsibility and international human rights law.
