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SKILL SHARPENER
Yale Law Human Rights Clinic Puts Law to Work For Justice [by Erica Winter] Human rights can range from amorphous concepts to real, tangible, and specific needs. Projects undertaken at Yale Law School’s Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic touch on all facets of this growing legal field.
The clinic itself began in part to fulfill a man-
That said, even with the details kept quiet,
working with the European Roma Rights
date among Yale’s law students to pursue
what we can tell you about the projects
Center to investigate employment discrimi-
work in the “increasingly important field of
undertaken last semester, and those still
nation against Roma people. The project has
international human rights,” says Profes-
underway, at Yale Law is remarkable. Law
started with fact and legal research and will
sor Jim Silk, Associate Clinical Professor of
students, under Professor Silk’s supervi-
culminate in a set of recommendations to the
Law and Executive Director of the Orville H.
sion, do the research and write the reports
group on strategies to take.
Schell, Jr., Center for International Human
for these projects. Sometimes, by the end
Rights, which houses the clinic, among other
of their research, students are able to make
And, in Asia, students with the Lowenstein
programs.
recommendations on how to proceed to the
Clinic worked with an organization in Mon-
partner organization. There is no specific
golia to protect nomadic peoples there. With
Though students must apply to join the
concurrent seminar or course in human
the end of Communist government in that
Lowenstein Clinic, the waiting list is usually
rights law; the students learn by doing.
country, Silk explains, private land ownership
short, and most who apply get in. This year,
has been introduced. There are now con-
however, the clinic “had an enormous enroll-
This semester, students in the Lowenstein
cerns that traditional nomadic cultures will
ment,” says Silk. Usually, students apply to
Clinic are working with the AIDS and Hu-
be prevented from migrating across privately
start in the spring of their first year or start
man Rights Research Unit at the University
owned lands.
in their second year. They can continue into
of Pretoria, South Africa, to develop model
the third year if they like. There are nine to
legislation addressing the human rights im-
Clinic students did research into the rights
12 incoming clinic members each year who
plications of HIV/AIDS in southern Africa.
of nomads. This right (“the right to be a
work in teams and undertake a full load of human rights projects.
nomad”), says Silk, is an example of a right Human rights issues involved in this health
that is not stated as such in international
crisis include the right to health, the right
law; students had to “cobble it together” to
The clinic currently has nine projects un-
not to be discriminated against because
show that the nomads should be allowed to
derway. Most projects come to the center
of gender, and children’s rights, says Silk.
continue their culture.
because an organization initiates contact to
Branching out from those main arteries of in-
ask for the clinic’s assistance. The organiza-
vestigation were other human rights issues,
Students in the Lowenstein Clinic come form
tion makes a specific request for work for the
as well as questions of law. These included
a variety of backgrounds with a wide range of
Yale students to complete and then uses the
access to healthcare, the needs of those in
interests, approaches to human rights work,
product to move forward on a human rights
prison, regulation of the sex industry, and
and intentions for their future careers. The
issue.
care of orphans.
same can be said of the projects themselves-
To protect the viability of these efforts, the
On the other side of the world from Africa,
Clinic from other law school human rights
students and faculty involved with the clinic
there is now a case before the Inter-Ameri-
clinics.
need to keep details of ongoing projects con-
can Commission on Human Rights, for which
fidential. Many human rights improvements
students at the Lowenstein Clinic are prepar-
There is more and more human rights work
depend on demonstrating that no harm will
ing an amicus brief. The issues at hand relate
going on at law schools, says Silk. Some
come to those in power if changes are made,
to reproductive health rights.
clinics at other schools fit the Yale model
-which is what distinguishes the Lowenstein
of geographical, substantive, and method-
and this requires carefully balanced diplomacy…and some secrecy.
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Another current project involves the clinic
ological variety, he says, including Harvard,
continued on back