Yale Law Human Rights Clinic Puts Law to Work For Justice

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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


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