Columbia Law School Holds Fourth Annual Human Rights Student Paper Symposium

April 2, 2020, NEW YORK - Columbia Law School students presented new research and findings on human rights law, advocacy, and theory at the Fourth Annual Columbia Law School Human Rights Student Paper Symposium, which aims to foster the development of student scholarship and stimulate debate on human rights challenges and opportunities. The Symposium was co-organized and presented by the Columbia Law School Human Rights Institute (HRI) and Human Rights Clinic, the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Rightslink, and the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law.

The event was held virtually, for the first time, on March 27, a few weeks after Columbia University shifted to online learning due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It featured 30 presenters and commenters, and audience members tuned-in from around the globe. “Every year, it takes a village to pull this program through, and every time, the feedback we get makes us feel that the investment was worth it,” said HRI Managing Director Maya Alkateb-Chami. “This year was no different. We are proud of our early decision to move forward with the Symposium despite the pandemic, and grateful to the entire village – student organizations and journals, human rights practitioners and academics, and student presenters – who made it a success.”

Twelve student authors presented papers critically engaging with and advancing knowledge and debate about environmental rights, transitional justice, decolonization, and equality and anti-discrimination. Many of the students discussed forward-looking and innovative approaches to human rights advocacy, like using the International Criminal Court to prosecute international environmental crimes, preventing genocide by revitalizing the Genocide Convention’s Article II(c) on the inherent right to health, and capitalizing on user-generated open-source video content as evidence of mass atrocities.

Presentations were followed by commentary from academics and practitioners affiliated with the International Dispute Resolution Group, Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic, Columbia University’s Eric Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights, CUNY School of Law, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, HRI, and Open Society Foundation. Feedback aimed to assist students to further develop their papers for publication.

“The opportunity to receive feedback from practitioners and experts in human rights advocacy was invaluable as a student wishing to pursue a career in human rights advocacy,” shared Adi Radhakrishnan ’21 J.D. about his participation in the Symposium. “In particular, I received valuable strategic advice from my symposium panel on how to tactically frame my research on the application of the Genocide Convention to the Uyghur Muslim Crisis to advance innovative human rights innovations.”

Other student presenters at the Symposium were Alexander T. Canzoneri (2L), Clare Skinner (LL.M), Elizabeth Orem (2L), Isabelle Canaan (2L), Libby McAvoy (3L), Lily Grisafi (3L), Maria Emilia Mamberti (J.S.D.), Natalie M. Roy (2L), Nathan Turk (LL.M.), Shannon Marcoux (2L), and Udodilim Nnamdi (2L).

This year’s academic commenters were Alexis Hoag, Practitioner-in-Residence, Eric Holder Initiative for Civil and Political Rights, Columbia University; Bert I. Huang, Michael I. Sovern Professor of Law, Columbia Law School; Colleen Flynn Shanahan, Associate Clinical Professor of Law, Columbia Law School; Jason Parkin, Professor of Law, CUNY School of Law; and Olatunde Johnson, Jerome B. Sherman Professor of Law, Columbia Law School.

Outside human rights practitioners who joined as commenters were Ashika Singh, Litigation Associate, Debevoise & Plimpton LLP, and Member, International Dispute Resolution Group; Chris Rogers, Senior Program Officer, Human Rights Initiative, Open Society Foundations; and Kayum Ahmed, Director, Access and Accountability Division, Open Society Foundations Public Health Program. And commenters affiliated with HRI were Anjli Parrin, Associate Director, Project on War Crimes and Mass Graves; Priyanka Motaparthy, Director, Project on Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict and Human Rights; Rahma Hussein, Former Research Scholar, Project on Counterterrorism, Armed Conflict, and Human Rights; and Tony Wilson, Director, Security Force Monitor.

The day included four panels. Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, Caitlin O’Meara Lowel, and Managing Director of HRI, Maya Alkateb-Chami, delivered opening remarks. Closing remarks were shared by Amelie Hopkins, Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. The full program is available here.

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The Human Rights Institute advances international human rights through education, advocacy, fact-finding, research, scholarship, and critical reflection. It works in partnership with advocates, communities, and organizations pushing for social change to develop and strengthen the human rights legal framework and mechanisms, promote justice and accountability for human rights violations, and build and amplify collective power.

Founded in 1998 by the late Professor Louis Henkin as the anchor for human rights within Columbia Law School, the Human Rights Institute promotes engagement and knowledge of human rights within the law school, throughout the University, and around the world. Across the many substantive areas of its work, the Institute builds bridges between scholarship and activism, develops capacity within the legal community, engages governments, and models new strategies for progress.

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