June 27, 2025, New York - In Spring 2025, students from Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Clinic traveled to Indonesia and the Philippines to deliver trainings in trial monitoring and international human rights standards. The trip brought classroom learning into real-world human rights advocacy across two new partner countries. 

“Getting to meet with our incredible partners in person and put our academic work into practice by conducting trainings with students from around the world has been the highlight of my experience in the Human Rights Clinic,” said Clinic student Elizabeth Sturley, J.D. '26.

Citizens around the world put their trust in courts to uphold justice. Yet, courtrooms can also be sites of injustice. Globally, journalists, human rights defenders, and members of marginalized communities are unjustly prosecuted for exercising their right to free expression. To protect fair trial rights, the Human Rights Institute and Clinic partner with the Clooney Foundation for Justice to monitor trials, report on abuse, and train the next generation of legal professionals to uphold fair trial rights.

“Nurturing a partnership around a context-centric clinic program is critical as we form advocates and future practitioners that are attuned to the voices of those silenced in society” said Colene Arcaina from Ateneo Human Rights Center. “By equipping advocates and future lawyers to monitor trials, we’re building a frontline of accountability for human rights defenders, activists, and marginalized communities” added Billie Blanco from Ateneo Human Rights Center.  

Led by HRI experts and Clinic students, the trainings combined interactive exercises and case analysis to develop practical skills in courtroom observation, documentation of fair trial violations, and engagement with international human rights law. In Jakarta, 20 students from Atma Jaya Catholic University participated in a training, while in Manila, HRI and the Ateneo Human Rights Center trained 15 students from the Ateneo de Manila University School of Law.

“Our goal is to support the next generation of human rights lawyers, to get out of the classroom and into the courtroom to protect freedom of expression. We look forward to working with the students in Indonesia and the Philippines.” said Stephen Townley, Legal Director of the TrialWatch Project at the Clooney Foundation for Justice. Asmin Franciska, dean from Atma Jaya Catholic University added that “students now have the foundational skills to observe court proceedings and advocate for justice in their local contexts”

Earlier this year, TrialWatch and HRI also conducted a training with the University of Pretoria where 30 LL.M. students from the Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa program were introduced to the fundamentals of trial monitoring. This initiative is part of the ongoing expansion of the TrialWatch Clinical Network, which now includes partnerships with universities in Indonesia, the Philippines, South Africa, and Uganda.

With additional training programs planned for 2025, Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute and TrialWatch remain committed to building a future where no one is unjustly targeted for their speech through misuse of the criminal justice system.

For more information about HRI’s TrialWatch Project, please visit https://hri.law.columbia.edu/our-work/equality-and-justice/trialwatch-project. For more on CFJ’s global work, visit https://cfj.org/trialwatch.

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The Human Rights Institute advances international human rights through education, advocacy, fact-finding, research, scholarship, and critical reflection. We work 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.