News Archive

Human Rights Institute and leading human rights organizations issue a joint statement calling for Saudi-led coalition to immediately release Yemeni human rights defenders Radhya Almutawakel and Abdulrasheed Alfaqih of Mwatana Organization for Human…

The US government "has failed to release basic information about civilian casualties or to explain in detail why its data veers so significantly from that of independent monitors and NGOs," according to Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic and Sana’a…

Human Rights Clinic alumnae Ashley Kinseth launches the Stateless Dignity Project, a non-profit organization advocating for the rights of stateless persons, and probes the relationship between social media and conflict in article for Oxford's Tea Circle.

Human Rights Institute affiliates Almutawakel and Alfaqih, who work to document rights violations in Yemen, were released by the Saudi and UAE-led Coalition but continue to receive threats, highlights article in Middle East Monitor, which features the…

As the Polish judicial crisis develops, HRI Faculty Co-Director Sarah Cleveland highlights to the New York Times how extraordinary it is to see members of a court so outraged by the behavior of their leadership, for them to issue a letter declaring that…

Human Rights Clinic joins group of NGOs in deploring the lack of attention to human rights in latest review of the UN’s Global Counterterrorism Strategy.

Columbia Law School rated by LLM Guide among top 10 offering human rights LLM programs in 2018, citing opportunities linked to the Human Rights Institute and Clinic, Social Justice Initiatives, and the LLM Human Rights Fellowship.

Congratulations to Mwatana on winning Human Rights First's prestigious Baldwin Medal of Liberty, for its work to advance human rights in Yemen. The directors of Mwatana, Radhya al-Mutawakel and Abdulrasheed al-Faqih, were both practitioners-in-residence…

Faculty Co-Director Sarah Knuckey collaborates with Columbia Law School students, the Mailman School of Public Health, Sana'a Center for Strategic Studies, and Columbia's Amman Global Center to bring mental health concerns into Yemen's peace and…

One year after Charlottesville, Human Rights in the U.S. Project Director, JoAnn Kamuf Ward discusses the pivotal role of state and local agencies in challenging a climate of hate as the federal government continues to abdicate its human rights…

Leading international human rights NGOs, including the Human Rights Clinic, call the UN Human Rights Council to renew and strengthen the mandate of the Group of Eminent Experts on Yemen.

Faculty Co-Director and Vice President of the UN Human Rights Committee Professor Sarah Cleveland calls for Brazil to fulfill its legal obligation to ensure the exercise of the political rights of presidential candidate Luiz Inacio Lula de Silva to run…

HRI's Practitioner in Residence and Deputy Regional Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes at Amnesty International Sarah Jackson presented a lecture at Cornell University on solidarity in human rights activism.

Lula has a political right to run for elections in Brazil, advocates Professor Sarah Cleveland through the UN Human Rights Committee. An interview with her by SwissInfo discusses the Committee's letter.

HRI's Director of Human Rights in the U.S. Project, JoAnn Kamuf Ward, presents at the 3rd Annual Conference on the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals and Global Human Rights, titled "Assessment of Advocacy, Analysis of Accomplishments, and…

Latest post from Qayoom Suroush in HRI's Just Security series: US bombing campaign of drug labs in Afghanistan is an ineffective strategy based on misguided notions of how Taliban benefits from poppy production.

Pending a decision from the Brazilian Supreme Court on an appeal by jailed former president Lula da Silva that he be allowed to run in next month's election, HRI Co-Director and Vice President of the UN Human Rights Committee, Professor Sarah Cleveland,…

Faculty Co-Director Sarah Cleveland discusses the outcomes and legal ramifications of the U.S.'s withdrawal from the Human Rights Council at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights.

Human Rights Clinic alumna Ashley Kinseth probes whether the Myanmar military planned its ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya in advance in op-ed for the Washington Post.

HRI's Rahma Russein, Alex Moorehead, and Sarah Knuckey, together with key Human Rights Clinic partner Radhya Almutawakel of the Yemeni human rights organization Mwatana analyze an important and damning new report from independent UN experts, implicating…

A documentary film, Home Truth, featuring Jessica Lenahan (formerly Gonzales)'s local and international fight for justice, can now be viewed on PBS. We are proud to have been part of Jessica's legal team, taking the case to the Inter-American Human…

Pressure on Niger from one of Africa's top human rights bodies to ensure that US and French drones comply with human rights law is a significant development with broader regional ramifications, explain Rahma Hussein and Alex Moorehead of HRI's…

JoAnn Kamuf Ward advocates for using human rights by state and local governments to fight racial and gender discrimination and respond to crises of migration and mass incarceration on a 2018 International Association of Official Human Rights Agencies …

Human Rights Clinic alumnae Candy Ofime documents the courage of Mauritanian women in the fight against sexual violence, with research and advocacy through Human Rights Watch.

Professor Sarah Cleveland presents in a UN General Assembly side-event titled "Maintenance of International Peace and Security: Strengthening the Bridge between Geneva and New York," alongside panelists Andrew Gilmour, UN Assistant Secretary General for…

Cathy Albisa, former HRI Associate Director and NESRI Co-Founder, discusses what is at stake if power does not shift to communities on the front lines of human rights struggles.

“There can never be equality in a culture that normalizes or trivializes sexual assault and sexual harassment.” We are proud to stand with the 80+ signatories of the statement published in the Washington Post.

Professor Sarah Knuckey signs onto expert letter urging governments to engage in proposed treaty process on business and human rights in a constructive and informed manner. The letter was addressed to OEIGWG (the open-ended intergovernmental working…