Abbey Shaska Carbajal

Abbey Shaska Carbajal is passionate about using litigation to hold corporations and powerful institutions accountable for human rights abuses. She graduated with honors from Brown University, earning a B.A. in applied mathematics and a B.A. in international and public affairs. At Columbia, Abbey has been deeply engaged with the law school’s human rights community as both a participant and student leader in the 1L Advocate’s Program, a Max Berger ‘71 Public Interest/Public Service Fellow, a board member of the Human Rights Association, a student attorney in the Smith Family Human Rights Clinic, and Editor-in-Chief of the Columbia Human Rights Law Review. After graduation, she will continue to advance human rights at a public interest firm, followed by clerkships in the Southern District of New York and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit. 

Elizabeth Sturley

Elizabeth Sturley is graduating from Columbia Law School with a J.D. and an LLM in International Criminal Law from the University of Amsterdam. She is originally from Austin, Texas and graduated from Amherst College (Massachusetts) with a degree in Justice and Human Rights; Political Science; and International Relations and then received a Master's Degree in Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law from the Geneva Academy in Switzerland.

During law school, Elizabeth was on the TrialWatch team in the Human Rights Clinic. She spent her 1L summer in The Gambia with the Women’s Association for Victims’ Empowerment, working to advocate for survivors in the country's truth, reconciliation, and reparations process and her 2L summer at the Office of the Legal Adviser (U.S. Department of State). After graduation, Elizabeth is pursuing a Global Public Service Fellowship with Physicians for Human Rights, working on issues related to conflict-related sexual violence accountability and justice processes. 

Marta Vélez Rodríguez

Marta Vélez Rodríguez is an LL.M. student of the Joint Program in International Criminal Law with the University of Amsterdam. She is the Research Assistant to Professor Richard Dicker and works on the Prevention of Crimes Against Humanity Project under the direction of Dr. Christine Ryan at Columbia Law School. She monitored the first session of the Preparatory Committee for the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on Prevention and Punishment of Crimes against Humanity and has contributed to legal and advocacy efforts alongside Human Rights Watch. Prior to Columbia, she worked for the Permanent Mission of Costa Rica to the United Nations in Geneva, Guernica 37 Chambers in London and the Ngovayang mission in Cameroon as a volunteer. She served as Coordinator for UNECOSOC and UNODC at ELSA International. She earned her Double Bachelor’s Degree in Law and International Relations from the University of Deusto in Spain, where she graduated first in her cohort.

Safia Fiera Karasick Southey

Safia is a JD candidate at Columbia Law School and an LLM candidate in International Criminal Law at the University of Amsterdam, whose research focuses on transitional justice, accountability mechanisms, and the law of state responsibility. At Columbia, she was President of the Human Rights Association, a Max Berger, 1LAP, and Davis Polk Leadership Fellow, a Jessup coach and participant, and research assistant to Professors Khosla, Hakimi, Knuckey, and Dicker. Her scholarship appears in Opinio Juris, Lawfare, Verfassungsblog, ASIL Insights, EJIL: Talk!, Responsible Statecraft, the UN Chronicle, and the International Journal of Transitional Justice. She currently serves as a researcher for the UN Special Rapporteur on Transitional Justice and the UN Special Rapporteur on Iran, and as a research analyst at the Quincy Institute. Prior experience spans ICTJ, UN Women, CJA, UNRWA, the Sana’a Center, and Amnesty International.

Grace Makhoul

Grace Makhoul is a 2026 graduate of Columbia Law School. During law school, she served as a Notes Editor for the Columbia Human Rights Law Review, and worked as a research and a teaching assistant to multiple professors. She also participated in the Asylum and Immigration Moot Court Competition and served as the advocacy chair for the Human Rights Association. In her second year, she participated in the Smith Family Human Rights Law Clinic, where she worked on Environmental Transitional Justice in Yemen. Grace also externed in the United States Second Circuit Court and completed a summer associateship at Morrison & Foerster. Before law school, she worked at Human Rights Watch as an Associate in the Middle East and North Africa division. Grace earned her B.A. from Earlham College and M.A. from Georgetown University.

Ethan Lazrado

Ethan Lazrado (JD ‘26) is a prospective human rights lawyer in the fields of land justice and refugee/asylum law. Prior to law school, he earned a degree in International Relations at Michigan State University. At Columbia, Ethan was a student attorney in the Human Rights Clinic, advocating for the rights of the Crawfish Rock community in Roatán, Honduras. He has also served on the board of the Human Rights Association and as a managing editor of the Columbia Journal of Transnational Law. Ethan is proudest of his time working within the Lawyers for Human Rights Refugee/Asylum Clinic in Johannesburg, South Africa, and as a clerk for the Federal Public Defenders in Montgomery, Alabama. He has also earned a Masters in International Criminal Law through the University of Amsterdam. This fall, Ethan will be at the Goa Foundation doing land defense litigation through the Global Public Service fellowship. 

Nawid Cina

Nawid Cina is a nationally recognised leader in the human rights and humanitarian sector. He holds a Bachelor of Laws and International Studies from the University of Technology Sydney and trained as a lawyer at the Refugee Advice & Casework Service. Nawid has worked on institutional gender equality reform in the private sector as a Program Associate at the Champions of Change Coalition and served as General Manager of Mahboba’s Promise, where he designed sustainable development programs for vulnerable communities in Afghanistan. Following the fall of Kabul in 2021, Nawid led Mahboba’s Promise’s crisis response, including the historic evacuation of 130 at-risk individuals, including the largest cohort of unaccompanied children Australia has evacuated in its history, and the development of new humanitarian programs. In 2023, he joined the Australian Human Rights Commission as a Senior Policy Officer working on human rights based reform projects within the Australian Defence Force. Nawid became the youngest ever recipient of the Australian Human Rights Medal in 2022 for his work and was also awarded the 2023 UTS Young Alumni of the Year for his contributions to Australia’s human rights sector. He is currently completing his LL.M. at Columbia University, where he was awarded the Universitie's prestigious Human Rights Fellowship.

Melody Naa Densua Dodoo

Melody Naa Densua Dodoo is a 2L at Columbia Law School from Ghana and the USA. She is passionate about human rights and international law and their intersection with women’s rights particularly in the non-Western world. Melody holds a B.A. from Amherst College in Massachusetts, where she studied Law, Jurisprudence and Social Thought as well as gained a Five College Certificate in International Relations. She gained an M.A. in Global Affairs from the Schwarzman Scholars Program held in Tsinghua University, Beijing. Finally, Melody will receive a J.D. from Columbia Law School, where she currently attends. At Columbia, Melody was a Phillip C. Jessup Moot Court Competitor, as well as the co-president of Columbia Law School Human Rights Association in her 2L year. In her first year, she was in the  1L Human Rights Advocacy Program where she interned at the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO). She served as the co-International Trip Chair for the Black Law Students Association and a Notes Editor on the Human Rights Law Review. She worked in her final year at Democracy Defenders Fund, a pro-democracy nonprofit organization in Washington, D.C.

Oshin Johari

Oshin Johari is a passionate advocate for international law and human rights. She has worked with LingvaLexa, a Ukrainian NGO investigating propaganda-related crimes and supporting accountability for war crimes through OSINT and information security, and with Global Human Rights Defence (GHRD) in The Hague, advancing minority rights. She has also contributed to the Crimes Against Humanity project under UN International Law Commission Member Bimal N. Patel.

At Columbia Law School, Oshin conducted legal research in the Criminal Defense Clinic on cannabis social equity and restorative justice. She supported the mandate of Claudia Mahler and contributed to FAO’s Right to Food work. At the United Nations Operations and Crisis Centre, she produced Human Rights risk analyses and briefs for senior UN leadership.

Oshin is a recipient of India’s National Award, presented by the President of India, and she received a letter of appreciation from former President A. P. J. Abdul Kalam.