Human Rights Basics for Clinicians

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

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Goal: To familiarize participants with human rights norms, as well as strategies to integrate them in advocacy. Background: While the human rights framework contains a rich and evolving body of norms and standards, they are generally unknown by many United States (U.S.) advocates and legal practitioners. Instead, human rights traditionally are seen as relevant only in countries abroad which lack the “good fortune” of the U.S. legal system. This is despite the pivotal role played by the U.S. in the founding of the international human rights system. U.S. advocates, however, have much to learn from global human rights struggles and can benefit from engaging in human rights discourse and practice. This session will introduce participants to human rights norms, standards, and strategies as potential teaching and advocacy tools. Structure: This session has three segments. First, we will provide a brief overview of the human rights system and its historical development. Second, we’ll present three case studies of innovative projects applying human rights in the domestic context, drawing on the work of clinics at Cornell Law School, Duke University School of Law, University of Miami School of Law, and Yale Law School. These case studies focus on enactment and implementation of local government resolutions that recognize freedom from domestic violence as a human right, advocacy in relation to guns and domestic violence, and efforts to curb the criminalization of homelessness and enact a Homeless Persons’ Bill of Rights. Using these case studies, the session will examine how advocates might effectively engage with international and regional human rights mechanisms, employ various forms of human rights lawyering, and frame their demands to state and city officials in the language of human rights. Third, participants will engage in an interactive exercise where they have the opportunity to apply human rights norms to their work.