The International Human Rights Clinic welcomes Henna Pithia (JD 2015) as visiting clinical assistant professor of law! She joins us to supervise the IHRC during IHRC Founding Director Hannah Garry’s…
Join a discussion with experts about one of the first comprehensive reports examining the efficacy of anti-sex trafficking law enforcement operations, commonly referred to as "raids," "stings," or "sweeps." Authored by the University of Southern California Gould School of Law’s International Human Rights Clinic, the report centers the voices and perspectives of persons who have been sex trafficked to ask: 1.Whether such operations meet the goals of the 2000 Trafficking Victims Protection Act; and 2.Whether they should remain the primary anti-sex trafficking tool used by the U.S. government.
Professor Hannah Garry filed a SCOTUS amicus brief on August 20th on behalf of torture survivors in the first case to make it to the Supreme Court on the U.S.’s enhanced interrogation program following 9/11. The case is timely in that it’s being heard on the year that marks the 20th anniversary since the attacks of 9/11.
Based on reports from TrialWatch's monitors inside the courtroom, the court’s treatment of evidence was unacceptable throughout the proceedings. Mr. Radi was not allowed to call a number of key witnesses, including Arnaud Simons—the man the prosecution said was Mr. Radi's Dutch intelligence ‘handler’ as part of the national security allegations against him. This was despite the fact Mr. Simons identified himself publicly, volunteered to testify, and said the allegations against Mr. Radi were not true. “The prosecution presented little evidence that Mr. Radi did anything other than journalistic and investigative work. It is hard to see the basis for convicting him of national security offenses,” said Professor Garry. “Further, it is deeply concerning that Mr. Radi has been held in detention before and during trial for nearly a year”.
This past academic year, in response to a call for input from Michelle Bachelete, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Laura and Ava took the lead (collaborating with partners at Access Now), in drafting a 24-page submission providing data on U.S. law enforcement’s responses to anti-racism peaceful protests across the U.S. from June-Dec. 2020 in the wake of George Floyd’s killing, including excessive, militarized and discriminatory use of force, arbitrary arrests, detention and cruel treatment, and use of surveillance tactics as well as inflammatory language against protestors, journalists, medics and legal observers. In their submission, Laura and Ava also provided an overview of federal, state and local laws and policies affecting protestors’ rights in the U.S. and the lack of accountability mechanisms for abuse of those rights. Their submission made 41 concrete recommendations for addressing systemic racism in U.S. law enforcement.
The International Human Rights welcomes the State Department made an announcement on June 7th "establishing a policy imposing visa restriction on individuals who are believed to be responsible for or complicit in, undermining the peaceful resolution in the crisis in the Anglophone regions of Cameroon." The Clinic calls for all sides of the conflict to immediately put an end to crimes against humanity in Cameroon and to come to the peace table.
The International Human Rights Clinic (IHRC), based at the USC Gould School of Law, has joined with a number of institutional partners and professors to request that the U.S. Congress hold Azerbaijan accountable for its grave human rights violations committed during and after its September 2020 attacks on the Nagorno-Karabakh region and Armenia. The Clinic is concerned that continued U.S. military aid has, and will continue to, further embolden Azerbaijan’s alarming behavior. The Clinic requests that further aid be halted immediately, and that Section 907 be amended to add a requirement into the President’s waiver authority to ensure that no funds may be provided to the Government of Azerbaijan unless and until the President certifies to Congress that any security assistance to Azerbaijan is not being used, and will not be used, for offensive purposes against Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh.
Excerpt from the statement drafted by Clinic Student Attorney Pablo Das with TrialWatch: "The Clooney Foundation for Justice and the USC Law International Human Rights Clinic announced today that the Clinic intends to monitor criminal proceedings against academic and activist Maâti Monjib in Morocco as part of CFJ’s TrialWatch initiative. Mr. Monjib was arrested late last year on suspicion of money laundering based on allegations that he received funding from foreign sources that he then diverted for his own use. The charges carry a potential sentence of up to 10 years.
On February 16, 2021, Professor Hannah Garry testified before the Canadian House of Commons' Subcommittee on International Human Rights of the Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs and International Development on the unfolding atrocity situation in Cameroon.
As one of the members of the US Human Rights Network (USHRN), the Clinic signed onto a letter to the Biden administration urging the administration to "meaningfully participate in the UPR in March" and pursue "thoughtful, strategic, and creative ways to improve engagement with human rights mechanisms to live up to longstanding U.S. values, commitments and obligations" and take action.
