The Clinic is representing several client human rights organizations in Venezuela and Haiti in pursuit of international legal redress and accountability for mass atrocities perpetuated against civilian populations in these countries, as well as assisting with human rights documentation, monitoring, and reporting to the United Nations and the inter-American human rights system. The Clinic is also providing legal assistance for sexual violence victims in the ongoing Russian invasion of Ukraine, and has provided official input to the UN Office of the Special Coordinator on Improving Responses to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse.
Refugees, Migration, Forced Displacement and Human Trafficking Cluster
The Clinic is working to provide requested legal opinions and international legal research, legal and policy analysis, and pro bono project collaborations with the International Justice Mission (Southeast Asia), UNICEF Inocenti (Italy), the International Organization of Migration of the United Nations on legal research and expert assistance as requested by various country offices, and the Philippines (in relation to the proliferation of child and women trafficking and torture in now-prohibited Chinese offshore online gaming operations).
Environment, Education, and Human Rights Cluster
The Clinic prepared its Expert Brief and participated in the oral arguments on the climate emergency and human rights at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights' pending advisory proceedings. The Clinic has also partnered with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights on disseminating its forthcoming publication on climate change, the right to development, and the right to a clean, healthy, safe, and sustainable environment for small island developing States (SIDS) in the Pacific and the Caribbean. The Clinic is now working with its Latin America clients (Instituto Para El Dialogo Global y La Cultura en Encuentro) in providing educational modules on human rights (including the right to water) in the ACQUAS Diploma Program, including Global Human Rights Clinic consultation sessions opened to participating local communities and indigenous peoples in the Amazon.
The Clinic represents and provides legal assistance to OIDEL, a Geneva-based organization that advocates for educational pluralism and realization of the human right to education. The Clinic co-hosted the UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Education during her 2024 country visit, and also co-hosted the inaugural 2024 Summer University on Human Rights, Education, and Sustainability at the University of Geneva.
Authoritarian Repression and Democratic Erosion Cluster
The Clinic is representing various institutional and individual clients impacted by repressive measures of the Ortega regime in Nicaragua, including the cancellation of over 5000 NGOs alleged to be 'terrorist' organizations and the persecution of religious orders and educational institutions. The Clinic also represents 2021 Nobel Peace Prize winning journalist Ms. Maria Ressa in seeking legal redress for online harms targeting women journalists, as reported by the International Center for Journalists (United Kingdom). The Clinic is also providing legal assistance on matters involving repressive measures taken in Hong Kong under the National Security Law passed by the government of the People's Republic of China.
Corruption and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Cluster
The Clinic has an ongoing partnership with the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva on various initiatives involving research on corruption and human rights, as well as assistance for the Knowledge Hub on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Publications
Diane A. Desierto, Jean Marc Brissau, Faisal Yamil Meneses, Josemaria Rodriguez Conca, Irene Pamblanco Esteve, Human Rights Methodology for Clinical Instruction: Legal Theory and Interdisciplinary Practices to Realize Human Rights Outcomes, The International Lawyer (forthcoming, 2025).
Diane A. Desierto, Anibal Perez-Liñan, Faisal Yamil Meneses, Yuta Inada, Rachael DeGaugh, Andrew Marciano, Litigating Climate Vulnerability: Climate Change Reparations in Global Jurisprudence and Empirical Results from the Notre Dame Climate Change Reparations Dataset, 43 Berkeley Journal of International Law 2 (2025, forthcoming).
Diane A. Desierto, Jean Marc Brissau, Laura Allaben, Pavithra Rajendran, Nourhan Fahmy, Oluwaseun Ojo, Nicolas Buitrago Rey, Faisal Yamil Meneses, Realizing Rights to Development and Healthy, Safe, Sustainable Environment in Global and Local Climate Actions Affecting Small Island Developing States, 22 Santa Clara Journal of International Law 2 (2024).
