Blog: Events
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September 25, 2020
WATCH: Navigating Black Identity in the Human Rights Field

On September 24, the Human Rights Program hosted the first event in a series exploring racial justice in the human rights field. Aminta Ossom, Clinical Instructor in the International Human Rights Clinic, convened the series and moderated the first event, Advocating While Black: Navigating Black Identity in the Human Rights Field. Read an interview with Ossom on our blog about why she convened the series and what she hopes to discuss throughout the year.
Panelists for the September 24 event included:
Rosebell Kagumire, Editor, AfricanFeminism
Godfrey Odongo, Senior Program Officer, Wellspring Philanthropic Fund
Christopher Richardson, Immigration Attorney, General Counsel and Chief Operating Officer, BDV Solutions
Cassandre C. Théano, Assistant Director, Human Rights and Public International Law, Columbia Law School
Watch a recording of the event with captions at this link or below:
Thanks to our co-sponsors: the Harvard African Law Association, HLS Advocates for Human Rights, and the Charles Hamilton Houston Institute for Race & Justice.
September 23, 2020
Event Series Explores Racial Justice and Human Rights
During the 2020-2021 academic year, the Human Rights Program (HRP) at Harvard Law School is organizing a series of virtual events on racial justice and human rights. Convened by Aminta Ossom JD’09, Clinical Instructor in the International Human Rights Clinic, the series aims to foster dialogue between students, scholars, and practitioners on the role that race plays both in the practice and substance of international human rights work. The first event, “Advocating While Black: Navigating Black Identity in the Human Rights Field,” will take place on Thursday, Sept. 24 at 12 pm. Register on Zoom here.
HRP spoke with Ossom about the series and what she hopes to unpack throughout the year.

October 20, 2015
Tomorrow, Oct. 21: “Don’t Look Away: Images of Systematic Torture in the Syrian Regime”
Wednesday, October 21, 2015
“Don’t Look Away: Images of Systematic Torture in the Syrian Regime”
12:00- 1:00 p.m.
Austin Hall 100 North
Harvard Law School
As the humanitarian crisis in Syria deepens, this panel will explore the role of photography in documenting and raising international awareness about torture, mass killings, and other atrocities committed by the Assad regime. An exhibit of 30 images taken by a former Syrian military police photographer, code named “Caesar” and tasked with photographing corpses of victims who died inside facilities run by the Assad regime, will be on display for two weeks following the panel. The images are part of a cache of 55,000 photographs taken between 2011 and 2013, and smuggled out of Syria in 2014.
Panelists: Stephen J. Rapp, Former U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issue; Mouaz Moustafa, Executive Director, Syrian Emergency Task Force; Tyler Jess Thompson, Policy Director, United for A Free Syria; Naomi Kikoler, Deputy Director, Center for Prevention of Genocide, U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum; Susan Farbstein, Co-director, International Human Rights Clinic, Harvard Law School
Sponsored by the Human Rights Program, Office of Public Interest Advising, and HLS Advocates for Human Rights
February 7, 2011
Talk by Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights
A Talk by Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights
February 8, 2011
4:00 pm
Pound Hall 335
Join us for a talk with attorney Michael Ratner, President of the Center for Constitutional Rights in New York. Ratner has been a tireless advocate of civil liberties and human rights in the United States, litigating several cases on behalf of torture victims, and successfully challenging U.S. detainee policies before the Supreme Court.
His talk will kick off the spring semester for HLS Advocates for Human Rights, a student group that takes on more than a dozen human rights-related projects every year. Presented by HLS Advocates for Human Rights, co-sponsored by the Human Rights Program.
Reception to follow.
January 25, 2011
Upcoming Event on South Sudan
“The World’s Newest Nation: What Follows South Sudan’s Independence?”
February 3, 2011
5:30- 7:00 pm
Pound Hall 203
Join us Thursday for a talk with Rebecca Hamilton, JD ’08, human rights lawyer, journalist and author of “Fighting for Darfur: Public Action and the Struggle to Stop Genocide.” A graduate of both Harvard Law School and Harvard’s JFK School of Government, Hamilton is a fellow at the New America Foundation and a Special Correspondent on Sudan for The Washington Post.
The Human Rights Program is co-sponsoring this event with HLS Student Advocates and the Harvard African Law Association.
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