Advocacy 9/14/06 Agenda
I. Introduction to Advocacy
a. Co-Chairs: Kristin Connor, kconnor@nyu.edu; Sarah Fick, sarah.fick@nyu.edu
b. 1L Leadership Coordinator: Tafadzwa Pasipanodya tafadzwa@nyu.edu
c. Why do an Advocacy project?
d. Structure of Advocacy projects:
i. Project members: typically 3-8 students (1Ls through LLMs)
ii. Project leader: responsible for coordinating students and communicating with NGO partners (usually 2Ls)
iii. Faculty mentor: assigned to (hopefully) each project to answer research questions and review drafts
iv. Project mentors: pool of 2Ls and 3Ls willing to answer questions on research and writing
v. Time commitment: typically 3-5 hours/wk, breaking mid-November to mid-January and ending early April
II. Education Committee
a. Co-Chairs: Catherine Sweetser, sweetser@nyu.edu; Njoki Gatim, njoki.gatimu@nyu.edu
b. Speaker events
c. Direct action
III. Projects
1.
Guantanamo cases – World Organization for Human Rights
Project leader: Charlie Wait (3L) – cw864@nyu.edu
Description: Research involves looking at issues: a) the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to the GTMO detainees, b) the constitutionality of the Detainee Treatment Act, and c) the applicability of the habeas stripping provisions of the DTA to habeas cases pending before the district courts before the DTA became law. Research will contribute to WOHR’s briefs countering the argument that Hamdan is inapplicable in certain cases.
2.
Ali al Marri detainee case – Brennan Center for Public Policy
Description: The research will address fundamental questions of first impression, including the President's authority to indefinitely detain aliens in the U.S., right to challenge evidence, use of evidence obtained by torture, and, possibly, issues on the ex post facto and equal protection clauses, depending on result of new military commission legislation pending in Congress. Research will result in a series (3-5) of legal research memos on discrete issues in the Ali al Marri case, which is very similar to the Padilla case except that al Marri is a non-citizen. The district court denied the Center’s habeas petition, and the case is now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. This research will be critical for upcoming appellate briefing.
3.
Rendition to torture – World Organization for Human Rights
Description: WOHR started this project with LSHR last fall and contributed a good deal to the brief in the Kiyemba case argued before the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Monday. WOHR plans to file a case on behalf of detainees asking the court to enjoin the government from extraordinary rendition of Guantanamo detainees. Research will focus on updating the case law research LSHR did last year and examining rendition cases in the immigration context. Research will be used in a WOHR brief to be filed in response to the Government's motion to dismiss. Timeline: ongoing.
4.
Impact of the Bush Administration – Center for Constitutional Rights
Project leader: Sarah Fick (2L) – sarah.fick@nyu.edu
Description: [will fill in after CCR meeting, something about identifying ways the Bush Administration has consolidated power in the Executive Branch or aspects of the Patriot Act or his pre-emptive war]
5.
Women refugee rights – World Organization for Human Rights
Project leader: Kristin Connor (2L) – kconnor@nyu.edu
Description: In the past, WOHR successfully extended refugee protection to women who would face the threat of FGM if deported. WOHR is now working to apply the Convention Against Torture to women who, upon deportation, would face the threat of other forms of gender-based violence such as forced marriages and sex trafficking. Research will focus on applying CAT to threats gender-based violence in the context of identified cases, including several cases now before the Second Circuit dealing with the forced marriage issue and possible cases being heard in New York.
6.
Case against Yahoo – World Organization for Human Rights
Description: WOHR is planning on filing a case against Yahoo in mid-October under ATCA and the Torture Victims Protection Act for knowingly contributing to human rights abuses when it provided the Chinese Government (at the government's request) with names of Yahoo users whom the government later arrested for their activities promoting human rights. Research will focus on building a case against Yahoo for conspiracy and aiding and abetting. This will be used in a WOHR brief to be filed in response to Yahoo's motion to dismiss. Timeline: brief might be filed in mid-December.
7.
[To be decided] – Human Rights Watch
Project leader: Tafadzwa Pasipanodya (2L) – tafadzwa@nyu.edu
Description: ???
8.
Katrina legislation – Mississippi Center for Justice
Project leader: Carrie Johnson (2L) – carriej@nyu.edu
Description: [will get from Carrie]
9.
Human rights and disasters – National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Description: NESRI seeks to compile a set of best policies and practices pre and post disaster, including practices around the right to education, housing and health. NESRI is also seeking research assistance in developing an issue brief on the right to participation of affected communities in reconstruction, and background research to assist in the development of a presentation by a delegation of gulf coast activist going to Asia to meet with community groups affected by the Tsunami.
10.
State constitutional human rights training manual – NESRI
Description: NESRI, with the assistance of several NYC law firms, is developing a training manual on the use of comparative human rights law in state constitutional litigation. Research is still needed on the issue of the relationship between state constitutions and international law, as well as drafting and editing on the chapter addressing this issue.
11.
Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) Campaign – NESRI
Description: NESRI partners with the CIW on their corporate accountability campaign against large produce purchasers. CIW successfully negotiated a boycott agreement with Taco Bell where Taco Bell pays an extra penny per pound of tomatoes picked by farmworkers and requires their suppliers to allow the CIW to monitor for forced labor. CIW seeks to persuade McDonalds to work in partnership with them to improve conditions in the fields in a similar fashion. The needs involve outreach to the human rights community in support of the campaign, and research on the human right to participation in order to complete an issue brief arguing that investors who have committed to ethical investment should include stakeholder participation as part of their mandates, especially participation of affected communities in the development and implementation of business practices.
12.
Workers compensation and human rights – NESRI
Description: NESRI seeks research assistance in the development of a report on human rights violations within the NY state worker’s compensation system. Research may include relevant international human rights standards and domestic legal issues.
13.
Environmental concerns – West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT)
Project leader: Annie or Lauren?
Description: [will get from Annie or Lauren]
14.
Transitional justice in Peru – PRAXIS
Project leader: Rebecca Bers (2L) – rab416@nyu.edu
Description: PRAXIS, a social justice organization that produces transitional justice studies and supports grass-roots activism in transitional communities, is working on a report on justice in Peru, as Peruvian society transitions to democracy following the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2003. PRAXIS projects for the year will focus on the theoretical and practical intersections of reconciliation and rule of law. First semester, students will create an annotated bibliography that will be used (with full credit) for a PRAXIS publication, and may culminate in a working paper for the UN. Students will later produce a case study on the topic, focusing on the Demobilization laws in Colombia in the context of reconciliation in the transition to democracy, looking specifically at the Demobilization, Disarmament, and Reintegration laws.
15.
Detainee Working Group
Project leader: Reena Arora (2L) – reenaarora@nyu.edu; Angela Yen (2L) ayen@nyu.edu
Description: The project is part of an ongoing effort to launch a national campaign for increased awareness of and greater adhesion to legal process guarantees in the hearings of detained immigrants by having project participants attended proceedings at the Varick Street Immigration Court to observe and document the process being provided and denied to immigrant detainees. Sign up for a court time!
a. Co-Chairs: Kristin Connor, kconnor@nyu.edu; Sarah Fick, sarah.fick@nyu.edu
b. 1L Leadership Coordinator: Tafadzwa Pasipanodya tafadzwa@nyu.edu
c. Why do an Advocacy project?
d. Structure of Advocacy projects:
i. Project members: typically 3-8 students (1Ls through LLMs)
ii. Project leader: responsible for coordinating students and communicating with NGO partners (usually 2Ls)
iii. Faculty mentor: assigned to (hopefully) each project to answer research questions and review drafts
iv. Project mentors: pool of 2Ls and 3Ls willing to answer questions on research and writing
v. Time commitment: typically 3-5 hours/wk, breaking mid-November to mid-January and ending early April
II. Education Committee
a. Co-Chairs: Catherine Sweetser, sweetser@nyu.edu; Njoki Gatim, njoki.gatimu@nyu.edu
b. Speaker events
c. Direct action
III. Projects
1.
Guantanamo cases – World Organization for Human Rights
Project leader: Charlie Wait (3L) – cw864@nyu.edu
Description: Research involves looking at issues: a) the applicability of the Geneva Conventions to the GTMO detainees, b) the constitutionality of the Detainee Treatment Act, and c) the applicability of the habeas stripping provisions of the DTA to habeas cases pending before the district courts before the DTA became law. Research will contribute to WOHR’s briefs countering the argument that Hamdan is inapplicable in certain cases.
2.
Ali al Marri detainee case – Brennan Center for Public Policy
Description: The research will address fundamental questions of first impression, including the President's authority to indefinitely detain aliens in the U.S., right to challenge evidence, use of evidence obtained by torture, and, possibly, issues on the ex post facto and equal protection clauses, depending on result of new military commission legislation pending in Congress. Research will result in a series (3-5) of legal research memos on discrete issues in the Ali al Marri case, which is very similar to the Padilla case except that al Marri is a non-citizen. The district court denied the Center’s habeas petition, and the case is now on appeal to the Fourth Circuit. This research will be critical for upcoming appellate briefing.
3.
Rendition to torture – World Organization for Human Rights
Description: WOHR started this project with LSHR last fall and contributed a good deal to the brief in the Kiyemba case argued before the Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit on Monday. WOHR plans to file a case on behalf of detainees asking the court to enjoin the government from extraordinary rendition of Guantanamo detainees. Research will focus on updating the case law research LSHR did last year and examining rendition cases in the immigration context. Research will be used in a WOHR brief to be filed in response to the Government's motion to dismiss. Timeline: ongoing.
4.
Impact of the Bush Administration – Center for Constitutional Rights
Project leader: Sarah Fick (2L) – sarah.fick@nyu.edu
Description: [will fill in after CCR meeting, something about identifying ways the Bush Administration has consolidated power in the Executive Branch or aspects of the Patriot Act or his pre-emptive war]
5.
Women refugee rights – World Organization for Human Rights
Project leader: Kristin Connor (2L) – kconnor@nyu.edu
Description: In the past, WOHR successfully extended refugee protection to women who would face the threat of FGM if deported. WOHR is now working to apply the Convention Against Torture to women who, upon deportation, would face the threat of other forms of gender-based violence such as forced marriages and sex trafficking. Research will focus on applying CAT to threats gender-based violence in the context of identified cases, including several cases now before the Second Circuit dealing with the forced marriage issue and possible cases being heard in New York.
6.
Case against Yahoo – World Organization for Human Rights
Description: WOHR is planning on filing a case against Yahoo in mid-October under ATCA and the Torture Victims Protection Act for knowingly contributing to human rights abuses when it provided the Chinese Government (at the government's request) with names of Yahoo users whom the government later arrested for their activities promoting human rights. Research will focus on building a case against Yahoo for conspiracy and aiding and abetting. This will be used in a WOHR brief to be filed in response to Yahoo's motion to dismiss. Timeline: brief might be filed in mid-December.
7.
[To be decided] – Human Rights Watch
Project leader: Tafadzwa Pasipanodya (2L) – tafadzwa@nyu.edu
Description: ???
8.
Katrina legislation – Mississippi Center for Justice
Project leader: Carrie Johnson (2L) – carriej@nyu.edu
Description: [will get from Carrie]
9.
Human rights and disasters – National Economic and Social Rights Initiative
Description: NESRI seeks to compile a set of best policies and practices pre and post disaster, including practices around the right to education, housing and health. NESRI is also seeking research assistance in developing an issue brief on the right to participation of affected communities in reconstruction, and background research to assist in the development of a presentation by a delegation of gulf coast activist going to Asia to meet with community groups affected by the Tsunami.
10.
State constitutional human rights training manual – NESRI
Description: NESRI, with the assistance of several NYC law firms, is developing a training manual on the use of comparative human rights law in state constitutional litigation. Research is still needed on the issue of the relationship between state constitutions and international law, as well as drafting and editing on the chapter addressing this issue.
11.
Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) Campaign – NESRI
Description: NESRI partners with the CIW on their corporate accountability campaign against large produce purchasers. CIW successfully negotiated a boycott agreement with Taco Bell where Taco Bell pays an extra penny per pound of tomatoes picked by farmworkers and requires their suppliers to allow the CIW to monitor for forced labor. CIW seeks to persuade McDonalds to work in partnership with them to improve conditions in the fields in a similar fashion. The needs involve outreach to the human rights community in support of the campaign, and research on the human right to participation in order to complete an issue brief arguing that investors who have committed to ethical investment should include stakeholder participation as part of their mandates, especially participation of affected communities in the development and implementation of business practices.
12.
Workers compensation and human rights – NESRI
Description: NESRI seeks research assistance in the development of a report on human rights violations within the NY state worker’s compensation system. Research may include relevant international human rights standards and domestic legal issues.
13.
Environmental concerns – West Harlem Environmental Action (WE ACT)
Project leader: Annie or Lauren?
Description: [will get from Annie or Lauren]
14.
Transitional justice in Peru – PRAXIS
Project leader: Rebecca Bers (2L) – rab416@nyu.edu
Description: PRAXIS, a social justice organization that produces transitional justice studies and supports grass-roots activism in transitional communities, is working on a report on justice in Peru, as Peruvian society transitions to democracy following the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in 2003. PRAXIS projects for the year will focus on the theoretical and practical intersections of reconciliation and rule of law. First semester, students will create an annotated bibliography that will be used (with full credit) for a PRAXIS publication, and may culminate in a working paper for the UN. Students will later produce a case study on the topic, focusing on the Demobilization laws in Colombia in the context of reconciliation in the transition to democracy, looking specifically at the Demobilization, Disarmament, and Reintegration laws.
15.
Detainee Working Group
Project leader: Reena Arora (2L) – reenaarora@nyu.edu; Angela Yen (2L) ayen@nyu.edu
Description: The project is part of an ongoing effort to launch a national campaign for increased awareness of and greater adhesion to legal process guarantees in the hearings of detained immigrants by having project participants attended proceedings at the Varick Street Immigration Court to observe and document the process being provided and denied to immigrant detainees. Sign up for a court time!
posted by lshr at 3:15 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home