From NYU to the World:

Romanita Iordache

LLM 2004

"The NYU experience prepared me for the work I did as a Furman Fellow at Human Rights Watch after graduation and equipped me with the energy, flexibility and creativity required to run a small but extremely dynamic NGO."

Romanita is currently President of ACCEPT-Romania, a Romanian human rights group focused on discrimination and violence against LGBT people, where she works on advocacy and strategic litigation. She is also a consultant to Human Rights Watch and an independent expert for the National Focal Point of RAXEN, the European Center on Monitoring Racism and Xenophobia.

At NYU Law, Romanita was a fellow of the Global Public Service Law Program, worked with the CHRGJ, and participated in Law Students for Human Rights. She took courses on International Human Rights Law, Economic and Social Rights, and Indigenous Rights.

Student Opportunities

The Center uses its location at one of the world's leading law schools to help students develop the knowledge and experience needed to play leading roles in governments, international organizations, and civil society in the years to come.

Post-Graduate Global Human Rights Fellowship

NYU School of Law announces with great pleasure the establishment of a new post-graduate fellowship for one year of human rights work. Applicants are invited to design projects to put their legal education to work on timely issues in countries where their efforts are most needed and where there are insufficient resources for human rights protection. The fellowship is designed to support students who have demonstrated a commitment to pursuing careers in international human rights law.

For more information, click here.

Human Rights Opportunities for LL.M. Students

NYU School of Law offers myriad human rights opportunities for LL.M. students. Since many of these offerings go beyond the formal course listings, please refer to this memorandum which outlines some of the most important opportunities.

International Human Rights Clinic

Through the International Human Rights Clinic, students work with domestic and international NGOs to document abuses, assist in litigation, and conduct legal research and analysis. Among many other accomplishments, students have:

helped design and implement an advocacy campaign to address barriers to justice for victims of sexual violence in Rwanda;
worked on a petition to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights on behalf of a rape survivor who was denied her legal right to an abortion by state authorities in Mexico;
interviewed members of the Afghan diaspora to document serious human rights abuses that occurred in that country;
analyzed cutting-edge issues in international criminal law for the Defence Office of the Special Court for Sierra Leone;
monitored daily human rights-related developments in Guinea following the assassination attempt on President Lansana Conté in January 2005; and,
researched the emerging human rights responsibilities of corporations.

This work has been performed in support of a broad range of NGOs, including the Center for Constitutional Rights, the Center for Reproductive Rights, Human Rights Watch, and the Legal Access Network for South Asians.

From NYU to the World:

Jordan Fletcher

JD 2006

"Working on the Haiti clinic project and going to the IACHR hearing was a highlight of law school for me. I worked about as hard as I'd ever worked and enjoyed myself immensely while doing so. It also probably saved the notion of being a lawyer for me - I wasn't so sure I could be happy do it as a job before that."

Today, Jordan is working with People's Watch in Madurai, Tamil Nadu, India on a fellowship from the American India Foundation.

At NYU Law, as a member of the International Human Rights Clinic, Jordan co-authored a legal brief submitted to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding the United Nations mission in Haiti.

Jordan spent the summer after his first year of law school working in Uganda on issues relating to community property rights and sustainable forestry. During his second summer, he interned at the New York State Attorney General’s Office and worked at the law firm King & Spalding.

Courses

NYU Law offers a wide range of courses on human rights law. Recent offerings include Case Studies in Transitional Justice, Economic and Social Rights, Human and Constitutional Rights in Europe, International Human Rights Law, Law of War and International Criminal Courts, and Legal Restraints on the War on Terrorism.

See a full list of course offerings

Fellowships

Through its fellowship program, the Center places Student Fellows in a wide variety of prominent organizations, from inter-governmental organizations like the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the International Law Commission and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to non-governmental organizations like the Legal Resources Centre in South Africa . Student Fellows also engage in related academic research.

Fellowship placements have included, among many others:

Institute for Democracy and Human Rights (Lima, Perú)

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Arusha, Tanzania)

International Women’s Rights Action Watch (Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia)

Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission (Monrovia, Liberia)

People's Watch (Tamil Nadu, India)

UN High Commissioner for Refugees (Bangkok, Thailand and Geneva, Switzerland)

Competitions

Jean-Pictet: The Jean-Pictet Competition is hosted by the International Committee of the Red Cross and is a unique opportunity to gain in-depth and hands-on knowledge of international humanitarian law while at the same time meeting students from around the world.

Conference

The Center hosts an annual Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference for current students to present original papers and receive feedback from fellow panelists, faculty, and Center staff. Student papers first presented at this conference have gone on to be published in the Canadian Yearbook of International Law, the Journal of International Criminal Justice, and the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics.

Student Organizations

Law Students for Human Rights (LSHR) works to build a community for future practitioners of human rights law, organizing panels, advocacy activities, and career events for the NYU community. LSHR also provides assistance on Center projects, such as our Disappearances work in 2005.

student opportunities

International Human Rights Clinic

Courses

Fellowships

Competitions

Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference

Student Organizations