Recommendations to Funders to Improve Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Human Rights Field

HUMAN RIGHTS MOVEMENT

Recommendations to Funders to Improve Mental Health and Wellbeing in the Human Rights Field 

Improving and maintaining well-being is essential to individual health, to organizational functioning, and to the sustainability and effectiveness of the human rights field as a whole. There are many concrete, immediately actionable reforms that are achievable in the near-term and which address a variety of causes of distress, or which can support efforts to transform the field over the long term. Such steps should be taken while the human rights field works toward deep transformation. 

Human rights advocacy can be a source of significant joy, purpose, political agency, belonging, and community. Yet advocates can also experience harms, and trauma in their efforts to advance justice and equality, including those caused by heavy workloads, time pressures, discrimination and bullying in the workplace, vicarious exposure to trauma and human rights abuse, and direct experience of threats and attacks. Advocates can experience suffering, sometimes very severe, as a result, including demotivation, alienation, anxiety, fear, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. How advocates experience their work and any resulting harms can vary widely, and may be highly contextual and culturally specific.

Improving and maintaining well-being is essential to individual health, to organizational functioning, and to the sustainability and effectiveness of the human rights field as a whole. 

Positively transforming mental health and well-being in the human rights field will require significant reforms and both structural changes and close attention to the contextually-specific needs of individual advocates and organizations. The causes and dynamics at play are complex, and there are no quick fixes that can address the cultural shifts required. As efforts are taken to improve well-being, it is important that the field avoids tick-the-box or commodified approaches. Improving the wellbeing of human rights advocates requires a holistic response and a movement-wide prioritization of well-being, with careful attention to context, culture, and the diverse needs of advocates and organizations.  

Recognition of the deeply-rooted problems requiring radical change or of the complexities of the issues and the difficulty of defining a clear set of recommendations applicable across the board should not operate as an excuse to take no action now to improve well-being. There are many concrete, immediately actionable reforms that are achievable in the near-term and which address a variety of causes of distress, or which can support efforts to transform the field over the long term. Such steps should be taken while the human rights field works toward deep transformation. Some of these steps include the following recommended actions, which are drawn from our research with advocates around the world.

Carbon Markets, Forests and Rights: An Introductory Series for Indigenous Peoples

CLIMATE AND ENVIRONMENT

Carbon Markets, Forests and Rights

An Introductory Series for Indigenous Peoples

Indigenous peoples are experiencing a rush of interest in their lands and territories from actors involved in carbon markets. Many indigenous communities have expressed that to make informed decisions about how to engage with carbon markets, they need accessible information about what these markets are, and how participating in them may affect their rights.

In response to this demand for information, the Global Justice Clinic and the Forest Peoples Programme have developed a series of introductory materials about carbon markets. The materials were initially developed for GJC partner the South Rupununi District Council in Guyana and have been adapted for a global audience.

The explainer materials can be read in any order:

  • Explainer 1 introduces key concepts that are essential background to understanding carbon markets. It introduces what climate change is, what the carbon cycle and carbon dioxide is, and the link between carbon dioxide, forests and climate change. 
  • Explainer 2 outlines what carbon markets and carbon credits are, and provides a brief introduction to why these markets are developing and how they function
  • Explainer 3 focuses on indigenous peoples’ rights and carbon markets. It highlights some of the particular risks that carbon markets pose to indigenous peoples and communities. It also highlights key questions communities should ask themselves as they consider how to engage with or respond to carbon markets
  • Explainer 4 provides an overview of the key environmental critiques and concerns around carbon markets
  • Explainer 5 provides a short introduction to ART-TREES. ART-TRESS is an institution and standard that is involved in ‘certifying’ carbon credits and that is gaining a lot of attention internationally.

Visiting Scholars

IN RESIDENCE

Visiting Scholars

The Center is committed to welcoming visiting professors, scholars, and mid-career professionals engaged in critical and innovative research in the fields of human rights and global justice. A number of post-graduate opportunities are available for those not currently enrolled in or otherwise affiliated with NYU School of Law.

Lucas Carvo de Oliveira
PhD candidate in Law – University of Brasília. Fulbright Scholar; Fellow of the Doctoral Dissertation Research Award program of the Fulbright Commission. Thesis: Perspectives between constitutional history and socio-environmental actors: indigenous organizations and the justice system bureaucracy.

The Center accepts up to three fellows per year through New York University’s Hauser Global Law School Program. Fellows interested in applying for this opportunity should refer to the program’s guidelines, funding deadlines, and application process and indicate their interest in being housed at the Center.

  • Application for the 2025-2026 Global Fellows Program opens: Mid- to Late October 2024
  • Application Deadline: January 15, 2025

Transitional Justice Leadership Program

STUDENTS
Transitional Justice Leadership Program

Each year, the Center selects a cohort of incoming NYU Law LLM students to take part in the Transitional Justice Leadership Program.

Developed in consultation with prominent figures in the transitional justice field, the program provides an opportunity for NYU Law LLM students to engage through coursework, scholarship, and internships with the Center’s Prevention Project which:

  • seeks to transform prevention practices through research, conceptual clarification, and integration of knowledge and expertise
  • engages diverse stakeholders to develop a comprehensive prevention framework of evidence-based approaches and initiatives with proven preventive potential.

This program offered me an unmatched opportunity to develop my expertise in this vibrant field and to move my career toward the next stages

Jorge Carlos Peniche Baqueiro, Transitional Justice Scholar 2016-2017

Program

Senior Fellow and Professor de Greiff who served as UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-recurrence (May 2012-May 2018) leads the Transitional Justice Program and teaches the associated course.

  • The course offers insight into the legal, moral, and political questions governments and civil society must confront as they seek to come to terms with a legacy of human rights violations.
  • Students admitted to the leadership program are guaranteed enrollment and are required to take the course.

Students not selected for the program may still register for the course through the normal registration process; however, as with all NYU Law courses, enrollment for those outside the program is not guaranteed.

Following the orientation session, scholars will take leadership in organizing, leading and hosting monthly meetings at the Center. These will take the form of discussions with experts and writing workshops, as well as other activities. 

Scholarship is vital to preparing students for careers in transitional justice. Scholars are expected to develop original works of legal scholarship to submit to the annual Emerging Scholars Conference, a forum that provides students with the unique opportunity to receive detailed feedback from experts and peers in order to prepare work of publishable quality. 

  • Scholars receive guidance in obtaining academic-year internships and research opportunities with human rights organizations such as the International Center for Transitional Justice.
  • NYU Funding to pursue opportunities in a variety of transitional justice institutions, such as truth commissions, courts, reparations programs, and local human rights organizations in countries throughout the world, is available through the International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowship.
  • All interested LLM students enrolled at NYU School of Law are encouraged to apply.
  • Recruitment for the 2024-2025 cycle is now closed.
  • Applications are open in August of each year. 

In addition to other information, applicants are required to submit the following materials: 

  • CV or NYU Resume
  • Cover letter detailing your qualifications, specific interests, and any relevant background or experience where applicable (max 500 words)
  • Relevant English-language writing sample (10 pages max, excerpts acceptable)

Staff Profile – Template

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Firstname Last
Job title
Program

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International Law and Human Rights Fellowship

STUDENTS
International Law and Human Rights Fellowship

Since 2002, the International Law and Human Rights (ILHR) Fellowship Program offers enrolled NYU School of Law students an opportunity to complete a specialized training program in international law and undertake a summer internship through a matching process at a leading institution or organization. Students are also encouraged to complete a research project growing out of that work experience.

Together with coursework, topical events and informal opportunities for networking, this program:

  • Offers critical learning opportunities that introduce students to the global practice of human rights.
  • Provides students with the type of professional experience and connections that have proved essential for them to pursue human rights careers over the years.

The fellowship is undertaken with funding support from the Public Interest Law Center, and in partnership with the Institute for International Law and Justice.

My fellowship transformed my commitment to human rights from an abstract ideal into a tangible pursuit. Through this hands-on experience, I was exposed to the real-world complexities of advocacy work, challenging my assumptions and the theory we learned in the classroom. It wasn’t just a fellowship; it was the bridge between aspiration and action. 

Jasper Kamradt, ILHR Fellow 2024

Program

A 10-12 week funded internship to take place either in Summer or Fall semesters at an organization working in human rights or international law. 

Students selected for the ILHR Fellowship will receive a stipend administered by the Public Interest Law Center.

Depending on the fellowship’s track and placement, preparation and training in the form of course requirements and a series of not-for-credit seminars in the Spring semester are required. 

Fellows present and participate in the Center’s Emerging Scholars Conference reflecting on their engagements and learning experiences. They are also encouraged to undertake a research project inspired by the fellowship on an international law or human rights issue. Parameters to be determined in agreement with academic supervisors. 

Applicants must:

  • Be enrolled NYU Law Student in any degree program (JD, LLM, JSD)
  • Demonstrate commitment to human rights and social justice
  • Have excellent research and writing skills
  • Able to work independently in a professional environment
  • Demonstrate potential for engage and rigorous scholarship or applied research
  • Recruitment for the 2024-2025 cycle is now closed.
  • Applications are open in late September of each year. 

In addition to other information, applicants are required to submit the following materials: 

  • CV or NYU Resume
  • Recent unofficial transcript
  • Cover letter detailing your qualifications, specific interests, and any relevant background or experience where applicable (max 500 words)
  • Statement of Interest tailored to each placement organization of interest

Human Rights Scholars

STUDENTS

Human Rights Scholars

The Center provides current NYU School of Law students with an opportunity to contribute to our activities as research assistants, and be integrated into our community of staff, faculty, visiting scholars, and students through invitations to events, research workshops, and expert convening.

Whether during one semester or through the academic year, the Human Rights Scholars work with faculty and staff to further the Center’s research agenda and to support the design and implementation of our projects, workshops, and programs including legal research, writing and advocacy.

Program 

The Center houses many initiatives; the projects recruiting scholar positions are listed in a document during the recruitment cycle.

Each scholar will work with a designated Center faculty and staff to further our line of work, and support the design and implementation of the relevant projects, workshops, and other programming.  

Scholarship is vital to preparing students for careers in human rights. Students:

  • who are interested in working on their own academic research projects are encouraged to apply,
  • will benefit from guidance and feedback from the Center’s faculty,
  • could earn academic credit, at the discretion of their supervisor through NYU’s Directed Research program or through enrollment in a course with a writing component taught by a Center’s faculty,
  • and will be encouraged to submit contributions to the annual Emerging Scholars Conference, a forum that provides students with the unique opportunity to receive detailed feedback from experts and peers in order to prepare work of publishable quality.

Applicants must:

  • Be enrolled NYU Law Student in any degree program (JD, LLM, JSD)
  • Demonstrate commitment to human rights and social justice
  • Have excellent research and writing skills
  • Able to work independently in a professional environment
  • Demonstrate potential for engage and rigorous scholarship or applied research

The program begins in the Fall semester and continues through the academic year.

Human Rights Scholars at the Center will be:

  • either compensated at $16.00/hour
  • or undertake work for RA academic credit; please note that 1L students are ineligible to be RAs for credit.

Workloads will vary by project, and will be assigned on an as-needed basis. All applicants should be prepared to contribute:

  • a minimum of 60 hours per semester
  • with a maximum of 20 hours per week of RA assistance.
  • Recruitment for the 2024-2025 cycle is now closed.
  • Applications are open in August of each year.

The following documents will be required to be submitted via an application form:

  • CV or NYU Resume
  • Recent unofficial transcript
  • Cover letter detailing your qualifications, specific interests, and any relevant background or experience where applicable (max 500 words)
  • English-language writing sample (10 pages max, excerpts acceptable)
  • Identify projects of interest associated with the program

Summer Internship Program

STUDENTS

Summer Internship Program

The Center hosts an internship program each Summer providing NYU and non-NYU students or recent law graduates with an opportunity to contribute to our activities as research assistants, and be integrated into our community of staff, faculty, visiting scholars, and students through invitations to events, research workshops, and expert convening.

Over 10 weeks from May to August, the summer interns will:

  • attend preparatory and closing expert led-workshops,
  • work with faculty and staff to further the Center’s research agenda and to support the design and implementation of our projects, workshops, and programs including legal research, writing and advocacy.

Program

The Center houses many initiatives; the projects recruiting intern positions will be shared including a detailed scope of work.

Each scholar will work with a designated Center faculty and staff to further our line of work, and support the design and implementation of the relevant projects, workshops, and other programming.

The Summer Internship program is open to NYU and non-NYU Law students or recent law graduates. Applicants must:

  • Be an enrolled student or recent graduate in any Law degree program (JD, LLM, JSD)
  • Be eligible to intern in the U.S.
  • Demonstrate commitment to human rights and social justice
  • Have excellent analytical, research and writing skills
  • Demonstrate potential for engagement and rigorous scholarship or applied research
  • Have knowledge of the international legal system
  • Be able to work independently and with people from diverse backgrounds, including partner organizations
  • Project-specific requirements can be found in the call for applications.

The Summer Internship program will be in session from May to August.

As this internship is unpaid, candidates are encouraged to seek funding from their Public Interest Law Centers and other sources. 

The application cycle for Summer 2024 is now closed. Recruitment for the following conference takes place in February of each Spring semester.

The following documents will be required to be submitted via an application form:

  • Cover letter detailing your qualifications, specific interests, and any relevant background or experience where applicable (max 500 words)
  • CV or NYU Resume
  • Recent unofficial transcript
  • English-language writing sample (10 pages max, excerpts acceptable)
  • Names and contact information of two references
  • Review and select projects and positions of interest.

Emerging Scholars Conference

STUDENTS

Emerging Scholars Conference

Since 2003, the conference has become a cornerstone of the NYU human rights experience, fostering a culture of appreciation for high-quality, engaged scholarship among the law school’s human rights community. Students present original papers and receive expert feedback in a constructive, collaborative setting.

The Conference is an opportunity for all NYU School of Law students to submit and present papers on international law and human rights issues and gain valuable feedback on their work.

  • Submissions will be reviewed and select papers are accepted into the conference’s program.
  • Accepted papers are shared with an interdisciplinary group of scholars and practitioners for feedback.
  • Presenters and commentators will engage in discussions around the paper at the event.
  • An outstanding paper receives the Global Justice Emerging Scholar Essay Award which entails an award certificate and a commitment from the organizing team to support the publication of their paper.

Papers presented at this conference have gone on to be published in quality journals, including the Canadian Yearbook of International Law, the Journal of International Criminal Justice, and the NYU Journal of International Law and Politics.

The Center hosts the Emerging Scholars Conference each Spring in partnership with the Institute for International Law and Justice.

All currently enrolled full-time students at NYU Law are eligible to submit a paper.

Students associated with the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice as Human Rights Scholar or Fellows through the International Law and Human Rights Fellowship (2023 or 2024) are highly encouraged to submit a paper for presentation.

The submission cycle for 2024 conference is now closed. Recruitment for the following conference takes place in February of each Spring semester.

The following documents will be required to be submitted via an application form:

  • Short bio
  • Abstract
  • Final Paper Draft

Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Brazil

TECHNOLOGY & HUMAN RIGHTS

Regulating Artificial Intelligence in Brazil

On May 25, 2023, the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice’s Technology & Human Rights team hosted an event entitled Regulating Artificial Intelligence: The Brazilian Approach, in the fourteenth episode of the “Transformer States” interview series on digital government and human rights. This in-depth conversation with Professor Mariana Valente, a member of the Commission of Jurists created by the Brazilian Senate to work on a draft bill to regulate artificial intelligence, raised timely questions about the specificities of ongoing regulatory efforts in Brazil. These developments in Brazil may have significant global implications, potentially inspiring other more creative, rights-based, and socio-economically grounded regulation of emerging technologies in the Global South.

In recent years, numerous initiatives to regulate and govern Artificial Intelligence (AI) systems have arisen in Brazil. First, there was the Brazilian Strategy for Artificial Intelligence (EBIA), launched in 2021. Second, legislation known as Bill 21/20, which sought to specifically regulate AI, was approved by the House of Representatives in 2021. And in 2022, a Commission of Jurists was appointed by the Senate to draft a substitute bill on AI. This latter initiative holds significant promise. While the EBIA and Bill 21/20 were heavily criticized for the limited value given to public input in comparison to the available participatory and multi-stakeholder mechanisms, the Commission of Jurists took specific precautions to be more open to public input. Their proposed alternative draft legislation, which is grounded in Brazil’s socio-economic realities and legal tradition, may inspire further legal regulation of AI, especially for the Global South, considering Brazil’s position in other discussions related to internet and technology governance.

Bill 21/20 was the first bill directed specifically at AI. But this was a very minimal bill; it effectively established that regulating AI should be the exception. It was also based on a decentralized model, meaning that each economic sector would regulate its own applications of AI: for example, the federal agency dedicated to regulating the healthcare sector would regulate AI applications in that sector. There were no specific obligations or sanctions for the companies developing or employing AI, and there were some guidelines for the government on how it should promote the development of AI. Overall, the bill was very friendly to the private sector’s preference for the most minimal regulation possible. The bill was quickly approved in the House of Representatives, without public hearings or much public attention.

It is important to note that this bill does not exist in isolation. There is other legislation that applies to AI in the country, such as consumer law and data protection law, as well as the Marco Civil da Internet (Brazilian Civil Rights Framework for the Internet). These existing laws have been leveraged by civil society to protect people from AI harms. For example, Instituto Brasileiro de Defesa do Consumidor (IDEC), a consumer rights organization, successfully brought a public civil action using consumer protection legislation against Via Quatro, a private company responsible for the subway line 4-Yellow of Sao Paulo. The company was fined R$500,000 for collecting and processing individuals’ biometric data for advertising purposes without informed consent.

But, given that Bill 21/20 sought to specifically address the regulation of AI, academics and NGOs raised concerns that it would reduce the legal protections afforded in Brazil: it “gravely undermines the exercise of fundamental rights such as data protection, freedom of expression and equality” and “fails to address the risks of AI, while at the same time facilitating a laissez-faire approach for the public and private sectors to develop, commercialize and operate systems that are far from trustworthy and human-centric (…) Brazil risks becoming a playground for irresponsible agents to attempt against rights and freedoms without fearing for liability for their acts.”

As a result, the Senate decided that instead of voting on Bill 21/20, they would create a Commission of Jurists to propose a new bill.

The Commission of Jurists and the new bill

The Commission of Jurists was established in April 2022 and delivered its final report in December 2022. Even if the establishment of the Commission was considered a positive development, it was not exempt from criticism from civil society, for the lack of racial and regional diversity of the Commission’s membership, as well as the need for different areas of knowledge to contribute to the debate. This criticism comes from a reflection of the socio-economic realities of Brazil, which is one of the most unequal countries in the world, and those inequalities are intersectional, considering race, gender, income, territorial origin. Therefore, AI applications will have different effects on different segments of the population. This is already clear from the use of facial recognition in public security: more than 90% of the individuals arrested using this technology were Black. Another example is the use of an algorithm to evaluate requests for emergency aid amid the pandemic, where many vulnerable people had their benefits denied based on incorrect data.

During its mandate, the Commission of Jurists held public hearings, invited specialists from different areas of knowledge, and developed a public consultation mechanism allowing for written proposals. Following this process, the new proposed bill had several elements that were very different from Bill 21/20. First, the new bill borrows from the EU’s AI Act by adopting a risk-based approach: obligations are distinguished according to the risks they pose. However, the new bill, following the Brazilian tradition of structuring regulation from the perspective of individual and collective rights, merges the European risk-based approach with a rights-based approach. The bill confers individual and collective rights that apply in relation to all AI systems, independent of the level of risk they pose.

Secondly, the new bill includes some additional obligations for the public sector, considering its differential impact on people’s rights. For example, there is a ban on the treatment of racial information, and provisions on public participation in decisions regarding the adoption of these systems. Importantly, though the Commission discussed the inclusion of a complete ban on facial recognition technologies in public spaces for public security, this proposal was not included: instead, the bill included a moratorium, establishing that a law must be approved regulating this use.

What the future holds for AI regulation in Brazil

After the Commission submitted its report, in May 2023 the president of the Senate presented a new bill for AI regulation replicating the Commission’s proposal. On 16th August 2023, the Senate established a temporary internal commission to discuss the different proposals for AI regulation that have been presented in the Senate to date.

It is difficult to predict what will happen following the end of the internal commission’s work, as political decisions will shape the next developments. However, what is important to have in mind is the progress that the discussion has reached so far, from an initial bill that was very minimal in scope, and supported the idea of minimal regulation, to one that is much more protective of individual and collective rights and considerate of Brazil’s particular socio-economic realities. Brazil has played an important progressive role historically in global discussions on the regulation of emerging technologies, for example with the discussions of its Marco Civil da Internet. As Mariana Valente put it, “Brazil has had in the past a very strong tradition of creative legislation for regulating technologies.” The Commission of Jurists’ proposal repositions Brazil in such a role.

September 28, 2023. Marina Garrote, LLM program, NYU School of Law whose research interests lie at the intersection of digital rights and social justice. Marina holds a bachelor and master’s degree from Universidade de São Paulo and previously worked at Data Privacy Brazil, a civil society association dedicated to public interest research on digital rights.