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Students en route to interview rural widows in Kenya
Under the guidance of Director Susan Deller Ross and Teaching Fellow Aram A. Schvey, 2009-2010 Clinic students will spend a semester developing human rights advocacy skills while working on an international women's human rights project with partner NGOs or advocates. The clinic partner is most often based in sub-Saharan Africa, but some clinic partners are located in other parts of the world (e.g., the Philippines; Poland; the Middle East). Students work closely with local lawyers to develop policy, strategy, and proposed legislation, court papers, or human rights reports to address an important gap in women’s rights. In the Fall semester, students work on constitutional or impact litigation in a national court or submissions to international human rights monitoring bodies, such as the UN Human Rights Committee or the Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women. In the Spring semester, students focus on fact finding trips, human rights reports, and draft legislation. The clinic also works with regional and international bodies on country- or theme-specific submissions.
“The Clinic was amazing on so many levels. Not only as a law school class did I learn more in this past semester than I ever would have anticipated, but, and more importantly, it was a great feeling to actually able to use the law in order to improve the lives of others. It was wonderful that at the end of the semester instead of having a grade on an exam, we have produced an end product that will directly benefit the lives of women in South Africa.”
-- Maeve K Townsend
In the Fall 2007 Clinic, Maeve worked on a constitutional challenge to polygamy in South Africa. |
Past semester projects have addressed these human rights violations in working on such issues as domestic violence, marital rape, female genital mutilation/cutting, so-called “honor” crimes (murders of women by family members), trafficking, polygamy, domestic servitude, bride price, child marriage, and guardianship laws that subject wives to the authority of their husbands.
They have proposed legislative solutions and initiated impact litigation to challenge existing laws that deprive women of access and control over land and property, laws that increase vulnerability of girls and women to HIV, and laws that undermine the rights of those living with HIV/AIDS. They have addressed laws that give husbands the lion’s share of marital property and of property inherited through intestate succession or that deprive women of their share of the matrimonial property upon divorce. They have tackled discriminatory labor laws that prevent women from working at night or in mines, require them to retire earlier than men, and prohibit work without a husband’s consent.
"By going into the country with a team of students and supervisors devoted to fact-finding and documenting not only the experiences of women who have faced human rights violations, but also the experiences of those working in the legal system and seeking justice for these women, the Clinic fills two critical needs of partner NGOs. First, it helps to document women’s human rights violations. Secondly, the Clinic helps in documenting key stakeholders’ views on how discriminatory existing laws operate, and their views on proposed legal reforms. The Clinic’s work helps the partner NGOs and those who are involved in advocacy and legal reform efforts to undertake evidence-based advocacy."
--Esther Kisyaake
Lecturer of Law, Makerere University (Kampala, Uganda)
Executive Director, Uganda Network on Law, Ethics, and HIV/AIDS
Law and Advocacy in Africa Fellow, 1993-1994 |
The Clinic does not have a prescribed set of topic areas on which students and fellows work. Rather, local lawyers and clinic faculty collaboratively choose projects that are responsive to partner NGOs’ priorities and offer Clinic students and fellows the best opportunity to be directly involved in the research, development, and advocacy of women's human rights. Although projects and host countries vary from semester to semester, all emphasize the application of international, regional and national women’s human rights standards in the domestic context and all require extensive comparative analysis with such standards in other countries. The Clinic provides students with intensive training in writing and oral presentation skills.
Contingent upon funding, Clinic students and faculty conduct fact finding trips each spring semester, working closely with our local partners to develop human rights reports and proposed legislation.
Spring 2007 student, Nicolas Mitchell with Sibonelo Mdluli of Women and Law in Southern Africa in Swaziland, preparing for interview with rural women.
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"For the first time in law school, I realized on the IWHRC fact-finding trip to Swaziland that I could use my new legal skills to improve the lives of real people. Freed from the constraints of hypothetical classroom discussions, I interviewed a wide spectrum of individuals, from farmers to government ministers, in order to better understand how Swazi law propagates gender stereotypes, stifling women's rights. Armed with hard facts and moving testimony, I was able to craft a persuasive argument that the government of Swaziland must enact specific legislation to come into compliance with its constitution and international law, thereby improving the lives of its citizens and the country's position on the world stage."
--Nicolas Mitchell worked on a human rights report and legislation to enable women’s access to land and related resources in Swaziland |
Students and faculty working with partners have produced:
• Legal briefs mounting constitutional challenges to sex discriminatory laws;
• Human rights reports documenting abuses against women’s human rights;
• Proposed legislation to bring discriminatory laws into conformity with regional and international human rights
law; and
• Submissions to international UN human rights monitoring bodies highlighting the state’s violation of its treaty
obligations to protect and promote women’s human rights.
To view select Clinic-produced documents, click here
Since its establishment in 1998, the clinic has worked with legal partners on the a range of issues affecting women’s human rights in a myriad of countries, including:
 Spring 2009
• HIV & Women’s Human Rights: Obstacles to Prevention,
Treatment, & Care at Home & Abroad
During the Spring 2009 semester, the Clinic conducted two parallel fact-
findings in Washington, D.C., and in Guyana, South America &
Caribbean, to investigate how violations of women’s human rights
engender the HIV/AIDS epidemic, and vice versa. Washington, D.C.
has the highest HIV rate in the nation, with increasingly higher numbers
of women affected. In Guyana, one of the original 15 Special Focus
Countries under the U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief
(PEPFAR), HIV/AIDS is the number one killer of Guyanese ages 25 to
44, with women constituting the majority of HIV-positive people under
24. Despite radically different resource levels, both locations exhibit
similar HIV rates and gendered dynamics fueling an epidemic in need of
a human rights approach. Two separate human rights reports and
proposed legislative and policy amendments were produced
for advocacy by partners.
To read the executive summary and full report , click here
Clinic student with partners from The Women’s
Collective, in front of an HIV testing van in D.C.
Fall 2008
• Constitutional challenges in Kenyan courts to i) the practice of evicting HIV-positive widows from their marital
homes; ii) women’s right to the valuation of non-monetary contributions to the family and to an equal share of
marital property upon divorce; and iii) the sex-discriminatory impact of criminal penalties for the transmission
of HIV in Kenya.
• Legal and policy brief to address human rights violations of coercive prenatal HIV testing of women in the United
States (case study: Arkansas Law).
Spring 2008
• Human rights report in support of proposed legislation on women’s rights to inheritance, land, and property
(including matrimonial property and equitable division of property at divorce) in Kenya.
Spring 2008 students, Dan Gatti and Jennifer Toussaint interviewing a
farmer about women's matrimonial property rights in Kenya.
Fall 2007
• Constitutional challenges to sex and race discriminatory laws in Namibia on: i) unequal grounds for divorce
under customary law; ii) inheritance and succession; and iii) default marital property regimes which deprive
women of property during marriage and at divorce (for the Legal Assistance Center (LAC)).
>>>Clinic students provided legal research to support Kaalina, an HIV positive mother of five, who
along with her children was evicted from her home after her husband sold it without her
knowledge. To read more about Kaalina, click here.
• Challenge to polygyny in South Africa (litigation).
Spring 2007
• Human rights report and legislative reforms to laws limiting girls and women from inheriting, or to access,
control, be allocated, or own land, including communal land and other property – Swaziland.
Fall 2006
• Lawsuits in Swaziland developed with WLSA (Women and the Law in Southern Africa, Research
Trust) to challenge i) marital rape exception; and ii) sex discriminatory marriage laws (dual marriage
under civil and customary law).
• Lawsuits in Ghana developed with LAWA-Ghana on i) marital rape exemption; and ii) the practice of polygyny.
Spring 2006
• Human rights report and legislative reforms to sex discriminatory marriage and divorce laws in Swaziland.
Fall 2005
• Lawsuits in Nigeria to challenge sex discriminatory laws on (i) inheritance; (ii) forced and early marriages; and
(iii) custody for and by people living with HIV/AIDS.
• Property, Custody, and Rights in Marriage: lawsuit to challenge sex discriminatory laws relating to consent of
married parties in property, custody, and marital proceedings – Philippines.
Spring 2005
• Human rights reports and proposed legislative reforms on (i) Polygamy and bride price; and (ii) minimum age of
marriage and a husband’s guardianship of his wife – Tanzania.
Fall 2004
• Lawsuit to challenge sex discriminatory inheritance laws in Uganda and Tanzania (litigation).
• Challenge to Adultery Provisions of Penal Code that provide for female only adultery crimes (litigation) -
Uganda.
• Polygamy challenge (litigation) – Uganda.
Spring 2004
• Human rights reports written in collaboration with LAW-Uganda recommending legislative reforms on the issues
of (i) Sex discriminatory inheritance laws; and (ii) Female genital cutting/mutilation – Uganda.
Fall 2003
• Employment Discrimination: draft bill to end sex discrimination in employment - Uganda.
• Muslim Marriages: draft marriage contract, amendment to Domestic Relations Bill to end sex discrimination in
Muslim marriage law - Uganda.
Spring 2003
• Domestic Violence: proposed mediation screening rules, proposed police procedures (draft legislation) – Ghana.
• Queen Mothers (women traditional leaders): proposed legislation to integrate Queen Mothers into National and
Regional House of Chiefs (legislation) – Ghana.
• Domestic Workers: draft contract, labor bill and amendments to existing laws to protect domestic workers
(legislation) – Ghana.
Fall 2002
• Stoning for Adultery (appellate litigation) – Nigeria.
Draft Supreme Court brief for the Amina Lawal adultery stoning case.
• Minimum Age of Marriage: draft laws on child marriage and divorce for abused women – Nigeria.
• Proposed state code giving Muslim women equal marriage rights (draft legislation) – Nigeria.
Spring 2002
• Human rights reports recommending legislative reforms on the (i) Sex discriminatory inheritance laws; and (ii)
Domestic violence - Tanzania.
Fall 2001
• Constitutional Court lawsuit seeking equal rights for women to divorce an adulterous spouse (litigation) -
Uganda.
• Proposed draft law to reduce the spread of HIV/AIDS by banning marital rape and polygamy - Uganda.
• Draft Legislation to combat human trafficking – Ghana.
• Proposed legislative reform to increase women’s political participation - Ghana.
Spring 2001
• Domestic Violence and Sexual Harassment and Employment Discrimination as Violations of Women’s Human
Rights (report) – Poland.
Fall 2000
• Requirement of Husband’s Consent for Wife’s Sterilization (litigation) – Uganda.
Musoke, Mukasa, & Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda v. Attorney General of Uganda &
Minister of Health.
• Regulating and eradication Female Genital Cutting / Mutilation (draft legislation and a petition to Ugandan
Human Rights Commission) – Uganda.
• Policy Recommendations Addressing the Marital Rape Exemption in Ghanaian Law.
• Report and Proposed Legislation on Polygamy (legislation) – Ghana.
Spring 2000
• Domestic Relations Bill regulating polygamy, bride price, rights of cohabitating couples, and marital rape
(legislation) – Uganda.
• Lifting the ban on women’s ability to work during night-time (litigation) – Ghana.
Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa v. Attorney General of Ghana.
• Sex Discrimination in employment, including at hiring, promotion and sexual harassment at the work place
(draft legislation) – Ghana.
Fall 1999
• Report for the Rapporteur on Violence against Women on so-called “Honor Crimes,” including information on
Argentina, Bangladesh, Brazil, Israel, and Syria.
• Equal Property Rights During Marriage and at Divorce (draft legislation) – Ghana.
Recommendations for Legislative Reform: Equal Marital Property Distribution at Divorce.
Spring 1999
• Draft Legislation on Domestic Violence in Ghana and Uganda.
• Intestate Succession extended to Women (litigation) – Uganda.
Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda v. Attorney General of Uganda.
• Spousal Consent for Employment (litigation) – Ghana.
Law and Advocacy for Women in Ghana v. Attorney General of Ghana.
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