Human Rights Reports and Proposed Legislation

Michelle Xiao Liu and Alexandra K. Creel Benton, Beyond Belief: How the “Corroboration Rule” in Malawi Obstructs Justice for Victims of Sex Crimes and Discriminates Against Women and Girls on the Basis of Sex—A Call for Legislative Change, 40 COLUM. J. GENDER & L. 408-452 (2021).

Michelle Xiao Liu, Suffering in Silence: The Failure of Malawi’s Sexual Offense Laws to Protect Children–A Human Rights Report and Proposed Legislation, 38 WIS. INT’L L.J. 555-616 (2021).

Malawi Human Rights Report, Proposed Legislation, & Webinar on the Harms of Abortion Criminalisation – The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law, Women and Law in Southern Africa Research and Educational Trust—Malawi, and Godfrey Dalitso Kangaude (2020) (Michelle Liu ed.).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law, Girls’ Education Under Attack: The Detrimental Impact of Sexual Abuse by Teachers on School Girls’ Human Rights in Kenya: A Human Right Report and Proposed Legislation, 49 GEO. J. INT’L L. 241-416 (2017) (Kristie Bluett ed.).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law, Women’s Equal Property and Land Rights Hold Key to Reversing Toll of Poverty and HIV/AIDS in Swaziland: A Human Rights Report and Proposed Legislation, 40 GEO. J. INT’L L. ONLINE 291-440 (2009).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law, The Promise of a New Constitution—Achieving Equal Inheritance Rights for Women in Swaziland: A Human Rights Report and Proposed Legislation, 40 GEO. J. INT’L L. ONLINE 441-620 (2009).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic Georgetown University Law Center, Women’s Land and Property Rights in Kenya—Moving Forward into a New Era of Equality: A Human Rights Report and Proposed Legislation, 40 GEO. J. INT’L L. ONLINE 1-126 (2009) (Tzili Mor & Susan Deller Ross eds.).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law & the Federation of Women Lawyers: Kenya, Empowering Women With Rights to Inheritance – A Report on Amendments to the Law of Succession Act Necessary to Ensure Women’s Human Rights: A Human Rights Report and Proposed Legislation, 40 GEO. J. INT’L L. ONLINE 127-289 (2009) (Susan Deller Ross, Ginger T. Faulk & Dan Gatti eds.).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law & Tanzania’s Women’s Legal Aid Centre, Child Marriage and Guardianship in Tanzania: Robbing Girls of their Childhood and Infantilizing Women, 7 GEO. J. GENDER & L. 357-450 (2006) (Tamar Ezer ed.).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law & Law and Advocacy for Women in Uganda, Inheritance Law in Uganda: The Plight of Widows and Children, 7 GEO. J. GENDER & L. 451-530 (2006) (Ginger Faulk ed.).

The International Women’s Human Rights Clinic at Georgetown Law & Ghana’s Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa – Ghana Alumnae, Inc., Domestic Violence in Ghana: The Open Secret, 7 GEO. J. GENDER & L. 531-598 (2006) (Lisa Vollendorf Martin ed.).

Tamar Ezer, Inheritance Law in Tanzania: The Impoverishment of Widows and Daughters, 7 GEO. J. GENDER & L. 599-662 (2006).

Significant Victories in Court

The IWHR Clinic Advances Adolescents’ Rights in Malawi
A Malawi High Court judge signals a need for law reform to protect the sexual rights of adolescents—based on research and scholarship by former Georgetown Law clinic students and Teaching Fellow Michelle X. Liu.

Unfair Marital Power System in Africa Negated — Thanks to International Women’s Human Rights Clinic
Two former Georgetown Law clinic students, now graduates, have helped an African women’s rights advocacy group to mount a successful legal challenge to a discriminatory marital law regime in Eswatini (formerly Swaziland).

International Women’s Human Rights Clinic: Work Pays Off for Mothers, Children in Kenya
Clinic students helped persuade Kenyan High Court to strike down laws that permitted unmarried fathers to avoid all forms of child support and that imposed financial and legal obligations to care for children solely on their mothers.

Clinic Students win case before the UN CEDAW Committee
Tanzania should take steps to revise or repeal customary laws, customs, and practices that discriminate against women, a UN Committee has said after considering the case of two widows who were prevented from inheriting their late husbands’ property and were left homeless.

Clinic Students win right to divorce for women in Uganda’s Constitutional Court
For the first time, the Constitutional Court of Uganda had used the gender equity provisions in the Ugandan Constitution to invalidate a discriminatory law.

News and Highlights

The Spring 2020 IWHR Clinic Student Advocates presented their fact-finding results and legislative proposals on access to safe abortion and freedom from sexual violence in Malawi to a global audience.
Watch the Spring 2020 IWHR Clinic Student Advocates presentations
Read more about the Spring 2020 Clinic semester

The Georgetown Law Alumni Magazine has featured the work of the IWHR Clinic in several articles:

In the Fall/Winter 2019 issue, the Magazine featured the Clinic’s fact-finding trip to Botswana and an interview with Professor Ross on how to use international law to improve women’s rights in Africa.
In the Fall/Winter 2007 issue, the Magazine profiled the Clinic’s collaboration and recent successes with graduates of the Leadership and Advocacy for Women in Africa (LAWA) program.
In the Fall/Winter 2006 issue, the Magazine described Clinic work in Swaziland as an integral part of the Law Center’s dedication to International Human Rights work.

IWHR Clinic Publications

Susan Deller Ross, Yes, But: How Human Rights Helps End Women’s Subordinate Economic Status, 17 LABOR: STUDIES IN WORKING-CLASS HISTORY, March 2020, at 99 (reviewing SAMUEL MOYN, NOT ENOUGH: HUMAN RIGHTS IN AN UNEQUAL WORLD (2018)).

Susan Deller Ross & Tamar Ezer, Fact-Finding as a Lawmaking Tool for Advancing Women’s Human Rights, 7 GEO. J. GENDER & L. 331-342 (2006).

Esther Kisaakye, Reflections on the Contribution of Georgetown’s International Women’s Human Rights Clinic to Advancing the Protection of Women’s Human Rights in Uganda & Tanzania, 7 GEO. J. GENDER & L. 343-348 (2006).

Lisa Vollendorf Martin, Using Fact-Finding to Combat Violence Against Women in Ghana, Uganda, and the United States: Lessons Learned as a Clinic Student, Clinic Supervisor, and Practitioner, 7 GEO. J. GENDER & L. 349-356 (2006).