Human Rights Institute

The Human Rights Institute (HRI) is the focal point of human rights at Georgetown Law and helps ensure the Law Center’s place as a center of excellence in human rights teaching and training and in producing policy-relevant and influential human rights ideas and research.

Featured Events

Nov

ICYMI - Human Rights Advocacy After the Election: Now What?

ICYMI - Elisa Massimino, Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in Human Rights, was joined by Eric K. Ward, Western States Center Executive Director, for a conversation about what's next for human rights advocacy.

In a wide-ranging conversation, Professor Massimino and Ward discussed what our current political environment means for the struggle for social justice and human rights, and how social justice advocates could build sustainable strategies for change that build on shared values in an America that remains deeply divided.

New Fact-Finding Report Released

June 10, 2020 Our Work

The Human Rights Institute released its latest report, "Dead Ends: No Path to Protection for Asylum Seekers Under the Guatemala Asylum Cooperative Agreement."

The report will be available on June 10th at 2:00 PM EST

Elisa Massimino - Robert F. Drinan, S.J. Chair in Human Rights Urges Advocates to Embrace Chutzpah and Humility

March 18, 2020

At the annual Drinan lecture on human rights, Massimino addressed Georgetown Law students, faculty, and guests, including military officials who backed the anti-torture campaign.

She shared lessons from three decades in the trenches of human rights advocacy, including a decade as president and CEO of Human Rights First. And she remembered Drinan, a preeminent human rights advocate who mentored her early in her career and who taught at Georgetown Law until his death in 2007.

At the heart of her message was an exhortation to embrace two “seemingly opposite” virtues: chutzpah and humility.