HRI, IJDH, and BAI have jointly made two significant submissions to the United Nations—one to the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination and another to the UN Secretary-General—calling for reparatory justice for Haiti in light of the enduring impacts of Transatlantic Chattel Slavery and colonialism, with a particular focus on the so-called “Independence Debt” imposed on Haiti by France in 1825.
Georgetown Law announced today that Agnieszka Fryszman, L’96, one of the nation’s preeminent human rights litigators and founder of the Human Rights practice at Cohen Milstein, has been appointed the 2025–2026 Robert F. Drinan, S.J., Chair in Human Rights.
HRI Distinguished Fellow Scott Busby interviewed by Deutsche Welle about the State Department’s recently released human rights reports. Watch the interview here (Box download)
A coalition of Afghan civil society organizations is proud to announce the launch of a People’s Tribunal for Women of Afghanistan before the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (PPT), a groundbreaking initiative to address the impunity around gender persecution in Afghanistan.
Elisa Massimino, Visiting Professor of Law and Executive Director of Georgetown's Human Rights Institute, has urged civil society organisations to be creative and build new institutions in the face of the inaction of the United Nations and other international organisations as human rights decline globally.
In July 2025, approximately 200 years after the imposition of the so-called “Independence Debt,” the Human Rights Institute joined over sixty human rights organizations, including the Kolectif Ayisyen Afwodesandan (KAAD), and the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), in sending an open letter to French officials demanding urgent repayment of the “debt.”
HRI Executive Director Elisa Massimino quoted in Courthouse News Service.
Former HRI Director Jane Stromseth has retired from Georgetown Law after 34 years of teaching.
ARUSHA, Tanzania – In an unprecedented legal initiative, a coalition of African civil society groups is preparing to submit a historic petition to the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights seeking an Advisory Opinion on the human rights obligations of African states in the context of the climate crisis.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Human Rights Institute (HRI) at Georgetown Law, the Institute for Justice & Democracy in Haiti (IJDH), and the Bureau des Avocats Internationaux (BAI) have jointly made two significant submissions to the United Nations—one…
The Sedona Forum is the McCain Institute’s annual, high-level gathering of national and international leaders held each spring in the red rock country of Sedona, Arizona. Rooted in a commitment to character-driven leadership and core democratic values…
