Fall 2024

Fall 2024 Human Rights Clinic cohort

Photo credit: Brittany Hosea-Small

Dear friends and alums,

I am writing at a defining moment for our country. As we witness the further erosion of democratic values and uncertainty presides, the commitment to steadfast and principled advocacy matters more than ever.

At the Human Rights Clinic, we are meeting this moment with determination and resolve. We invite you to read the latest edition of Berkeley Law’s magazine, Transcript, which highlights how, over 25 years, the Clinic has evolved in both purpose and scope, adapting to a world that has witnessed sweeping changes and deepening injustices.

We believe that defending human rights is not only a global imperative, it’s a national one. In training the next generation of advocates, we work towards fulfilling the United States’ promise of equality and freedom. More and more, students are stepping forward, drawing on their own stories of survival and struggle, to not just study human rights—but to shape it, to redefine it, and to make it a reality for those who need it most. From our clinic partners and clients, our students gain more than knowledge—they learn what courage looks like, what resilience demands, and how to transform systems that seem unchangeable.

In challenging times, we find hope in community. That’s why we’re launching a Virtual Salon Series, which we hope will be an opportunity for alumni and friends to join us in meaningful conversations about the defense of human rights. Every few weeks, we'll bring together alumni and faculty working on the frontlines of social justice to share their experiences and challenges — as well as what brings them hope. Please join us for our inaugural Virtual Salon in January about immigration. We will share details soon.

I am also thrilled to announce the expansion of our team and capacity to address human rights issues in the United States and abroad. Helen Kerwin, who joined the clinic in January 2024, brings extensive expertise in migration and the Americas. Radhika Kapoor, who joined at the start of the fall 2024 semester, is spearheading projects at the intersection of human rights and counterterrorism, leveraging deep experience in complex political and security contexts. Their leadership is already enriching our students’ experiences and advancing our mission (more on Helen and Radhika below). 

But we cannot do this alone. The work of the Clinic relies on the support of those who believe in our mission. Your generosity has helped shape the Clinic into a place where we advance human rights and provide transformative educational opportunities.  A gift from you, no matter the size, makes a difference.

At this moment, when our country needs advocates rooted in principle and driven by purpose, let’s stand for justice together.

With deep gratitude,

Roxanna

Advocating for the Rights of Asylum-Seekers at Borders

Each year, tens of thousands of travelers are refused entry at Mexico’s airports; many of them, according to civil society organizations, are asylum-seekers intending to seek refugee protection in Mexico. This year, a clinic team led by Clinical Supervising Attorney Helen Kerwin filed an amicus brief to the Mexican Supreme Court in the case of one Venezuelan asylum-seeker who was refused entry; held incommunicado for several days in an airport waiting-room; and later sent to immigration detention. 

The brief, presented on behalf of several former UN-mandated independent experts on the rights of migrants, addresses Mexico’s international law obligations to ensure access to asylum proceedings at borders. This case marks the first time Mexico’s Supreme Court will address the nation’s obligations to ensure refugee protections in airports, which are often treated as rights-free zones. The brief asks the court to uphold Mexico’s human rights treaty obligations–which have the same legal status as the Constitution–and grant reparation in this case.

Defending Indigenous Property Rights in East Africa

The right of Indigenous Peoples to own, use, and enjoy their ancestral land is well-recognized in international law. Yet, the rapid expansion of tourism and extractive industries globally has often come at the cost of Indigenous Peoples’ property rights. In one East African State, the government regularly relies on its national eminent domain statute to take community-owned land and carry out commercial projects. The forcible eviction of Indigenous communities from their land — often without due consultation, consent, and compensation — has raised a range of complex legal issues. 

In the fall 2024 semester, a Clinic team led by Clinical Supervising Attorneys Helen Kerwin and Radhika Kapoor supported ongoing litigation filed by a grassroots African organization challenging the country’s eminent domain law and its process for compulsory land acquisition. Students investigated human rights protections available to Indigenous Peoples under international law, particularly under the African human rights system, offering valuable input to help shape the litigation strategy of the partner organization.

Advocating for Human Rights-Compliant Counterterrorism Measures

The tension between national security and human rights has deep historical roots, often marked by conflict and violence. Governments have long invoked national security to suppress opposition, target activists, and consolidate power. Over the past thirty years, the expansion of global counterterrorism frameworks has reinforced the prioritization of security concerns over individual and collective freedoms. 

During the fall 2024 semester, a Clinic team led by Clinical Supervising Attorney Radhika Kapoor supported the mandate of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism — an independent human rights expert appointed by the UN Human Rights Council to advocate for the compliance of counterterrorism frameworks with international human rights standards. Students conducted background research and analysis with respect to counterterrorism legislation and identified potential human rights violations. Students then worked closely with the Rapporteur to draft a formal “communication”—an official letter sent to a UN Member State outlining key human rights issues raised by the legislation and urging corrective action.

Gathering Insights from Communities at COP 16

In October 2024, the 16th Conference of the State Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 16) took place in Cali, Colombia, bringing together governments, experts, and advocates. Under the supervision of Clinic Director Roxanna Altholz and Clinical Supervising Attorney Radhika Kapoor, a group of students supported the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) with researching an upcoming report on enforced disappearances in the context of the defense of land, natural resources, and the environment. The study aims to examine the alarming trend of violence in this context with the aim of guiding prevention, accountability, and redress measures. As part of this effort, the Clinic co-organized an event at COP 16 to gather critical insights from affected communities, campesinos, and Indigenous Peoples.

Leveraging Human Rights Law to Advance Accountability at the Border

Clinic students are partnering with Alliance San Diego and the Southern Border Communities Coalition (SBCC) to challenge Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) use of force policies. Central to these efforts is a commitment to the principles of necessity, proportionality, and respect for human dignity—standards that transcend borders and are rooted in international human rights law.

As part of this work, clinic students traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with congressional leaders, agency officials, and human rights advocates, building support for reforms to align CBP policies with international standards. The Clinic also assisted SBCC in filing an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in Barnes v. Felix, a case concerning the killing of Ashtian Barnes, a Black man fatally shot by a deputy during a traffic stop over an unpaid toll fee linked to a rental car license plate.The brief calls on the Supreme Court to uphold international human rights law, which mandates that law enforcement use force only when necessary and proportionate, reserving deadly force as a last resort.

Faculty News

Clinic Hires New Staff Attorneys

Radhika Kapoor came to the Human Rights Clinic after a multi-year fellowship-in-residence at the Harvard Law School Program on International Law and Armed Conflict, where she focused on a range of public international law matters, including the negative human rights impacts of national-security measures and the wide-ranging impacts of domestic and international conflicts on civilians. She was also an assistant counsel at the Public International Law and Policy Group, where she managed the implementation of international legal projects and advised civil society groups, States, and opposition coalitions on transitional justice, humanitarian aid, and peace negotiation.

Kapoor was interested in joining the clinic to have a closer pedagogical relationship with students and because the docket included both domestic and international projects. 



“Clinical teaching sits between practice and doctrinal teaching, so you have a lot of client interaction and you’re constantly collaborating with your partners. But also, as a teacher, you’re working really closely with students, which I find very rewarding,” she says. “I was particularly impressed with the Berkeley student community when I came down here for my campus interview — I thought they were so astute. And now that I’ve gotten to know some of my students really well, they’re such an inspiring bunch, and I’m learning so much from them.”

Before joining the Human Rights Clinic, Helen Kerwin was a staff attorney at the Center for Justice and International Law, where she specialized in strategic litigation before the Inter-American Human Rights System—particularly on the rights of Indigenous communities, migrants and asylum-seekers, and human rights defenders, as well as working at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and an immigration non-profit in Mexico City.



Since joining the clinic, she’s focused on developing projects in partnership with Latin America-based organizations on topics like documenting the impacts of climate change on migration and defending the rights of asylum-seekers at airports.

“I am enjoying working with and teaching law students, and developing independent human rights projects,” she says. “I hope students will leave the clinic having sharpened practice skills important for any future legal practice, and with an appreciation of human rights law as a substantive body of law that can support struggles for social justice.”

Student News

Clinic student Cassidy A. Veidelis ’24 won Sax Prize Honorable Mention for her work to bring a new case in the African regional human rights system to hold social media companies accountable for violating children’s rights in their business models.

Be sure to check out Maria Watson ’25 reflecting on her clinic work on the Anastasio Hernández Rojas case—the first known extrajudicial killing involving U.S. law enforcement to be decided by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. Here she is pictured at the United Nations office in Geneva.

Clinical Program Annual Report

Last year, 225 students enrolled in our 14 clinics, collaborating with faculty, staff, and clients to advance justice in the East Bay, nationally, and globally. Please take a look at the Clinical Program’s annual report to learn more.