This interdisciplinary symposium consists of hearings by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), as well as a series of thematic panels on the intersection of human rights with democratic institutions and the rule of law, migration, housing justice, sports, gender justice, racial justice, and the environment.
Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Hearings
The IACHR, together with the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, are the principal human rights organs in the Organization of American States (OAS). Created by the OAS in 1959 with the mission to promote and protect human rights in the American hemisphere, the Commission is composed of seven independent members who hold at least two periods of sessions a year.
Miami, situated at the crossroads of the Americas, is ideally situated to host an IACHR period of sessions. The complex human rights problems of Latin America and the Caribbean are felt intensely in South Florida. Over the past several decades, migrants from across the Americas have settled upon our shores, creating diasporic communities. South Florida also has its share of local human rights issues, many of which are connected to regional human rights dilemmas.
The Human Rights Program (HRP) at the University of Miami School of Law has a long-term relationship with the IACHR. The Human Rights Clinic, HRP’s advocacy arm, has litigated many cases and participated in many hearings before the Inter-American human rights system. HRP faculty affiliates further engage in scholarship and teaching squarely aligned with the IACHR’s priority areas.
Kickoff Event
The Symposium will open the evening of Sunday, November 16 with a welcome reception and featured remarks by Ken Roth, former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch. Roth will deliver the Henkin Human Rights Lecture and discuss his new book, Righting Wrongs. This talk will be followed by a discussion between Roth and Pedro José Vaca Villarreal, the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Thematic Panels
We are at a critical moment in the field of human rights in the Americas. Despite significant legal developments advancing human rights, geopolitical realities pose increasing threats to human rights in the Americas and worldwide. Authoritarianism, erosion of democratic norms, conflict, and instability systematically continue to undermine the integrity of large parts of the population. A series of thematic panels will examine critical human rights topics each day of the period of sessions. Specific panels would focus on the intersection of human rights with democratic institutions and the rule of law, migration, housing justice, sports, gender justice, racial justice, and the environment.
Art Exhibition
The symposium will feature an art exhibit on the right to housing. Artwork produced by Red Line Service, a community of Chicago artists with lived experience of being unhoused and partner organization of Miami Law’s Human Rights Clinic, illustrate the seven dimensions of the international human right to housing in powerful and concrete ways.
Scholarship
The University of Miami International and Comparative Law Review will capture lessons and reflections from the various symposium sessions. This would include publishing synopsis reports of the hearings and thematic sessions, as well as selected scholarly papers authored by the speakers, deepening discussion.
CLE
Approved Florida CLE Credit: $299 to receive CLE credit
Louis Henkin Lecture on Human Rights & Fireside Chat, followed by Welcome Reception (University of Miami School of Law, Gail Serota Reading Room)
Moderator: Tania Reneaum Panszi, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Speakers:
Caroline Bettinger-López, Professor of Law and Director, Human Rights Clinic; Faculty Chair, Human Rights Program, University of Miami School of Law
Patricia White, Professor of Law, Dean Emerita, University of Miami School of Law
Ken Roth, Former Executive Director, Human Rights Watch; Charles and Marie Robertson Visiting Professor and Visiting Lecturer, Princeton School of International and Public Affairs
Pedro José Vaca Villarreal, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Moderator: Caroline Bettinger-López, Professor of Law and Director, Human Rights Clinic; Faculty Chair, Human Rights Program, University of Miami School of Law
Speakers:
Patricia Sánchez Abril, Interim Dean, University of Miami School of Law; Professor of Business Law, University of Miami Herbert Business School
Jason Smith, Director, Equity and Engagement, Office of Miami-Dade County Mayor Daniella Levine Cava
Tania Reneaum Panszi, Executive Secretary, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
José Luis Caballero Ochoa, President and Commissioner, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Jessica Lenahan, Human Rights Activist; Petitioner, Jessica Lenahan v. United States
Joel Samuels, Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs & Provost, University of Miami
10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Case Hearings 1 (Expo Center)
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m
Lunch Panel: Democratic Institutions, Human Rights and the Rule of Law (Auditorium)
Moderator: Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director, Center for Justice and International Law
Speakers:
Monique Clesca, Journalist and Member, Commission to Search for a Haitian Solution to the Crisis
José Miguel Cruz, Associate Professor, Criminology and Criminal Justice; Interim Director, Kimberly Green Latin American and Caribbean Center, Florida International University
Jamil Dakwar, Director, Human Rights Program, American Civil Liberties Union
Frank Mora, Professor of Politics and International Relations, Florida International University
Pedro José Vaca Villarreal, Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Manuel Virgüez, Director, Movimiento Vinotinto
2:00 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Hearings 1 (Expo Center)
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Case Hearings 2 (Expo Center)
6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Film Screening & Talk-Back Panel: Paper Children + En Manos de Dios (Auditorium)
Speakers:
Gabrielle Apollon, Director, Haitian Immigrant Rights Project, Global Justice Clinic, New York University School of Law
Sui Chung, Executive Director, Americans for Immigrant Justice
Alexandra Codina, Director/Producer, Paper Children and En Manos de Dios
Sarah Paoletti, Professor of Law and Director, Transnational Legal Clinic, University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Coffee Panel: Migration and Human Rights (Auditorium)
Moderator: Hannah Garry, Clinical Professor of Law & Faculty Director, Justice & Accountability Initiative and International Human Rights Clinic, USC Gould School of Law
Speakers:
Yannick Gill, Senior Counsel, Refugee Advocacy, Human Rights First
Alejandra Gonza, Director and President, Global Rights Advocates
Andrea Pochak, Commissioner, First Vice-President, and Rapporteur for Human Mobility, Memory, Truth and Justice, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Rebecca Sharpless,Professor of Law and Director, Immigration Clinic, University of Miami School of Law
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Hearings 1 (Expo Center)
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Hearings 2 (Expo Center)
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch Panel: Housing Justice and Human Rights (Auditorium)
Moderator: Tamar Ezer, Acting Co-Director, Human Rights Clinic; Faculty Director, Human Rights Program; Lecturer in Law, University of Miami School of Law
Speakers:
Guilherme Camponez, Representative, Movement of People Affected by Dams in Brazil
Javier Palummo Lantes, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
David Peery, Founder and Executive Director, Florida Coalition to Advance Racial Equality
Rhoda Rosen, Executive Director, Red Line Service Institute; Adjunct Associate Professor, School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Milton Yulan Moran, Land Rights Attorney, Union Tierra y Vida
2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m
Hearings 3 (Expo Center)
4:00 p.m. – 6:00 p.m.
Case Hearings 1 (Expo Center)
6:00 p.m.– 8:30 p.m.
Reception and Cuban Voices: Rights, Reality, & Rule of Law (Cuban Heritage Collection, UM Richter Library)
Moderator:Patricia Sánchez Abril, Interim Dean, University of Miami School of Law; Professor of Business Law, University of Miami Herbert Business School
Speakers:
Candice Balmori, Cuban American Bar Association
Aldo Leiva, Cuban American Bar Association
Rosa María Payá, Founder and Director, Cuba Decide; Incoming Commissioner, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Edgar Stuardo Ralón Orellana, Commissioner and Rapporteur for Cuba, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Coffee Panel: Sports and Human Rights (Auditorium)
Moderator: Katie Hanna, Head of North America, Centre for Sport and Human Rights
Speakers:
Luz del Carmen Godínez González, President, Jalisco (Mexico) Human Rights Commission
Camilla Spillmann, Representative, Youth Media Forward
Eric Tars, Senior Policy Director, National Homelessness Law Center
Minky Worden, Director of Global Initiatives, Human Rights Watch
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Hearings 1 (Expo Center)
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Hearings 2 (Expo Center)
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch Panel: Gender Justice and Human Rights (Auditorium)
Moderator: Macarena Sáez, Executive Director, Women’s Rights Division, Human Rights Watch
Speakers:
Brisa de Angulo, Founder, A Breeze of Hope Foundation
Arif Bulkan, Commissioner, Second Vice-President, and Rapporteur for LGBTI Persons and Indigenous Peoples, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Roberta Clarke, Commissioner and Rapporteur for Women and for the United States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Carmen Cecilia Martínez, Associate Director, Legal Strategies for Latin America and the Caribbean, Center for Reproductive Rights
Yasemin Smallens, LGBT Rights Program Officer, Human Rights Watch
2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Hearings 3 (Auditorium)
4:15 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Hearings 4 (Expo Center)
6:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.
Film Screening & Talk-Back Panel: Brisa (Auditorium)
Speakers:
Brisa de Angulo, Founder, A Breeze of Hope Foundation
Rosa Celorio, Dean for International and Comparative Legal Studies, Burnett Family Professorial Lecturer in International and Comparative Law and Policy, The George Washington University Law School
Rosie Hidalgo, Senior Consultant and Co-Director of the Mosaic Initiative, Battered Women’s Justice Project; Visiting Senior Research Scholar, University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Program
Zoë Craig-Sparrow, Vice-President, Justice for Girls
Laritza Diversent, Executive Director, CubaLex
Gloria Monique de Mees, Commissioner and Rapporteur for People of African Descent, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Carlos Quesada, Executive Director, International Institute on Race, Equality and Human Rights
9:00 a.m. – 10:30 a.m.
Hearings 1 (Expo Center)
11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.
Hearings 2 (Expo Center)
12:45 p.m. – 2:00 p.m.
Lunch Panel: The Environment and Human Rights (Auditorium)
Moderator: Ileana Porras, Senior Lecturer, University of Miami School of Law
Speakers:
Charles Jalloh, Professor of Law, Richard A. Hausler Chair, University of Miami School of Law
Marcos Orellana, United Nations Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights; Assistant Professor at American University Washington College of Law
William J. Osceola, Secretary, Miccosukee Business Council
Javier Palummo Lantes, Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights (REDESCA), Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Gabriela Valentín Díaz, Staff Attorney, Earth Rights International
2:15 p.m. – 3:45 p.m.
Hearings 3 (Expo Center)
4:15 p.m. – 5:45 p.m.
Hearings 4 (Expo Center)
6:00 p.m. – 7:00 p.m.
Closing Panel (Auditorium)
Moderator: Tamar Ezer, Acting Co-Director, Human Rights Clinic; Faculty Director, Human Rights Program; Lecturer in Law, University of Miami School of Law
Speakers:
Andrea Pochak, Commissioner, First Vice-President, and Rapporteur for Human Mobility, Memory, Truth, and Justice, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights
Robert Robinson, Senior Advisor, Partners for Dignity and Rights; Lecturer, Parsons New School University
Katya Salazar, Executive Director, Due Process of Law Foundation
Sophia Ward, Editor-in-Chief, University of MiamiInternational & Comparative Law Review
