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The Pursuit of Human Rights

hesburgh_king.jpg Notre Dame Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights offers the J.S.D. in International Human Rights Law and the LL.M. in International Human Rights Law. The Center’s academic programs provide J.D., LL.M. and J.S.D. students from around the world the opportunity to study human rights from the perspective of the international legal process. Because it is one of the few U.S. law schools to do this, the Center provides leadership in the field of human rights. > Read More

CCHR Begins Study of Domestic Jurisprudence on International Crimes

The Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR) of Notre Dame Law School has received a grant to study Latin American jurisprudence on international crimes. The study will compile and analyze the various ways in which domestic legal systems in Latin America have incorporated, developed and modified international criminal law concepts.

Ximena Medellín-Urquiaga, a CCHR Post-Doctoral Research Associate, will serve as the principal investigator for the project. “International law is, perhaps, most effective when it becomes a part of the domestic legal framework,” says Medellín-Urquiaga. “This important project will study the process by which this incorporation has taken place in a region often characterized by its weak judicial systems.”

The study, part of a larger project of the Due Process of Law Foundation, is funded by the United States Institute for Peace.

Fighting for Truth & Justice in Guatemala
Mario Domingo, LL.M. ‘08

Mario Domingo cchr The night they killed the bishop – April 26, 1998 – Mario Domingo knew that his own life would never be the same. Just 48-hours before, Domingo—currently a student enrolled in Notre Dame’s LL.M. (master of laws) program in international human rights law at the Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR)—had been in the National Cathedral in Guatemala City with the bishop, Monsignor Juan Gerardi. > Read Story

Upcoming Events

CCHR’s Sean O’Brien Addresses Darfur Crisis at Conference

darfur Sean O’Brien, assistant director of the Notre Dame Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights and concurrent assistant law professor, will speak at John Marshall Law School in Chicago as part of a panel discussion titled “The International and The United States Response to the Crisis in Darfur.” O’Brien will offer an assessment of the roles of the International Criminal Court and the U.S. in Darfur.

The talk is Thursday, May 1 at 3:30 p.m. Registration is required. Call or email 312-987-1420, events@jmls.edu.

For more information on the conference, view conference brochure.

> Past CCHR Events

Meet The Class of 2008

Myrfi S. Gonzalez Myrfi S. Gonzalez (Philippines). Ms. Gonzalez earned her Bachelor of Laws from the University of San Carlos, Cebu City, Philippines. In 2003, she joined the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism as Program Officer and concurrently served as legal staff of a school-based legal NGO, the Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC). At AHRC, Ms. Gonzalez served indigent clients, conducted research, advocated for favorable policies and lectured on issues for the protection and promotion of human rights. Within a year, she became Internship Director of the AHRC and coordinator of the National Internship Program of the Alternative Law Groups, Inc., a coalition of legal NGOs in the country. The Internship Programs are aimed at the formation of law students towards alternative lawyering in the Philippines. > Meet more students…