Collaboration with Water Protectors Legal Collective

The International Human Rights Workshop is working with the Water Protectors Legal Collective to develop an international human rights response to the legal and human rights concerns facing “water protectors” demonstrating against the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) in Standing Rock, North Dakota.

Under Professor Seanna Howard’s direction, law students in the International Human Rights Workshop are conducting research and developing legal strategies to engage international and regional human rights bodies, including United Nations mechanisms and the Organization of American States, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

The collaboration between the Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy (IPLP) Program and the Water Protectors Legal Collective (WPLC) is planned to support the legal efforts of the water protectors seeking judicial relief for violations of their civil and human rights. It will take the form of a comprehensive report addressing issues such as suppression of peaceful assembly and free expression, criminalization of dissent, protection of human rights defenders, and the role of extractive industries in the violation of Indigenous peoples’ human rights.

University of Arizona Law Partners with WPLC and NoVo Foundation on Indigenous Human Rights Project

University of Arizona Law’s Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy (IPLP) Program has received a major grant from the NoVo Foundation’s Indigenous Communities Initiative that will provide IPLP students with a unique opportunity for clinical placements, externships and fellowships to support the advocacy work of the Water Protectors Legal Collective. 

The NoVo Foundation grant will permit IPLP to continue to support the international divestment and corporate accountability initiatives currently led by Cook and University of Arizona Law Professor of Practice Seanna Howard, through IPLP’s International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop. Specifically, students in the workshop will support the work of the Indigenous Human Rights Defenders and Corporate Accountability (IHRDCA) Program, a collaboration between the WPLC and IPLP Program. 

University of Arizona Human Rights Clinic Participates in United Nations Universal Periodic Review

Students and faculty of the University of Arizona Law’s International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop have submitted a report to the United Nations (UN) as part of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR), which will examine the overall human rights record of the United States in May, 2020. The report highlights human rights concerns faced by Indigenous peoples resisting fossil fuel development projects in the United States.

The report to the UN emphasizes the importance of freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly as constitutionally protected rights enshrined in the United States Constitution and protected by international human rights law. Professor Howard developed the report in collaboration with the Water Protector Legal Collective (WPLC), a client of Professor Howard’s International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop.

University of Arizona Law Clinic Director, Student Testify before Organization of American States

Professor Seanna Howard collaborated with the Water Protector Legal Collective to submit a report to the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR), showcasing human rights concerns faced by Indigenous peoples protesting fossil fuel development projects. The report is in response to a formal request by the OHCHR and IACHR for input on the issues facing human rights advocates in the Americas and builds upon the testimony Professor Howard provided to the IACHR in a hearing on May 9 in Kingston, Jamaica, about the criminalization of Indigenous resistance to extractive industries in the United States.

Leaders in Field of Indigenous Law and Policy Submit Report to UN on Criminalization of Indigenous Human Rights Defenders Resisting DAPL

Faculty and students from the International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop submitted a report to the United Nations (UN) regarding the human rights violations committed against water protectors resisting the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL). The report, “Indigenous Resistance to the Dakota Access Pipeline: Criminalization of Dissent and Suppression of Protest,” was sent to the UN Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous peoples, Victoria Tauli-Corpuz, on behalf of the workshop’s clinical client, the Water Protectors Legal Collective (WPLC).

IPLP Convenes Panel at UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

IPLP convened a panel of experts to discuss the criminalization of peaceful protest as part of United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (UNPFII). The event “Dakota Access Pipeline Resistance and the Criminalization of Indigenous Human Rights Defenders,” took place April 19 at the United Nations Secretariat Building.

The event will feature leading human rights scholars and activists who will discuss the criminalization of Indigenous activists and the need for protection of Indigenous human rights defenders worldwide. If you are attending UNPFII, join IPLP for a critical discussion on the criminalization of Indigenous human rights defenders worldwide. You can view a recording of the event here.