The Center for Civil and Human Rights welcomes its new class of international human rights lawyers for the 2015-16 academic year.
Bringing together 20 human rights lawyers from 18 countries, this year’s LL.M. class continues Notre Dame’s 28 year-old tradition of offering the world’s most dedicated human rights defenders an intensive year-long program of theoretical and practice-based education in international human rights law.
While retaining its historically strong recruiting base in Latin America and Africa, the CCHR has consistently broadened its reach into other parts of the globe. This year’s LL.M. class includes lawyers from five countries entirely new to the CCHR, including Iraq, Syria, South Sudan, Congo and Lithuania. These lawyers will join the growing CCHR alumni network of more than 350 lawyers from over 90 countries.
The CCHR also welcomes a new student into its J.S.D. program, Fatimah Alshehaby of Saudi Arabia, who will join four continuing J.S.D. students in the multi-year doctoral program. Ms. Alshehaby is the CCHR’s first student from Saudi Arabia.
Sean O’Brien, director of academic programs at the CCHR, sees the diversity of this year’s group as one of its greatest strengths. “We are thrilled to welcome this year’s class of human rights lawyers to Notre Dame,” he says. “These lawyers come to us with experience working in international tribunals, grass roots human rights organizations, and key governmental positions. With interests ranging from the economic, social, and cultural rights of migrants and displaced persons, to the human rights obligations of transnational corporations and other non-state actors, these lawyers will fully engage our faculty’s expertise and enrich the quality of the classroom experience for all Notre Dame law students.”
Profiles of our LL.M. and J.S.D. students can be found here.
Originally published by at humanrights.nd.edu on August 25, 2015.