Inter-American aid to Haitians

(Delighted to welcome back alumna Caroline Bettinger-López, who contributes this guest post)

Great news:
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights granted, in large part, a request for precautionary measures to stop the U.S. deportation of Haitians under current circumstances of cholera, social unrest, political chaos, and general post-earthquake disorder.
The order, issued on Friday, stemmed from a request made last month by a coalition of groups. One is the new Human Rights Clinic at the University of Miami School of Law, for which I serve as founding Director. Also in the coaliton are the law school's Immigration Clinic, the Florida Immigrant Advocacy Center, the Center for Constitutional Rights, the advocacy nonprofit Alternative Chance, and the Stuart H. Smith Law Clinic + Center for Social Justice at Loyola New Orleans College of Law.
Our coalition's press release on the decision is here. More on the decision, captioned Precautionary Measures 5/11 — Gary Resil, Harry Mocombe, Roland Joseph, Evel Camelien, and Pierre Louis, United States, may be found here and here.
Unfortunately, the Inter-American Commission's decision only extended to persons with serious illnesses or U.S. family ties. This is nevertheless a tremendous victory:
► Most deportees will fall into one or both of these categories, particularly the "family ties" category; moreover,
► This result is not unexpected. The Commission's prior reports and recommendations on the merits of deportations cases have focused exclusively on these two categories of deportations (illness and family ties to the United States), and so the Commission chose to follow its past guidance on these specific points.
The organizational collaboration in this case has been a tremendously rewarding experience, and our Miami law students played a crucial role in every aspect of this process – from drafting legal memos and declarations, to interviewing family members of deportees and expert witnesses, to organizing the brief. Along with colleagues who teach in our Immigration Clinic, Becky Sharpless (far right) and Farrin Anello (near right), I have been truly impressed by the students' commitment, tenacity, and sharp legal minds.
Thanks too to the nearly 300 individuals and organizations who signed onto a January 10 letter in support of the petition – your voices made a difference!
I and several members of our team will be traveling to Haiti on Tuesday to document the stories of the 27 deportees and the condition of the police station cells in which they were held (and in which future detainees will presumably be held).
We will continue to move forward in our efforts to persuade the U.S. government to issue a moratorium on deportations until conditions in Haiti improve.

Bennoune's terrorism critique

Criticism of a decision to represent a "Yemen-based radical cleric" has drawn the attention of global news media.
► Representing the cleric, Anwar al-Awlaki, who was born in Las Cruces, New Mexico, 36 years ago and is thus a U.S. citizen, are the Center for Constitutional Rights and the American Civil Liberties Union. At the end of August, the 2 nongovernmental organizations filed a challenge to a U.S. decision to target the plaintiff for assassination. Captioned Nasser Al-Alauqi v. Barack H. Obama, the suit is pending in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia.
► Criticizing that representation is a CCR board member, IntLawGrrl Karima Bennoune (below left). As reported in London's Guardian and excerpted at Andrew Sullivan's Daily Dish blog, Karima

has gone public with her misgivings at the CCR's decision, reflecting a debate within human rights groups on how to deal with Islamist fundamentalists.
'I support the important work the centre has done on torture and extraordinary rendition,' said Bennoune, 'but I expressed grave concern at CCR offering to represent Awlaki's interests pro bono. Anwar al-Awlaki is not a detainee; he is still at liberty and able to gravely harm others by inciting and advocating murder.'
Bennoune pointed out that Awlaki published an article in al-Qaida's English language magazine, Inspire, in July openly calling for assassinations of several people, including a young woman cartoonist in Seattle and Salman Rushdie. This was at around the time the CCR was offering to represent Awlaki's father, she said.
Bennoune, who is of Algerian descent, also expressed fears that the CCR and the ACLU were in danger of 'sanitising' Awlaki to western audiences.
'Since the inception of the case,' she said, 'there has been increased mystification of who Anwar al-Awlaki is in liberal and human rights circles in the United States. This may in part have resulted from the fact that a highly reputable organisation like CCR was willing to represent his interests, and described him only as "a Muslim cleric" or "an American citizen", and repeatedly suggested that the government did not possess evidence against Awlaki.'

Karima's stance dovetails with that she set out in her recent IntLawGrrls post, On 9/11, Remembering the Other’s Others: International Law & Muslim Fundamentalism, published on the 9th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. As described in the Guardian, Karima's position is further supported by 5 "prominent Algerian non-governmental organisations, including associations of victims of terrorism and women's groups."

In Passing: Rhonda Copelon

It is with a heavy heart that I write to tell you that my beloved CUNY colleague, friend, and mentor Professor Rhonda Copelon, died on May 6th, 2010 after a four year struggle with ovarian cancer. She will be greatly missed.
As a lawyer with the Center for Constitutional Rights, Rhonda’s groundbreaking work in Filártiga v. Peña-Irala (2d Cir. 1980) gave victims of international human rights abuses access to justice in United States courts. This case established that torture was a violation of the law of nations, a principle of which we seem to have lost sight in recent times. Using a hitherto obscure federal statute, the Alien Tort Claims Act, Rhonda’s advocacy paved the way for many high profile human rights cases, including the recently settled suit brought by Ken Saro Wiwa’s family against Shell Oil. Harold Koh has called this case the Brown v. Board of Education of International Human Rights.
Rhonda was also lead counsel in Harris v. McRae (1980), a pivotal case concerning the reproductive rights of poor women. Although successful in the lower courts, Rhonda’s loss at the Supreme Court haunted her for the rest of her life.
As a founding member of CUNY Law School, Rhonda poured her energy into establishing the International Women's Human Rights Clinic. Every year, students in the clinic work to protect the rights of women around the world and in the United States. The CUNY website has a marvelous video of Rhonda discussing her remarkable career in human rights.
In 2009, Rhonda was awarded the M. Shanara Gilbert Human Rights Award by the Society of American Law Teachers. On April 20, 2010, the Center for Constitutional Rights honored Rhonda for her life’s work and established the Copelon Fund for Gender Justice.
Rhonda was not just a great lawyer, she was also a generous mentor and friend to students, and young professionals. Her tireless advocacy on behalf of women will never be forgotten.
I've included below just a couple of tributes from women in international law whose lives Rhonda touched, and welcome you to add your thoughts in the comments section.

What a loss to the clinical community and to the ongoing struggle for women's human rights! Rhonda was an amazing, passionate, committed advocate for women's human rights. I first met her when I was at AU. Rather than being territorial towards a newcomer, she was supportive of all persons with a commitment to women's human rights, and worked tirelessly for the cause. She was loved and respected around the world. I saw her in action in Beijing at the Women's Conference in 1995, and had the opportunity to work together on a project with women's rights advocates from throughout Latin America to integrate a gender perspective into legal education. She was universally respected and admired and her legacy will be everlasting.

--Lauren Gilbert

I am so saddened at the passing of Rhonda Copelon. She was a brilliant lawyer and an inspiring teacher and a warm and generous person. I met Rhonda during the preparations for the Fourth World Conference on Women. I was not yet a lawyer and new to the world of U.N. conferences and human rights advocacy, and she was unfailingly supportive and always willing to share her expertise in navigating complicated issues and institutions. She has served as a model of engagement and accessibility to me and so many others. Her passing is a huge loss.

-- Rachel Rosenbloom

Wiwa v. Shell Settles

In a dramatic victory for environmental justice, Shell Oil just settled the case Wiwa v. Shell Oil on the eve of trial (mentioned in this post).
Brought under the Alien Tort Claims Act by Ken Saro-Wiwa, Jr., son of the murdered Nigerian poet and Ogoni activist Ken Saro-Wiwa (prior post), the lawsuit alleged that Royal Dutch Shell Company, its Nigerian subsidiary, Shell Petroleum Development Company, and the former head of Nigerian operations, Brian Anderson were all complicit in murder, torture, crimes against humanity and other crimes.
My CUNY colleague Jennie Green was one of the attorneys representing the Nigerian plaintiffs, along with lawyers from EarthRights International, the Center for Constitutional Rights (where Jennie is also a Senior Staff attorney) and the private law firms Schonbrun, DeSimone, Seplow, Harris and Hoffman, and Cohen, Milstein, Sellers and Toll. (and probably many others of whom I am unaware.) Not only did the attorneys recover more than $15 million for the families of the murder victims, but their victory sends a message that multinational corporations can no longer act with impunity. I have previously written about the need to hold corporate entities criminally liable when they violate of human rights. As Ken Saro-Wiwa said before he was executed, he was indeed a man of ideas and his ideas still live! This is indeed a victory for human rights and for environmental justice everywhere!

Guest Blogger: Deborah Popowski

Today IntLawGrrls welcomes its 2d guest blogger, Deborah Popowski, author of the above post on accountability, in Argentina and in the United States.
A 3d-year law student at Harvard, Deborah (left), along with fellow student Fernando Delgado, cofounded Stop Torture: The Harvard Anti-Torture Coalition. This Anti-Torture Group's a division of HLS Advocates for Human Rights, a student organization of which Deborah's also co-president. The group provides volunteer support to the Harvard International Human Rights Clinic, coordinates its own projects under faculty supervision, and engages in public education, lobbying, and direct action. Additionally, Deborah's worked on human rights issues in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East. She interned for Manfred Nowak, the United Nations' current Special Rapporteur on Torture; for Gitanjali Gutierrez, staff attorney for the Guantánamo division of the Center for Constitutional Rights; and for Justiça Global, a Brazilian NGO that litigates before the Inter-American human rights system.
After receiving a degree in political science and social though from the University of Virginia, Deborah worked in journalism and in international development -- including 2 years' service with the Peace Corps. An Argentina-born naturalized U.S. citizen, she is proficient in 5 languages.
Deborah dedicates her post to her own IntLawGrrls inspiration, the suffragist Alice Paul.
Heartfelt thanks for your contribution, Deborah!