About
The protection of human rights is intrinsically linked to global human mobility. As people move across borders due to factors such as conflict, economic disparities and environmental challenges, the intersection of human rights and immigration law becomes increasingly complex. The responses to migration — shaped by political polarization, the rise of authoritarianism and a lack of political will from political leaders — often pose significant challenges to human rights protection. These same factors also influence migration trends, creating a complex interplay between human mobility and the safeguarding of fundamental rights.
The Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program allows students to engage with these intersections and also explore the full range of opportunities available in the human rights and immigration fields, at home and abroad, through hands-on experiences. Courses and extracurricular opportunities allow students to learn about the key legal and public policy issues involved in immigration and human rights, including international legal enforcement for human rights, political asylum, the impact of immigration on the economy and on national security, the role of nations and the challenges of building an effective immigration management system.
While the program directly serves students pursuing careers in immigration and human rights, it also enriches students in various legal fields by exploring connections to business, criminal, family and administrative law, as well as public policy, offering all a more comprehensive legal perspective.
The Law School provides an ideal setting for considering philosophical and theoretical concerns posed by immigration and human rights, including the meaning of national membership and cultural identity, the ethics of international relations, and the link between policy and international human rights. Students also build practical skills through immigration and human rights clinics and several pro bono programs offering aid to clients. The program brings in expert speakers on immigration and human rights, including leading attorneys and policy advocates, immigration judges and government officials.
Professor Camilo Sánchez, director of the International Human Rights Law Clinic and co-director of UVA Law’s Human Rights Program, describes the school’s offerings in the international human rights field and why this is an exciting time to study the subject. This session was part of UVA Law’s 2022 Admitted Students Open House.
Latest Research
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This paper describes the response of George Washington's administration to a plea for emergency war financing from French colonists who were trying to...
Shiri Krebs
Human rights discourse has become central to the global debates about treatment of and solutions for refugees and displaced persons. Following the...
The constitutional rules that govern how states engage with international law have profound implications for foreign affairs, yet we lack...
Recent Supreme Court decisions have severely curtailed the reach of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), making it nearly impossible to hold multinational...
More
In a highly influential book, Not Enough, Samuel Moyn argues that the modern human rights movement has failed to address economic inequality. Moyn...
Charles Crabtree
How do international laws affect citizens' willingness to accept refugees? In full and partial democracies, citizens' attitudes can influence national...
Faculty Director(s)
Kevin Cope
Associate Professor of Law
Associate Professor of Law and Public Policy, Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy
Affiliated Faculty, Department of Politics
Director, Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program
Amanda Frost
David Lurton Massee, Jr., Professor of Law
John A. Ewald Jr. Research Professor of Law
Director, Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program
Nelson Camilo Sánchez León
Associate Professor of Law, General Faculty
Director, Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program
Director, International Human Rights Law Clinic
Research
This paper describes the response of George Washington's administration to a plea for emergency war financing from French colonists who were trying to...
Shiri Krebs
Human rights discourse has become central to the global debates about treatment of and solutions for refugees and displaced persons. Following the...
The constitutional rules that govern how states engage with international law have profound implications for foreign affairs, yet we lack...
Recent Supreme Court decisions have severely curtailed the reach of the Alien Tort Statute (ATS), making it nearly impossible to hold multinational...
More
In a highly influential book, Not Enough, Samuel Moyn argues that the modern human rights movement has failed to address economic inequality. Moyn...
Charles Crabtree
How do international laws affect citizens' willingness to accept refugees? In full and partial democracies, citizens' attitudes can influence national...
This paper is a contribution to an upcoming issue of Law and Contemporary Problems devoted to work originating in the Conference, “What’s Next for...
This concluding essay to the “Future of Human Rights Scholarship” special issue outlines how political scientists could draw on developments in law...
Human rights discourse has been likened to a global lingua franca, and in more ways than one, the analogy seems apt. Human rights discourse is a...
Lucas Kowalczyk
The issues of mass migrations, displaced persons, and refugees from war-torn countries are not new, but they have become particularly prominent and...
Adam S. Chilton
The human rights movement has spent considerable energy developing and promoting the adoption of both international and domestic legal prohibitions...
Cosette D. Creamer
In their essay, "The Influence of History on States’ Compliance with Human Rights Obligations," Adam Chilton and Eric Posner conclude that modern...
As the U.N. Charter’s drafters might have predicted, various categories of cases have arisen since 1945 in which states have sought to use force in...
Adam S. Chilton
Although the question of whether constitutional rights matter is of great theoretical and practical importance, little is known about whether...
Adam S. Chilton
The prohibition of torture is one of the most emblematic norms of the modern human rights movement, and its prevalence in national constitution has...
Many view constitutional incorporation of international human rights treaties as the most effective way to enforce treaty rights domestically. Three...
Several states have been engaged for years in armed conflicts against non-state actors outside their territory. These conflicts implicate a wide...
Benedikt Goderis
Constitutions are commonly regarded as uniquely national products, shaped by domestic ideals and politics. This paper develops and empirically tests a...
Benedikt Goderis
Constitutions are commonly regarded as uniquely national products, shaped by domestic ideals and politics. This paper develops and empirically tests a...
As a candidate for President, Barack Obama made “change” a central theme of his campaign. In particular, he railed against the Bush Administration’s...
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It has been suggested, with growing frequency, that the United States may be losing its influence over constitutionalism in other countries because it...
Benedikt Goderis
After 9/11, the United States and its allies took measures to protect their citizens from future terrorist attacks. While these measures aim to...
A fairly substantial amount of literature has been generated over the years regarding the forms of masculinity that emerge in times of armed conflict...
On the Frontlines gives a comprehensive overview of the post-conflict terrain as it is experienced by women across multiple jurisdictions and in the...
This paper explores the situation of women returning to their homes and communities after their countries have experienced major conflicts. In that...
This essay provides an overview of federal involvement in foster care, starting with the 1909 White House Conference on Dependent Care, to show the...
This paper, written for a symposium on The Mind of a Child, examines two different aspects of the accountability of children: those children who are...
A critical issue for post conflict reconstruction is moving beyond criminal prosecutions that ensure accountability of perpetrators toward a system...
Beyond Retribution and Impunity: Responding to War Crimes of Sexual Violence articulates principles for an approach to gender-based violence during...
Resident Faculty
Resident Faculty
Appellate litigation, civil liberties
Juvenile justice, child advocacy, state and local government law
Criminal procedure and criminal defense law
Law and economics, international relations, international law, immigration and refugee law, judging
Criminal law, feminist jurisprudence and women's issues
Tax policy, retirement policy, executive compensation and federal Indian law
Criminal law, civil rights, race
Immigration and refugee law, judging, legal ethics, legal history
Public service, state and local government law, litigation
Health policy, LGBTQ rights
Comparative and empirical study of public law, courts and legal texts
Civil rights, constitutional law, legal history, law and inequality
Education law, Civil rights, Affirmative action, Desegregation and integration, Race, Sexual discrimination and harrassment
Constitutional law, election law, constitutional theory, legislation and statutory interpretation
International human rights law, Inter-American human rights system, business and human rights, transitional justice
Comparative law and human rights
Other Faculty
Marissa Baer
Lecturer
Brian J. Bill
Lecturer
Kristin Clarens
Lecturer
Caroline Klosko
Lecturer
Jennifer Kwon
Lecturer
Sarah Mazzochi
Lecturer
Amy Walters
Lecturer
Clinics
Immigration Law Clinic
Clinic students are responsible for individual immigration cases that range in complexity and urgency. All students are tasked with investigating their cases, maintaining contact with their clients, briefing their cases and potentially representing their clients in immigration court. The clinic focuses on complicated cases for humanitarian relief, removal defense and impact cases arising out of emerging areas of the law.
More About the Immigration Law Clinic
International Human Rights Clinic
Directed by professor Nelson Camilo Sánchez León, the International Human Rights Law Clinic is the core of the program. The clinic offers students practical experience in human rights advocacy in collaboration with human rights lawyers and nongovernmental organizations in the United States and abroad. Clinic students have worked in the following areas:
- Reparations for slavery and other historical injustices
- Deprivation of migrants’ liberty
- Gender equality and sports
- Human rights defenders at risk
- Human rights impacts of air pollution
- Access to health care in Venezuela
- National security in the war on terror
- Freedom of information and expression
- Gender-based violence, women’s and LGBT rights
- Rights of indigenous people
- Legal literacy and empowerment
- Right to life and prohibition against torture
- Human rights in the Middle East
- Corporate liability for human rights violations
- Land law and housing rights
- Transitional justice/responsibility to protect and fulfill human rights
Clinic students have worked on the following projects:
U.N. SPECIAL RAPPORTEUR ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN Organized a roundtable with U.S. gender and rights advocates; drafted briefing paper on the due diligence standard; coordinated and edited five civil society briefing papers for the special rapporteur’s official U.S. visit; contributed to the special rapporteur’s 2013 thematic report on the development of due diligence standards and consistency between international and regional treaties
HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH Researched Israel’s legal obligations with regard to land and housing rights of its indigenous population for a published report: “Off the Map: Land and Housing Rights Violations in Israel’s Unrecognized Bedouin Villages”
WOMEN’S JUSTICE INITIATIVE (Guatemala, founded by Kate Flatley ’08) Designed training modules on international human rights law, gender-based violence, and inheritance and property rights for indigenous Guatemalan women
CENTER FOR CONSTITUTIONAL RIGHTS (New York) Researched for plaintiffs’ legal team in the case of Al Shimari v. CACI, a federal lawsuit brought by four Iraqi torture victims against private U.S.-based contractor CACI International Inc. and CACI Premier Technology Inc.
CENTER FOR JUSTICE IN INTERNATIONAL LAW (Washington, D.C.) Wrote amicus brief for the Inter-American Court on Human Rights in support of petitioners in the case of Benito Tide Méndez et al. v. Dominican Republic
CENTRO PARA LA ACCIÓN LEGAL EN DERECHOS HUMANOS, PROGRAM ON THE RIGHTS OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES (Guatemala) Prepared comparative analyses of draft legislation and policy initiatives concerning indigenous peoples in the Congress of the Republic of Guatemala.
CENTER FOR JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY (San Francisco) Consulted with U.S. Senate staffers on a U.S. Supreme Court amicus curiae brief in Samantar v. Yousef regarding congressional intent as to whether the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act should be a bar to remedies under the Torture Victim Protection Act, and drafted the brief for the proceeding in the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals
FOREST PEOPLES PROGRAM (U.K./Netherlands) and ASSOCIATION OF INDIGENOUS VILLAGE LEADERS IN SURINAME Developed a manual and workshops for indigenous leaders in Suriname on the right to education
AMERICAN CIVIL LIBERTIES UNION NATIONAL SECURITY PROJECT Drafted a complaint regarding the release of information on Guantanamo Bay deaths and detainees’ suicide and homicide attempts
Ukrainian national Olena Protsenko was working on a postdoctoral research project at the University of Virginia School of Law when her homeland was invaded. With the help of eight UVA Law students, she is suing Russia on behalf of individual clients for war crimes in the European Court of Human Rights.
Lobsang Sangay, regent of the Central Tibetan Administration, delivers the Human Rights Program spring lecture. Sangay discusses his experiences leading a government in exile, representing the Tibetan diaspora, and advocating for political autonomy and power for greater Tibet.
Courses and Seminars
The Law School curriculum has included a number of courses focused on human rights in recent years. The following is a list of courses offered during 2021-24. Numbers in parentheses indicate which academic year(s) the courses were offered, i.e., 2022-23 is coded (23), 2023-24 is coded (24) and 2024-25 is coded (25). (SC) stands for short course and (YR) stands for yearlong.
Border Policy and Politics (23,24,25)
Constitutional Law II: Survey of Civil Liberties (23,24)
Crimmigration: Intersection of Criminal and Immigration Law (24,25)
Human Rights Study Project (YR) (23,24,25)
Immigration Law and Policy (23,24,25)
International Human Rights Law (23,24,25)
Law and Inequality Colloquium (23,24,25)
Law and Public Service (23,24,25)
Law of Armed Conflict (23,24,25)
Political Prisoners (SC) (24,25)
Race, Education and Opportunity (23)
U.S. Refugee and Asylum Law Seminar (25)
Clinics
Immigration Law Clinic (YR) (22,23,25)
International Human Rights Law Clinic (YR) (22,23,25)
Liz Espín Stern ’86, a University of Virginia School of Law alumna, reflects on her path from diplomat’s daughter to immigration attorney to managing partner.
Archi Pyati, chief of policy for the Tahirih Justice Center in Washington, D.C., and Sabrina Talukder ’14, staff attorney with the Legal Aid Society of New York City, discussed the history of domestic violence asylum in the United States and the ways in which their organizations are addressing new hurdles in asylum law.
Beyond the Classroom
Human Rights Study Project
The project’s mission is to further the study of law affecting the protection of basic rights in foreign countries. Each year, a project team of students and a professor travel abroad to research human rights issues in a specific country and report their findings. Participating students receive course credit.
HRSP Trip Reports
- Uganda (2008)
- India (2007)
- China (2006)
- Lebanon and Syria (2005)
- Sierra Leone (2004)
- Cuba (2003)
The Migrant Farmworker Project
Run by the student group the Latin American Law Organization, the Migrant Farmworker Project works with the Legal Aid Justice Center's Immigrant Advocacy Program to assist an isolated population often in need of legal counsel. The program represents immigrants and farmworkers throughout the state. Although the center handles mostly employment law cases, it also takes housing and discrimination cases. Student members of the Migrant Farmworker Project visit migrant farm labor camps and inform workers about their rights. The project also seeks to increase awareness about the substandard treatment of immigrant workers and conditions in which they live and work in Virginia. Students do not need to speak Spanish to participate. Story
Legal Aid Justice Center Immigration Project
Students gain experience in immigration issues through a pro bono project sponsored by the Legal Aid Justice Center in Charlottesville.
International Refugee Assistance Project
UVA Law is home to one of 29 student chapters of IRAP, which develops and enforces a set of legal rights for refugees and displaced persons.
John Bassett Moore Society of International Law
The J.B. Moore Society is a driving force in international law activities at the Law School. Each year, the Society hosts a symposium on topics such as the war on terror and corruption in foreign governments, as well as a lunch lecture series in which international law faculty and foreign graduate students present papers. The society also sponsors a Jessup International Law Moot Court team.
Students in the Human Rights Study Project at the University of Virginia School of Law spent a week learning about indigenous activism and living among locals in the Ecuadorian Amazon for their annual research trip.
Students in the Human Rights Study Project at the University of Virginia School of Law took part in a once-in-a-lifetime trip to Nepal in January 2019. They were joined by alumni for a trek to Mount Everest base camp. The trip was sponsored by philanthropist David C. Burke ’93.
News
February 17, 2025
A January term class offered at the University of Virginia School of Law covered all the bases on the legal side of baseball, giving students a look at what’s fair and what’s foul in labor, antitrust and intellectual property law.
February 14, 2025
Constitutional litigation scholar Pamela S. Karlan will discuss recent challenges to government accountability for the McCorkle Lecture at the University of Virginia School of Law on Feb. 24.
February 13, 2025
Valentine’s Day can be a time for sharing sweet nothings with crushes — or reflecting on the magical moments that brought happy lovebirds together. Four alumni couples recently shared how they met at the University of Virginia School of Law and reflected on the lives they've built together in the
February 10, 2025
With help from a $70,000 grant from the Jefferson Board of Trustees, students at the University of Virginia School of Law are developing and teaching a business law course for incarcerated learners.
February 7, 2025
First-year University of Virginia School of Law student Michael Napoles discusses how being a small business owner inspired him to pursue law school and the skills he learned that set him up for success in the classroom.
February 6, 2025
The Virginia Law Review has named Julia Sabik, a second-year student at the University of Virginia School of Law, as editor-in-chief for its 112th year.
February 5, 2025
A new center on intellectual property at the University of Virginia School of Law harnesses the strengths of leading faculty in the field and offers real-world learning experiences for students.
February 4, 2025
Members of the Black Law Students Association at the University of Virginia conducted legal research pro bono and learned about the history of Cape Town, South Africa, while abroad over winter break.
February 3, 2025
Alumnus and Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear has been selected as graduation speaker by the Class of 2025 at the University of Virginia School of Law.
January 31, 2025
Students in the Human Rights Study Project at the University of Virginia School of Law spent a week learning about indigenous activism and living among locals in the Ecuadorian Amazon for their annual research trip.
January 29, 2025
John Whitfield ’81, Christine Dinan ’12 and Sarah Buckley ’14 will be honored at the ninth annual Shaping Justice conference hosted by the University of Virginia School of Law.
January 28, 2025
The First Amendment Clinic at the University of Virginia School of Law aided a journalist in obtaining public records during an investigation into the use of attack-trained dogs in state prisons, prompting legislative reform.
January 27, 2025
A University of Virginia School of Law clinic returned to the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday to argue a retirement benefit claims case, Cunningham v. Cornell University.
January 24, 2025
Third-year University of Virginia School of Law students Laura-Louise Rice and Shelby Singleton are this year’s recipients of the Swanson Award.
January 22, 2025
A new library exhibit captures what life was like after the University of Virginia School of Law moved to its home on North Grounds in 1974.
January 17, 2025
New courses offered this spring at the University of Virginia School of Law include Emerging AI Legal Issues, Contemporary Housing Policy Debates, and Pain and the Law.
January 16, 2025
Chief Justice S. Bernard Goodwyn ’86 of the Supreme Court of Virginia will speak Jan. 23 at the University of Virginia School of Law as part of UVA’s Community MLK Celebration, and two students will receive the Gregory H. Swanson Award.
January 15, 2025
The ninth annual Shaping Justice conference, aimed at inspiring students and lawyers to promote justice through public service, will take place Feb. 7 at the University of Virginia School of Law.
January 8, 2025
Amid the rows of legal texts that line faculty offices at the University of Virginia School of Law are artifacts that offer unique insights into professors’ professional endeavors and teaching careers. And there’s a story behind every memento. In 2000, Sarah Shalf ’01 was a summer associate at
January 7, 2025
University of Virginia School of Law professor Deborah Hellman has been awarded the 2024 AI2050 Prize for Established Researchers by the American Philosophical Association for her article “Measuring Algorithmic Fairness.”
Students in a University of Virginia School of Law clinic recently visited the U.N. Human Rights Council in Geneva to learn about diplomatic and legal efforts to support Ethiopia’s recovery from recent conflicts.
Victor Madrigal-Borloz discusses his work as U.N. independent expert on protection against violence and discrimination based on sexual orientation and gender identity. The talk marked the Human Rights Program kickoff for the year.
Careers
UVA Law faculty mentor students on fellowship and career opportunities, and students are invited to join an email list to regularly receive job and fellowship announcements. The faculty, many of whom have worked abroad, also offer a significant networking resource for those interested in human rights work. Students who intend to work in the United States and abroad have access to UVA Law Public Service Summer Grants of $5,000 (first year) and $8,000 (second year).
Summer Fellowships
The Law School offers grants, from approximately $5,000 to $78000, to help fund a broad array of summer public interest opportunities. In recent summers, students worked for:
- Asylum Access (Quito, Ecuador)
- Center for Human Rights Legal Action (Guatemala City)
- Institute for International Law and Human Rights (Washington, D.C.)
- International Bridges to Justice (New Delhi, India)
- International Center for Transitional Justice (Cape Town, South Africa)
- International Justice Mission (Guatemala City and Manila, Philippines)
- Minority Rights Group International (London)
- Parliamentary Monitoring Group (Cape Town, South Africa)
- Center for Applied Legal Studies, Gender Unit, University of Witwatersrand (Johannesburg, South Africa)
- U.N. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (Arusha, Tanzania)
- Secretariat of Pacific Communities (Fiji)
Where Public Service Summer Grantees Worked
Postgraduate Fellowships
Several opportunities for public international law related fellowships are available to Virginia graduates, including:
International Law Fellowship for the International Court of Justice Judicial Fellows Program
The University of Virginia School of Law has successfully placed several candidates in the International Court of Justice’s Judicial Fellows Program. When a candidate is selected, the UVA Law International Law Fellowship provides a stipend of $50,000 to assist with travel, living expenses and health insurance.
Monroe Leigh Fellowship in International Law
Provides a total of $10,000 for one or two students to pursue a public international law project of their own during a summer internship, during their third year, or after graduation.
Application Information
The Law School’s Financial Aid Office also offers a generous loan forgiveness program for students who take lower-paying public service positions after graduation.
Alumni Network
The program maintains a network of recent graduates involved in the human rights law field. Alumni employers include:
- International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
- Canadian Centre for International Justice
- Center for Constitutional Rights
- Center for National Security Studies
- Law firm Burke O’Neil
- EarthRights International
- Freedom House
- Council for Global Equality
- The Iran-U.S. Claims Tribunal
- Harvard Law School Human Rights Clinic
- Resettlement Legal Aid Project
- Section 27
- U.S. Senate Judiciary and Armed Services committees
- U.N. Office of Legal Affairs
- Women's Justice Initiative
University of Virginia School of Law professor Darryl Brown produced a Clooney Foundation TrialWatch report highlighting violations of international law and due process in the conviction of Azerbaijani opposition leader Tofig Yagublu.
A panel of immigration experts moderated by UVA Law professor Kevin Cope discuss how immigration issues may influence the upcoming election, and how the outcome could shape U.S. immigration policy. Panelists include National Foundation for American Policy Executive Director Stuart Anderson, attorney Tanishka V. Cruz, UVA Law professor Amanda Frost and UVA professor Jennifer Lawless. The event was sponsored by UVA Law’s Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program, and co-sponsored by the Miller Center, the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society.
Upcoming Events
Advocates for Life: Human Trafficking Awareness
Tuesday, February 25, 2025, 12:30-1:30 p.m.
Join AFL to hear a speaker discuss the impact of human trafficking and the efforts of lawmakers and human rights advocates in stopping it. Food will be provided.
Contact:
Gabriella Chellis
Sponsor
Advocates for Life at Virginia Law
WB103
A panel of immigration experts moderated by UVA Law professor Kevin Cope discuss how immigration issues may influence the upcoming election, and how the outcome could shape U.S. immigration policy. Panelists include National Foundation for American Policy Executive Director Stuart Anderson, attorney Tanishka V. Cruz, UVA Law professor Amanda Frost and UVA professor Jennifer Lawless. The event was sponsored by UVA Law’s Immigration, Migration and Human Rights Program, and co-sponsored by the Miller Center, the American Constitution Society and the Federalist Society.