Human Rights Clinic - University of Miami School of Law

The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) issued an important press release on May 20 expressing “its deepest concern over the recent killings of women, children, and adolescents committed with fi****ms in domestic violence contexts in the United States.” The IACHR noted that “this reflects a structural problem related to domestic violence and armed violence,” and urged the U.S., following the recommendations in the Jessica Lenahan v. U.S. case, “to adopt effective due diligence measures to address this type of violence, provide comprehensive assistance to victims, investigate, prosecute, punish acts of violence, guarantee their protection against all forms of violence and provide reparations.”

The UMiami Law Human Rights Clinic is proud to have represented Jessica Lenahan in the landmark case of Jessica Lenahan (Gonzales) et al. v. United States. In that case, the IACHR established that “the State has the obligation to act with due diligence to prevent and protect victims of domestic violence, taking into account that it disproportionately affects women — particularly Indigenous, Afro-descendant, and/or low-income women — as well as children of all ages. The timely and effective implementation of protection measures is an essential component of this duty and is fundamental to protecting the lives and safety of victims.”

To read the IACHR’s full press release, visit https://www.oas.org/en/iachr/jsForm/?File=/en/iachr/media_center/preleases/2026/089.asp&utm_content=country-usa&utm_term=class-mon. To learn more about the Human Rights Clinic’s work on gender-based violence, including representation of Jessica Lenahan by Clinic students and Director Professor Carrie Bettinger-Lopez, please go to https://www.law.miami.edu/academics/experiential-learning/clinics/human-rights/projects/ .

In mid-May, University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic (HRC) Director and Professor Carrie Bettinger-Lopez, along with Professor Donna Coker and 42 other law professors and 13 organizations, submitted a Joint Statement to the House Judiciary Committee’s Subcommittee on Immigration Integrity, Security, and Enforcement.
Advocates and experts who serve, uplift and advocate on behalf of survivors of domestic violence, sexual assault, human trafficking and other crimes worked together on the Statement which was entered into the official record for a hearing about the importance of safe communities/sanctuary cities for immigrant survivors of gender-based violence (GBV). Many of the core arguments in the Statement are reflected in the “Web of Deterrence” graphic developed by former HRC Intern Avery Friedman.
The United Nations Working Group on Discrimination Against Girls and Women (UN WG DAWG) also submitted testimony as to the impact of law enforcement and immigration on survivors of GBV. The WG DAWG’s testimony can be found at https://lnkd.in/eUh5HqZa . To access the Joint Statement, visit https://lnkd.in/ejv9GsVS

It’s official! Volume 33 of the UMiami International and Comparative Law Review – a special edition featuring the Report, Human Rights in the Americas Symposium: An Examination of Past, Present, and Future – is out! This Report and 6 other related articles by symposium speakers and an Inter-American Human Rights Commissioner cover the week-long convening hosted by the University of Miami School of Law in November 2025, held in conjunction with the 194th Period of Sessions of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). Find the full Report at https://repository.law.miami.edu/umiclr/vol33/iss2/12 and the full ICLR symposium edition at https://repository.law.miami.edu/umiclr/vol33/iss2/.

The Symposium brought together scholars, advocates, policymakers, students, artists, and community members to assess the evolution, current challenges, and future trajectory of human rights in the Americas. The special edition serves as a resource for scholars and practitioners seeking to understand and advance human rights protections across the Americas.

Thanks to the of Miami International and Comparative Law Review, @ University of Miami School of Law Human Rights
Human Rights Clinic interns and fellows and the authors for their amazing work!!

In 2024, the number of unhoused persons on a single night across the U.S. reached the highest ever recorded, and rent increased at its fastest rate since 1986. At the same time, we’re facing unprecedented budget cuts and slashes to welfare and housing assistance

Did you know that the majority (60%) of unhoused families are led by single women with children?

And did you know that if you are unhoused in over 200 cities (including Miami Beach), you could be arrested for sleeping outside?

This semester, Miami Law Human Rights Program Faculty Director Tamar Ezer presented on homelessness and access to housing for women and girls at an official side event of the 70th UN Commission on the Status of Women.

Check out a recording of the session at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=In45vNmY_lM
Learn more about the Human Rights Program’s work on gender justice and housing at https://www.law.miami.edu/academics/programs/human-rights/initiatives/housing-rights/

This semester, the University of Miami School of Law’s Human Rights Program Faculty Director Tamar Ezer and Visiting Research Scholar Denisse Córdova Montes traveled to one of the most iconic neighborhoods in Atlanta to present at “Health, Well-Being, and the Law,” the Georgia State University Law Review’s 31st Annual Symposium.

Professors Ezer and Córdova Montes spoke on a panel on “Neighborhoods that Nurture: Community, Connection, and Collective Health,” alongside Professors Laura Hoffman, Cleveland State University College of Law, and Richard Weinmeyer, Loyola University of Chicago School of Law.

Professors Ezer and Córdova Montes discussed a human rights approach and collective responses to hunger and homelessness.

Check out an abstract of their article at https://miami.box.com/s/bi256gg5f1lohoftm2lzr640bdh6rdhi and please see a recording of the symposium at https://www.dropbox.com/scl/fi/gsmaumyvvugh1b4ev7zi4/Law-Review-s-31st-Annual-Symposium_default.mp4?rlkey=gw570xpi2orbqlytbu1zqufxl&st=z0tqcasy&dl=0

Bad policy starts with bad information. The Clinic's Housing Justice team created this factsheet to set the record straight on 10 housing and homelessness myths. Access it here: https://miami.app.box.com/s/ve0hq1o2m7qng9kzj2rp9ul0cjawp3o8

In recent years, discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community in the U.S. has worsened. In 2025 alone, the ACLU tracked 616 bills across the country that it described as anti-LGBTQ+.

To draw attention to the ongoing rights violations, including increased attacks against the transgender community, the Human Rights Clinic submitted a report to the Universal Periodic Review. The Universal Periodic Review is a key mechanism of the United Nations’ Human Rights Council that enables peer review of a country’s human rights record. Our report highlights discrimination in three key areas, education, health, and housing, and provides recommendations for the U.S. government to ensure human rights for the LGBTQ+ community.

Read the report using link in bio!

Thank you to our partners on the submission, the .law.school’s Gender Justice Clinic, the Nathaniel R. Jones Center for Race, Gender, and Social Justice, Southern Legal Counsel, , , the ’s International Human Rights Clinic, , and the

In 2024, the number of unhoused people in the United States reached 771,480 — the highest ever recorded — and grew by more than 18% in a single year. Federal budget cuts, the rollback of fair housing protections, and a Supreme Court ruling that authorized the criminalization of homelessness have only deepened the crisis.

To draw attention to these ongoing rights violations, the University of Miami School of Law Human Rights Clinic and partners submitted a report to the United Nations’ Human Rights Council for its Universal Periodic Review of the U.S. The Universal Periodic Review is a key UN mechanism through which each country’s human rights record is peer reviewed. Our report highlights the criminalization of homelessness and the lack of access to adequate housing — including issues of affordability, habitability, and racial disparities — and provides recommendations for the U.S. government to fulfill its human rights obligations. Read the report at https://miami.box.com/s/9mnegceio8tk9v3bm1v5ty6sy2e553k0.

Thank you to our partners on the submission: the National Homelessness Law Center, Florida Coalition to Advance Racial Equity (FCARE), Funders Together to End Homelessness, Human Rights Cities Alliance, National Coalition for the Homeless, Santa Clara International Human Rights Clinic, Southern Legal Counsel, Southern Poverty Law Center, and SMASH.

Congratulations to our incredible Human Rights Clinic students on their graduation! Your dedication and commitment have made a lasting impact. We can’t wait to see all the amazing things you’ll continue to accomplish. 🎓

In April, the Miami Law Human Rights Clinic's Housing Justice team traveled to the University of Dayton to participate in the Social Practice of Human Rights Conference: Creative Resistance – Artivism, Technology, and the Right to Dissent ( ).

Across three days, the conference brought together artists, advocates, scholars, and organizers working at the intersection of human rights, creative practice, and social change. Conversations ranged from artivism and storytelling as resistance, to the implications of artificial intelligence for rights and dissent, to the evolving role of international law in shaping future frameworks of accountability.

With Red Line Service, a Chicago-based collective of artists with lived experience of houselessness, the Clinic team co-facilitated a right to housing workshop, titled Reimagining Law and Art to Advance the Right to Housing. The session unfolded through collaborative printmaking, where people didn't just talk about housing but worked through the complexities and success of realizing the right to housing together: building relationships, crossing lines between groups, and pulling apart the stories that shape who gets to belong.

The convening culminated in a strategy session, where leaders across the human rights field came together to map the current ecosystem, reflect on internal tensions, and think collectively about how to build a more durable and widely understood human rights culture in the United States.

For a few days, the boundaries between disciplines, roles, and approaches felt less fixed, making it easier to see how this work might move differently, and more collectively, beyond the conference itself.

We are grateful to the University of Dayton Human Rights Center for hosting, and to Red Line Service for the ongoing collaboration that made this workshop possible.