With our innovative courses, globally renowned experts and opportunities to launch students into human rights careers, there is no better place to study human rights law than the Promise Institute.

Indigenous Land Defenders of Brazil: In Memoriam (2019-2022)

Our November 2023 report looks at the deaths of thirteen Indigenous leaders along with emerging regions of risk in Brazil, and is unique in the way that it maps the threat Indigenous land defenders face as they stand up to extractivists.

Promise Institute Assistant Director and head of our Digital Investigations Lab, Prof. Jess Peake noted “The report is a powerful advocacy tool which highlights a small fraction of the deaths of Indigenous Peoples in Brazil, many of which remain otherwise invisible to outside communities.”

Learn More about the Defenders and our Report

Human Rights Litigation Clinic joins Mirmehdi Brothers before the IACHR

Watch the recording of the Mirmehdi Brothers, accompanied by students from our Human Rights Litigation Clinic, testifying in Washington D.C. before the IACHR on the brothers’ 41 month arbitrary detention and U.S. courts’ denial of remedy.

Watch the Recording of the Hearing

UCLA Law Launches Institute for Human Rights in The Hague

Promise Institute Europe expands UCLA’s impact as a leading voice in international human rights law and policy.

Learn More About Our Newest Sister Institute

Professor E. Tendayi Achiume Honored with MacArthur Fellowship

Promise core faculty, Prof. Achiume earned ‘genius grant’ for her widely impactful work on race, migration and international law.

“If we’re fighting for the kind of world we want to live in, the law is at the center of that fight and is a site of contestation we cannot cede.”

Learn More About Achiume’s Work & Award

Events

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The U.S., Torture & Human Rights

Read our UN Human Rights Committee submission with co-counsel on behalf of Abu Zubaydah asking for an effective remedy for his torture and arbitrary detention without charge over the course of 21 years. We call for his immediate release.

Read the UN Human Rights Committee Submission

Check out the newest additions to our Race & Human Rights Reimagined Initiative

Reports, Executive Summaries, a Primer & More!

The Tip of the Iceberg

Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh Briefing Paper

Our September 2023 briefing paper rightly identified the impending ethnic cleansing and genocide ramping up against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh. Tragically, we have seen it come to pass.

Produced in collaboration with University Network for Human Rights, Harvard Law School Advocates for Human Rights, Wesleyan University, and Yale’s Lowenstein Project as a result of two fact-finding trips in Nagorno-Karabakh/Artsakh and four in Armenia between March 2022 and July 2023.

Read the Briefing Paper

Output

We engage our students and our research to drive positive real-world impact.

How We’re Impacting Human Rights

Faculty / Experts

Our professors, lecturers, speakers, fellows and researchers represent the vanguard of human rights thinking.

Meet the Promise Experts

Courses

We offer an inspiring education in human rights that goes far beyond the law.

Explore Our Classes

Press/Media Appearances

See why The New York Times, NPR and ABC News are just a few of the outlets reaching out to our experts for their insights

Take Me to Press/Media Page

Court Cases

A valuable resource hub for information related to our publicized cases — including context, court documents and more

Dive into Our Ongoing Cases

Publications

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