The Environment
The link between human rights and the protection of the environment is increasingly recognized, fueled by the urgency of the climate crisis. There are no human rights on an unliveable planet.
Ecocide Law
Our focus on the environment and human rights has led to the Promise Institute helping develop ecocide law. This revolutionary new law has Greta Thunberg, UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, Pope Francis and thousands more worldwide calling for its adoption.
Affiliated Faculty and Promise Institute Europe Executive Director Kate Mackintosh was a key author of the law, noting “It’s obvious—on a moral and intuitive level—that destroying our planet should be considered an international crime.”
Standing with Indigenous Land Defenders
The violence against Indigenous land defenders is as pervasive as it is shocking. Through our Reimagining Rights in the Americas Project, we are helping a number of Central American communities protect their environment, while seeking accountability for the atrocities and assassinations their communities have endured.
Tracing the Roots of Climate Vulnerability
We are collaborating with NYU Law’s Global Justice Clinic on their Caribbean Climate Justice Initiative, seeking to understand how Haiti and the Dominican Republic’s suffering under colonialism, slavery and imperialism (and their resonance today) profoundly exacerbates the nations’ vulnerability in the face of climate change.
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