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ANNUAL REPORT October 2021 March 2023 The University Network for Human Rights

About the University Network for Human Rights The University Network for Human Rights adjacent to the campus of Wesleyan University in Middletown Connecticut is a nonprofit organization founded in 2018 We are committed to training the next generation in community centered interdisciplinary human rights advocacy in the US and globally For more information about the University Network visit humanrightsnetwork org COVER Elva Perrilloux holds a picture of her son Bryant who worked at the Denka DuPont plant in Reserve Louisiana and died of cancer at the age of 20 In 2023 following years of community led efforts the U S Department of Justice filed a legal action to compel Denka to reduce its toxic emissions The University Network for Human Rights has worked with the Reserve community since 2018 2018 University Network for Human Rights

TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION Our Mission 4 Our Framework for Human Rights Engagement 5 Letter from Our Director 6 Where We Work 8 2021 2023 ADVOCACY PORTFOLIO Environmental Racism and Forced Displacement in Mossville Louisiana 12 Continuing Abuses Against Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh 16 Documenting Atrocities through Film 18 Mining and Industrial Pollution in Peru 20 Holding Heads of State Accountable 20 Abuse of Honduran Deportees 22 Justice for Indigenous Leader Leonard Peltier 23 Safeguards for a Torture Survivor 23 What Happens to the Disappeared Exercising the Right to Truth in Mexico 24 Restorative Justice for Massacres in South Korea 25 Displacement of Indigenous Communities in Patagonia 26 UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS LA RED UNIVERSITARIA PARA LOS DERECHOS HUMANOS LE R SEAU UNIVERSITAIRE DES DROITS HUMAINS

UNDERGRADUATE DEVELOPMENT The Wesleyan Pilot Program 29 Wesleyan Human Rights Advocacy Minor 32 Human Rights Advocacy Training Simulation 33 Student Reflections 36 Wesleyan ACTS for Human Rights Program Launch 42 EXTERNAL ENGAGEMENT UNHR in the News 44 New Book by Thomas Becker 46 Our Events 48 Panels and Conferences 49 Human Rights Matters Podcast 50 INTERNAL ANNOUNCEMENTS The UNHR Welcomes Our New Team Members 53 Our New Headquarters 56 Multilingual Website 57 Our Partner Organizations and Communities 58 Our Advisory Committee 60 A REDE UNIVERSIT RIA PELOS DIREITOS HUMANOS REZO INIV SITE POU DWA MOUN

Our Mission The University Network for Human Rights facilitates supervised undergraduate and graduate engagement in the practice of human rights at colleges and universities in the United States and across the globe The University Network partners with advocacy organizations and communities affected or threatened by abusive state corporate or private conduct to advance human rights at home and abroad trains students in human rights protection and advocacy and collaborates with academics and human rights practitioners in other parts of the world to foster the creation of practical interdisciplinary programs in human rights 4

Our Framework for Human Rights Engagement Supporting grassroots social justice movements Training the next generation of advocates Working directly with affected communities 5

Letter from Our Director As I write the spring 2023 semester is well under way Nearly five years have passed since we began to imagine a new approach to promoting social justice through human rights at the university level The dominant approach both in the United States and abroad has focused on law schools and legal mechanisms as the sole area of training and engagement for university students interested in human rights advocacy This approach has always been insufficient As we watch the multiple crises that plague our world threatening not only human rights but also the very existence of the planet the inadequacy of the current model of human rights education has become increasingly evident In my conversations over the past several years with professors administrators provosts deans and university presidents agreement on this point has been universal Support for the idea behind the creation of the University Network has been nearly unanimous we need to create more spaces programs and avenues to train students to defend democracy the rule of law environmental justice and human rights But how And how to overcome institutional resistance and inertia These have been the challenges that have slowed the transformation that we seek to achieve These challenges and of course the COVID 19 pandemic Despite these obstacles we have made enormous and unprecedented advances since 2018 This report highlights a few of our more recent accomplishments We have strengthened our program at Wesleyan University transforming a pilot program into a fully structured Minor in Human Rights Advocacy page 32 and we have created an opportunity for students from a dozen schools in the Northeast to participate in this program expanding enrollment from eight to 32 students per year page 42 In all these efforts we have built the capacity of scores of students to promote human rights We also have joined a network of 30 universities in Latin America to expand clinical opportunities beyond law schools leading training sessions and developing programs with universities in Mexico and Brazil 6

While doing this as this report outlines we have partnered with communities in the United States and abroad leveraging the enthusiasm and hard work of students from Wesleyan Yale Columbia and Harvard universities the University of California and other institutions to promote respect for the rights of people living in these partner communities We have undertaken projects to confront environmental racism in Louisiana page 12 document ongoing violence against ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh page 16 challenge the abuse of deported Hondurans page 22 expose massacres in Bolivia under their interim president pages 18 20 support Peruvian communities that have been exposed to toxic contaminants from a U S led mining operation page 20 request precautionary measures for imprisoned Indigenous leader and U S political prisoner Leonard Peltier page 23 investigate cases of disappeared persons in Mexico page 24 document abuses by U S military personnel and partners during and immediately preceding the Korean War page 25 investigate displacement of Mapuche communities in Patagonia page 26 and obtain precautionary measures for the Indigenous Bolivian elected official and torture survivor Patricia Arce page 23 We hope that this report provides useful information on our efforts to push universities in the U S and abroad to fulfill their obligation to prepare the next generation of students to defend our rights and our planet It goes without saying that none of what we have accomplished would have been possible without those like you who have supported our vision both financially and with their service A special thanks to the members of our board who volunteer their time and wisdom And most of all our heartfelt appreciation for and admiration of those facing rights abuse Your courage and determination are a constant inspiration for us With my and our wishes for a great 2023 Jim Cavallaro 7

Where We Work Switzerland Connecticut New York North Dakota United States Louisiana Mexico Guatemala Haiti Western Sahara Honduras El Salvador Costa Rica Peru Brazil Bolivia Argentina

Armenia South Korea Palestine estine India Yemen

2021 2023 Advocacy Portfolio

Environmental Racism and Forced Displacement in Mossville Louisiana Once a thriving self sufficient enclave that residents described as a safe haven for African Americans the community of Mossville Louisiana is now a ghost town decimated by decades of environmental racism Founded over a century ago by formerly enslaved people Mossville is one of the earliest settlements of free Black people in the Southern United States Since the 1940s over a dozen industrial facilities including a chemical complex owned by South African fossil fuel company Sasol have steadily encroached on the community s historic boundaries In 2012 Sasol announced plans to expand Black people owned its existing complex by building two new facilities an ethylene cracker and a gasthat land for generations to liquid plant even closer to Mossville s and generations and fence line Mossville residents learned about Sasol s massive expansion for the generations first time through news reporting Nona Harris Mossville neither Sasol nor local government community member officials had consulted community members during the years long planning phase of the project which ultimately tripled Sasol s geographic footprint In 2013 Sasol launched a Voluntary Property Purchase Program for residents of two areas that bordered Sasol s expanded footprint Mossville and the predominantly white 12

neighborhood of Brentwood Mossville and Brentwood residents were eligible to sell their properties to Sasol and relocate In the ensuing years as the vast majority of Mossville residents participated in the program and moved away Sasol framed the buyout as a blessing for Mossville and declared it the most generous program in history Under the supervision of the University Network for Human Rights staff Ruhan Nagra and Josh Petersen a team of students from Amherst Harvard University of California Vanderbilt and Wesleyan investigated the Sasol buyout Students traveled to Louisiana and interviewed current and former Mossville residents to understand and document how community members experienced the buyout Students also conducted a quantitative analysis of all sales of residential property to I was going to stay Sasol during the buyout period to compare and die or leave and average property transaction amounts in Mossville with those in the predominantly try to hope to live white Brentwood neighborhood Mossville resident Many of the community members we interviewed reported that they experienced the buyout as forced displacement that the financial compensation they received was insufficient for relocation to homes of comparable quality and that they felt profound loss a sense of injustice and emotional and psychological distress as a result of the buyout We 14

also found that average property transaction amounts in Brentwood were about 88 higher than those in Mossville strongly suggesting that the buyout was racially discriminatory On November 17 2021 we published a 120 page report detailing our findings They Didn t Pay Us For Our Memories Environmental Racism Forced Displacement and the Industrial Buyout of Mossville Louisiana The next day we presented our report to the head of the Environmental Protection Agency Michael Regan when he visited Mossville as part of his Journey to Justice tour of communities in the region The report received extensive local and national media coverage including a 20 minute video feature in VICE News and an exclusive article in The Guardian Sasol never did care about the people All they care about is Sasol s bottom line Ronald Carrier Mossville community member Photos and quotes pages 12 15 from the VICE documentary How a Chemical Company Created a Ghost Town See page 44 for details 15

Continuing Abuses Against Ethnic Armenians in Nagorno Karabakh On September 27 2020 a 30 year frozen conflict over the disputed territory of Nagorno Karabakh erupted into 44 days of war between Armenia and Azerbaijan While a peace agreement brokered by Russia formally ended the fighting on November 10 2020 over two years on human rights violations continue At the same time there has been almost no progress towards accountability for the extrajudicial killings torture arbitrary detention enforced disappearance and forced displacement that occurred during the war Shortly after the war students at Harvard Yale and Wesleyan joined forces under the supervision of the University Network for Human Rights to document the ongoing violations in Nagorno Karabakh In March 2022 the University Network undertook a factfinding trip to Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh Supervisors Thomas Becker and Tamar Hayrikyan led a group that included students from Wesleyan and Yale Becker and a Harvard student conducted a follow up trip in June In March 2023 Becker and Hayrikyan led an additional follow up trip with Wesleyan students and a Harvard Law student If you love your children abandon this territory Azerbaijani loudspeaker broadcast near Armenian village Our team found that despite the presence of a Russian peace keeping force deployed on the first day of the cease fire border populations continue to face physical attacks harassment and threats to life so severe that many ethnic Armenians have again been forced to flee their homes in search of safety As our team continues its investigation into post war abuses one thing remains clear there can be no lasting peace while severe human rights abuses persist Azerbaijan Armenia and the international community must protect vulnerable populations The parties involved in the conflict must cease abuses and ensure access to justice and reparations for victims of human rights violations condemn abuses and ensure access to justice and reparations for victims of human rights violations 16

Documenting Atrocities Through Film In November 2019 the de facto Jeanine ez government in Bolivia carried out massacres in the town of Sacaba and the Senkata zone of El Alto killing dozens of Indigenous protestors and injuring hundreds The University Network and Harvard Law School s International Human Rights Clinic published a report in 2020 on the killings garnering coverage in The New York Times The Washington Post Al Jazeera The Guardian Le Monde and El Pa s among other news outlets The University Network has continued to work with the family members and other survivors of those killed in their struggle for justice Last year the University Network began filming a documentary on the 2019 massacres Six times in 2022 the documentary team including students from Wesleyan University and Trinity College traveled to Bolivia to interview victims family members witnesses human rights activists and government officials including two former presidents about the events The film focuses on two mothers one from the jungle lowlands the other from the Andean highlands as they seek justice for their children who were shot and killed The documentary has allowed students and the families affected by the killings to work together to share the victims stories 18

Mining and Industrial Pollution in Peru The small Peruvian town of La Oroya is one of the most polluted places in the world A massive metal smelting facility currently run by the U S based Doe Run Company has exposed the community to toxic contaminants linked to cancer damage to vital organs infertility and irreversible harm to respiratory systems Ninety nine percent of the town s children have heavy metals in their blood at levels substantially higher than the guidelines established by the World Health Organization The Peruvian government s failure to regulate the facility led the community to seek justice with the Inter American Human Rights System In October and November 2022 the University Network for Human Rights in collaboration with Yale Law School s Lowenstein Human Rights Project and Columbia Law School students provided support in the drafting of two amicus briefs to the Inter American Court of Human Rights in the case of The Community of La Oroya v Peru In one of the briefs international experts including former United Nations mandate holders and Inter American Commission on Human Rights officials drew on international law and best practices to urge the InterAmerican Court to adjudicate the case in accordance with global standards on the right to a healthy environment In the other amicus brief civil society organizations highlighted the need for urgent action by the Inter American Court to protect the community of La Oroya as well as the many communities facing similar rights violations throughout the Americas Holding Heads of State Accountable In October 2003 Bolivian state forces massacred Indigenous protesters and community members killing dozens and injuring hundreds in what has become known as Black October Following the killings Bolivian President Gonzalo S nchez de Lozada and Minister of Defense Carlos S nchez Berza n fled to the United States In 2007 nine relatives of victims brought a case Mamani v S nchez de Lozada before a U S court against the two officials for their roles in the massacres The University Network for Human Rights Legal and Policy Director Thomas Becker has represented the families since the beginning of the lawsuit 20 In 2018 a jury found both officials liable for the extrajudicial killings of the plaintiffs family members The landmark verdict marked the first ever successful lawsuit in the United States against a former head of state Following the jury s decision the defendants appealed the judgment against them The case is currently before the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals Over the past year students from Yale Law School and Harvard Law School have worked under the supervision of University Network attorneys and other members of the legal team to prepare a brief for the Eleventh Circuit

Abuse of Honduran Deportees Over the past decade Honduras has been plagued by violence corruption and political insecurity The country has one of the highest homicide rates in the world and the secondhighest femicide rate in Latin America Impunity for human rights abuses violent crime and corruption have become the norm in the country Hondurans at urgent risk of attacks extortion gang recruitment or other forms of violence have migrated to the United States in search of safety only to be returned to Honduras where they face the same conditions they initially fled or worse The University Network for Human Rights in collaboration with Yale Law School s Lowenstein Human Rights Project is investigating and producing a report on abuses against Hondurans deported from the United States In 2022 2023 the Yale students conducted desk research compiled a victim registry and began to draft the report Additionally in February 2023 a student from Trinity College joined UNHR supervisors on a factfinding trip to Honduras where they interviewed Hondurans who have experienced rights abuses after being sent back to the country 22

Justice for Indigenous Leader Leonard Peltier Indigenous rights activist Leonard Peltier is often considered to be the longest serving political prisoner in the United States Following a trial riddled with irregularities and misconduct he was convicted of killing two FBI agents and sent to prison in 1977 Despite the United States government s openly stating that it cannot prove that Mr Peltier committed the murders for which he was convicted he remains in prison after nearly a half century Those who have called for his release include renowned human rights activists and leaders such as Nelson Mandela the Dalai Lama Pope Francis Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Mother Teresa along with eight Nobel Peace Prize laureates including Rigoberta Mench Currently Mr Peltier is detained in a maximum security penitentiary in Florida where he has been denied adequate medical care for numerous potentially fatal medical conditions The facility which the U S Department of Justice found to be insufficiently staffed for the COVID 19 pandemic has failed to protect its prisoners from the virus Mr Peltier s delicate health situation worsened after he contracted COVID in the prison The University Network for Human Rights in collaboration with Yale Law School and Columbia Law School students provided support in drafting a request for precautionary measures which grant legal protections to those facing grave harms to the InterAmerican Commission on Human Rights on behalf of Mr Peltier Students have also begun drafting a petition to the Commission requesting his release to be submitted later in 2023 Safeguards for Torture Survivor Patricia Arce was the mayor of Vinto a town in the Cochabamba region of Bolivia In November 2019 members of the parastate Cochala Youth Resistance Resistencia Juvenil Cochala or RJC torched the city hall and kidnapped Ms Arce as she tried to escape The insurrectionists dragged her through the streets dousing her with paint cutting her scalp and torturing and sexually assaulting her The RJC paraded her through town for several hours before they handed her over to the police The University Network for Human Rights represents Ms Arce before the Inter American Commission on Human Rights The University Network has supervised Yale Law students assisting Ms Arce in obtaining and maintaining precautionary measures from the Commission 23

What Happens to the Disappeared Exercising the Right to Truth in Mexico Over 100 000 people have disappeared in Mexico since records have been kept The vast majority of the disappeared are never found Families of victims rarely discover the truth about what happened to their loved ones The wider context is one of near total impunity officials at every level of government are either directly responsible complicit or unable unwilling to investigate see the University Network s report Challenging Impunity in Mexico This year in collaboration with the Yale Lowenstein Human Rights Project and students at UCLA the University Network is laying the groundwork for a project that aims to advance the right to the truth for families and communities who are direct or indirect victims of disappearance as well as those who live in fear of disappearance In preparation for field research to collect testimonies about individuals who have been found either directly from victims or from their families students are conducting an exhaustive search of both English and Spanish language media to compile existing theories of what happens to the disappeared where when and why they are taken what happens to them while they are in captivity and who is responsible for their capture captivity and in many cases death as well as for the obstruction of investigations and access to justice 24

Restorative Justice for Massacres in South Korea In the 1940s 1950s and 1960s South Korean authorities massacred and disappeared countless civilians in an effort to eradicate left wing or communist political thought At times U S forces tacitly approved and oversaw these massacres at other times U S forces directly perpetrated them Almost without exception the massacres were indiscriminate lawless and exceptionally cruel These atrocities were subsequently forgotten during decades of authoritarian rule when speaking publicly about such issues would have been very dangerous Only recently has a quiet discussion of these events begun to re emerge at a time when many in Korea prefer to look to the future rather than the past Wesleyan students traveled to South Korea in January and March 2023 splitting their time between Seoul Daejeon Sejong Asan and Jeju do Students interviewed activists local historians survivors and family members of those killed These survivors stories remain largely untold The focus of this work is restorative and transitional justice nearly 70 years after the end of active hostilities in the Korean War 25

Displacement of Indigenous Communities in Patagonia The Mapuche and Tehuelche are the original inhabitants of Argentina s Patagonia region Following years of conquest thousands of Indigenous people were killed leaving only 120 000 Mapuche in Argentina Those who were not killed have been displaced particularly over the past several decades as foreign individuals and corporations have purchased large plots of traditional Mapuche lands In recent years Mapuche communities have sought to recover these ancestral lands in some cases through land occupation and in others through legal processes State forces and private individuals have retaliated by stigmatizing displacing killing and disappearing members of the Mapuche community In January and March 2023 Wesleyan students and supervisors traveled to Patagonia to investigate the land and human rights situation of the Mapuche The factfinding team interviewed Indigenous leaders human rights attorneys and officials as well as victims and their family members This spring at Wesleyan the students have begun drafting a report on the situation of Indigenous groups in Patagonia The report will serve as an advocacy tool for Mapuche communities facing abuses and fighting to reclaim their traditional lands 26

Undergraduate Development

The Wesleyan Pilot Program During the 2021 2022 academic year the University Network for Human Rights expanded the Wesleyan Pilot Program in Human Rights Advocacy University Network staff taught human rights advocacy courses at Wesleyan University and Trinity College We selected a cohort of students from these courses to participate in the 2021 2022 Wesleyan Pilot Program Selected students engaged in the University Network s rigorous Human Rights Advocacy simulation learned from University Network supervisors in an Advanced Human Rights Advocacy course collaborated on written and visual human rights projects and traveled with supervisors to sites of human rights abuse to carry out factfinding and documentation in partnership with affected communities 29

In June of 2022 I traveled to Cancer Alley Louisiana with the University Network where we partnered with community members to organize against environmental racism The University Network for Human Rights provided me the unparalleled opportunity to engage in meaningful human rights work as an undergraduate Anna Grant Bolton Trinity College Wesleyan Pilot Program Student 30

The Wesleyan Human Rights Advocacy Minor In 2022 the University Network for Human Rights partnered with Wesleyan University to launch the Human Rights Advocacy Minor The new Advocacy Minor builds on two former programs our Human Rights Summer Intensive and our Pilot Program in Human Rights Advocacy Selected students receive instruction from our experienced human rights experts and take courses on human rights writing standards and advocacy Students in the Human Rights Advocacy Minor also have the opportunity to participate in the human rights advocacy simulation engage in supervised factfinding and documentation trips and contribute to subsequent advocacy projects 32

Human Rights Advocacy Training Simulation Without comprehensive training students on human rights documentation and factfinding trips run the risk of retraumatizing or otherwise negatively impacting affected communities To reduce these risks the University Network has formulated and piloted a human rights simulation that allows students to learn and make mistakes in a controlled supervised environment In October 2021 seven Wesleyan and two Trinity students in the Wesleyan Pilot Program participated in a three day intensive simulation in which they were tasked with gathering information about a fictitious human rights crisis Nearly 50 actors participated playing the roles of villagers government officials police officers translators and rebels After conducting dozens of interviews students worked in small teams to write reports and participate in mock media and advocacy exercises Following the simulation each student received extensive individualized feedback on their performance and suggestions for improvement for future factfinding work A year later in October 2022 12 students in the Wesleyan Human Rights Advocacy Minor participated in the intensive simulation 33

The simulation exercise was truly a life changing experience that definitely made me learn a lot and develop really important skills It was crucial to see how complex factfinding can be and see where we could improve I also appreciated that the supervisors shared their own experiences and tips I cannot describe how helpful it was Lera Svirydzenka Wesleyan University Human Rights Minor Student ra The simulation exercise gave me the opportunity to thoughtfully exercise my skills related to communication empathy and factfinding I left the exercise more confident in my abilities to identify systems of injustice and use my skills to enact change Elijah Leshnick Wesleyan University Human Rights Minor Student The simulation was my favorite part of this course seeing what human rights work can look like in the field inspired me to want to pursue this line of work and the experience helped me feel more prepared for a real life scenario Kaori Sakurai Wesleyan University Human Rights Minor Student 34

Student Reflections Each year the University Network for Human Rights provides specialized human rights instruction to passionate undergraduate students Students work directly with affected communities to uproot systems of injustice and advance social change 36

From the classroom to the field Each day in Armenia consisted of a whirlwind of interviews that left me simultaneously emotionally exhausted and exhilarated I was no longer scouring the internet for news coverage on post ceasefire abuses but looking directly into the eyes of a soldier describing the brutal torture he endured as a prisoner of war detained in Azerbaijan Annie McGovern Wesleyan University Pilot Program Student The work I have done with University Network particularly in Armenia has been rewarding on an incalculable level The sense of community solidarity and empowerment that this work affords is something that can only be understood once you have experienced it Diego Olivieri Wesleyan University Pilot Program Student When I first applied to the UNHR s Wesleyan Pilot Program I never could ve anticipated how it would change my life It was through this program that I learned how to actively listen and interview research and write for a human rights report craft advocacy programming film professionally and connect with affected community members The close supervision and individualized feedback provided me an unparalleled opportunity to grow as a thinker advocate and person I am done simply learning about social justice in the abstract The UNHR made me fall in love with the messy beautiful real fight for human dignity Anna Grant Bolton Trinity College Wesleyan Pilot Program Student 37

I am skeptical of programs that take students to travel to other countries to do good It often becomes an excuse to utilize marginalized communities in other countries as learning props for foreign students I am glad to say that my experience with the UNHR was very different from the start The very first class we discussed To Hell with Good Intentions 1968 where Ivan Illich dissects the elements of self gratification and colonialism that do gooders incur during their well intentioned trips Moreover before I was even allowed to set foot into my first field experience with the organization the UNHR hired dozens of actors so a few students and I could make mistakes and learn in simulated complex situations Once in Bolivia I started the film project that we had been preparing under the direct supervision of instructor Thomas Becker This experience has renewed my faith that different and more ethical programs are possible The UNHR has managed to put together a carefully planned pedagogy professors that have been tackling human rights issues for decades and an impressive network of collaboration between universities I hope more students get the chance to be part of a programs like this Jose Ginocchio Moraiz Trinity College Wesleyan Pilot Program Student 38

The University Network for Human Rights presented me with a unique and life altering experience Engaging with directly affected communities and learning how to advocate effectively in real time is a skill that needs to be practiced not just discussed And if you need proof that I feel truly fulfilled by this work just ask my friends and family and they ll tell you that they now know more about post Soviet Armenian history than they ever would have imagined Annie McGovern Wesleyan University Pilot Program Student

Student Testimonial Factfinding in Argentina Between the years of 1976 and 1983 Argentina was controlled by el Proceso a military dictatorship that ruled the country with terror tactics that included kidnapping torture and assassination among other violations of human rights Particularly gruesome was the military junta s use of forced disappearances During the military dictatorship the government forcibly disappeared an estimated 30 000 people leaving countless families without answers or the possibility of retribution During our factfinding trip to Buenos Aires the pain and suffering caused by these forced disappearances was tangible as we stood in the cramped attic of the Escuela de Mec nica de la Armada ESMA the clandestine detention center where the desaparecidos the disappeared were held against their will tortured and killed We had read about the atrocities carried out at ESMA in Professor Cavallaro s Human Rights Advocacy course Now three months later we were in the facility seeing the remains of an elevator shaft that had been filled with cement a last minute effort by ESMA to conceal the torture rooms from the international human rights community The horrors of the military dictatorship became even more real as we met with some its most known victims In Human Rights Advocacy we learned about the Madres de Plaza de Mayo and the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo the Mothers and Grandmothers of the Plaza de Mayo Founded in 1976 as a response to the disappearances the Madres gathered at the Plaza de Mayo in front of the presidential palace every Thursday to demand answers about their missing loved ones The Abuelas inspired by the Madres formed to locate their grandchildren babies born in captivity to their kidnapped daughters

Together these organizations gained global recognition for their nonviolent community based advocacy One can t walk two blocks in Buenos Aires without seeing enormous vibrant murals of the Madres painted on the walls Incredibly we had the honor and opportunity to meet Mar a Adela Antokoletz for coffee Mar a is not a Madre in the typical sense her mother was Mar a Adela Gard de Antokoletz one of the original founders of the movement Mar a s brother Daniel had been forcibly disappeared in 1976 As she emptied a packet of sugar into her cortado Mar a passed around a pin with her brother s face and name Maria shared that he was a professor and a lawyer and his defense of political prisoners made him a target for the junta Mar a had grown up with the Madres fighting alongside these women for justice almost her entire adult life and now she is one of the organization s leaders At ESMA we read endless testimonies from former victims watched videos of the Madres desperately pleading for answers and touched the walls of rooms where women gave birth to babies who would be confiscated and rehomed with supporters of the regime With Mar a we had a chance to meet one of the women behind an internationally influential organization one that advanced the movement towards community based advocacy and altered the history of human rights All of it was incredibly chilling and intensely powerful To take information from the page and the classroom to the scenes of violations and conversations with activists was a once in a lifetime experience for us As undergraduates it was through the University Network that we were able to have these moments of connection moments that bridged our academic knowledge with real life Esm Smith and Sof a P rez Wesleyan University Human Rights Advocacy Minor Students

Wesleyan Advocacy Community based Training Semester ACTS Program Launch During the 2023 Fall semester the University Network will welcome the first cohort of inresidence Wesleyan ACTS for Human Rights students Students selected for the program will spend a semester at Wesleyan where they will gain an understanding of foundational human rights texts and critiques and sharpen their research writing and advocacy skills While on campus students will receive training from human rights experts practice their factfinding and documentation skills in our intensive simulation exercise and apply their skills to real world human rights projects under the guidance of our experienced supervisors Over the course of the program our supervisors and staff will provide personalized feedback to students developing students skills to advance human rights and social justice locally and globally 42 Through their projects students will directly support the work of communities facing rights abuse and injustice During breaks in the academic year students in the program travel to the site of rights abuse to work directly with affected communities in small groups of two or three students with a supervisor After their semester at Wesleyan and their field work students will return to their home universities or colleges but they will continue working on their supervised human rights projects in the subsequent semester During this period supervisors will meet both remotely and in person with the students via supervisors travel to participating students campuses and or return visits by students to Wesleyan

External Engagement

UNHR in the News From late 2021 to early 2023 the University Network for Human Rights received news coverage from leading domestic and global outlets including but not limited to The Washington Post The New Yorker The Guardian The Boston Herald CBS News Le Monde The Independent Al Jazeera The Intercept La Raz n Radio France Internationale New Orleans Public Radio The Connecticut Mirror The Advocate The Indian Express VICE NPR The Lens New Orleans Gulf Coast The Brooklyn Eagle Comcast Newsmakers Media Matters for America USA Today Democracy Now The Middle East Eye and Wesleyan University Magazine VICE Documentary In April 2022 VICE released a 20 minute documentary How a Chemical Company Created a Ghost Town which features the UNHR s work with the community in Mossville Louisiana 44

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New Book from University Network Legal Director Legal and Policy Director Thomas Becker published a book on Bolivia s 2019 crisis Coup A Story of Violence and Resistance in Bolivia The book documents the ousting of Indigenous president Evo Morales the wave of widespread rights abuses that took place during the de facto government s rule and the country s return to democracy in 2020 The book has received widespread praise including from Brazil s President Lula da Silva Pulitzer winner Greg Grandin ex President of Bolivia Eduardo Rodriguez Veltz and the Madres de Plaza de Mayo The book was a finalist for Duke University s Juan E M ndez Book Award for Human Rights in Latin America 46

Our Events In 2022 Executive Director Jim Cavallaro conducted an academic visit to solidify the Network s partnership with IBERO Mexico City as it develops an interdisciplinary human rights clinic In late 2021 and early 2023 we sponsored talks on human rights advocacy in Israel and Palestine by Omar Shakir the Israel Palestine Director at Human Rights Watch at several universities in the Northeast including Harvard Law School Yale Law School and Amherst Dartmouth Trinity and Bard colleges The events also offered an overview of the University Network s programs 48 In Fall 2022 Executive Director Jim Cavallaro facilitated a discussion at the Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs with Dr Yeghishe Kirakosyan on the enforcement of international law in Armenia Azerbaijan and Nagorno Karabakh

Panels and Conferences Our staff participated in academic and civil society conferences on a range of issues including human rights abuses in Bolivia following the coup forced displacement the Inter American Human Rights System climate change litigation and advocacy strategies in Nagorno Karabakh 49

The University Network for Human Rights is partnering with the New Books Network NBN to launch a podcast series on human rights advocacy The NBN is a consortium of authorinterview podcast channels covering 100 subjects disciplines and genres and reaching about a million people every month The University Network will release new episodes on cutting edge issues related to human rights globally featuring experts on a range of issues including human rights environmental and climate justice arbitrary detention social justice litigation and more 50

Internal Announcements

The UNHR Welcomes Our New Team Members Tamar Hayrikyan Tamar Hayrikyan is the Director of Programs and a Senior Supervisor She specializes in designing and facilitating participatory research methods for the defense of human rights She has led multidisciplinary and multicultural teams in applied research on a range of issues including enforced disappearances attacks against land rights defenders gender based impacts of the extractive industries and impunity for killings of journalists Born in Moscow Tamar grew up in Lynn Massachusetts She earned her undergraduate degree in Government from Harvard College where she was also a student in the Harvard Law School Honors Undergraduate Program in Human Rights Theory in Practice After graduating Tamar spent two years working with civil society initiatives promoting peace and human rights in Nagorno Karabakh a disputed region between Armenia and Azerbaijan where she was also a consultant with the International Crisis Group Upon earning a master s in International Political Economy through a dual degree program of the London School of Economics and Political Science and Sciences Po Paris Tamar settled in Mexico City As research coordinator of a regional corporate accountability organization she led the design and implementation of community driven human rights impact assessments of mining projects in Mexico She later co founded a social enterprise that advises grassroots organizations on documentation and analysis protection of human rights defenders and journalists information security organizational strengthening and coalition building Tamar speaks Russian Armenian English French and Spanish Celina Giraudy Celina Giraudy is a Clinical Supervisor at the University Network for Human Rights who is based in Buenos Aires Argentina As an attorney Celina has worked on the defense and protection of human rights in Argentina and the Southern Cone for more than 15 years Her work includes both litigation and advocacy in Argentina and abroad She holds a master s degree in constitutional law from the University of Salamanca and an LLM in Human Rights from Southwestern University where she was a Fulbright scholar Celina has worked as a professor at the University of Buenos Aires and at the University of Palermo where she has taught courses on human rights gender and legal professional practice Celina speaks Spanish and English 53

Sofia Galv n Sof a Galv n is a Senior Advisor at the University Network for Human Rights Galv n is an attorney and expert in human rights standards and practice and a specialist in the inter American system for the protection of human rights Galv n has particular expertise in the rights of persons deprived of liberty and those with disabilities She has researched documented and written or co written dozens of studies reports and articles on human rights abuses Prior to joining the University Network Galv n served for a decade as a human rights specialist in the Executive Secretariat of the Inter American Commission on Human Rights IACHR At the IACHR Galv n until recently held the post of coordinator of the Human Rights Monitoring Section that oversees the rights of persons deprived of liberty the rights of migrants and the rights of children Galv n also oversaw rights monitoring for 17 countries in the Western Hemisphere including Cuba Haiti the United States and countries in the Anglophone Caribbean Galv n spent five years coordinating the work of the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty Prior to joining the staff at the IACHR Galv n was the Director for Mexico and Central America of Disability Rights International Galv n trained in law at Mexico s leading law school the Universidad Nacional Aut noma de M xico UNAM and earned her LL M at the University of Notre Dame where she received a full scholarship Stephan Sonnenberg Stephan Sonnenberg is a senior affiliated supervisor with the University Network for Human Rights He is currently an associate professor and director of the Human Dignity Clinic and of the Difficult Conversations Clinic at Seoul National University School of Law Stephan previously taught at Harvard and Stanford law schools as well as at Bhutan s only law school the Jigme Singye Wangchuck School of Law where he served as 54 associate dean of Experiential and Clinical Legal Education Stephan s academic and clinical work focuses on the intersections between human rights development and dispute resolution He has worked on human rights issues in more than 20 countries and in a variety of contexts Much of his current work focuses on human rights issues of particular concern to the Korean Peninsula including issues related to human rights and emerging technologies corporate responsibility and accountability ESG the rights of persons who resettled from North to South Korea and various unresolved transitional justice issues arising from Korea s turbulent and tragic 20th century history He is also working on issues related to involuntary migration and climate change especially in the Asia Pacific region Stephan holds a JD from Harvard Law School an MA in Law and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School and a BA from Brown University Stephan speaks German English French and Russian and he is currently learning Korean

Jessica Tueller Jessica Tueller is a clinical supervisor at the University Network for Human Rights Prior to joining the University Network she completed a Robina Fellowship at the Inter American Commission on Human Rights where she worked across the Rapporteurship on the Rights of LGBTI Persons and the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women Jessica earned her JD from Yale Law School where she served as a student director of the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and of the Schell Center for International Human Rights and as a director of the Lowenstein Human Rights Project She graduated summa cum laude with an AB in History and Literature from Harvard College where she specialized in Latin America and pursued the secondary field Ethnicity Migration Rights Jessica s writing has appeared in The Yale Law Journal the Indiana International Comparative Law Review and the edited volume Ciencias y pandemia Una epistemolog a para los derechos humanos among other publications Jessica speaks English Spanish Portuguese and some French Kenny Morris Kenny Morris is the Program and Communication Associate at the University Network for Human Rights Prior to joining the University Network Kenny organized with logistics workers within the San Diego Tijuana Borderland The laborers including Kenny advocated for and won better pay transportation and enhanced safety procedures for thousands of workers He graduated with high honors and distinction in his major from the University of California Santa Barbara where he double majored in Global Studies and Communication His honors thesis examined the intersection of workers rights and effective movement building tactics During his undergraduate studies Kenny organized with the UC Cops Off Campus movement the Student Activist Network and the Santa Barbara Tenants Union SBTU He co founded the student community chapter of the SBTU the Isla Vista Housing Crisis Coalition which held community building events and tenant information sessions and pushed local government officials to extend an eviction moratorium in the months following the initial COVID 19 shutdown Kenny is a 2021 California Policy Lab Research Fellow He was also one of 11 students chosen from nearly 200 applicants to participate in the University Network s 2020 Human Rights Intensive He speaks English and Spanish 55

Our New Headquarters During the Spring of 2022 the University Network for Human Rights purchased a new building adjacent to Wesleyan University s campus The Network now directs operations from 101 High Street in Middletown Connecticut 56

You can now find our website content in English Spanish and Portuguese Select the language you prefer at the top left corner You will then be redirected to our website in that language English Espa ol Portugu s 57

Our Partner Organizations WESLEYAN UNIVERSITY CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS LEGALES Y SOCIALES HARVARD IMMIGRATION REFUGEE CLINICAL PROGRAM YALE ENVIRONMENTAL LAW ASSOCIATION MWATANA FOR HUMAN RIGHTS CENTRO PRODH CT BADEN W RTTEMBERG HUMAN RIGHTS RESEARCH CONSORTIUM CONCERNED CITIZENS OF ST JOHN PARISH SNU HUMAN DIGNITY CLINIC 58

and Communities ITESO UNIVERSIDAD JESUITA DE GUADALAJARA ANDEAN INFORMATION NETWORK HARVARD LAW SCHOOL IMMIGRATION PROJECT CONNECTICUT HALL OF CHANGE YALE LOWENSTEIN HUMAN RIGHTS PROJECT SANE ENERGY PROJECT EUROPE THIRD WORLD CENTER NARMADA BACHAO ANDOLAN INSTITUTE FOR MUNICIPAL REGIONAL POLICY 59

Our Advisory Committee Philip Alston John Norton Pomeroy Professor of Law NYU School of Law Luis Arriaga President AUSJAL and Universidad Iberoamericana Jamil Dakwar Director ACLU Human Rights Program Bernard Duhaime Professor of Law UQAM UN Working Group Member Leilani Farha Global Director The Shift Maina Kiai Director of Alliances and Partnerships Human Rights Watch Nadejda Marques Author and Human Rights Advocate Khadidja Nemar Co Founder MENA Rights Group David Palumbo Liu Louise Hewlett Nixon Professor Stanford University Deborah Popowski Human Rights Advocate Researcher and Educator Tracy Robinson Professor of Law University of West Indies C sar Rodr guez Garavito Professor of Clinical Law NYU School of Law Edward Telles Distinguished Professor of Sociology UC Irvine 60

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UNIVERSITY NETWORK FOR HUMAN RIGHTS October 2021 March 2023 REPORT Unless otherwise noted all photos University Network for Human Rights This report was published in April 2023 and reflects the activity of the University Network for Human Rights from October 2021 through March 2023