NYU School of Law’s global initiative has always included a number of centers and institutes that bring students and faculty together with leaders in a variety of legal fields. In January 2015, the Law School launched the Robert L. Bernstein Institute for Human Rights with the ambitious mission of training the next generation of human rights leaders.
The Bernstein Institute, a research center promoting scholarship, education, and advocacy on human rights issues in the United States and abroad, is named after the founding chair emeritus of Human Rights Watch, who was also director and chair emeritus of Human Rights in China and founder and chairman of Advancing Human Rights. Bernstein serves as an advisory board member and donor to the Bernstein Institute. Professor of Clinical Law Margaret Satterthwaite ’99, who is a faculty director of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, was tapped to be the faculty director of the institute.
The institute’s inaugural conference in April focused on inequality and discrimination. The topics ranged from gender and disability discrimination in China to racial and ethnic inequalities around the world. Speakers included journalist and filmmaker Jocelyn Ford; Sharon Hom ’80, executive director of Human Rights in China; Strive Masiyiwa, founder and chairman of Econet Wireless International; Professor Jerome Cohen, faculty director of the US-Asia Law Institute; and Vince Warren, executive director of the Center for Constitutional Rights.
—
Multimedia