Conference: Reimagining Rights in the Americas

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Respect for human rights is the backbone of democratic self-government. The development of the human rights frame has itself progressively democratized and become a central part of the language and practice of social movements, including movements for racial justice, climate justice, the rights of Indigenous people, and the rights of persons in human mobility. The Reimagining Rights in the Americas Conference will explore the leading edge of human rights norm creation in these areas by convening scholars, advocates, members of impacted communities and representatives of international human rights bodies. Additionally, it will address the gaps and contradictions that exist between recognition and protection of human rights in the United States political and legal system, the human rights demands of impacted communities and social movements, and the work of promotion and protection of human rights in the Inter-American System for Human Rights.The Reimagining Rights in the Americas Conference will coincide with the visit of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights to the UCLA campus for its 187th Period of Sessions. The Conference is designed with various components to achieve the goals of advancing the human rights frame in the areas of race, indigeneity, migration, and the environment, and enhancing its applicability to the challenges faced in these issue areas in the United States context. The Conference will open with a Symposium on the topic of “Bringing Human Rights Home: bridging the gap between the international and domestic frames for human rights in the United States.” Following the Symposium, Commissioners and Special Rapporteurs of the Inter-American Commission will visit Skid Row in Los Angeles to meet with the unhoused community and their advocates. During the period of sessions, the Conference will host a series of keynotes on the human rights frame from perspectives of racial justice, the rights of Indigenous peoples, and the rights of persons in human mobility. The Conference will also co-sponsor a civil society forum with the Commissioners on International Women’s Day to discuss the intersection of gender and the rights of women with these same issue areas. Finally, the Conference will end with a special convening of the Commissioners and Special Rapporteurs of the Inter-American Commission, Special Rapporteurs from the United Nations Human Rights Council, and leading subject matter experts from both academia and social movements on the topic of the Climate Crisis and Human Rights. Symposium papers will be published in one of the signature journals of UCLA Law School, and a record of the other Conference proceedings will be made available on the website of the Promise Institute for Human Rights.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.