Nov. 2, 3 and 4, 2022, all in US Eastern time

Day 1 (Nov. 2) 10:30 AM-noon *Note the time change

Day 2 (Nov. 3) 10:00-11:30 AM *Note the time change

Day 3 (Nov. 4) 9:00-10:30 AM

This conference will be held in English on Zoom

Register here

As the innocence movement expands beyond national boundaries and the number of exonerations increases worldwide, scholars and advocates have identified an “innocence gap” in international law. International law should play a bigger role in pushing nation states to ensure fair opportunities for wrongfully convicted people to have their cases reviewed for factual innocence. Speakers at the conference will analyze how to move towards recognition of an international right to assert a claim of factual innocence. International law experts who have played a role in gaining recognition for other “new rights” will share their insights into how it can be achieved.

This conference features three panels held on three consecutive days (Nov. 2, 3 and 4):

Panel One features research on the “innocence gap” and preliminary ideas for closing the gap;

Panel Two discusses lessons learned from the creation of other “new rights” and the controversy this has sparked;

Panel Three focuses on how the new right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment was established.

Panel I: International Law’s “Innocence Gap”

November 2, 10:30 AM-noon (Eastern Time)

About this panel:

Over the last decade, a growing number of countries have adopted new laws and other mechanisms to address a gap in national criminal legal systems: the absence of meaningful procedures to raise post-conviction claims of factual innocence. These legal and policy reforms have responded to a global surge of exonerations facilitated by the growth of national innocence organizations that increasingly collaborate across borders. These developments have occurred with little direct help from international law. Although many treaties recognize extensive fair trial and appeal rights, no international human rights instrument—in its text, existing interpretation, or implementation—explicitly and fully recognizes the right to assert a claim of factual innocence. This omission is international law’s innocence gap. This panel will present its analysis of the gap and discuss ways to address it.

About the speakers:

Moderator

Luca Lupária is full professor of criminal procedure at the University of Milan (Italy). He serves as director of the Italy Innocence Project and president of the European Innocence Network. He has written monographs on core issues of criminal justice and several international scientific publications. He is a visiting professor at multiple American and European universities. He is also a criminal lawyer admitted to the Italian Supreme Court and Court of Cassation.

Panelists

Brandon L. Garrett is the L. Neil Williams Professor of Law at Duke University School of Law, where he has taught since 2018, and where he founded and directs the Wilson Center for Science and Justice. His research and teaching interests include criminal procedure, wrongful convictions, habeas corpus, corporate crime, scientific evidence, civil rights, and constitutional law. Garrett’s work, including six books, has been widely cited by courts, including the U.S. Supreme Court, lower federal courts, state supreme courts, and courts in other countries. Garrett attended Columbia Law School, where he was an articles editor of the Columbia Law Review and a Kent Scholar. After graduating, he clerked for the Hon. Pierre N. Leval of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit. He then worked as an associate at Neufeld, Scheck & Brustin LLP in New York City. Beginning in 2020, Garrett serves as the court-appointed monitor for the federal misdemeanor bail reform consent decree in Harris County, Texas.

Laurence R. Helfer is the Harry R. Chadwick, Sr. Professor of Law and co-director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at Duke University. He is a permanent visiting professor at iCourts: Center of Excellence for International Courts at the University of Copenhagen, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2014. Helfer has authored more than 100 scholarly publications, including four co-authored books, two edited volumes, and numerous articles in peer review law and political science journals. He has lectured widely on his diverse research interests, which include international law and institutions, human rights (including LGBT rights), and international adjudication and dispute settlement. Helfer was nominated by the United States and elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee for 2023 to 2026. He recently completed a four-year term as co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law.

Jayne Huckerby is clinical professor of law and the inaugural director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Duke University School of Law. Huckerby focuses on fact-finding, research, and advocacy in the areas of gender and human rights, gender and national security, human trafficking, and human rights in U.S. foreign policy. She frequently serves as a human rights law expert to international and regional governmental organizations and NGOs, particularly on gender, human rights, and national security, and the nexus between trafficking and terrorism. She has written and co-authored numerous articles, book chapters, and human rights reports and she is editor with Margaret L. Satterthwaite, of Gender, National Security, and Counter-Terrorism: Human Rights Perspectives and of the Research Handbook on Gender Issues and Human Rights (forthcoming).

Panel II: Strategies from Other New Rights Campaigns

November 3, 9:00 AM-10:30 AM (Eastern Time)

The concept of international human rights has greatly evolved over time and has expanded to incorporate new types of rights. Advocates, scholars, and human rights lawyers have gained invaluable experience in the course of promoting new rights and having them recognized as international human rights. In this session, two leading experts on human rights and the controversy surrounding the recognition of new rights will share their insights for the innocence community.

Moderator:

Jayne Huckerby is clinical professor of law and the inaugural director of the International Human Rights Clinic at Duke University School of Law. Huckerby focuses on fact-finding, research, and advocacy in the areas of gender and human rights, gender and national security, human trafficking, and human rights in U.S. foreign policy. She frequently serves as a human rights law expert to international and regional governmental organizations and NGOs, particularly on gender, human rights, and national security, and the nexus between trafficking and terrorism. She has written and co-authored numerous articles, book chapters, and human rights reports and she is editor with Margaret L. Satterthwaite, of Gender, National Security, and Counter-Terrorism: Human Rights Perspectives and of the Research Handbook on Gender Issues and Human Rights (forthcoming).

Panelists:

Dr. Inga Winkler is an Associate Professor in International Human Rights Law. She takes a socio-legal approach to her research, which focuses on socio-economic rights, gender justice and sustainable development. Her work bridges institutional protection and socio-cultural dimensions of human rights, global policy and grassroots movements, and critical reflection and practical application. Issues that are considered taboo, in particular sanitation and menstruation, have piqued her interest. Inga is the founder and co-director of the Working Group on Menstrual Health & Gender Justice and the co-chair of the University Seminar on Menstruation & Society at Columbia University. She served as the Legal Adviser to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation.

Her books include the first comprehensive monograph on the human right to water, the Handbook on Critical Menstruation Studies, and an edited volume on the Sustainable Development Goals

Mart Susi is the professor of human rights law and is heading a law program at Tallinn University. Professor Susi has initiated and is leading several research and development projects funded by the European Commission and the Nordic Council of Ministers. He has edited and is currently editing several research books on the topics of new human rights, the digital dimension of human rights, and the controversy around the meaning of human rights. He is developing the Internet Balancing Formula and has lectured on the topic at various universities in Europe and South America. He is the Management Board member of the European Fundamental Rights Agency, the Chair of the Global Digital Human Rights Network and is involved as an expert for the European Commission and non-governmental organizations. He edited The Cambridge Handbook of New Human Rights and has held senior positions in several academic institutions.

Sarah Chu joined the Innocence Project in September 2008. As the Senior Advisor on Forensic Science Policy, she leads policy work that focuses on improving the valid, reliable, and just application of forensic science and police investigative technologies. She has served as a member of the Scientific Inquiry and Research subcommittee of the National Commission on Forensic Science and was received the Legal Aid Society’s 2021 Magnus Mukoro Award for Integrity in Forensic Science. Sarah graduated from the University of California, San Diego with bachelor degrees in Biochemistry/Cell Biology, Communication, and a Masters in Biology, and holds a Masters in Epidemiology from Stanford University. She is currently a doctoral student in the Criminal Justice program at John Jay College of Criminal Justice/CUNY Graduate Center.

Mong-hwa Chin is an Associate Professor of Law at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University School of Law. He is currently the Associate Dean of the NYCU Office of International Affairs. He holds an SJD and an LL.M from Duke University and an LL.M from National Chiao Tung University, double-majoring in foreign literature and law during his undergraduate study. Professor Chin’s areas of research encompass criminal justice, evidence, law and psychology, wrongful convictions, and gender and law. He is dedicated to the promotion of gender equality, campus safety, and criminal justice and has served in several governmental commissions. He is also a board member of Taiwan Innocence Project and actively engages in the research of criminal justice issues.

Panel III: A Case Study: The Human Right to A Clean Environment

November 4, 9:00 AM-10:30 AM (Eastern Time)

About this panel:

In July 2022, the UN General Assembly passed a resolution recognizing the right to a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment as a human right. The UNGA called upon states, international organizations, businesses, and other stakeholders to “scale up efforts” to ensure a clean, healthy, and sustainable environment for all. It took five decades of advocacy to elevate the right to a human right of universal recognition. The distinguished panel of experts will walk us through the journey and highlight possible lessons for gaining recognition of a universal human right to claim innocence.

About the speakers

Moderator

Laurence R. Helfer is the Harry R. Chadwick, Sr. Professor of Law and co-director of the Center for International and Comparative Law at Duke University. He is a permanent visiting professor at iCourts: Center of Excellence for International Courts at the University of Copenhagen, which awarded him an honorary doctorate in 2014. Helfer has authored more than 100 scholarly publications, including four co-authored books, two edited volumes, and numerous articles in peer review law and political science journals. He has lectured widely on his diverse research interests, which include international law and institutions, human rights (including LGBT rights), and international adjudication and dispute settlement. Helfer was nominated by the United States and elected as a member of the UN Human Rights Committee for 2023 to 2026. He recently completed a four-year term as co-editor-in-chief of the American Journal of International Law.

Panelists

John H. Knox is the Henry C. Lauerman Professor of International Law at Wake Forest University. He graduated from Stanford Law School with honors in 1987, and worked at the U.S. Department of State and at a private law firm before joining academia in 1998. From 2012 to 2018, he served as the first UN independent expert, then the first special rapporteur, on the human rights obligations relating to the enjoyment of a safe, clean, healthy and sustainable environment. In 2018, in his final report to the Human Rights Council, he presented Framework Principles on Human Rights and the Environment. He is on the board of the Universal Rights Group and on the board of editors of the American Journal of International Law.

Sébastien Duyck is a senior attorney for the Climate & Energy Program at the Center for International Environmental Law (CIEL), and is the campaign manager for the human rights & climate change portfolio. He is based in Geneva. His work focuses on promoting the integration of human rights and public participation in climate governance and strengthening accountability for climate harms. Prior to joining CIEL, Sébastien worked as a consultant on related issues for the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the Mary Robinson Foundation for Climate Justice, the Heinrich Boell Foundation, Carbon Market Watch, the Climate Change, Agriculture and Food Security Research Programme (CCAFS), and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Marc Limon worked as a diplomat (rank of counsellor) at the United Nations Human Rights Council from the body’s establishment in 2006 until the end of 2012. This included participating in negotiations on the institution-building package (which determined how the Council would operate), on the Council’s mid-term review, and on a wide-range of thematic and country-specific issues over the course of twenty-on regular sessions and nineteen special sessions. Between 2006 and 2012, Marc prepared reports for and interacted with all UN human rights treaty bodies, drafted national reports under the Universal Periodic Review, and organized five Special Procedure country missions. He has first-hand knowledge of the international human rights system, how it works, its weaknesses, and the challenges it faces to improve its effectiveness. Marc was also a lead negotiator during the COP15 and COP16 climate change negotiations in Copenhagen and Cancun, securing the inclusion of human rights principles and safeguards in the Cancun Agreements.

Rebecca M. Bratspies is a professor at the City University of New York School of Law. A scholar of environmental justice, and human rights, Professor Bratspies has written scores of law review articles, op-eds, four books, including Environmental Justice: Law Policy and Regulation, and three environmental justice comic books Mayah’s Lot, Bina’s Plant , and Troop’s Run (with Charlie LaGreca). She serves on New York City’s Environmental Justice Advisory Board, and the EPA’s Children’s Health Protection Advisory Committee, is a scholar with the Center for Progressive Reform and a member of the NYC Bar Environmental Committee. ABA-SEER honored her work with its Commitment to Diversity and Justice Award and the Centre for International Sustainability Law named her its 2022 International Human Rights Lawyer.