CARDOZO SCHOOL Of LAW APPOINTS EDWIN REKOSH, LEADING HUMAN RIGHTS INNOVATOR, TO HEAD UP HUMAN RIGHTS INITIATIVES AND LAUNCH HUMAN RIGHTS FORWARD
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| Professor Edwin Rekosh |
September 16, 2016– New York, NY – Cardozo School of Law has announced that Edwin Rekosh will become director of human rights initiatives and visiting professor of law.
Professor Rekosh has worked in human rights for 25 years and is the founder of PILnet: The Global Network for Public Interest Law, which he created while teaching at Columbia Law School. As president & CEO, Professor Rekosh grew the organization into an operation spanning three continents in order to connect local advocacy groups to global resources, and he continues to serve as a senior advisor. He received the American Bar Association's International Human Rights Award in 2009, and is a co-founder of the Human Rights Watch Film Festival.
“We are delighted that Ed has come to Cardozo to oversee the growth of our human rights program,” said Dean Melanie Leslie. “Cardozo has a proud legacy of engagement in human rights and Ed brings a track record of success in building institutions.”
The Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights has been a leader in strengthening laws, norms and institutions to prevent mass atrocities and protect populations. The program was founded by Professor Richard Weisberg, who worked on groundbreaking litigation in holocaust restitution claims. His work led to historic settlements for victims of the Holocaust and their families, a small part of which was used to create Cardozo’s first human rights program. The program grew under the leadership of Professor Sheri Rosenberg, a leader in the global effort to establish a “responsibility to protect” doctrine of law to require countries to protect civilian populations.
“Cardozo is indebted to the pioneers of our human rights program,” said Dean Leslie. “Today we are building on that legacy as we mark Cardozo’s 40th anniversary with a new phase of growth which will help keep the law school at the forefront of global human rights efforts.”
Professor Rekosh’s work in human rights includes 10 years in Romania and Hungary assisting the development of human rights groups there and elsewhere in Central and Eastern Europe, as new constitutional orders emerged. He has pioneered innovative projects in China and in over 30 other countries in Europe, Asia, Africa and South America. Professor Rekosh is a graduate of Columbia Law School where he teaches Human Rights, Law and Development, and he has been a visiting professor at Central European University.
The dean’s strategic plan for human rights at Cardozo calls for building a place of innovative leadership with multiple human rights initiatives. As part of that plan, Cardozo is launching a new, cutting-edge program designed to address growing suppression of human rights advocacy around the world.
“The human rights community is now facing an existential threat from governments of all political stripes and other forces seeking to undermine its foundations,” said Professor Rekosh. “To respond, we need fresh thinking, agility and innovation. I am looking forward to mobilizing the entrepreneurial spirit at Cardozo to contribute to new solutions.”
Human rights initiatives at Cardozo include:
• The Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR), overseen by interim faculty director Carolyn Patty Blum. The institute supports scholarship, teaching and training to strengthen laws, norms and institutions that prevent mass atrocities, protect populations and rebuild societies. It includes the Human Rights and Atrocity Prevention Clinic, directed by Telford Taylor Visiting Assistant Clinical Professor of Law Jocelyn Getgen Kestenbaum.
• The Law and Armed Conflict Project, directed by Visiting Professor of Law Gabor Rona, explores novel approaches to scholarship, teaching and training in the complexities of law and war in the 21st century. The project looks at international law as it relates to the dynamic nature of war in areas such as state responses to terrorism, non-state actors like ISIS, and the new cyberspace battlefield. It also explores the growing role of private military and security contractors in war zones.
• Human Rights Forward, which focuses on three objectives: working through NGO networks to find new ways to respond to government attacks on public advocacy and freedom of association; engaging the business community in acting to support civil society; and developing new models for organizing local human rights activities. The mission is to spearhead innovation and to engage the business community in order to find new approaches to protecting and expanding human rights advocacy globally.
Cardozo’s human rights programs provide students with opportunities for active engagement in the most pressing issues at the intersection of law and human rights.
For more information contact:
John DeNatale
Assistant Dean of Communications
DeNatale@yu.edu
212.790.0237