Climate Legacy Initiative

The Climate Legacy Initiative (CLI) is a collaborative project of Vermont Law School (VLS) Environmental Law Center and The University of Iowa Center for Human Rights (UICHR).  Its overall purpose is to research and promote legal doctrines, principles, and rules appropriate for recognition by courts, legislatures, administrative agencies, and private sector institutions to safeguard present and future generations from harms resulting from global climate change.  It takes as given that climate change exists and affirms that lawyers have a vital role to play in both public and private discourse and action relative to it..  For more information, please click here.

Child Labor Project

The UICHR, to expose and understand this dire global issue, undertook its Child Labor Research Initiative (CLRI) between 2001 and 2004.  Among its major accomplishments were a series of teaching modules on child labor for primary and secondary school and a major database of child labor law in 31 countries around the world.

Protecting the Rights of Detained Immigrants and Asylum Seekers

Informational and training sessions for community members and law students

This new UICHR initiative will educate students and community members about the status of detained immigrants in Iowa, detention standards and issues; facilitate advocacy and research on immigration and detention policy and undertake data collection; provide resources for networking and coalition-building; and assist legal-service providers in informing detainees about their legal rights and remedies. For more information about the Jan. 27 training session, click HERE.

One Community, One Book

2007 Selection: Blood Done Sign My Name by Timothy B. Tyson

Launched in 2001 by UICHR founders Dorothy Paul and Burns Weston, One Community, One Book is an annual countywide reading project, coordinated by the UICHR, in cooperation with the UI International Writing Program, Prairie Lights Books, and a variety of other University and community groups. The project invites every adult and adolescent in Johnson County to discuss the same human rights-related text. To view the current selection, click HERE. To view a complete list of all One Community, One Book selections, click HERE.

UICHR Human Rights Index

The Human Rights Index, a continuing series, is prepared by the UI Center for Human Rights (UICHR) for publication in The Iowa Review three times annually before appearing on this Web site. First published in the Fall 2001 issue of the Review (pictured here), it is intended to suggest the global political/socio-economic context within which we read and write, reflecting a shared belief that human rights cannot be truly advanced without the virtues of the intuitive as well as the cognitive that are in each of us. To view a complete list of every Human Rights Index published to date, click HERE.