The Crowley Program is Fordham’s first experiential program in international human rights law. It teaches students to become grounded and strategic international human rights lawyers through fact-finding, advocacy, and legal analysis projects in partnership with human rights activists, NGOs, and international organizations.

Overview

The Joseph R. Crowley Program in International Human Rights was founded in 1997 and has consistently provided Fordham Law School students with the opportunity to develop the skills needed for critical international lawyers. For the first 15 years of the program, students were assigned to a single year-long project resulting in a fact-finding report based on field research in partnership with an NGO.  At the end of their first year of law school, a group of approximately eight law students are selected to become Crowley Scholars who now work on a selection of interrelated projects that approach complex human rights concerns. Through collaborative engagement with activist, community, NGO, and international organization partners, students identify and implement human rights actions challenge human rights abuses and advance social justice.

The Crowley Program has developed long-term relationships with advocates and groups and works on many multi-year, long-term programs that aims to provide ongoing support and capacity sharing.

Student Experience

Crowley Scholars apply before their year and are selected before the beginning of the fall semester. They enroll in an intensive academic program in human rights theory, practice, and advocacy, taking the human rights or international law survey class in the fall semester as a co-requisite, and enrolling in the Crowley Program seminar. In the seminar, students examine the core tools and skills of a human rights lawyer, including fieldwork and fact-finding; litigation and non-litigation strategies; legal research and its range of sources; emerging research methods and technologies; and international avenues and mechanisms, reflecting on their impact, accessibility, ethics, and use. Fieldwork is undertaken when the projects demand it.

Application

2026-2027 Crowley Scholar Application will be posted in Spring 2026.

Rising Fordham Law School 2Ls (and 2LE/ 3LE) will be able to apply for the Crowley Program in Fall 2026. The application will open in early 2026.

Applications will be due by the end of the Spring semester, and students selected for an interview will be contacted individually. In Fall 2026, students will be required to register for one of a selection of international human rights/ international law classes, and a 2-credit independent study.

Past Work

UN Advocacy

Global: Supporting the UN Special Rapporteur on Counter Terrorism and human rights, 2023-2024: Crowley Scholars supported the UN mandate on an examination and analysis of counter terrorism provisions of State regional organizations in Asia and their impact on human rights, in advance of the 2024 report to the General Assembly.

Myanmar: Strengthening Engagement with International Mechanisms, 2018 (in partnership with networks of local women’s rights organizations): Human rights workshop in Myanmar supporting capacity building for using CEDAW and the UN Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women as a means of strengthening human rights enforcement on the ground.

Access to Justice

Afghanistan and the United States: Evacuations for Vulnerable Groups, 2021-2023 (in collaboration with a range of human rights defender networks and advocates working on evacuations from Afghanistan after the United States withdrawal): Crowley Scholars and other Leitner Center students participated conducting legal research into legal pathways for individuals fearing retaliation from the Taliban after their return to power following the US withdrawal; briefing memos were created for a lay audience and translated to Dari and other Afghan languages, and made available online as part of a collaboration with PILnet. Following this advocacy research, the Program conducted ongoing research supporting a report on the evacuations from Afghanistan and challenges people at risk faced to leave.

Thailand and Myanmar: Rights of Refugees, 2015: This Crowley project investigated violations of refugee rights in Thailand, with a particular focus on the international principle of non-refoulement, which protects refugees from being returned to a place where their life or liberty is at risk. Thailand hosts approximately 110,000 Burmese refugees in nine camps along its border with Myanmar. Refugees have seen a dramatic decrease in available services and resources while the Thai government has increased its strict enforcement of rules that severely limit refugees’ right to work and freedom of movement, creating conditions that threaten to force refugees to return to Myanmar, where their life or liberty may still be at risk. The resulting report, Stranglehold Refoulement: Fear of Constructively Forced Returns of Burmese Refugees as a Consequence of Thailand’s Combined Human Rights Violations, was based on interviews in Thailand and Myanmar, and follow-up advocacy through UN human rights mechanisms was also conducted.

Cambodia: Mental Health and Human Rights, 2011 (in collaboration with Transcultural Psychosocial Organization Cambodia (“TPO-Cambodia”)): A focus on human rights has largely been missing from the global health agenda and often ignored in countries in the global health despite significant health, economic, social, and human rights ramifications. Persons with mental disabilities are also reportedly amongst the most marginalized groups in Cambodian society. The report resulting from this project, Mental Health and Human Rights in Cambodia, was based on numerous interviews stakeholders and experts in the field, including persons receiving and providing mental health and psychosocial support services, disability right advocates, public health practitioners, members of the government and the judiciary, academics, lawyers, community organizers, local leaders, and non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, whose expertise informed a broader understanding of the issues.

Malaysia: Civil and political rights, 2002: A report examining Malaysia’s Internal Security Act resulted from over 100 interviews in Malaysia conducted by the Crowley Fellow and faculty, students, and Judge Azhar Cachalia of the Johannesburg High Court of South Africa. Interviews focused on the over-use of the ISA and impacts on human rights, and were conducted in Kuala Lumpur, Terangganu, and Kelantan, states controlled by the Parti Islam Se-Malaysia, as well as in Penang. The report, Unjust Order: Malaysia’s Internal Security Act, was published in 2003.

Hong Kong: Legal Reform and Human Rights, 1999 (in partnership with the New York City Bar Association): Fact-finding and educational exchange in Hong Kong to examine fundamental human rights standards in light of Hong Kong’s then new return to rule under Chinese sovereignty. The project investigated the maintenance of the rule of law, particularly the independence of the judiciary and the integrity of judicial decisions, the progress made toward the greater democratization of the Hong Kong government, and the protection of fundamental rights including labor rights and racial and gender equality. Together with faculty and students, U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Sand joined to conduct nearly one hundred interviews with judges from the Hong Kong Court of Final Appeal, labor leaders, journalists, legislators, members of the Hong Kong Bar Association and Law Society, and academics from several universities. The report, “One Country, Two Systems? The Rule of Law, Democracy, and the Protection of Fundamental Rights in Post-Handover Hong Kong”, was published by the Fordham International Law Journal as well as the City Bar’s periodical, the Record.

Gender Equality

Bangladesh: Rights of the Trans Community, 2014: The Crowley team worked to document human rights violations against the LGBTQI+ community in Bangladesh with a particular focus on the rights of trans people accessing remedies after their rights are violated. Even with local and international legal protections affirming non-discrimination, in practice, gender and sexual minorities face many obstacles in accessing legal remedies.

Tanzania: Urban Housing Crisis, 2010 (in partnership with several groups, most notably the Dar es Salaam-based Women Advancement Trust–Human Settlements and the Centre for Community Initiatives): This project sought to grapple with the right to housing in Tanzania at a time with growing poverty and a worsening homelessness crisis. Women are the face of poverty in this growing urban landscape; their inability to escape discriminatory cultural and legal norms reportedly contributes to their increased migration to urban areas, and little work has been done to investigate the disparate impact that living in housing lacking essential services has on these women. The report, A Home in the City: Women’s Struggle to Secure Adequate Housing in Urban Tanzania, was based on interviews with members of the government, the judiciary, academics, lawyers, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, community organizers, men and women living in informal settlements, and local leaders.

New Zealand: Efforts to Eliminate Violence Against Women, 2008 (in collaboration with Amokura Family Violence Prevention
Consortium): In an effort to combat violence against women, New Zealand has enacted legislation and regulations which aim to prevent and eliminate domestic violence, but domestic violence rates remain high, particularly within Maori communities. The report, “It’s not OK: New Zealand’s Efforts to Eliminate Violence Against Women, resulted from over 150 on-the-ground interviews, and aimed to identify persisting barriers to a reduction in violence against women. Amokura Family Violence Prevention Strategy from New Zealand was presented with the Leitner Center’s Human Rights Prize in 2009; accepting the award on behalf of Amokura were the organization’s Executive Director Di Grennel and Advocacy Legal Analyst Ani Pitman.

Malawi: The Feminization of HIV/AIDS, 2007 (Coalition of Women Living with HIV/AIDS (COWLHA): The project in Malawi documented the impact of stigma and discrimination on the lives of women living with HIV/AIDS (WLWHA) in Malawi. The report, We Will Still Live: Confronting Stigma and Discrimination Against Women Living with HIV/AIDS in Malawi, resulted from over 500 interviews with women and men in rural areas, traditional leaders, commercial sex workers, police officers, students, educators, lawyers, health workers, government workers, and UN representatives. The project also resulted in a 32-min. documentary called The Face of AIDS–a three-minute summary can be viewed online. The Leitner Center’s partner COWLHA  was recognized at the XVII International AIDS Conference in Mexico City, Mexico, in August 2008, where COWLHA received a prestigious Red Ribbon Award. Executive Director Daphne Gondwe accepted the award on behalf of COWHLA, and the Leitner Center presented Ms. Gondwe with a Human Rights Prize in 2007.

South Africa: Legal Pluralism and Gender Equality, 2006: This project studied issues surrounding women and customary law marriages in South Africa in light of its international legal commitments. South Africa’s legal pluralism has long presented challenges for the country’s legislature and judiciary, with women living within these systems of law invisible and without recourse to justice outside of traditional institutional remedies. South Africa’s constitution now enshrines the right to culture and religious freedom, and makes explicit provision for the recognition of cultural and religious marriage. The constitution also includes a robust set of individual rights, principal among them the right to equality, often at odds with traditional and religious practices. The project, based on interviews in South Africa, resulted in the report, Gender Equality and Customary Marriage: Bargaining in the Shadow of Post-Apartheid Legal Pluralism.

Ghana: Women’s Inheritance Rights, 2001 (in collaboration with Women in Law and Development in Africa and the International Federation of Women Lawyers): Examination of women’s property rights under customary law and the enforcement of the 1985 Interstate Succession Law. The Crowley Program also worked closely with Judge Deborah Batts. The delegation was able to conduct wide-ranging interviews, including one with the President of Ghana, John Kufour. In addition, a camera crew from the Teaching Learning Network, an affiliate of PBS Programming, accompanied the Program delegation to Ghana and filmed a thirty minute documentary about the Crowley Program and the Ghana project as part of its Voices of Vision series. The project resulted in a report, Promise Unfulfilled: Law, Culture, and Women’s Inheritance Rights in Ghana.

Sustainable Development

India: The Rights of Workers in the Informal Sector, 2020: The Crowley Program partnered with local advocate networks and unions of sex workers, street vendors, and other workers in the informal economy to create joint capacity sharing trainings and create submissions to international bodies to strengthen international protections for workers in the informal economy. Some preliminary fieldwork was undertaken and interviews conducted, but the capacity sharing workshop had to be canceled and reframed for remote undertaking due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

South Africa: Land Tenure Security and Traditional Governance, 2017: This project focused on land dispossession of poor black communities in South Africa. As a result of colonial and apartheid laws and policies, the land rights of communities living on communal or traditional land are not recorded and are legally insecure. These communities remain vulnerable to having their land taken with no consultation or compensation when questions of development and land use arise. Communities living on resource rich land, including minerals and petroleum, crushed stone, sand, or suitable for agriculture, are particularly vulnerable to land dispossession as a consequence of the current legal framework that does not adequately recognize or protect their rights to land. There are policies, laws, and drafts laws in place that undermine or disregard the land rights of these communities, and prioritize development and land uses that result in the dispossession of the land of black communities across South Africa.

Rwanda: Human Rights of People with Disabilities, 2013: Crowley Scholars worked to document the experiences of people with disabilities in Rwanda, paying particular attention to the unique barriers that confront people with disabilities seeking inclusion and inclusive education.  Despite national and international human rights protections providing that people with disabilities should be included in all aspects of society – especially in education – in practice, people with disabilities face a number of challenges that prevent their equal access to education and its attendant benefits. The Crowley team conducted interviews with stakeholders and experts in the country, including members of disabled persons organizations (DPOs), the government and its partners, scholars, lawyers and advocates, as well as local leaders.

Nepal: Land Rights and Tenure Security (in partnership with the Community Self-Reliance Centre): Land access, land tenure security, and related land rights are fundamental bases for the right to an adequate standard of living and are tied to the indigenous, ethnic, and cultural identities of peoples. Yet the problem of landlessness is growing worldwide, and in Nepal, estimates suggest that over half the population is functionally landless. This project aimed to highlight these challenges in a post-conflict country, where landless people are disproportionately indigenous, of lower castes, and are women. The delegation from the Leitner Center and the Community Self-Reliance Centre interviewed members of the government, the judiciary, academics, lawyers, non-governmental and inter-governmental organizations, land rights organizers, men and women in rural landless communities, landlords, and local leaders whose expertise informed a deeper understanding of the issues. The final report, “Land is Life, Land is Power”: Landlessness, Exclusion, and Deprivation in Nepal, is also available in Nepali.

Romania: Minority Rights and the Right to Education, 2005 (in collaboration with Ovidiu Rom): An investigation of access to education and de facto educational segregation of the Roma minority. Although Romania’s constitution guarantees equal rights for all citizens, Roma children were taught in schools lacking basic resources, among other problems documented through interviews. The project resulted in a report, The Children Left Behind: Roma Access to Education in Contemporary Romania.

Kenya: The Right to Health, 2004: This project investigated the impact of the “Mexico City Policy,” which prohibits the United States from providing aid to any non-governmental organization that uses funding from any source to perform abortions, provide abortion counseling, or lobby to make abortion legal or more widely available. After the Bush Administration implemented the Mexico City Policy in January 2001, several clinics in Kenya had been forced to close and vulnerable groups were left without access to health care. The project examined whether the Mexico City Policy violated Kenyans’ rights to health, information, and free speech, and resulted in a report, Exporting Despair: The Human Rights Implications of U.S. Restrictions on Foreign Health Care Funding in Kenya.

Bolivia: Corporate Responsibility and Human Rights, 2003 (in collaboration with the Bolivia Permanent Assembly of Human Rights): Examination of two cases framing questions of corporate responsibility for violations of economic and social rights: a massive oil spill in the Desaguardero River, and the “water wars” that took place in the city of Cochabamba after a multinational consortium took control of the city’s newly-privatized water system. The report that resulted from the fieldwork, No Recourse: Transnational Corporations and the Protection of Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights in Bolivia, critiqued international human rights protections for economic and social rights in the context of globalization, and suggested avenues for improvement.

Systems of Injustice

Bolivia: Overuse of Pre-Trial Detention, 2012 (in collaboration with with a number of activists and groups, including Fundación Construir): This project examined issues related to the excessive and arbitrary use of pretrial detention in Bolivia, with serious consequences for individual detainees, their families and entire communities. The issue is a problem worldwide; in Bolivia, the rate of pretrial detention is greater than 80%. The resulting report, “We are Left to Rot”: Arbitrary and Excessive PreTrial Detention in Bolivia, was based on wide-ranging interviews with various stakeholders and experts in the departments of Beni, Chuquisaca, Cochabamba, La Paz, Potosí and Santa Cruz. Meetings were held with individuals held in detention in prisons, members of the government and the judiciary, academics, lawyers, and non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations.

Mexico: Criminal Justice Reform, 2000 (in partnership with Center PRODH): In 2000, the Crowley Program undertook a review of Mexico’s criminal justice system shortly before the country’s presidential elections i partnership with Center PRODH, a leading Mexican human rights organization. The delegation conducted interviews and on-site observations to determine compliance with international fair trial standards. The report, Presumed Guilty? Criminal Justice and Human Rights in Mexico was published in 2001 and a Spanish translation, se Presume Culpable? was also published. On October 19, 2001, Ms. Digna Ochoa, a human rights lawyer with whom the Crowley Program worked in on this project, was shot and killed in her office in Mexico City. The Crowley Program joined international calls for investigation into her death.

Türkiye: Criminal Defendant’s Rights, 1998 (in partnership with Lawyers Committee for Human Rights, now Human Rights First): Fact-finding study on Türkiye’s State Security Court system and evaluation against international fair trial standards.  The project included extensive study of Turkish law and procedure as well as on-the-ground information from government and non-governmental sources. The project resulted in a report, Justice on Trial: State Security Courts, Police Impunity, and the Intimidation of Human Rights Defenders in Turkey.