2015 marked the first year where funds from the Jennifer Caldwell Endowed Fund in Human Rights provided quarterlong support for a graduate student, Ursula Mosqueira, to conduct hands-on human rights work. Ursula, a Ph.D. student in Sociology, spent the summer and fall in El Salvador to conduct research with a group of former political prisoners

On Monday October 5, 2015, UWCHR held a conference on Access to Information as a Human Right. View conference recordings below. This fall, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights hosted a one-day conference, “Access to Information as a Human Right,” on October 5, 2015, at the UW School of Law. Grounded in the UWCHR’s partnerships

Annual Symposium and Reception Celebrating Human Rights Work May 14th marked another special occasion for UWCHR as our friends and affiliates gathered for the 6th annual spring symposium and awards reception, featuring a new initiative titled,Rethinking Punishment: Human Rights in an Age of Mass Incarceration. The program began with the announcement of the recipients of the

By Pamela Schwartz It’s not often that the memories of a class endure long after the quarter has ended. However, the memories of our mixed enrollment class persist, leaving me unsettled, as if there’s unfinished business. Consequently, as I reflect back to winter quarter 2015 and my time studying within the formidable walls and intimidating

In November, 1981, during the height of the Salvadoran armed conflict, an estimated 1,200 soldiers invaded the rural northern province of Cabañas, El Salvador, to carry out a “cleansing operation.” Survivors of the invasion, however, tell a story of carnage, in which the armed forces directly targeted the unarmed civilian population, including the elderly and

(Español abajo) In recognition of the Day of the Disappeared Child in El Salvador on Sunday, March 29, UW Center for Human Rights’ Unfinished Sentences project  is proud to release two videos and a written report on two civil war-era massacres in which children were taken from their families by government forces and subsequently disappeared. In

CHR & LSJ Launch New Project Rethinking Punishment: Human Rights in an Age of Mass Incarceration The United States has the highest rate of incarceration in the world, a reality that often escapes serious, widespread consideration. This new project works to enhance public understanding of the fiscal, social and moral costs of our unprecedented imprisonment boom.

By Pamela Schwartz Week seven and we’ve really settled in. Names and faces are familiar, as are the smiles and greetings we share with our University Beyond Bars classmates. The classroom is very welcoming, permitting us to practically ignore the intimidating walls and barbed wire that surround us. Our space, a non-descript classroom inside the

February 19, 2015. A reflection by Nicole Einbinder, a student participant in the International Studies “Task Force” supporting the Salvadoran human rights organization Asociación Pro-Busqueda: “This whole quarter, I have focused on researching the La Quesera massacre. I dug through human rights documents and radio and newspaper clippings, tracked down important dates, and learned in general

By Pamela Schwartz Monroe, Washington, home to the Reptile Zoo and the Evergreen State Fair. A quiet and unassuming town only 40 minutes northeast of Seattle, Monroe is also home to the Monroe Correctional Complex, a five-unit reformatory housing maximum, medium and minimum level prisoners. For the next 10 weeks, I along with 13 of