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

Sophie Jin, a first year student at the UW School of Law, spent her summer as a legal Intern with EarthRights International (ERI) in Washington, D.C. ERI is noted for its use of innovative legal tactics, including the transnational prosecution of corporate offenders for crimes which conventional approaches typically fail to address. Sophie assisted the

Human Rights in Action: Introducing the Work of 2014 UW CHR Student Fellows Every year, the UW CHR provides financial support for hands-on human rights initiatives by UW students, thanks to the generosity of our donors to two endowed funds, the Abe Osheroff and Gunnel Clark Endowed Human Rights Fund for Students, and the Jennifer

Letter from the Director Five years already! Since the UW CHR’s founding in June 2009 we’ve been launched headlong into the process of institution-building. When June rolled around this year, I could hardly believe five years had already passed. Happily, the anniversary provided a welcome occasion to look back on the work we’ve accomplished, and

(An excerpt from our 2013-2014 Annual Report) By Angelina Godoy As Baltasar Garzón argues in the essay that opens this Annual Report, the need for justice in El Salvador remains urgent, despite the decades that have passed since the conclusion of the civil war. The urgency and importance of this work was brought home to us