Nearly fifteen years ago, the University of Washington Center for Human Rights was established by the Washington state legislature, and tasked with ensuring that UW human rights research spurs real-world impacts, whether here in Washington or elsewhere in the world. One of the most transformational ways we’ve lived into that mission is through developing our

During my Jennifer Caldwell fellowship, I assisted the Center in researching local surveillance patterns. Our primary focus involved the analysis of data derived from automated license plate readers (ALPRs). The data comes from information requests submitted by a previous research team at the Center. The goal of our research was to understand what, if any,

The Peter Mack and Jamie Mayerfeld Fellowship from the UW Center for Human Rights has provided invaluable support for my dissertation research. My research examines the movements for and against “progressive” prosecutors in the United States. Democratically elected, with the power to file charges and to shape plea deals, local prosecutors represent one of the

With much gratitude to the Peter May and Jamie Mayerfeld research grant, I was able to conduct the empirical part of my dissertation. Over the spring and summer quarters, I fully developed survey experiments with a local public opinion poll company in Vietnam. My dissertation introduced a theoretical framework about international laws written by a

As this year’s Benjamin Linder Fellow, I have seen my research expand with a sense of immediacy and humanity that I would have thought impossible before I joined UW Center for Human Rights last fall. The first aspect of my work is to run what we call the “FOIA machine,” by which I mean keeping

Letter from the Director Fifteen years! It’s hard to believe. As I write these words, planning is underway for the celebration of our Center for Human Rights’ fifteen-year anniversary, and I find myself reflecting on all the changes this decade and a half has brought. In some ways, our Center still feels “new”—we’re still small,

I am deeply appreciative to receive funds from the UW Center for Human Rights’ Osheroff-Clark Award to support my work in a coalition-driven project to ensure access to unemployment services for excluded immigrant workers in Washington state. The Unemployment Insurance Campaign Coalition is gearing up for another legislative session, after our losses and learning from

This report is part of a series regarding Human Rights Conditions at the Northwest Detention Center in Tacoma, Washington, based on ongoing research efforts and released to highlight initial findings in the urgent context of the COVID-19 pandemic. Contents: • Introduction • Background, Methodology, and Human Rights Standards • Sanitation of Food and Laundry •

The UW Center for Human Rights is proud to present seven fellowships to students carrying out human rights work!   Itza Carbajal is a PhD student at the Information School. Funds from the Lisa Sable Brown award will allow Itza to conduct an investigation with Colombian youth on the themes of personal, communal, and institutional histories; and

Every spring we come together to celebrate UWCHR student researchers and highlight ongoing work for human rights in our community at our Spring Symposium and Awards Celebration. For the 2023 Spring Symposium, we were honored to feature our newest project and collaboration, Strategies for Massage Parlor Workers’ Rights. Working with the Massage Parlor Outreach Project