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The Universal Declaration of Human Rights

July 31, 2020

Faculty Director Mathias Risse joins the Writ Large podcast to discuss how The Universal Declaration of Human Rights came to be and what this document represents in the long journey to realize equal rights for all human beings.... Read more about The Universal Declaration of Human Rights



For Myanmar's Elections to Be Free and Fair Rohingya Must Get the Right to Vote

July 27, 2020

Matthew Smith calls on the international community do everything in their power to ensure the Rohingya have the right to vote in Myanmar's upcoming election.... Read more about For Myanmar's Elections to Be Free and Fair Rohingya Must Get the Right to Vote



Explaining the Dream

July 25, 2020

Alan Jenkins, Professor of Practice at Harvard Law School, joins host Sushma Raman to discuss the importance of communication as it intersects with matters of race, the law, and social justice. 

... Read more about Explaining the Dream

2020 Jul 30
The Pompeo Commission on Unalienable Rights: A Selective Vision of Human Rights
Registration Closed 4:00pm to 5:00pm
Location: 
Virtual Event (Registration Required)
The establishment of the Commission on Unalienable Rights (“Pompeo Commission”) in 2019 prompted concern among human rights advocates and academics that the Commission could redirect U.S. human rights policy in ways that would be self-defeating and would create serious damage to international cooperation for the protection of human rights.
The Commission released a draft report last week accompanied by a ...
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Registration: 



Kathryn Sikkink on Human Rights, Electoral Reforms, and Uruguay’s Successful Response to COVID-19

July 20, 2020

Senior Research Associate for GrowthPolicy Devjani Roy sat down with Kathryn Sikkink to discuss the global pandemic, voter rights, and the Trump administration.... Read more about Kathryn Sikkink on Human Rights, Electoral Reforms, and Uruguay’s Successful Response to COVID-19



Teresa Y. Hodge and Laurin Leonard. 7/17/2020. “Mass Incarceration and The Future: An Urgent Need to Address the Human Rights Implications of Criminal Background Checks and the Future of Artificial Intelligence.” Carr Center Discussion Paper Series, 2020-009. See full text.Abstract

Between 70 and 100 million Americans—one in three— currently live with a criminal record. This number is expected to rise above 100 million by the year 2030.

The criminal justice system in the U.S. has over-incarcerated its citizen base; we have 5% of the world's population but 25% of the world's prison population. America became known as the “incarceration nation” because our prison and jail population exploded from less than 200,000 in 1972 to 2.2 million today, which became a social phenomenon known as mass incarceration. And along the way, there was a subsequent boom in querying databases for data on citizens with criminal records.

Once a person comes in contact with the U.S. criminal justice system, they begin to develop an arrest and/or conviction record. This record includes data aggregated from various databases mostly, if not exclusively, administered by affiliated government agencies. As the prison population grew, the number of background check companies rose as well. The industry has grown and continues to do so with very little motivation to wrestle with morality, data integrity standards, or the role of individual rights.

This paper address the urgent need to look towards a future where background screening decisions and artificial intelligence collide.

Read full paper here. 

 



Sam Barrak

Research Assistant

Sam Barrak's RA for Professor Timothy Patrick McCarthy. Sam works with Tim on an extensive landscape analysis of the backlashes against and unfinished work of... Read more about Sam Barrak



The Carr Center Human Rights for Policy. 7/13/2020. Transitional Justice in Colombia. Cambridge: Harvard Kennedy School. See full text.Abstract

President Juan Manuel Santos and Carr Center faculty reflect on the Colombian peace process.

In April 2019, the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School hosted a faculty consultation on the integrated system for truth, justice, reparation, and nonrepetition, created as a result of the peace accord between the Colombian government and the FARC guerrillas in 2016. President Juan Manuel Santos and Carr Center faculty called upon leading voices in the field of transitional justice to share perspectives on the Colombian peace process and to formulate recommendations. The discussion was organized into four sessions focusing on the main components of the peace process: reparations, justice, truth, and nonrepetition.

See full text.

Spanish version of the report can be found here.



Dixon Osburn

Carr Center Fellow

Dixon Osburn has served in non-governmental organizations for three decades addressing diverse issues in domestic and international human rights, security, and... Read more about Dixon Osburn



Djénéba Gory

Carr Center Fellow

Djénéba Gory is a social entrepreneur. She co-founded Suadela, an organization that aims to increase young women’s and girls’ power by building their...

Read more about Djénéba Gory

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