Honoring and extending the legacy of Robert L. Bernstein, the Bernstein Institute for Human Rights at NYU School of Law promotes cutting-edge research, advocacy and education on human rights issues around the world, with priority accorded to closed and closing societies. The Institute embraces a holistic approach to the advancement of human rights, deepening engagement and action by key stakeholders in the pursuit of human rights and social justice: law students, young lawyers, advocacy organizations, judges, scholars, interdisciplinary allies and affected communities.
The Masiyiwa-Bernstein Fellowship provides three graduating NYU Law JD students with the opportunity to spend one year working with an innovative human rights organization.
The China and International Human Rights Law Research Program, a product of an expanded partnership between NYU School of Law and the NGO Human Rights in China (HRIC), focuses its work on teaching and research related to international human rights and China. Our partnership grants NYU Law students opportunities to be engaged in cutting-edge research skills, including practicing advocacy before the United Nations and related organizations.
NYU’s Bernstein Institute for Human Right's Annual Conference offers two days of expert panels discussing some of the most pressing issues in human rights. Previous topics have included predictive analytics, data collection, racial and financial inequality and discrimination. This year's conference, Defending Dissent: Civil Society and Human Rights in the Global Crackdown took place April 13th and 14th, 2017.
NYU’s Bernstein Institute for Human Rights and Columbia’s Institute for Human Rights co-sponsor an annual Seminar for Federal Judges on International Human Rights. The second annual seminar was hosted in November 2016 and attended by 19 appellate and court trial judges from across the country.
Leveraging the breadth and depth of NYU’s human rights community, the Institute serves as a University-wide convener on human rights curricula, programming, and research. The Institute’s website acts as a hub of information on human rights programs and events across NYU. In the future, the website will contain information on all human rights-focused courses and faculty across NYU. Further, to catalyze exchange on common dilemmas that institutions face, such as strategies to make research more policy relevant, the Institute will convene biannual meetings with engagement from the faculty and staff from the schools and colleges of NYU.