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Students from IU McKinney joined international students in filing a shadow report with the United Nations Human Rights Council. Students in Professor George Edwards’ International Criminal Law class took part in creating the report, as did students and faculty from Chulalongkorn University Faculty of Law in Bangkok, Thailand, and the Auckland University of Technology School of Law in Auckland, New Zealand.

The report, titled “Deprivation of Guantanamo Bay Prisoner Rights During COVID-19,” was presented in advance of a hearing in Geneva, Switzerland on November 9, which students and faculty who helped prepare the report will attend as observers via Zoom. The United States government is scheduled to appear before the UN Human Rights Council as part of the Universal Periodic Review process. Each country must appear before the council every four years to report on how it is fulfilling its human rights obligations. The council can use the report as it formulates questions for U.S. government officials and as the council makes recommendations to the United States related to human rights conditions.

The next round of hearings takes place in February 2021, and the reporting group, led by Professor Edwards, will be able to nominate one of their number to speak during the hearing. This meeting also will take place via Zoom. These hearings typically take place in Geneva.

IU McKinney’s Program in International Human Rights Law has Special Consultative Status with the UN Economic and Social Council. PHIRL was granted this status in 2011.