News Archive

During Spring Break (March 12-16), four students nd one LL.M. graduate are in New York at United Nations Headquarters where they are presenting a report to the U.N. Human Rights Committee. David Rothenberg (1L), Edye T. Taylor (2L) and Perfecto Caparas (LL.M. ’05) made a seven-minute presentation to the Committee. Jhon Jairo Sanchez (2L) and Monica Magnusson (2L)also made the trip to the U.N. Their report argues that the government of Chile has breached the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by discriminating against gay, lesbian, transgendered, and bisexual people (often referred to as LGBTs).

The Program in International Human Rights Law (PIHRL) and the International Human Rights Law Society (IHRLS) cosponsored the report. All the participants are members of the International Human Rights Law Society, including Jhon Sanchez, president of the IHRLS.

Professor George Edwards, Director and founder of the PIHRL, said, “Being able to make an official presentation to this Committee is a major accomplishment. Being granted seven minutes is an even greater accomplishment.” The group made the presentation on Monday and meets with individual members of the Committee later in the week. The students who worked on the report but did not travel to New York were Jason A. Flora (1L), Augustine Niber (LL.M. candidate), Heidi A. Reed (1L), Tatiana Obando (LL.M. candidate).

Perfecto Caparas says, “Our delegation prepared a memorandum in response to the Committee’s request for statistical data and information regarding the extent of hate crimes against LGBTs in Chile. The group worked on providing excerpts from original source materials and a memorandum to the experts about hate crimes.”

“The IU-Indianapolis law school delegation has taken great steps towards convincing the UN that the government of Chile is unlawfully discriminating against Chileans based on sexual orientation,” Edwards said. “The goal is for the Chilean government to protect the human rights of all Chileans.”

Read the report: http://www.indylaw.indiana.edu/humanrights2/chileICCPR.pdf

[Pictured are David Rothenberg, Monica Magnusson, Rebecca Berfanger (a reporter from The Indiana Lawyer), Edye Taylor, Jhon Sanchez, Marcela Rivera (a member of the Chilean government delegation representing CLAREM, an NGO), and Perfecto Caparas.]