What is the Promise Institute for Human Rights and what does it seek to achieve?

Kate: ‘Five years ago I moved to Los Angeles to establish a new human rights institute, the Promise Institute for Human Rights, at UCLA School of Law. This autumn I moved back to The Netherlands to expand that project, and set up a Promise Institute Europe, closer to the institutional centers of international law and human rights in Europe. Our goal is to build on the established practice of the Promise Institute in LA, engaging with diverse frameworks and disciplines to generate new thinking on human rights, and advocating for change in coalition with academics, practitioners, and activists. We further aim to provide significant and unique training opportunities for UCLA law students who are interested in international law and human rights, for example through internships at international organizations in The Hague and field visits to Geneva, as well as by offering a select number the opportunity to follow international law courses at UvA as part of an exchange programme.’

What made you excited to have the Promise Institute reside in the Amsterdam Law Hub?

Kate: ‘The Law Hub is a great spot to be located, as we are not only close to the law faculty and students, but also get an introduction to some of the legal human rights organizations based in Amsterdam. It’s a dynamic and lively workspace. Everyone has been very welcoming, and we are really happy to be based there.’

André: ‘UCLA Law School is a great law school and the Promise Institute has a very good reputation for human rights education and research. For us, this is a great opportunity for collaboration that can strengthen our own agenda in this area, including through the Asser Institute in The Hague. But it's also a great addition to the Law Hub, the Promise Institute is pre-eminently looking for the connection between science and society.’

In what ways will our faculty collaborate with the Promise Institute of UCLA?

André: ‘We signed a collaboration agreement with UCLA Law School in June of this year. This provides for research collaboration in 3 areas: Ecocide (protection of the environment under international criminal law); Corporate responsibility for international crimes and violations of international human rights; and Human rights and racial justice. These areas align well with themes currently being researched from within the faculty, so this opens up great opportunities. We will also organize joint meetings in these areas. In addition to this, the agreement with the Promise Institute has led to an exchange agreement with UCLA, so now for the first time our undergraduate students can also choose to spend a semester in UCLA.’

What are you hoping to gain from the collaboration with our faculty?

Kate: ‘We already have established relationships with a number of researchers and faculty members at the Amsterdam Law School, and this was one reason for wanting to be located here. We hope to deepen those relationships, and also to create new ones as we discover areas of mutual interest. We have so far explored areas such as human rights and the protection of the environment, a new crime of ecocide, and the accountability of private companies for human rights violations, and I look forward to uncovering more areas of potential collaboration.’

The Promise Institute will also be working with the Asser Institute in  The Hague. What opportunities does this offer to the institute?

Kate: ‘I teach a class every 2 weeks in the evenings for our UCLA law interns in The Hague, and the Asser Institute has been kind enough to offer us classroom space for that, as well as to open up their numerous talks to our students. I also look forward to exploring research collaborations further. I am already collaborating with Asser on an ecocide-related project, and we are also both supporting accountability in Ukraine, so I think there will be many opportunities.’