The Columbia Institute for the Study of Human Rights, together with SIPA-Human Rights Concentration, the Human Rights Studies MA Program, and the Undergraduate Human Rights Program, sponsors an annual Human Rights Essay Contest. The aims of the contest are to:

• Encourage and acknowledge students who have written exceptional academic papers that address issues related to human rights.
• Provide students the opportunity to meet and work with other students interested in human rights and take a more active role in the human rights community on campus.
• Provide students the opportunity to explore multidisciplinary approaches to human rights and learn from their peers’ academic work.

This year, ISHR received over 50 submissions from a wide variety of disciplines and programs. Members of the Student Review Committee selected the finalist papers and the Faculty Review Committee selected the four winning papers.

We are pleased to announce the following winners of the 2011 ISHR Human Rights Essay Contest!

Graduate Student Winners

The Loliondo Massai Understood as "Conservation Refugees"

By: Jocelyn Courtney

In July of 2009, riot police burned eight Maasai villages in the Loliondo region of Tanzania to make a game reserve—part of a long chain of brutal acts perpetrated against this tribe. It is not hard to see that the Maasai in Tanzania have been victimized, but this paper argues that appealing to the international human rights regime in this type of situation should not be so automatic. It examines the human rights treaties that both sides might invoke, the Massai for the right to life and property, the government for the greater population’s right to conserve the land. The paper finds that the international human rights regime is actually part of the larger context in which the Maasai became vulnerable—compelling both their initial and their continued repression. It elucidates three problems with the current human rights movement: human rights tend to be structured in such absolute terms that they become limiting; individuals are too particularized; and activists rarely tailor their approach to local conditions. Without addressing these problems, appealing to international human rights will only further alienate the Maasai—reifying their “otherness,” and trapping them in a perpetual standoff with the government in which both sides can claim absolute rights.

“An oasis of horror in a desert of boredom”: Historic Institutional Abuse and Transitional Justice in New Zealand

By: Matthew Windsor

Historic abuse claims against government agencies and psychiatric institutions have become an increasingly prominent feature of the civil litigation landscape in New Zealand over the past decade. International law requires that individuals whose human rights have been violated while detained by or under the care of the state must have access to an effective remedy. The argument advanced is that the New Zealand civil litigation system is not a propitious vehicle for effective relief in relation to historic abuse claims. Factors that preclude effective redress include evidential difficulties, public policy concerns in relation to the tort of negligence, operation of statutory limitation and immunity provisions, and legal aid restrictions. However, a critical examination of the New Zealand experience through a transitional justice lens enlarges the repertoire of viable remedial responses. The deployment of transitional justice mechanisms – an official apology followed by reparations, an increasing emphasis on truth-seeking and a heightened role for civil society – would enhance the remedial process in New Zealand. Such mechanisms would not replace the civil litigation system but would correct for its deficiencies in the historic abuse arena.

Undergraduate Student Winners

The Rights of Migrant Labor: Farmworkers in Florida

By: Sarah Khan

Migrant agricultural workers in the United States face conditions ranging from sub-poverty wages and exclusion from social safety nets to circumstances that meet the legal standards of slavery. Almost half of these workers are undocumented and the political debate surrounding their situation is intertwined with a growing national concern about illegal immigration. Meanwhile, various human rights organizations have picked up on these workers’ plight; as evidenced by a recent increase in fair food campaigns across the US. This paper uses secondary sources and interviews with legal advocates to examine the mechanisms for the delivery (and denial) of rights of migrant farmworkers in Florida. It explores the challenges of organizing workers to collectively claim these rights, the loopholes in domestic law and the limitations to using an international legal framework for access to justice. An analysis of the sources reveals that much of the progress in Florida has been achieved through legal advocacy rather than collective organization; this speaks to an interesting general tension between human rights and labor rights movements and what happens when the twain meet. Another topic of interest is the ambiguous role of international law in this issue and the possibility for transnational arrangements.

LGBT Rights in Uganda and in International Law

By: Angelica Durón

Non-discrimination stands as one of the key tenets in the exercise and protection of human rights as codified in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and the African Charter on Human and People’s rights, amongst a variety of other international documents. However, the question of whether discrimination based on sexual orientation violates international human rights norms remains a highly contentious matter. The polarized debate surrounding the Anti Homosexuality Bill proposed by David Bahati in Uganda in 2009 represents a growing lack of consensus regarding the role of cultural and moral differences in applying human rights standards. This paper explores the applicability of international standards of nondiscrimination and protection to individuals identified as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender in contemporary Uganda. Therefore, it offers an analysis of the following: current law and proposed legislation in Uganda, human rights international and regional documents, legal precedents in international law and contrasting viewpoints among Ugandans. The work reveals the inconsistencies of anti-LGBT arguments, presents LGBT rights as fundamentally compatible with human rights and emphasizes the role of an active civil society in further protecting the rights of all individuals.

Please check back in November 2011 for information on how to apply for the 2012 Student Review Committee and for essay submission requirements and deadlines.

Cash prizes are awarded to two graduate students and to two undergraduate students who are currently enrolled at Columbia University. Authors of outstanding papers may also have the opportunity to present at a student conference on campus and publish their papers on ISHR’s web page.

Submission Guidelines

Papers may be written in any discipline or from a multi-disciplinary perspective. The papers may be critical analysis, theoretical examinations, or research papers, as long as the treat issues and ideas which have substantial bearing on human rights questions.

Papers should be approximately 5,000 words (though papers of a substantially shorter length will also be considered).

Review Procedures

All papers are reviewed anonymously by Columbia University students and faculty on the basis of their originality, intellectual rigor, relevance and contribution to the field of human rights, and clarity of expression.

A Student Review Committee selects the finalists and a Faculty Review Committee selects the four winning papers.