To provide Regent Law students with practical experience in the legal protection of human rights, students volunteer with the center each semester for a minimum of 5 hours/week. Here is an overview of the projects that our student staff members are working on this semester:
IJM Uganda: International Justice Mission Uganda fights land grabbing, a terrible problem that affects thousands of widows and orphans in Uganda. In order to aid IJM’s work, the Center is expanding a legal memo it drafted last semester on the legal doctrine of res judicata. The Center’s memo will help IJM decide the best legal strategy to bring civil suits on behalf of widows whose land was stolen.
Kyampisi Childcare Ministries:KCM is a nonprofit organization in Uganda that fights child sacrifice. In order to aid KCM in its work of monitoring child sacrifice cases, as well as aid prosecutors, the Center is putting together a legal manual that outlines the steps involved in a child sacrifice case, applicable charges for the defendant, and various legal issues that will have to be addressed to have a successful prosecution.
Handong: The Center works in partnership with Handong International Law School to advance the rule of law and expand religious freedom in Mongolia. This semester, the Center is drafting a legal memorandum relating to the implementation of homeschooling in Mongolia.
Shared Hope: Every semester the Center supports Shared Hope with the Protected Innocence Challenge (PIC). The PIC is a 50-state survey designed to improve the laws of all 50 states as they relate to the sex trafficking of children. This semester, the Center is analyzing whether each state has vacatur laws that allow minor sex trafficking victims to have any convictions that resulted or related to their trafficking vacated rather than merely expunged. When a sentence is vacated, it is completely erased from all existence, as opposed to expungement, which normally just seals the records of the conviction. Vacation of a sentence thus offers greater protection to the victim.
Turkey Project: This semester the Center is planning on writing a short book that discusses the legal framework regarding secularism and religious freedom in Turkey. Turkey is a very strategic country, situated between the west and the east, mostly Muslim but constitutionally secular, etc. Recent events in Turkey, however, have the potential to upset this balance and make Turkey another Islamic state. The booklet is thus intended to explain Turkey’s constitutional commitment to secularism and guarantee of the Free Exercise of Religion and (2) the illegality of many of the government’s recent actions, including the ongoing state support of mosques. We intend to use the booklet as a means to educate those in Turkey about what Turkish law actually says and requires.
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) is the body responsible for overseeing and implementing the major human rights treaty for Africa. The Center for Global Justice is currently praying about whether to become a certified non-profit organization (NGO) before the ACHPR, which hosts two sessions every year in order to address the status of human rights in the continent. Center Executive Director, Professor Jeffrey Brauch, will be attending the next session, which is to be held in The Gambia in October. We are drafting a legal memo on the ACPHR to help us identify if and how we can be involved and to better understand the major human rights issues that need to be addressed from a biblical perspective.
ADF International: As always, the Center is partnering with ADF International to monitor all cases before the European Court of Human Rights to ensure that we identify all cases on which ADF should intervene.
Jerusalem Institute of Justice: This semester the Center is continuing a project from last semester for JIJ on the Palestinian refugees. One of the primary points of disagreement between Israel and Palestine is what to do with the Palestinian refugees. Palestine claims all refugees have a “right to return” to Israel. Israel claims that no such right exists. We are analyzing the legal situation of the refugees, specifically looking at whether a future (or existing?) state of Palestine has an obligation under International Law to grant citizenship to the refugees.
IJM Uganda: International Justice Mission Uganda fights land grabbing, a terrible problem that affects thousands of widows and orphans in Uganda. In order to aid IJM’s work, the Center is expanding a legal memo it drafted last semester on the legal doctrine of res judicata. The Center’s memo will help IJM decide the best legal strategy to bring civil suits on behalf of widows whose land was stolen.
Kyampisi Childcare Ministries:KCM is a nonprofit organization in Uganda that fights child sacrifice. In order to aid KCM in its work of monitoring child sacrifice cases, as well as aid prosecutors, the Center is putting together a legal manual that outlines the steps involved in a child sacrifice case, applicable charges for the defendant, and various legal issues that will have to be addressed to have a successful prosecution.
Handong: The Center works in partnership with Handong International Law School to advance the rule of law and expand religious freedom in Mongolia. This semester, the Center is drafting a legal memorandum relating to the implementation of homeschooling in Mongolia.
Shared Hope: Every semester the Center supports Shared Hope with the Protected Innocence Challenge (PIC). The PIC is a 50-state survey designed to improve the laws of all 50 states as they relate to the sex trafficking of children. This semester, the Center is analyzing whether each state has vacatur laws that allow minor sex trafficking victims to have any convictions that resulted or related to their trafficking vacated rather than merely expunged. When a sentence is vacated, it is completely erased from all existence, as opposed to expungement, which normally just seals the records of the conviction. Vacation of a sentence thus offers greater protection to the victim.
Turkey Project: This semester the Center is planning on writing a short book that discusses the legal framework regarding secularism and religious freedom in Turkey. Turkey is a very strategic country, situated between the west and the east, mostly Muslim but constitutionally secular, etc. Recent events in Turkey, however, have the potential to upset this balance and make Turkey another Islamic state. The booklet is thus intended to explain Turkey’s constitutional commitment to secularism and guarantee of the Free Exercise of Religion and (2) the illegality of many of the government’s recent actions, including the ongoing state support of mosques. We intend to use the booklet as a means to educate those in Turkey about what Turkish law actually says and requires.
African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights: The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) is the body responsible for overseeing and implementing the major human rights treaty for Africa. The Center for Global Justice is currently praying about whether to become a certified non-profit organization (NGO) before the ACHPR, which hosts two sessions every year in order to address the status of human rights in the continent. Center Executive Director, Professor Jeffrey Brauch, will be attending the next session, which is to be held in The Gambia in October. We are drafting a legal memo on the ACPHR to help us identify if and how we can be involved and to better understand the major human rights issues that need to be addressed from a biblical perspective.
ADF International: As always, the Center is partnering with ADF International to monitor all cases before the European Court of Human Rights to ensure that we identify all cases on which ADF should intervene.
Jerusalem Institute of Justice: This semester the Center is continuing a project from last semester for JIJ on the Palestinian refugees. One of the primary points of disagreement between Israel and Palestine is what to do with the Palestinian refugees. Palestine claims all refugees have a “right to return” to Israel. Israel claims that no such right exists. We are analyzing the legal situation of the refugees, specifically looking at whether a future (or existing?) state of Palestine has an obligation under International Law to grant citizenship to the refugees.