Human Rights Center

We collaborate with communities, build blueprintable solutions to address some of the most significant human rights challenges of our time, and support efforts to hold perpetrators accountable. We function as a bridge between the worlds of academia, policy, and practice.

Our mission is to pursue justice through science, technology, and law. At UC Berkeley’s Human Rights Center, we:

  • Research and investigate war crimes and human rights violations;
  • Develop standards for policymakers and practitioners; and
  • Train investigators, students, and advocates.

The Human Rights Center is a part of the UC Berkeley School of Law.

people on their laptops sitting at a table

Website
humanrights.berkeley.edu
Director(s)
Staff contact
Mailing address

2224 Piedmont Ave
Berkeley, CA 94720-7200


In News

In Ukraine, Berkeley Experts are Shaping the Legal Fight Against War Crimes

Ukrainian law enforcement officials and NGOs are preparing for war crimes trials — and almost from the start of the war, their efforts to collect evidence have been guided by digital-age legal standards developed under the leadership of the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley, School of Law.

A Legacy of Truth: Forty Years of Investigating the Forcibly Disappeared

Eric Stover has spent much of his life with communities searching for an answer to the agonizing question, Where is my child? From Argentina, Guatemala, and El Salvador to the former Yugoslavia, Rwanda, and Iraqi Kurdistan, Stover has sat with families in their deepest grief — often taking the first step in answering that harrowing question with a simple cheek swab, or a sample of blood or hair.

As the World Watches Ukraine, Berkeley Law Experts Discuss Recent Events and What to Expect

As the fighting in Ukraine continued Feb. 28, some of Berkeley Law’s international law experts gathered to discuss the legal and strategic implications of what’s happened — and what might come next. The hybrid roundtable drew a crowd in person and online and was moderated by Berkeley Law Professor Katerina Linos and co-sponsored by the office of Dean Erwin Chemerinsky and the school’s Miller Institute for Global Challenges and the Law, where Linos is the co-faculty director.