NYU Center for Human Rights & Global Justice

As we close out 2024, the TERRA team is proud to look back on an extraordinary year. From pioneering research initiatives on Loss & Damage and the right to a healthy environment (R2HE) to groundbreaking and interdisciplinary new partnerships, this year has been nothing short of transformative. A few standout highlights from 2024 include: - New publications on More Than Human Rights, Loss & Damage litigation, and the Right to a Healthy Environment; - Global programs and trainings on rights-based climate litigation and more-than-human rights; - A full season of podcast episodes featuring Indigenous leaders sharing, in their own voices and as the protagonists of their own stories, their ideas, tactics, and struggles to protect their territories; - and so much more. As we wrap up the year, we want to thank all of our collaborators, supporters, and partners for their dedication and hard work. Together, we are pushing the boundaries of legal possibility and discovering new ways to address ongoing ecological emergencies. Don’t miss our end-of-year newsletter, which shares a deeper dive into these accomplishments and gives a sneak peek of plans on the 2025 horizon. Check it out here: https://lnkd.in/eySYT6Vy Here’s to another year! NYU Center for Human Rights & Global Justice

Emphasising the forest’s creative capacities, “Song of the Cedars” by MOTH are evoking emotions through music and bringing the presence of Los Cedros in the Ecuadorian Andes directly into the ears and spirits of listeners. 🎶 The MOTH (More Than Human Life) Project is an interdisciplinary initiative reimagining the rights and well-being of humans, non-humans, and the web of life, and is a part of UN Live's Culture for Impact list 2024. Learn more about their work and ongoing petition in the Ecuadorean Court to ensure rights for More Than Human Life: https://lnkd.in/d3nS7CRj #cultureforimpact #songofthecedars #rightsofnature #music

This Human Rights Day, together with the Global Justice Clinic at NYU School of Law and in collaboration with Haitian social movement organizations, we're announcing the release of Bay Kou Bliye, Pote Mak Sonje: Climate Injustice in Haiti and the Case for Reparations Details: https://lnkd.in/gn3XAHST Ellie Happel S. Priya Morley Sienna Merope-Synge NYU Center for Human Rights & Global Justice

The time is here! UN Live is proud to unveil the Culture for Impact List 2024! ✨ This year’s top 10 showcases a stunning variety of popular culture genres, locations, and missions—but they all share one powerful trait: embracing the power of popular culture and its ability to foster empathy, inspire action, and put people and the planet at the heart of change. From the way food can spark deeply human conversations, to the vibrant storytelling of comics that makes complex emotions more accessible, and the unifying power of sports to break down cultural and language barriers and play for the SDGs—these initiatives show how culture can truly transform the world. TOP 10 LIST ⭐️Games for Change, Gaming ⭐️Ban-quet by Marina Ierides, Food ⭐️The Human Impacts Institute, Arts  ⭐️MOTH, Music ⭐️Global Goals World Cup, Sports  ⭐️Mafigi Bakery, Food ⭐️Anna-Laura, Comics  ⭐️NAAM Festival, Performance Art  ⭐️Heliaki by Celina Tupou-Fulivai, Fashion ⭐️The Good Lab by Micro Galleries, Multidisciplinary and Community-Centred arts Starting Monday, December 9th, we will dive into the stories behind each initiative, and explore how they harness their mediums to create impact, their visions for the future, and the dreams they’re turning into reality. Click here to learn more about the initiatives and Culture for Impact: https://lnkd.in/d3v_Fpmh Graphics by: Marley Gibbons-Balfour #CultureforImpact #museumfortheun

Recently I had the opportunity to speak to FutureEverything, the More-than-human rights (MOTH) Project at NYU Center for Human Rights & Global Justice, the The Zoönomic Institute at Nieuwe Instituut and Lawyers for Nature about the ways in which cultural organisations are working to include the more-than-human world in their governance structures. While artists and cultural organisations have had their attention on the climate and biodiversity crises for years, taking steps to appoint Nature or non-human voices to the board is being considered as a way to finally drive systemic change. Published in Atmos Magazine, the piece looks at an idea which may sound challenging – and raises many questions while searching for solutions – but has a wealth of precedents to call on, across Indigenous knowledge, activism, legal experiments and artists' practice. Thank you to Lucy Rose Sollitt, César Rodríguez-Garavito, Klaas Kuitenbrouwer, Wietske Nutma, Brontie Maria Ansell, and Ariel Clark for their thoughts. Link to read in the comments

The arts has long pushed our society forward, should we be looking to artists and cultural organizations to lead systemic change rather than business? “Racial minorities, non-citizens, women were included in human rights law only in the last century. [This] includes more-than-humans, or nonhumans, which I see as part of that incremental process. We know that the categorical distinction between humans and nonhumans is not supported.”  - César Rodríguez-Garavito, chair of the NYU Center for Human Rights and Global Justice Director, More-than-Human Rights (MOTH) Program Great article from Atmos Magazine with Lucy Rose Sollitt at FutureEverything; Klaas Kuitenbrouwer and Wietske Nutma; Brontie Maria Ansell of Lawyers for Nature. Link to the full article in the comments.

César Rodríguez-Garavito is one of four pioneering researchers awarded a Future Observatory Fellowship to explore the intersection of design and the natural world. The MOTH work will be featured in a major exhibition at the the Design Museum Design Museum, opening June 2025, highlighting cutting-edge installations. TERRA at NYU Law. https://lnkd.in/ezph-CAj

Autocrats and populists are using four strategies to undermine and weaponize the very legal systems meant to hold them accountable, write Meg Satterthwaite and Ben Polk this week. The antidote? A people-centered approach that re-engages communities in the fight for justice. This blog is part of an ongoing series in partnership with Namati.

You heard it right. Los Cedros Cloud Forest in Ecuador as the co-author of a song thanks to the efforts of the musician Cosmo Sheldrake, writer Robert Macfarlane, field mycologist Giuliana Furci of Fungi Foundation and New York University School of Law legal scholar César Rodríguez-Garavito & the MOTH team of TERRA at NYU Law. Al Jazeera English reporting from Cop 16 biodiversity summit in Colombia. https://lnkd.in/eYQxuBVW

The action by the More Than Human Life (MOTH) at New York University School of Law is the first legal attempt to recognize an ecosystem’s moral authorship of a work of art. — The Guardian TERRA at NYU Law