Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Clinic

(1 Credit Hour) · Undergraduate

On July 22, 2013, Dwayne Jones, a 16-year-old transgender minor, was brutally attacked and killed by a mob near Montego Bay, Jamaica. The teenager was stabbed, shot, run over by a car, and left to die by the side of the road merely for wearing a dress to a community dance party. In this course, students will pursue a petition now pending before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights which alleges that, by refusing to curtail rampant and systematic anti-LGBTQ+ discrimination and violence and by failing to properly investigate and prosecute Dwayne Jones' homicide, Jamaica has breached its obligations under the American Declaration of the Rights and Duties of Man and the American Convention on Human Rights. Students will be expected to engage with non-governmental organizations and human rights clinics around the world to solicit and edit amicus briefs for filing in this case.