UCLA Law launches institute for human rights in The Hague

University of California in Los Angeles  (UCLA) School of Law has launched Promise Europe, an institute dedicated to advancing the study, teaching and advocacy of international human rights policy and law  located in The Hague.  Promise Europe is the next step in the global growth of the 5-year-old Promise Institute for Human Rights at UCLA Law.

Promise Europe is led by executive director Kate Mackintosh, a veteran human rights activist and international lawyer who served as the inaugural executive director of the Promise Institute for Human Rights from August 2018 to July 2023. Under her leadership, the institute rapidly earned a global reputation for engaging in ground-breaking work at the intersection of human rights and accountability, the environment, technology, migration, and race and indigeneity.

“Promise Europe will further the Promise Institute for Human Rights’ mission and impact around research, teaching and advocacy, bringing our work to a hub of international human rights policy and law,” Mackintosh said. “We will continue in our established approach, being both critical and ambitious through the human rights frame, with a focus on urgent contemporary issues.

Promise Europe will launch a series of programs and initiatives that will continue UCLA’s work in the broader international human rights community. UCLA Law has concluded an agreement for academic collaboration with the University of Amsterdam, which also provides classroom space for UCLA Law students at its Asser Institute in The Hague. Through Promise Europe, students have already secured externships at a number of international organizations, such as the International Court of Justice, the International Development Law Organization and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals. Each semester, students will be placed in full-time positions in an expanding group of organizations, and will participate in coursework and organized events, including a field trip to Geneva, Switzerland.

Photo: UCLA law