The Bernard and Audre Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice at the University of Texas School of Law has named three law students as Rapoport Center Human Rights Scholars for the 2015-2016 school year. Mihret Getabicha, Helen Kerwin, and Safa Peera were selected by a committee of international law faculty on the basis of their academic credentials, leadership skills, and dedication to human rights work. Each of the students will receive a scholarship.
The scholars work with faculty and administrators affiliated with the Center to help coordinate many of the Center’s current programs and initiatives, including the human rights working paper series, the fall colloquium on inequality and human rights, and an ongoing project on natural resource governance. They also engage in human rights research and advocacy projects.
Mihret Getabicha (BA 2012, Dartmouth College; JD expected 2017) interned in Accra this past summer with the Ghana Center for Democratic Development, a non-profit, non-governmental organization that conducts policy research on democracy and governance issues within Ghana and throughout Africa. While there, she researched issues related to human rights promotion, constitutional development, democratization, pro-poor development, and governmental transparency. As an undergraduate, she completed a service fellowship in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, which fostered her interest in African human rights and political transparency issues. At Texas Law, Mihret has been involved with the Texas Title Project and is a member of the Human Rights Law Society. She is currently enrolled in the Human Rights Clinic and will be a Rapoport Center Human Rights Scholar throughout the 2015-2016 school year. She hopes to work in international human rights after she graduates.
Helen Kerwin (MA 2013, University of Oklahoma; JD expected 2017) interned this past summer at the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in San José, Costa Rica, where she researched and prepared legal memoranda and proposals on cases currently before the Court. This internship was made possible by the Charles Moyer Summer Human Rights Fellowship, which honors the life and work of Charles Moyer, the first Secretary of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In addition to her work as a Human Rights Scholar at the Rapoport Center, Helen is a student in the Human Rights Clinic, an articles editor for the Texas Journal of Women, Gender, and the Law, and a staff editor for the Texas International Law Journal. While in law school, she has worked on pro bono projects with the Workers Defense Project, the South Texas Pro Bono Asylum Representation Project (ProBAR), and the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition, among others. She hopes to pursue a career in international human rights law.
Safa Peera (BA 2013, Southern Methodist University; JD expected 2017) was born in Massachusetts but raised in Saudi Arabia, and likes to characterize her personal background as bridging across the East and West, the economic North and South, and Christianity and Islam. After getting her bachelor’s degree from SMU, she spent one year working as the legal case manager at the Muslim Legal Fund of America. While in law school she has enjoyed working on pro bono projects involving criminal justice, including a project with the Texas Criminal Justice Coalition on juveniles mandatorily sentenced to life without parole. During her 1L summer, Safa interned at the Constitutional Law Center for Muslims in America (CLCMA) as a Rapoport Fellow. The Center, headed by retired JAG Corps Officer Charles Swift, is dedicated to defending the civil liberties and legal rights of Muslims in American courtrooms and litigating issues that are important to the Muslim community. She hopes to pursue a career that integrates her passions in national security, criminal justice, and international human rights law.