For Students

The CHREN Human Rights Clinic will celebrate its official launch with a two-day block seminar on “Human Rights in Practice”, taught by Professor Wiater on 15 and 16 November 2024. The seminar will be open to anyone interested. In order to attend the seminar, please register by email: jonathan.kiessling(at)fau.de

The seminar will introduce the Clinic to interested students and provide the knowledge base necessary for participation in Clinic projects. It will cover the topics of Human Rights litigation, arbitration, mediation and advocacy and include illustrative example cases and hands-on exercises.

The first Clinic project can be expected to start in the winter semester 2024/25 and will be announced in a separate call for applications.

Students considering to participate in upcoming projects of the Clinic are highly encouraged to join the block seminar “Human Rights in Practice”.

In the CHREN Human Rights Clinic, teams of 4-5 students work on real-life cases or practical projects in International Human Rights Law together with lawyers, NGOs or other partners from legal practice.

Projects last 3-6 months and are not tied to semester beginnings or endings. The first project can be expected to start in the winter semester 2024/25.

During the project, participants meet weekly or bi-weekly and receive regular feedback from project supervisors (doctoral researchers at FAU) and Prof. Wiater who is the academic director of the Clinic.

Teams work in English and are composed of students of law as well as students from the M.A. Human Rights or students from other disciplines with a strong interest in working on human rights.

Depending on the project, the result of the research conducted by the students may be published in the form of a report (see ‘Concluded Projects and Publications’ for examples).

Teams of students will be selected for specific projects – stay updated for calls for applications! If you are interested in being informed about future projects, please subscribe to our mailing list by sending an email to jonathan.kiessling(at)fau.de

All students from law (including exchange students) and students of the M.A. Human Rights can apply for the Human Rights Clinic. Interested students from other disciplines are welcome to apply as well.

There are no formal prerequisites. However, prior knowledge of Human Rights Law and/or International Law will prove helpful. The ability and interest to work in English are required.

A solid knowledge base will be taught at the block seminar “Human Rights in Practice” on 15 and 16 November 2024. Attendance of the seminar is highly encouraged for students who want to apply for Clinic projects and will be taken into account when considering applications.

For Law Students, participation in a project of the CHREN Human Rights Clinic can be credited with 2 SWS as an optional course in “Schwerpunktbereich 11: Grund- und Menschenrechte” and/or as “Schlüsselqualifikation” (§ 2 I JAPO).

Depending on the workload and particularities of the project, additional forms of credit are conceivable, in particular in form of a “Freischussverlängerung” (§ 31 II 1 Nr. 3 lit. b JAPO) or as part of the “Zertifikatsprogramm Fachsprache Jura” in English.

For students of the M.A. Human Rights, participation on the Clinic can be credited as internship hours.

All of these options are highly dependent on the particularities of the project and will be discussed individually at the beginning and end of project participation.