On February 8, 2018, the International Human Rights Clinic at Santa Clara Law (“IHRC”) and Campus Ministry organized an event titled Discrimination and Police Brutality in the United States, highlighting the prevalent issue of extrajudicial killings by police officers and the ensuing impunity that disproportionately affects minorities and vulnerable populations in the Bay Area and nationwide. The event was part of the law school’s Jesuit Values in Legal Education Series.
IHRC supervisors Francisco Rivera Jurasti and Father Luis Arriaga, S.J., along with students Grace Harriett, Elena Applebaum, Nazia Chandiwalla, and Daniel Williams provided an overview of this important issue through the lens of international human rights law. They also discussed the IHRC’s work to bring the issue of impunity for extrajudicial executions before an international human rights body—the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights. The presentation highlighted testimony and information submitted by IHRC, RFK Human Rights, the ACLU, and other partners to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at a hearing in Washington D.C. on December 7, 2017. (This hearing is available for viewing here).
IHRC Director Francisco Rivera also had a conversation with special guests José Góngora Pat (the brother of Luis Góngora Pat, who was killed by San Francisco police officers in April 2016), and activist Adriana Camarena. The discussion addressed the direct impact that the lack of accountability and difficulty in obtaining adequate remedies have had on a victims’ families and their communities. The hour-long event is available for viewing here.
