The Aryeh Neier Fellowship is a full-time, two-year program with the ACLU and Human Rights Watch that offers recent law school graduates an opportunity to gain practical experience in human rights documentation, advocacy, and litigation.
The ACLU and Human Rights Watch created the fellowship in 2002 with generous funding from the Open Society Foundations to honor the legacy of Aryeh Neier. As executive director of the ACLU and then of Human Rights Watch, Aryeh Neier helped develop both organizations into powerful forces for justice and human rights.
The fellow works with both organizations consecutively on joint research in a particular area highlighting patterns of abuses and stories of those most impacted by human rights of violations in the United States. These research products offer comprehensive recommendations for legal and policy reforms. During the second year of the fellowship, the fellow conducts advocacy and engages in impact litigation — related to their research — to seek legal remedies and affect broader change. Over the past two decades, fellows have published reports and contributed to litigation in the following areas:
Fellow: Hina Naveed (@HinaEsq)
‘If I Wasn’t Poor, I Wouldn’t Be Unfit’: The Family Separation Crisis in the US Child Welfare System | November 2022
‘If I Wasn’t Poor, I Wouldn’t Be Unfit’: The Family Separation Crisis in the US Child Welfare System | November 2022
Fellow: See all past
ACLU-HRW Report to the UN: Racial Discrimination in the United States | August 2022
This submission to the UN was written in honor of the legacy of Aryeh Neier, president emeritus of the Open Society Foundations, on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the creation of the Aryeh Neier Fellowship.
ACLU-HRW Report to the UN: Racial Discrimination in the United States | August 2022
Fellow: Allison Frankel (@abfrankel)
Revoked: How Probation and Parole Feed Mass Incarceration in the U.S. | July 2020
Revoked: How Probation and Parole Feed Mass Incarceration in the U.S. | July 2020
Fellow: Jasmine Sankofa (@juSankofa)
"You Miss So Much When You’re Gone": The Lasting Harm of Jailing Mothers Before Trial in Oklahoma | September 2018
"You Miss So Much When You’re Gone": The Lasting Harm of Jailing Mothers Before Trial in Oklahoma | September 2018
Fellow: Tess Borden (@TessBorden)
Every 25 Seconds: The Human Toll of Criminalizing Drug Use in the United States | October 2016
Every 25 Seconds: The Human Toll of Criminalizing Drug Use in the United States | October 2016
Fellow: Alex Sinha (@AlexSinha)
With Liberty to Monitor All: How Large-Scale US Surveillance is Harming Journalism, Law and American Democracy | July 2014
With Liberty to Monitor All: How Large-Scale US Surveillance is Harming Journalism, Law and American Democracy | July 2014
Fellow: Ian Kysel (@ianmkysel)
Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States | October 2012
Growing Up Locked Down: Youth in Solitary Confinement in Jails and Prisons Across the United States | October 2012
Fellow: Ian Kysel (@ianmkysel)
Against All Odds: Prison Conditions for Youth Offenders Serving Life without Parole Sentences in the United States | January 2012
Against All Odds: Prison Conditions for Youth Offenders Serving Life without Parole Sentences in the United States | January 2012
Fellow: Sarah Mehta (@sarahlmehta)
Deportation by Default: Mental Disability, Unfair Hearings, and Indefinite Detention in the US Immigration System | July 2010
Deportation by Default: Mental Disability, Unfair Hearings, and Indefinite Detention in the US Immigration System | July 2010
Fellow: Alice Farmer (@ahsfarmer)
Impairing Education: Corporal Punishment of Students with Disabilities in U.S. Public Schools | August 2009
Impairing Education: Corporal Punishment of Students with Disabilities in U.S. Public Schools | August 2009
Fellow: Alice Farmer (@ahsfarmer)
A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools | August 2008
A Violent Education: Corporal Punishment of Children in U.S. Public Schools | August 2008
Fellow: Mie Lewis
Custody and Control: Conditions of Confinement in New York’s Juvenile Prisons for Girls | September 2006
Custody and Control: Conditions of Confinement in New York’s Juvenile Prisons for Girls | September 2006
Fellow: Anjana Malhotra (@anjimal)
Witness to Abuse: Human Rights Abuses under the Material Witness Law Since September 11 | June 2005
Witness to Abuse: Human Rights Abuses under the Material Witness Law Since September 11 | June 2005Related Issues
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