The Global PATH Program

Practice, Advocacy, and Training in Human Rights

Program Overview

The Global PATH Program brings students to NOVA School of Law in Lisbon, Portugal to learn from international legal experts and gain practical training alongside experienced advocates and communities on some of the most pressing human rights issues across the world. Current J.D. students can apply for the inaugural cohort of the Global PATH Program and participate in the semester-abroad program in Spring 2027.

Over the course of the semester, students in the Global PATH Program participate in a Human Rights Advocacy Expert Seminar Series (20 ECTS*), joined weekly by guest lecturers with experience working in UN mechanisms and other multilateral institutions, academic and legal scholars, and civil society leaders. Students also receive 1:1 instruction on methods in human rights documentation and advocacy in a Human Rights Research Tutorial (6 ECTS) and are able to enroll in a NOVA School of Law Elective (4-6 ECTS). Finally, students get one-of-a-kind immersive experiential training in the flagship Simulation Exercise, preparing them for Supervised Fieldwork on a human rights project.

More information on the five components of the Global PATH Program below.

*One European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS) credit is equivalent to 25-30 hours of student work in and outside the classroom.

Academic Curriculum

1. Human Rights Advocacy Expert Seminar Series 

Credits: 20 ECTS

This seminar series offers a unique opportunity to network with and hear from leading human rights advocates, litigators, and scholars from around the world. This seminar series features twelve week-long intensive modules taught by leading human rights advocates, scholars, and representatives from international organizations, such as UN Special Rapporteurs.

Students engage with contemporary human rights challenges through weekly discussions, case studies, and guest lectures. Assessment is based on participation, reflection papers, and applied exercises linked to ongoing human rights projects.

Learning outcomes:

  • Engage with and analyze major debates concerning the role of advocates and different advocacy strategies in the advancement of human rights

  • Develop knowledge of international oversight mechanisms to protect human rights

  • Increase understanding of specific areas of human rights practice and differences in advocacy approaches across practice areas

  • Learn to engage in ethical on-the-ground factfinding, including interviewing survivors of various human rights abuses

Previous modules and instructors include:

  • Migration, Public Health, and Human Rights, Nadejda Marques, Visiting Professor of Public Policy, Wesleyan University and Former Researcher, Human Rights Watch Angola

  • The United Nations Special Procedures, Aua Baldé, Chair, United Nations Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and Professor, Catholic University of Lisbon

  • The Laws of War: A Critical Understanding, Samuel Moyn, Professor of law and history, Yale University

  • Investment Law, Trade Law and Human Rights, Sergio Puig, Professor of Law, European University Institute and University of Arizona

  • Race, Racism, Human Rights and Social Justice, Ed Telles, Distinguished Professor, University of California, Irvine

  • Preventing Torture, María Luisa Romero, former Minister of Government of Panama and Vice-Chair and Rapporteur of the United Nations Subcommittee on Prevention of Torture

  • Designing and Implementing Human Rights and Environmental Justice Projects and Advocacy Campaigns, Ruhan Nagra, Associate Director and Founding Director, Environmental Justice Clinic at University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law and Co-Founder, University Network for Human Rights

  • Freedom of Assembly and Association, Maina Kiai, former United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association

  • Housing as a Human Right: Advocacy for Housing Justice, Leilani Farha, former UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing

  • Transitional Justice: Truth, Justice, and Reparation, Bernard Duhaime, Special Rapporteur on the promotion of truth, justice, reparation, and guarantees of non-recurrence; Professor of Law, University of Quebec in Montreal; and Visiting Professor, University Paris II Panthéon Assas

  • Doctrine, Practice, and Advocacy in the Inter-American System, James Cavallaro, Former President, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights Co-Founder; Executive Director, University Network for Human Rights; and Visiting Professor, Yale Jackson School of Global Affairs; Columbia Law School

  • Writing for Human Rights Advocacy, Pooja Bhatia, Journalist and Clinical Supervisor, University Network for Human Rights; and Emily Wilder, Journalist and Researcher and Editor, University Network for Human Rights

To view a sample syllabus, click here.

2. Human Rights Research Tutorial

Credits: 6 ECTS

This tutorial is an Oxbridge-style research course supervised by Professor James Cavallaro. Through fortnightly one-on-one tutorials, students develop a substantial legal research paper on an area of human rights abuse. Papers are expected to be of publishable quality and may also contribute directly to the University Network’s ongoing advocacy or litigation projects.

Learning outcomes:

  • Conduct advanced legal and interdisciplinary research.

  • Develop expertise in a specialized area of human rights.

  • Produce a research paper suitable for publication or contribute to a submission for a multilateral organization.

  • Receive individualized mentorship throughout the research process.

3. NOVA School of Law Elective

Credits: 4-6 ECTS

Students attend one course offered by NOVA School of Law, one of Portugal’s top law schools and a leading European institution in international law. Enrollment is subject to availability.

Examples include:

  • Critical Approaches to Human Right (4 ECTS)

  • War and Law (4 ECTS)

  • Human Rights at Sea (4 ECTS)

  • Transitional Justice (4 ECTS)

  • European Union Law in Action (6 ECTS)

  • International and European Security Law (6 ECTS)

The elective enables students to pursue specialized studies in international, European, or human rights law while studying alongside NOVA students. 

Simulation Exercise

During his time as Director of the Harvard and Stanford Law Schools’ Human Rights Clinics, the University Network’s Executive Director, James Cavallaro, pioneered an immersive simulation exercise that has grown into the world’s only human rights immersive training of its kind.

During the exercise, UNHR trains nearly 50 actors to portray different communities, officials, and other stakeholders in a simulated scenario of human rights abuse. Students work in teams to conduct dozens of interviews and investigate issues pulled from decades of UNHR supervisors’ field experience in human rights work. Students are tasked with drafting reports, presenting their findings in mock meetings with governmental officials and media interviews, and making accountability- and protection-based advocacy demands.

The simulation exercise is designed and executed to give students practical human rights documentation and advocacy experience in a controlled, supervised environment in which they can safely learn and make mistakes – without running the risk of negatively affecting communities facing real human rights abuses.

Students receive personalized feedback and recommendations for improving their real-world fact-finding work.

The simulation has been extraordinarily successful in preparing students – from undergrads to clinical law students – for the practice of human rights. Read more about the exercise and its pedagogical value in Human Rights Quarterly.

Supervised Field Work

After completing the simulation exercise, students may be invited to contribute to one of the University Network’s ongoing projects and participate in a fact-finding visit to a community overseas facing rights abuses, under the close supervision of UNHR’s in-house human rights experts. The practicum includes intensive pre-travel preparation, including skill-building workshops; context-specific background readings; and meetings with experts, local organizations, and community members. During the fieldwork, students work in small teams with their supervisor to meet with local groups, visit locations, and conduct interviews with affected people, including witnesses and/or survivors of abuses and their families.Following the trip, students continue to work with their supervisor to draft reports, UN submissions, legal briefs, op eds, and other publications based on project objectives, needs of the community, and findings of the documentation.

Read more about UNHR clinical projects here.

Eligibility & Application Process 

The Global PATH Program is designed for J.D. students who will be in the spring semester of their second year (2L) during the program, and who have completed the majority of the core requirements at their home university.

Preference will be given to students with a demonstrated interest in human rights and social justice. 

To apply to the Global PATH Program, please submit the following materials to leyly@humanrightsnetwork.org.

  1. Motivation letter (300-500 words)

  2. CV/Resume 

  3. Transcripts 

Shortlisted candidates may be invited to take part in a short interview with members of the UNHR.

Further Questions?