Loyola University Chicago's Center for the Human Rights of Children seeks to advance and protect the
Recognizing that children require special protections, the Center for the Human Rights of Children pursues an agenda of interdisciplinary research, education, and service to address critical and complex issues affecting children and youth, both locally and globally. Sign up to receive newsletter updates from the CHRC using this link:
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Operating as usual
Center for the Human Rights of Children Fall Newsletter -
With the start of a new academic year, we have new faces working with the Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC). All of our students bring incredible talent, passion, and commitment to their work. Their efforts to advocate for children are demonstrated in many ways, including conducting res...
Read the joint statement from Loyola's Civitas ChildLaw Center, Education Law and Policy Institute, and the Center for the Human Rights of Children regarding the tragedy in Uvalde, Texas: https://www.luc.edu/law/stories/our-stories/uvalde-texas/
Center for the Human Rights of Children Spring Newsletter - https://mailchi.mp/luc/center-for-the-human-rights-of-children-2020-newsletter-5768216
The past year has brought a series of human rights violations against children in both protracted and new conflicts including Afghanistan, Yemen, Syria, Northern Ethiopia, and most recently the Ukraine. Millions of individuals are being displaced, including children, both inside and outside of borde...
Center for the Human Rights of Children Fall Newsletter - https://mailchi.mp/luc/center-for-the-human-rights-of-children-2020-newsletter-5654520
“What can I do?” is a question I often hear from students who are witnessing an overwhelming amount of injustice in their communities and the world – the climate crisis, violence, racist systems, the inhumane treatment of migrants, and exploitation of human beings, to name just a few examples....
Congratulations to Chlece Walker Neal Murray, who is also CHRC's Child Trafficking Coordinator! We know she is amazing, and so happy to see the law school thinks so too and is honoring her in this special way!
Loyola University Chicago School of Law student Malachy Schrobilgen is a legal fellow at Loyola's Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC). As a fellow, he threw himself into hands-on work drafting federal district court litigation, writing scholarly articles, submitting a report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Migration, and even getting published by the Harvard Public Health Review. Read more about Schrobilgen's work on behalf of children: https://www.luc.edu/law/stories/student-profiles/malachy-schrobilgen-real-world-results/
CHRC Associate Director Sarah Diaz and CHRC Legal Scholar Malachy Schrobilgen publish an interdisciplinary call to action to protect the human rights of migrant children.
The Role of Public Health in the Rule of Law: The Cautionary Tale of Title 42 Expulsions By Sarah J. Diaz, J.D., LL.M., Malachy Schrobilgen (2L) Citation Diaz S, Schrobilgen M. The role of public health in the rule of law: The cautionary tale of title 42 expulsions. Harvard Public Health Review. 202...
Last week, the CHRC, with the support of its signatories, AO Advocating Opportunity, International Rescue Committee, Refugees International, Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, and Freedom Network USA submitted a report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, including its causes and consequences. The report addresses child labor trafficking and child forced criminality in the U.S., specifically the extent to which organized crime is involved in these forms of slavery and the challenges faced by victims in obtaining assistance in the U.S. The submission will be used to inform the Special Rapporteur’s report before the 76th General Assembly of the United Nations.
“Too often children who are victims of forced labor or forced criminality do not receive the protections they deserve and to which they are legally entitled. This report, in line with our Ignatian heritage, calls us to “act upon what is learned,” and advocates for a better response for these children.” – Victoria Frazier (Peggy), CHRC Children’s Legal Rights Scholar
Read the full submission here:https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/law/pdfs/chrc_%20organizedcrime__april21.pdf
Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Adam Toledo. A must read.
Chicago photojournalist Mateo Zapata sees himself, and his community, in Adam Toledo, who was fatally shot by police during a foot chase on March 29. "Adam’s gang-affiliated friends didn’t marginalize him, they accepted him and empowered the beginning of his journey into manhood by associat...
Loyola Law students and faculty from the Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC) and the Immigrant Rights Coalition joined a meeting with Clarisol Duque, Illinois Chief of Staff for Senator Dick Durbin. The conversation, led by CHRC law students, covered the future of immigration legislation including the DREAM Act and other bills related to the rights of migrant children and families.
"Ms. Duque discussed the current state of immigration reform efforts, the legislative and political obstacles to comprehensive immigration reform, and the need for continued advocacy to protect the rights of migrant children and families.” - Malachy Schrobilgen (2L) and Jenny Lee (WJD)
Center for the Human Rights of Children 2021 Newsletter - https://mailchi.mp/luc/center-for-the-human-rights-of-children-2020-newsletter-3777744
(January 2021) The CHRC joined the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights and national organizations to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to the Trump administration’s so-called Migrant Protection Protocols ("MPP")/Remain in Mexico policy, which returned asylum s...
CHRC is excited to co-sponsor this important conference emphasizing the rights of children to clean air, water, and environment. Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Spotlighting key moments from our event discussion so you can relive the highlights and take in the information our panel of experts shared with the Loyola community.
Happy Spring! Learn more out our work advancing the rights of children and upcoming events by checking out our Spring Newsletter! https://mailchi.mp/luc/center-for-the-human-rights-of-children-2020-newsletter-3654496
(January 2021) The CHRC joined the Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights and national organizations to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to the Trump administration’s so-called Migrant Protection Protocols ("MPP")/Remain in Mexico policy, which returned asylum s...
The CHRC is proud to support the collective effort behind Jesuits of Canada and the United States Office of Justice and Ecology's Jesuit Migration Network alongside other organizations advocating to protect migrant children at the border. Several member organizations of the Jesuit Migration Network submitted reports to the United Nations advocating for an end to abhorrent migrant "push-back" policies and decreased militarization at the U.S. borders, and pushing for international policy changes to ensure respect for basic human rights.
"Part of this mission is to act as 'persons for others,' and this could not be more relevant than in the case of advocating for the rights of migrant children who cannot protect themselves against the coercive power of the state." - Malachy Schrobilgen, CHRC Children's Rights Legal Scholar.
Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago School of Law
By Caitlin-Marie Ward February 23, 2021 — After fleeing political persecution in Venezuela, two children arrived with their grandparents at the U.S.-Mexico border. They applied for asylum in the U.S., but due to the Migrant Protection Protocols—a policy that forces most asylum applicants to wait...
BREAKING: Through this new CDC order, the Biden Administration has taken appropriate action to ensure that migrant children who are traveling alone and seeking protection in the US are not callously returned to grave danger under the Title 42 protocols imposed under the Trump Administration. We urge the Biden Administration to continue its review of Title 42 and to expeditiously determine whether it is, in fact, a necessary response for all migrants during the Covid-19 pandemic.
https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/more/pdf/CDCPauseNotice-ExceptfromExpulsion.pdf
This month, Loyola University Chicago School of Law's CHRC submitted Recommendations to the U.S. Department of State in contribution to their 2021 Trafficking in Persons Report.
"We are grateful to have the opportunity to submit recommendations to the State Department on how the United States government can improve efforts to address child trafficking in the United States. Children are uniquely vulnerable to human trafficking because of their age, development, and dependency on adults for survival. Research shows that the crime of human trafficking disproportionately affects racial minorities. It is no coincidence racial minorities also experience more poverty, abuse, and limited access to health care, all known risk factors for child trafficking. Any measures to prevent child trafficking must include improved access to health care, economic security, and protections from abuse and freedom from violence. The current interpretation of child labor trafficking crimes do not account for the developmental differences between adult and children, and as a result, child labor trafficking victims are not being identified and offered protections they are entitled to. The impact of Covid-19 has only exacerbated these problems, with victims facing heightened barriers to obtaining protections and services." - Katherine Kaufka Walts, CHRC Director
Learn more at:https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/chrc/pdfs/TIP_CHRC_2021input_final.pdf
Loyola University Chicago
United Nations experts plead with President Joe Biden to end private detention, including the egregious use of private detention for migrant children. Migrant detention centers run by the US Government and its contractors repeatedly violate human rights though use of involuntary sterilizations and solitary confinements.
https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26718&LangID=E
GENEVA (4 February 2021) – A group of UN experts* welcomed the US decision to stop using privately run federal prisons and urged the Biden Administration to also end outsourcing of all detention centres, including those holding migrants and asylum seekers. “Ending the reliance on privately run p...
This week, the CHRC alongside Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights, Kids in Need of Defense (KIND) and Women's Refugee Commission submitted its report to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the human rights of migrants. The report addresses the Trump Administration’s attacks on asylum and other special protections for migrant children through polices that violate international and domestic law by forcibly returning or expelling migrant children to dangerous conditions or places of persecution without regard for the child’s safety or well-being.
The report will be used to inform the 47th session of the United Nations Human Rights Council. Read more about the report here:https://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/chrc/pdfs/Press%20Release%20CHRC%20UN%20Report%20Migrant%20Children.pdf
Loyola University Chicago Loyola University Chicago School of Law
Last week the CHRC joined the Young Center and a coalition of other organizations to file an amicus brief with the U.S. Supreme Court in opposition to the Trump administration’s so-called Migrant Protection Protocols ("MPP")/Remain in Mexico policies focusing on its harm to children.
The Biden-Harris administration suspended new enrollments in MPP; however, thousands of families and children remain in MPP, stranded and forced to brave threats of violence and dangerous conditions in Mexico in order to pursue their asylum claims. The amicus brief shares the stories of asylum-seeking children and families and urges that more action is necessary to protect them.
“Children, regardless of their nationality or immigration status, have universally defined rights, including a right to family, a right to safety and a right to be free from violence. MPP is a clear example of U.S. immigration policy violating these rights and causing harm to children,” said Katherine Kaufka Walts, Director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago.
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-1212/167044/20210122180800456_19-1212%20Amici%20Curiae.pdf
Loyola University Chicago School of Law; Loyola University Chicago; Young Center for Immigrant Children's Rights; Kids in Need of Defense (KIND); Children's Defense Fund; First Focus on Children; Save the Children Action Network; Save the Children US; Angry Tias and Abuelas of the RGV; and Milbank LLP
Sarah Diaz, CHRC Associate Director, speaks about her recently published article on thinking creatively about using international law to address family separation of migrant families at the border. American Immigration Lawyers Association Loyola University Chicago School of Law Civitas ChildLaw Center See https://thinkimmigration.org/blog/2020/11/18/thinking-creatively-about-using-the-hague-convention-to-combat-family-separation/
Thinking Creatively about Using the Hague Convention to Combat Family Separation Posted by Sarah Diaz and Danielle Polen | Nov 18, 2020 AILA Law Journal author Sarah Diaz recently answered questions posed by AILA Editorial Director Danielle Polen in a short video in which she talks a bit about the p...
View Our Virtual Symposium: Children's Rights in the Time of Covid-19 Loyola University ChicagoLoyola University Chicago School of Law Civitas ChildLaw Center- https://mailchi.mp/luc/symposium-childrens-rights-in-the-time-of-covid-19
This week, the Center for the Human Rights of Children and the American Immigration Council filed a lawsuit against US Customs & Border Protection to demand records related to reports of unlawful detention, expulsion and deportation of unaccompanied migrant children in the United States. “If the United States values human rights, then the human rights of every child—including migrant children—should be fully respected, protected, and fulfilled," said Katherine Kaufka Walts, director of the Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago School of Law. https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/news/lawsuit-demands-records-treatment-migrant-children-border-during-covid-19-pandemic
Children and immigration advocacy groups filed a lawsuit in the Northern District of Illinois against CBP requesting information about the agency’s implementation of the CDC rule suspending people from entering the United States due to the COVID 19 pandemic and its specific impact on unaccompanied...
Parents of 545 Children Separated at the Border Cannot Be Found
A new report shows hundreds of cases in which migrant children were taken from their families, and their parents, who were deported, cannot be located.
Pope Francis calls Trump’s family separation border policy ‘cruelty of the highest form’
In a new documentary that premiered in Rome today, Pope Francis says separating migrant children from their parents is “something a Christian cannot do. It’s cruelty of the highest form.”
Children’s book exploring Native identities launches today for Indigenous Peoples Day
Monday is Indigenous Peoples Day. It’s an alternative to the federal Columbus Day holiday that many people feel essentially erases Indigenous history.
An Invitation: Storytelling and Children's Rights, October 7 - https://mailchi.mp/luc/an-invitation-storytelling-and-childrens-rights-3542800
An Invitation: Storytelling and Children's Rights - https://mailchi.mp/luc/an-invitation-storytelling-and-childrens-rights
So proud of Loyola Law students and their work advocating for detained immigrants. The students participating in the Immigrant Detention Project in Arizona and Chicago gave all they had over their spring break to protect due process, the rule of law, and the rights of children. Thank you to the Immigrants' Rights Coalition (IRC) at Loyola Law, Immigration Detention Project Faculty- Judge Beatriz Sandoval, Judge Jenni Giambastiani, and Sarah J. Diaz, JD, LLM, and all who helped lead and support this initiative.
"During the first week of March, before the COVID-19 pandemic began to restrict person-to-person contact in the United States, 11 Loyola law students spent their spring break volunteering to assist immigrants being held in detention centers in Arizona. The social justice experience will have a lasting effect on their law careers and on the lives of the people they helped."
No filters 😭 This is our immigrant community working under the worst air conditions providing this country food on their table. 💯
A CDC order has been used to justify expulsion of vulnerable, unaccompanied children from the US. This is an unprecedented use of a public health agency to contravene statutory protections for migrant children in the United States. The Center for the Human Rights of Children at Loyola University Chicago School of Law, the American Immigration Council and the Illinois Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics have filed a Freedom of Information Act Request with the US government to identify information sources used to justify this action. Seehttps://www.luc.edu/media/lucedu/chrc/pdfs/CHRC-AIC-ICAAP%20FOIA%20Press%20Release%20Final%20Draft.pdf
Asylum seekers and children (as young as 1) illegally and secretly detained in private hotels by the US Department of Homeland Security before "expelling them without due process and without any paper trail" are now being transferred to Office of Refugee Resettlement custody AFTER a lawsuit filed by the Texas Civil Rights Project and ACLU. Unknown numbers of children were expelled before the suit, violating their rights and domestic and international protections. See https://www.huffpost.com/entry/ice-migrant-children-hotels-texas-civil-rights-project_n_5f1bae78c5b6128e68261655?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbS8&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAAHUqJs3veuLKS895uWo8ndZJUZBATvtMYazXbbdNGpoKMTTSPAuDLZU6tUI3ZrkulUA-Yet5kk7mFoecdg6t4dxVuAF43dtlT_VdbfcjAB6_Jebz1yZXvKQAH_I1qMH26lYsbfSWDf3N7SMyMhiBBOs97UsMwtaxLeYRDadUXlN_
The Trump administration has been detaining migrant children as young as a year old in hotels, according to the lawsuit.
Want to learn more about child trafficking in the United States? Watch this short video from CHRC Director, Katherine Kaufka Walts.
DACA: Where We Go From Here
Thursday, July 9, 12:00-1:30pm
Please join us for a discussion of the recent United States Supreme Court decision which upheld protections for DACA recipients. Panel members will review the history of DACA and the legal challenges to the program, and implications for the future. Presenters include a Constitutional Law scholar, one of the lead attorneys on the DACA case just ruled on by the US Supreme Court, a Chicago-based immigration attorney engaged in DACA advocacy and litigation, and a DACA recipient.
Register here: https://luc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwlceqorzorHNJ3cnxBHZcGtAeZrNggEZQohttps://luc.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJwlceqorzorHNJ3cnxBHZcGtAeZrNggEZQo
“The family residential centers are on fire and there is no more time for half measures,” said Judge M. Gee. A federal judge has ordered the release of children held in ICE custody by July 17, citing the dangers of the pandemic.
Judge Dolly Gee said the Trump administration failed to provide even the most basic health protections for children and their families.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/26/us/immigrant-children-detention-centers.html?smid=fb-nytimes&smtyp=cur&fbclid=IwAR3FzFa_azC4EwXkolxLcuK68NG4HM8sAB317I_YGDn-tHc9T_hNYM_pxO8
The order, which cited the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, applies to children held in the nation’s three family detention centers for more than 20 days.
Opinion | Trump Exploits the Pandemic to Deport Immigrant Children
The administration is flouting the law to turn away minors in desperate need of protection.
Justice and Human Rights
What a week! The Supreme Court issued two important rulings: 1. Protecting LGBTQ+ identifying individuals from getting fired from their job based on their gender or sexual orientation, and 2. Protecting DACA status for over 700,000 immigrant children and young adults living in the United States. Today is Juneteenth, a holiday commemorating the abolishment of slavery in the United States. There is much we can do and say about all of these important issues. For now, we want to share a CHRC statement in response to the SCOTUS decision preserving DACA:
The Center for the Human Rights of Children applauds the decision to ensure due process protections were upheld, and that protections remain intact for individuals who have availed themselves of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program since it was enacted in 2012. We honor the work of young people who have been the leading this movement, and hope they may now enjoy a heightened sense of peace in our communities.
While this decision is welcome, its effects are not permanent. The DACA program’s details remain subject to administrative disruptions. Statutory protections for eligible DACA recipients are necessary to ensure permanency, stability, economic security and the right to participate fully in public life in the United States. We call upon Congress to enact legislation to create those protections, as well as a pathway to citizenship, for the immigrant children and youth who call this country home.
Click here to to learn more about what you can do: https://bit.ly/2YgysMm
Since its founding, Jesuits had been dedicated to the service of the Catholic faith, but at the Jesuits’ General Congregation 32 in 1975, “the promotion of justice” was declared a central part of the Society’s mission and a concrete response to an unjustly suffering world.
Citing coronavirus, Trump officials refuse to release migrant kids to sponsors — and deport them instead
The administration refuses to release migrant kids to ready sponsors, telling courts that custody is safer — even as it ramps up deportation efforts.
US dictionary Merriam-Webster to change its definition of racism
Modification is at the request of a Black woman, who wanted it to better reflect the oppression of people of colour.
U.S. suspends protections for migrant kids at border, expelling hundreds amid pandemic
In the last 11 days of March alone, officials expelled at least 299 unaccompanied children under a CDC public health order.
Teens Are at the Forefront of the Black Lives Matter Protests
“My people are being killed.”
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Children suffer human rights abuses disproportionately due to their age and developmental capacity. It is estimated that over 20 million people are trafficked for labor or sexual exploitation throughout the world, including the United States, with women and children comprising the majority of victims. Climate change and environmental toxins have disproportionate health impacts on children, which include poor health outcomes and learning disabilities. Children are increasingly displaced from their homes by violence, crime, orphan hood, discrimination, conflict, and environmental disasters, among other reasons.
Recognizing that children require special protections due to their vulnerabilities, the Center for the Human Rights of Children (CHRC), a University Center of Excellence, was established in 2007 to pursue an agenda of interdisciplinary research, outreach and education, and advocacy to address critical and complex issues affecting children and youth, both locally and globally. The CHRC applies a human-rights approach to the problems affecting children, reaffirming the recognition of the inherent dignity and of the equal and inalienable rights of all members of the human family, including children, is the foundation of freedom, justice and peace in the world. Moreover, it does so with respect for the rights and responsibilities of parents, teachers, and other caregivers entrusted with raising children.
The mission of Loyola's Center for the Human Rights of Children is to advance and protect the rights of children.
The Center seeks guidance and inspiration from the tradition of Jesuit and Catholic teachings on social justice and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. Sign up to receive newsletter updates here.
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