Looking Forward: An Introduction to the Symposium Issue

Abstract

Professor Rhonda Copelon was a trailblazing human rights lawyer and activist, one of the world’s foremost legal scholars of the rights of women, and founder of the International Women’s Human Rights (“IWHR”) Clinic at City University of New York (“CUNY”) School of Law. Her extensive work on women’s human rights has had a formative influence in shaping the discourse on human rights under international and domestic law. Professor Copelon’s accomplishments in the human rights field are too numerous to list; however, it can be said that she is most remembered for opening United States federal courts to international human rights violations and demanding that international tribunals address gender-based violence.1 Rhonda Copelon passed away on May 6, 2010. Her groundbreaking work continues to inspire human rights activists and lawyers in all parts of the world. The City University of New York Law Review dedicated its 2012 Symposium to Professor Copelon’s legacy and how her work has been a foundation for the ongoing protection of human rights.2 The Symposium, titled Looking Forward: Rhonda Copelon’s Legacy in Action and the Future of International Women’s Human Rights Law, was held on March 30, 2012, at the CUNY Graduate Center in Midtown Manhattan in collaboration with the IWHR Clinic of CUNY School