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Tara J. Melish 1
TARA J. MELISH
525 John Lord O’Brian Hall, SUNY Buffalo Law School, Buffalo NY 14260 [email protected]
CURRENT TEACHING AND PROFESSIONAL COMMITMENTS
SUNY Buffalo Law School, State University of New York
Professor of Law, Aug. 2016–present
Director, Human Rights Center, 2009–present
Associate Professor of Law, 2009–2016 (spring)
Courses: Public International Law; International Human Rights Law; Comparative Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights: Theory and Practice; International Human Rights Research; Human Rights Lawyering:
Advocacy, Impact and Influence in Washington, D.C. (bridge course)
Global School on Socio-Economic Rights—Åbo Akademi University, Finland
Faculty. 2008–present
Advanced Course on the Justiciability of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Theory and Practice
(taught annually for last eight years to human rights professionals from 20+ countries)
Disability Rights International
Legal Advisor (pro bono), 2007-present
Advise and draft strategic litigation initiatives before the inter-American human rights system involving
rights abuses in Guatemala, Mexico and Paraguay; advise treaty ratification campaigns.
EDUCATION
Yale Law School, J.D. 2000
Activities: Yale Human Rights and Development Law Journal, Editor-in-Chief
Yale Journal of International Law, Book Reviews Editor; Editor
Honors: Ambrose Gherini Prize for Best Paper in the Field of International Law
Brown University, B.A., magna cum laude, Comparative Studies in Society and Development, 1996
Honors: Honors Thesis selected for publication as one of four best in all fields at Brown
1996 Development Studies Prize (best work in Department)
1996 World Hunger Program Research Award (best work in Program)
1996 Community Leadership Award (Brown University)
Starr Public Service Fellowship (Brown University)
Rotary “Service Above Self” Fellowship (four-year recipient)
Phi Beta Kappa
Foreign Study: Bolivia (Fall 1994); Kenya (Spring 1995) (School for International Training)
PAST TEACHING EXPERIENCE
University of Notre Dame Law School
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law. Spring 2009
Courses: Comparative Regional Human Rights Systems; Comparative Social Rights Jurisprudence
George Washington University School of Law
Professorial Lecturer in Law. Fall 2008
Courses: Human Rights Lawyering
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Oxford University
Professorial Lecturer in Law, Summer 2008
Courses: Human Rights Advocacy and Dissemination
University of Georgia School of Law
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law. Spring 2008
Courses: Constitutional Law II and Torts.
University of Virginia School of Law
Visiting Professor. Fall 2006
Courses: International Litigation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (short course).
St. Thomas University School of Law
Visiting Assistant Professor of Law (J.D. Program). Spring/Fall 2002, Spring 2003
Courses: Constitutional Law I, Constitutional Law II, and Criminal Law.
Visiting Faculty (LL.M Program in Intercultural Human Rights): Spring 2002 to Fall 2006
Courses: Economic, Social and Cultural Rights; The African System of Human Rights Protection
PUBLICATIONS:
BOOKS & EDITED VOLUMES
ENFORCING RIGHTS INDIVISIBILITY: BEYOND THE “SEPARATE BUT EQUAL” PARADIGM (under
contract with Pennsylvania University Press, forthcoming 2019) (~250 pp.)
Special Symposium Issue on Implementing Truth and Reconciliation: Comparative Lessons for Korea,
19 BUFFALO HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REV. (2012-2013) (primary editor of book-length special issue,
with M. Nathan & E. Meidinger) (315 pp.)
PROTECTING ECONOMIC, SOCIAL AND CULTURAL RIGHTS IN THE INTER-AMERICAN HUMAN RIGHTS
SYSTEM: A MANUAL ON PRESENTING CLAIMS (Yale Law School & CDES, 2002) (473 pp.)
—Reviewed in 25 HUMAN RIGHTS QUARTERLY 1154 (2003) (describing book as “bold” and
“meticulous,” with “richly-documented arguments and analysis”)
—Spanish edition, LA PROTECCIÓN DE LOS DERECHOS ECONÓMICOS, SOCIALES Y CULTURALES EN EL
SISTEMA INTERAMERICANO DE DERECHOS HUMANOS: MANUAL PARA LA PRESENTACIÓN DE
CASOS (Yale Law School & CDES, 2003) (526 pp.)
HUMAN RIGHTS TO FOOD IN GUATEMALA: FROM RHETORIC TO REALITY (Wayland Press, 1998)
(206 pp.)
JOURNAL ARTICLES & BOOK CHAPTERS
An Historical Introduction to the Convention, in THE U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS
WITH DISABILITIES: AN ARTICLE-BY-ARTICLE COMMENTARY, eds. Ilias Bantekas, Michael Stein
& Dimitris Anastasiou (Oxford Univ. Press, forthcoming 2018)
Putting “Human Rights” Back into the U.N. Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights:
Shifting Frames and Embedding Participation Rights, in BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS:
BEYOND THE END OF THE BEGINNING, ed. César Rodríguez-Garavito (Cambridge Univ. Press,
2017), 21 pp.
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An Eye Toward Effective Enforcement: A Technical-Comparative Approach to the CRPD Drafting
Negotiations, in HUMAN RIGHTS & DISABILITY ADVOCACY, M. Sabatello & M. Schultz eds.
(Penn. Press 2013), pp. 70-96
Truth Commission Impact: A Participation-Based Implementation Agenda, 19 BUFFALO HUMAN
RIGHTS LAW REVIEW (2012-13), pp. 273-315
Implementing Truth and Reconciliation: Comparative Lessons for the Republic of Korea, 19
BUFFALO HUMAN RIGHTS LAW REVIEW (2012-13), pp. 1-71
Justice Jackson’s 1946 Nuremberg Reflections at Buffalo: An Introduction, 60 BUFFALO LAW
REVIEW (2012) (with Fred Konefsky), pp. 255-282
Protect, Respect, Remedy and Participate: ‘New Governance’ Lessons for the Ruggie Framework, in
THE U.N. GUIDING PRINCIPLES ON BUSINESS AND HUMAN RIGHTS: FOUNDATIONS AND
IMPLEMENTATION, ed. Radu Mares (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2011) (with Errol Meidinger),
pp. 303-336
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Beyond Progressivity, in SOCIAL RIGHTS
JURISPRUDENCE: EMERGING TRENDS IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, ed. M.
Langford (Cambridge University Press, Spanish ed. 2011) (substantially updated version from
first 2008 edition), 65 pp.
Maximum Feasible Participation of the Poor: New Governance, New Accountability, and a 21st
Century War on the Sources of Poverty, 13 YALE HUMAN RIGHTS & DEVELOPMENT LAW
JOURNAL (2010), pp. 1-134
From Paradox to Subsidiarity: The United States and Human Rights Treaty Bodies,
34 YALE JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW (2009), pp. 389-462
From Paradox to Subsidiarity: The United States and Human Rights Treaty Bodies, in THE SWORD
AND THE SCALES: THE UNITED STATES AND INTERNATIONAL COURTS AND TRIBUNALS, ed. Cesare
Romano (Cambridge University Press, 2009) (modified version of YJIL article), pp. 210-296
Introductory Note to the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights, 48 INTERNATIONAL LEGAL MATERIALS (2009), pp. 256-261
The Inter-American Court of Human Rights: Beyond Progressivity, in SOCIAL RIGHTS
JURISPRUDENCE: EMERGING TRENDS IN COMPARATIVE AND INTERNATIONAL LAW, Malcolm
Langford ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 372-408
The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights: Defending Social Rights through Case-based
Petitions, in SOCIAL RIGHTS JURISPRUDENCE: EMERGING TRENDS IN COMPARATIVE AND
INTERNATIONAL LAW, Malcolm Langford ed. (Cambridge University Press, 2008), pp. 339-371
Hacia La Protección Efectiva de los Derechos Sociales: La Jurisprudencia de la Corte
Interamericana de Derechos Humanos, en LOS DERECHOS ECONÓMICOS, SOCIALES Y
CULTURALES EN LAS AMERICAS (United Nations OHCHR & ECLAC, 2008), 27 pp.
The U.N. Disability Convention: Historic Process, Strong Prospects and Why the U.S. Should Ratify,
14(2) HUM. RTS. BRIEF (2007), pp. 37-47
—reprinted in DISABILITY DISCRIMINATION (Amicus Books, 2009)
—reprinted in U.N. CONVENTION ON THE RIGHTS OF PERSONS WITH DISABILITIES:
SIGNIFICANCE AND RELEVANCE (Amicus Books, 2009)
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Rethinking the “Less as More” Thesis: Supranational Litigation of Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights in the Americas, 39 NYU JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL LAW & POLITICS (2006),
pp. 171-343
—excerpted in HUMAN RIGHTS (Henkin, Cleveland, Helfer, Neuman, Orentlicher eds. 2009)
Counter-Rejoinder. Justice vs. Justiciability? Normative Neutrality and Technical Precision, The Role
of the Lawyer in Supranational Social Rights Litigation, 39 NYU JOURNAL OF INTERNATIONAL
LAW & POLITICS 385 (2006), pp. 385-415
“Positive” Obligations in the Inter-American Human Rights System, 15 INTERIGHTS BULL. (2006)
(with Ana Aliverti), pp. 120-122.
A Pyrrhic Victory for Peru’s Pensioners: Pensions, Property and the Perversion of Progressivity, I
CEJIL REVISTA (2005), pp. 51-66
El Litigio Supranacional de los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales: Avances y Retrocesos
en el Sistema Interamericano, in LOS DERECHOS ECONÓMICOS, SOCIALES Y CULTURALES (2005),
pp. 173-219
SHORT PIECES
Preface, in DISABILITY RIGHTS CASES IN NEPAL (2014) (with Daniela Ikawa)
IN PROGRESS
Book Review – Beyond Human Rights: The Legal Status of the Individual in International Law by
Anne Peters, American Journal of International Law (invited for 2018)
“Human Rights Assessment Standards”
“From Monuments to Ladders: The Limits of Social Rights Typologies”
“Reclaiming Narratives: Framing Social Rights in the United States”
“Three Tales of the International Human Rights Movement”
“Participatory Instrumentalism: How Human Rights Law Succeeds”
“Constructing Regional Rights Norms: Interpretive Principles in the Inter-American Human Rights
System”
PROFESSIONAL RESEARCH AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIP SUPPORT
John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Award. 2005–2006 recipient of research and
writing grant from the MacArthur Foundation: “Ensuring Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in
Resource-Limited, Technologically Changing Contexts.”
Robert L. Bernstein Fellowship, Yale Law School. 2004–2005. To pursue litigation and research in the
field of economic, social and cultural rights at the Center for Justice and International Law.
Fulbright Scholarship, 1996–1997. To work on border-area food security issues in Central America.
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PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE
Disability Rights International (DRI)
United Nations Representative (2005-2007); Legal Advisor (2007-present). Represent DRI policy
positions in the drafting negotiations of the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,
through proposal drafting, State-by-State lobbying, and article-by-article oral interventions. Advise DRI on
litigation and lobbying initiatives, both internationally and domestically.
Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Washington D.C.
Legal Advisor (2004–2011); Staff Attorney / Bernstein Fellow (2003–2004).
Litigate cases before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of
Human Rights, represent victims, petition for precautionary and provisional measures.
George Washington University School of Law
Visiting Scholar (2006–2007; Fall 2008). Complete research and writing projects, while providing external
support to variety of non-profit, public-interest entities, including the Norwegian Research Council, the
Irish Participation and the Practice of Rights Project, the U.S. Human Rights Network and its members,
the Poor People’s Economic Human Rights Campaign, and the Consumer Rights Organization of Chile.
United Nations Secretariat, Department of Economic and Social Affairs
Associate Social Affairs Officer (2004-2005). Prepare direct support materials, including session reports,
summaries, and background papers on comparative disability law and human rights standards, for the UN
Ad Hoc Committee charged with drafting the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
The Honorable James R. Browning, U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, San Francisco
Law Clerk (2000-2001).
Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights, Yale Law School
Student Director (1998-1999). Organize events, panels and debates on current issues in international law.
Land Claims Court of South Africa, Johannesburg, South Africa
Court Clerk (May–July 1998). Assist Court in researching claims of unjust land dispossession under
apartheid laws.
Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation, South Africa (July–Aug 1998)
Research Associate (July–Aug 1998). Prepare report on 1998 National Poverty Hearings, in which over
10,000 poor South Africans testified publicly on the socio-economic legacy of apartheid, complementing
mandate of Truth and Reconciliation Commission.
Institute of Nutrition for Central America and Panama (INCAP), Guatemala
Research Associate (1996–1997). Work in human rights education, community organizing, and
development project consultation with local border communities of Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras
in regional border-integration initiative. Conducted research on basic food rights, monitoring government
fulfillment of state obligations under national, regional and international law.
World Hunger Program, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
Researcher (1995–1996). Investigate local food security issues in Central America and among Central
American immigrants in R.I.
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ACADEMIC PRESENTATIONS, EXPERTS WORKSHOPS, TRAININGS, FIELD MISSIONS
“Solidarity: Sustaining the Struggle for Human Rights in a Fractured World,” Panel Moderator: Culture
and Change, Robert L. Bernstein Human Rights Symposium, Yale Law School, April 13, 2018
“The Cost of Global Human Rights Activism,” Invited Speaker, Community Conversations – Human
Rights and Activisms: Global and Local Struggles, UB School of Social Work, March 15, 2018
“Recientes Desarrollos en la Jurisprudencia de la Corte Interamericana en materia de justiciabilidad de los
DESCA,” Panel en parallelo al 167 Período de Sesiones de la Comisión Interamericana de Derechos
Humanos, Universidad Externado de Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia, March 2, 2018 (en español)
“Economic and Social Rights,” Invited Speaker, Sir Nigel Rodley Human Rights Conference, Urban
Morgan Institute for Human Rights, University of Cincinnati College of Law, October 29, 2017
“Counterterrorism, Electoral Politics, and Human Rights,” Invited Chair, Alison Des Forges International
Symposium, University at Buffalo, April 27, 2017
“A CEDAW Ordinance for Buffalo,” Invited Speaker, Women’s Bar Association of Western New York,
Legislative Committee, April 6, 2017
“A CEDAW Ordinance for Buffalo,” Invited Speaker, Erie County Bar Association, Human Rights
Committee, April 5, 2017
“On Indivisibility and Social Rights Enforcement: Beyond the ‘Separate but Equal’ Paradigm,” University
of Cincinnati, March 29, 2017
“Step Up and Take Action for Gender Equality: Getting a Gender Equality Ordinance in Buffalo,”
University at Buffalo School of Law, February 23, 2017
“Honor, Systems of Masculinity, and Violence against Women: Responses and Solutions – Legal Systems
and Interventions,” Invited panelist, UB Gender Institute, University at Buffalo, October 28, 2016
“NGOs and Human Rights,” Invited panelist, Dr. Claude Welch Retirement Celebration: Human Rights
1939-2016, University at Buffalo, April 29, 2016
“The Future of Economic and Social Rights,” Invited panelist, Boston College of Law, April 19-20, 2016
“Human Rights Cities,” Moderator, American Society of International Law, Annual Meeting, Washington
D.C., April 1, 2016.
“Sixth Consultation on the Situation of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: United States and Canada,”
Invited panelist, ESCR Unit, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington D.C.,
January 27, 2016
“Framing the Issue: Persuasive Advocacy, Knowing Your Audience, Speaking Your Values,”
Speaker/Trainer, Open Buffalo Emerging Leaders Program, Buffalo State, December 3& 8, 2015
“Winning the Human Right to Health Care: Lessons from Grassroots Campaigns,” Moderator, Buffalo
City Hall, November 10, 2015
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“Engaging with the Inter-American Human Rights System for U.S. Advocacy,” Invited Panelist for all-day,
CLE-credit event at Skadden Arps, New York City, co-sponsored by Columbia Law School’s Human
Rights Institute, the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), Robert F. Kennedy Partners for
Human Rights, International Justice Resource Center, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), and
the University of Pennsylvania Transnational Legal Clinic, June 12, 2015.
Testimony to the New York Wage Board, Buffalo City Hall, New York, June 5, 2015. Provided testimony to New York Wage Board, empaneled by NY Governor Andrew Cuomo to
recommend a new minimum wage for fast-food workers in New York.
“Constructing Regional Rights Norms: Interpretive Principles in the Inter-American Human Rights
System,” presented to the Latin American Conference of Judges, SUNY Buffalo Law School, June 1,
2015.
“In(di)visibility Strategy and Social Rights Enforcement,” presented in Paper Session: “Revealing the
Invisibility of Economic and Social Rights in Diverse Contexts,” Law & Society Association Annual
Meeting, Seattle, Washington, May 29, 2015
“Economic and Social Rights: The Role of the Treaty Bodies,” Discussant, Law & Society Association
Annual Meeting, Seattle, Washington, May 29, 2015
Field Mission to Mexico City to Investigate Closed Psychiatric Institutions, May 19-22, 2015.
“In(di)visibility Strategy and Social Rights Enforcement,” Syracuse University School of Law, Faculty
Workshop, April 30, 2015.
Testimony before the Legislative Committee of the Buffalo Common Council on the Creation of an Office of
Public Advocate, City Hall, Buffalo, NY, April 21, 2015
“Bringing the Women’s Human Rights Treaty to Buffalo: Implementing CEDAW Locally,” Introductory
Remarks and Moderator, SUNY Buffalo Law School, April 16, 2015
Hearing before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights regarding Precautionary Measures against
the State of Guatemala, Of Counsel, October 29, 2014.
“U.S. Drone Policy in the Mid-East: The Legal, Political and Moral Implications,” Moderator, SUNY
Buffalo Law School, Sept. 25, 2014
“In(di)visibility Strategy and Social Rights Enforcement,” American Society of International Law Midwest
Interest Group Workshop, University of Minnesota, Sept. 5, 2014
Experts Workshop, “Implementing the UN’s Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights: A South-
Initiated North-South Dialogue,” invited expert, Watson Institute, Brown University, February 20-22,
2014 (bringing together leading academic and practitioner voices from around the globe working in
the field of business and human rights, including John Ruggie, former Special Representative to the
Secretary General on Business and Human Rights, who drafted the Guiding Principles)
“In(di)visibility Strategy and Social Rights Enforcement,” JILSA annual meeting, Berkeley Law School, Jan.
31, 2014.
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Human Rights Training for Nepali Public Health Advocates & Supreme Court Decision Implementation
Workshop, Jan. 2014, Kathmandu, Nepal (financed by the International Network on Economic, Social
and Cultural Rights, ESCR-Net)
- Aimed at providing Nepali authorities with comparative perspectives on national experiences in
implementing the rights of persons with psychosocial disabilities and raising citizen awareness
regarding the rights guaranteed in the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities
(CRPD). See full description of workshops at <http://www.escr-net.org/node/365406>
Experts Workshop, “Comparative Human Rights Systems,” invited expert, Centre for International Courts
(ICourts), University of Copenhagen, Denmark, June 2013
Author Meets Reader, panel discussion on Katharine Young’s new book Constituting Economic and
Social Rights (with Mark Tushnet and Lucie White), Law & Society Association Annual Meeting,
Boston, May 2013
“The Invisibilities of Indivisibility Strategy,” Invited Panelist in conference “Bringing Economic, Social and
Cultural Rights Home: The Right to Adequate Housing in the U.S.,” Columbia Law School Human
Rights Institute (panel on “The Interdependence of Rights” with Philip Alston and Martha Davis), April
2013
Commentary to Ken Roth’s presentation, “Are there Parallels between Rwanda’s and Israel’s Experience and
Conduct?” in conference “Human Rights in the Middle East and Central Africa: Comparisons and
Contrasts between Rwanda and Israel,” SUNY Buffalo Law School, April 2013
“Humanitarian Intervention,” Great Decisions Discussion, International Institute of Buffalo, Mar. 2013
“FDR’s Second Bill of Rights Speech,” Action Speaks: Underappreciated 20th Century Dates that Changed
America, AS220 Providence, Rhode Island (live radio panel with Natalie Klein, George Nee, and host
Marc Levitt, WGBH 89.7 Boston), Nov. 2012
Council on Foreign Relations, Educators’ Workshop, April 28-29, 2012
“Reclaiming Narratives: Framing Social Rights in the United States,” Invited panelist in conference on
“Framing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights for Advocacy and Mobilization: Towards a Strategic
Agenda in the United States,” Northeastern University School of Law, Nov. 2011
“From Monuments to Ladders: Collapsing Social Rights Typologies into a New Enforcement-Oriented
Schema,” Rapoport Center on Human Rights and Justice Speaker Series, University of Texas at Austin
School of Law, Oct. 2011
“Toward a Unified Theory of Human Rights Obligations: Collapsing Rights Typologies into a Broader,
Enforcement-Oriented Taxonomic Schema,”
Junior International Law Scholars Association Annual Meeting, Yale Law School, Feb. 2011
Temple Law School, International Law Colloquium, Feb. 2011
Experts Working Meeting, “The Protection of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights of Women in the
Americas,” Organized by the Rapporteurship on the Rights of Women, Inter-American Commission
on Human Rights (OAS), invited expert, Washington DC, October 18-19, 2010
“ Discrimination against Women in the Social, Economic and Cultural Sphere”
“Access to Justice for Women Victims of Sexual Violence in the Economic and Social Rights
Sphere”
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Experts Workshop, “Strategic Litigation Initiative for the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant
on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (OP-ICESCR),” invited expert, Ford Foundation, New York,
October 12-13, 2010
“The U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” Oxford University (New College),
England, July 2008
“The Sarayaku of Ecuador and the Right to Indigenous Property,” Guest lecturer in “Human Rights,
Culture and Development,” Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington University, May
2008
Second Potomac Foreign Relations Law Roundtable, George Washington School of Law, May 2008
“The UN Disability Convention: Tool for Inclusion, Participation and Voice in Domestic Policymaking,”
Symposium: Framing Legal and Human Rights Strategies for Change: A Case Study of Disability
Rights in Asia, University of Washington School of Law, April 2008
“Litigating in the Inter-American System,” Conference: The United States and the Inter-American Human
Rights System, Columbia Law School and the American Society of International Law (co-sponsors),
New York, April 2008
Experts Meeting on the Evolving Inter-American Human Rights System, co-sponsored by the American
Society of International Law, Columbia Law School, New York, April 2008
Junior International Law Scholars Association scholarship roundtable, New York Law School, February
2008. Conference commentator on papers presented in “International Security” session.
“Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: An Appraisal,” Georgetown University, March 2008
“Maximum Feasible Participation of the Poor: New Governance, New Accountability, and the Rise of
National Poverty Hearings,” Junior International Law Scholars Association’s Annual Conference,
New York Law School, February 2008
“Racial Discrimination in the United States: U.S. Review before the UN Committee on the Elimination of
All Forms of Racial Discrimination,” University of Georgia School of Law, February 2008
“Conventional Thinking: How International Conventions Effect Human Rights at Home,” Conference on
Race, Class, Gender and Ethnicity: Bringing Human Rights Home, University of North Carolina–
Chapel Hill School of Law, February 2008
“La Jurisprudencia de la Corte Interamericana de Derechos Humanos,” International Conference on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Justiciability, co-sponsored by the United Nations Office of the
High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Economic Commission for Latin America
(CEPAL), Sala Raúl Prebisch, Santiago, Chile, December 2007
International Expert on the Right to Mental Health, Mental Health and Human Rights Forum, Participation
and the Practice of Rights Project, Belfast, Northern Ireland, November 2007
“Maximum Feasible Participation of the Poor: The Rise of National Poverty Hearings” (working paper
presentation), Inter-school Junior Faculty Poverty Law Workshop, Washington College of Law,
American University, May 2008.
First Potomac Foreign Relations Law Roundtable, George Washington School of Law, May 2007
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Inter-school Junior Faculty Workshop on Poverty Law, American University, May 2007
James Farmer Memorial Lecture in Human Rights “The New UN Convention on the Rights of Persons
with Disabilities: Recognizing and Ensuring Disability Rights as Human Rights,” University of Mary
Washington, April 2007
“Operationalizing the Protocol of San Salvador: Advancing Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the
Americas,” Washington College of Law, American University, April 2007
“Implementing the U.N. Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities,” Conference: The New
UN Disability Rights Convention: Building Support in the United States for Ratification and
Implementation, Washington College of Law, American University, April 2007
Scholarship Roundtable on Comparative Constitutional Law, George Washington University School of
Law, April 2007
“The Right to Health: A Cross-Jurisdictional Perspective,” University of Virginia School of Law, Invited
speaker, November 2006
“Using International Mechanisms to Protect the Right to Housing,” Invited participant in symposium “The
Human Right to Housing,” George Washington University School of Law, Sept. 2006
“The Inter-American System of Human Rights,” Guest lecturer in course Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights, Washington College of Law, American University, June 2006
“The Right to Culture: Indigenous Rights and Self-Determination,” Washington College of Law,
American University, June 2006
Colloquium “Next Steps in the U.S. Relationship with International Courts and Tribunals,” co-sponsored
with the NYU Center on International Cooperation’s Project on International Courts and Tribunals,
George Washington University School of Law, May 2006
“Perspectives on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the United States,” Human Rights Defenders
Speakers Series, Washington College of Law, American University, April 2006
“Homelessness and the Human Right to Adequate Housing,” Invited panelist in symposium “Poverty and
Human Rights,” George Washington University School of Law, February 2006
“Holding States Accountable for Violations of Women’s Right to Adequate Housing,” U.N. Consultation
on Women and the Right to Adequate Housing in North America, with U.N. Special Rapporteur on
the Right to Adequate Housing, Miloon Kothari, held at George Washington University School of
Law, October 2005
“Mecanismos de exigibilidad de los DESC ante los órganos internacionales de protección y organismos
multilaterales financieros y de comercio: El sistema interamericano,” International Seminar on
Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, D.F. Mexico, August 2005
Experts Meeting on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, Mexican Secretariat of Foreign Relations, the
National Institute of Social Development, and the Mexico/European Commission Programme of
Cooperation in Human Rights, Invited expert, Mexico City, Mexico, August 2005
“Cultural Rights as Human Rights: Casting Aside a False Dichotomy,” Guest lecturer in graduate seminar
“Human Rights, Culture and Development,” Elliott School for International Affairs, George
Washington University, June 2005
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“Enforcement Strategies for Ensuring the Human Right to Adequate Housing,” Invited panelist and
discussant in Forum “Housing Rights for All: Promoting and Defending Housing Rights in the United
States,” Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars, Washington DC, May 2005
“What Legal Obligations Do Developed States Have to Alleviate Global Poverty?” Moderator, with Arjun
Sengupta, UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, in Symposium “Global
Poverty, Global Duties, Global Strategies,” Yale Law School, April 2005
WBAI/PACIFICA RADIO, 99.5FM (New York), Politics and Policy, produced by Premilla Dixit. Panel
discussant for International Women’s Day on practical impact of the Convention on the Elimination of
Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) in the Americas, March 8, 2005
“Litigating Violations of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Experience from the Field,” Robert F.
Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights, Washington DC, October 2004
Experts Workshop “The Case for Cultural Rights,” Carnegie Council on Ethics and International Affairs,
New York, September 2004
Meeting of Experts “Litigating Economic, Social and Cultural Rights: Common Challenges and
Comparative Experience,” co-sponsored by Notre Dame University School of Law and the John D.
and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Washington DC, June 2004
“Litigating Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Claims under the South African Constitution: Positive
State Obligations, Reasonableness, Government Discretion, and National Plans of Action:
Comparative Lessons from the South African Experience,” Meeting of Experts, Washington DC,
June 2004
“Enforcing Indigenous Peoples’ Rights to Territory, Culture, and Life in the Inter-American Human
Rights System,” Invited speaker, The Elliott School of International Affairs, George Washington
University, March 2004
“Protecting Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Inter-American Human Rights System,” Invited
speaker, University of Virginia School of Law, September 2003
“The Legality of the War in Iraq,” Invited speaker, St. Thomas University School of Law, April 2003
“Using the Inter-American System of Human Rights for the Protection of Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights,” Guest lecturer for Harold Hongju Koh, Yale Law School, March 2003
Seminar in Latin America on Constitutional Themes and Democratic Theory (SELA), Palermo University,
Buenos Aires, Argentina, August 1998
OTHER INTERNATIONAL TEACHING CONSULTANCIES
International Legislative Drafting Institute, Georgetown Law Center, June 2007, sponsored by the
Public Law Center at Tulane School of Law. Train delegates from eight countries on how to draft
national implementing legislation for UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Second International Training Course for South American Human Rights Lawyers, Caracas,
Venezuela, Nov. 2004. Academic coordinator and lecturer in two-week training program for
lawyers from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, and
Venezuela, entitled “Strengthening the Protection of the Rights to Health and Education in the
Tara J. Melish 12
Inter-American Human Rights System.” Lectured on precautionary and provisional measures, the
rules of legal standing, case-framing strategies, and emerging issues in indigenous rights cases.
Regional Training Course for Southern African Countries, Harare, Zimbabwe, Sept. 2004. Expert
lecturer in three-week program entitled “Economic, Social and Cultural Rights Course for
Southern Africa,” organized by the Human Rights Trust of Southern Africa (SAHRIT). Taught
courses on human rights instruments, social rights thematic issues, regional and universal
protection systems, monitoring and enforcement strategies, minorities and indigenous rights, and
the right to health.
Regional Training Course for East African Countries, Nairobi, Kenya, Aug.-Sept. 2004. Expert
lecturer in two-week course entitled “East African Programme on the Equal Status and Human
Rights of Women,” organized by the Nairobi-based Education Centre for Women in Democracy,
for participants from Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Uganda. Taught courses on the UN
system, international social rights jurisprudence, regional systems, presentation of state reports to
the CEDAW Committee, and CEDAW’s impacts in Latin America.
Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia, Faculty of Public Health and Administration, Lima,
Peru, Aug. 2004. Invited lecturer in University’s International Diploma on the Human Right to
Health. Taught one-week course “The Justiciability of the Right to Health,” presenting lectures
(in Spanish) on the inter-American system, strategies for protecting the right to health under the
American Convention, and comparative adjudication of the right to health in Peru and other Latin
American countries.
International Training Course for South American Human Rights Lawyers, Buenos Aires,
Argentina, May 2003. Invited expert in program “Fortaleciendo la protección del derecho a la
educación y del derecho a la salud mediante el uso del sistema interamericano,” sponsored by the
Raoul Wallenburg Institute and CEJIL. Presented lectures (in Spanish) on establishing state
responsibility for human rights violations in the regional system and litigating under the
“integration approach.”
PROFESSIONAL PROBONO ACTIVITIES AND BAR MEMBERSHIP
Invited Member, Scientific Steering Committee of the European Horizon 2020 ValUEs Project – “EU
as a Value-Based Global Actor: Bridging the Gap between Ethical Power and Market Power in
Europe” (composed of leading experts in the subject areas most relevant to the ValUEs Project, with
aim of ensuring the scientific soundness and relevance of the Project and its outcomes).
American Society of International Law (ASIL)
—Program Committee Member, 2013 Annual Meeting
—Advisory Board Member, International Courts and Tribunals Interest Group
—ASIL Cables contributor
Open Buffalo, Emerging Leaders Program, trainer and mentor
Participatory Budgeting Steering Committee (Buffalo)
Cities for CEDAW Buffalo, Steering Committee Convener
Scholars Board, ActionSpeaks Radio Program
Strategic Litigation Working Group of the International Network on Economic, Social and Cultural
Rights (ESCR-Net)
Bringing Human Rights Home Lawyers’ Network (BHRHLN)
Tara J. Melish 13
HURAH (Human Rights at Home) State and Local Implementation Sub-Committee
Advisory Group to the American Constitution Society for a proposed Blueprint on Human Rights in
the United States (preparing recommendations for a new Administration), 2008-2009
ABA Committee on the American Convention on Human Rights (preparing recommendations on U.S.
ratification for a new Administration)
Chair, Working Group on Domestic Implementation of CERD Treaty Obligations, U.S. Human
Rights Network (principal drafter of U.S. shadow report chapter on domestic implementation)
Admitted to practice in New York and Massachusetts
SUNY COMMITTEE WORK
Committee on Committees, 2014-2015
Academic Program Planning Committee (APPC), 2014-present
Curricular Reform Committee, 2013-2014
Appointments Committee, 2011-2013
(University-wide) Faculty Liaison Committee, UB2020 Strategic Planning Process, 2012-2013
Mitchell Lecture Committee, 2009-2012
International Programs Committee, 2009-2010, 2015-16
Law School Survey of Student Engagement (LSSSE) Committee, 2010-2012
Vision and Mission Committee, 2011-2014
Orientation Committee, 2012-2014
HUMAN RIGHTS ACCOMPANIMENT WORK
National Coordination of Guatemalan Widows (CONAVIGUA) (Guatemala, May-July 1994)
Resettlement of Guatemalan Refugees from Mexico (Chiapas/Guatemala Nov. 1991)
Witness for Peace (1990-93) (annual fact-finding delegations to Guatemala and Nicaragua)