The LL.M. Roadmap website has published an article devoted to Human Rights of International Students in the U.S. This is part of an effort to help inform LL.M. students of their human rights as international students, and to help inform other stakeholders of their obligations to help ensure that all rights are protected. It is also a general call for greater protections when students leave their home countries to study abroad.

The article covers the following topics:

(a)  Human rights that international LL.M. students are entitled to when they come to the U.S. to study;

(b)  Introduction to various local, national and international charters and principles adopted to protect these rights;

(c)  How some U.S. law schools violate the human rights of LL.M. students;

(d)  Selected charters and principles to protect the rights of international students; and

(e)  A call for a United Nations Declaration on the Rights of International Students.

Operating cash cow LL.M. programs or diploma mill LL.M. programs deprives international students of their human rights. But there are many other ways in which schools, governments, private citizens, and even other students deprive international students of their rights.

Learn about human rights denial, and about human rights protections!

Please check out the article here.

If you have further ideas about how to increase human rights protections of LL.M. students in the U.S., please submit a comment below! We are happy to hear from you!

Thank you.
LLM Roadmap

PS:  Please submit your comments below about human rights of international students.
        Do you have ideas about how U.S. law schools can better protect human rights of international students?
        Comments about protecting international students in the U.S. or in other countries?
        Any other insights or comments?

Professor George Edwards, the LL.M. Roadmap author, will give presentations on U.S. legal education at U.S. Department of State affiliates on a visit to Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia. 

Professor Edwards will lecture on opportunities for Georgian students to study law in the U.S., and provide information about Master of Laws (LL.M.) and other law degree programs at U.S. law schools. He will discuss the relationship between international legal education and peace, security, diplomacy and human rights. Professor Edwards will also speak about the possibility of a United Nations International Declaration on Rights of International Students that could address discrimination against and exploitation of students enrolled at educational institutions outside their home countries. He will be hosted by different entities in Georgia, including EducationUSA Advising Centers (US Department of State) and law faculties. He will visit the U.S. Embassy in Tbilisi, and the Embassy's American Corner.

One presentation is scheduled to be at the Educational Advising Center Kvali, which is located on the grounds of the Tbilisi State University. More information about the Kvali Center (in English) can be found here. Information about other EducationUSA Advising Centers in Georgia can be found here.  The Kvali Center presentation is described in the Flyer posted below. Notices about additional presentations in Georgia will be posted here.

Attendees at these presentations and meetings in Georgia are expected to include Georgian students who wish to study for an LL.M. degree in the U.S., law faculty members from Georgia, faculty advisers who advise students on study abroad, U.S. Embassy and other officials, LL.M. graduates, and Georgian judges and lawyers. Arrangements are being set for meetings with and presentation attendance by members of the European Law Students Association (ELSA) - Georgia and the local groups of ELSA Tblisi  and ELSA Kutaisi.

Non-US students joining an American LL.M. program can gain an edge as you transition to a new legal environment at a U.S. law school.  A special 6-day LL.M. Preview course in New York will help prepare you for the rigors of your U.S. LL.M. program.

LL.M. Preview offers you an overview of the U.S. Constitution and legal system, coaching in American law teaching methodology, and training in legal analysis and writing skills.  

Gain insight into what American law firms look for in foreign candidates, how to present your credentials, and how to build a professional network that can help you achieve your career goals. Learn post-LL.M. career strategies whether you want to work for a U.S. law firm, a multi-national corporation, a governmental ministry, a law faculty, an inter-governmental organization such as the United Nations, or other entity in the U.S. or elsewhere.

Classroom simulations allow you to learn-by-doing in a safe, supportive environment. Learn effective LL.M. student survival and success strategies for you to use inside and outside your LL.M. classrooms, and receive many tips on LL.M. student empowerment.

Learn from speakers associated with some of the most prestigious institutions and firms in the country including:

• Catholic University, Columbus School of Law
  
• Columbia University Law School
  
• Fordham University Law School
  
• LinkedIn
  
• LL.M. Roadmap*
  
• Milbank, Tweed, Hadley & McCloy LLP
  

The 6-day LL.M. Preview course is offered by BARBRI, the leading Bar Exam preparation company in the U.S.  BARBRI as prepared over 1 million students to sit for the bar exam across the U.S.

Dates for 2013 LL.M. Preview are 5 - 10 August in New York. 

For more information and to enroll in LL.M. Preview, please visit the LL.M. Preview website here.

Or send an e-mail here: LLM@BarBri.com

A program for the LL.M. Preview appears below.

*Professor George Edwards, author of LL.M. Roadmap, will present on “LL.M. Student Survival & Empowerment”.  This session will focus on, inter alia, ensuring that your law school meets your reasonable expectations regarding your academic, personal and career expectations.  Professor Edwards has long advocated for rights of international LL.M. students in U.S. schools, and is exploring a proposed United Nations Declaration on the Rights of International Students. See, for example, the following:

• The Need for a United Nations Declaration of the Rights of international Students

                    Below is a copy of the program of LL.M. Preview (5 - 10 August 2013, in New York)!

International educators at a conference in St. Louis, Missouri evaluated the need for a global charter to protect international students’ human rights.  Panelists discussed how academic institutions may short-change international students, and discussed increasing levels of discrimination against and exploitation of students enrolled in schools outside their home countries. They examined health, safety, security and well-being deprivations encountered by these students. They explored  possible domestic and international remedies for these wide-ranging human rights violations.

Panelists examined the Australian Government Principles to Promote and Protect the Human Rights of International Students, and the International Student Mobility Charter of the European Association for International Education (EAIE). A call to action was made for countries, international education associations, and others to design and adopt similar localized principles and guidelines to protect international students.

A call to action was also made for a universal charter, through the United Nations, to protect international students. It could be named the United Nations Declaration on International Students’ Rights, and could be used as a model and guide for similar instruments to be promulgated by the European Union, the Organization of Amaerican States, the African Union, and other inter-governmental organizations.

Panelists suggested that educational institutions around the globe adopt international students’ rights protection instruments, disseminate them widely to stakeholders, and support enforcement measures to help ensure that international students’ internationally recognized human rights are protected at all levels.

Widespread adoption of these instruments would cement recognition that international students’ rights are human rights, and should be protected throughout the world.