Schell Center Announces 2022-23 Postgrad Fellows

The Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights announced seven recent and upcoming graduates who will receive Bernstein and Robina International Human Rights Fellowships for the 2022-23 academic year. The Bernstein Fellowship supports a year of full-time work in human rights advocacy. The Robina Fellowship also funds full-time human rights work, particularly at international or foreign courts and tribunals and intergovernmental human rights agencies. Read about this cohort of fellows and their projects.

Yussef Al Tamimi ’22 will spend his Robina Fellowship year at the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France. He will clerk for Judge Darian Pavli and will be in charge of reporting on case law developments in a number of legal areas. At Yale Law, Al Tamimi was a Fulbright Scholar. He also served as a Features Editor at the Yale Journal of International Law and was a member of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. Prior to Yale, Al Tamimi received his Ph.D. from the European University Institute. His work has been published in a number of international law and philosophy journals and his work was cited by the Venice Commission of the Council of Europe. Al Tamimi holds degrees in law and philosophy, cum laude, from Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam and an M.Sc. in social policy from the University of Oxford.

Rodrigo Ayala Miret ’22 will spend his Robina Fellowship year at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) in Washington, D.C. He will work as a Human Rights Specialist in the Follow-up of Recommendations and Impacts Section. Ayala Miret will also focus on developing collaboration mechanisms between the commission and political bodies of Organization of American States members to strengthen the impact of the Inter-American norms and standards. At Yale Law School, Ayala Miret focused his studies on comparative constitutional law and international human rights. He served as a Lead Editor of the Yale Journal of Law & Technology and assisted with a legal case against a former South American president for human rights violations. Before Yale, Ayala Miret taught courses on constitutional law, human rights, and open government at the Universidad Católica ‘‘Nuestra Señora de la Asunción’’ and served as Coordinator of the Observatory on Access to Public Information. He holds a master's degree in Constitutional Justice and Human Rights from the University of Bologna and a law degree from the Universidad Católica ‘‘Nuestra Señora de la Asunción,’’ graduating from both with the highest honors.

Luke Connell ’22 will spend his Bernstein Fellowship year in the International Unit of the Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez A.C. (“Centro Prodh”), a leading Mexican human rights NGO. At Centro Prodh, Connell will work with collectives, groups composed of family members of disappeared persons, to collaboratively develop advocacy strategies related to the individual complaint mechanism of the U.N. Committee on Enforced Disappearances. While at Yale Law School, Connell was a member of the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, the Peter Gruber Rule of Law Clinic, and the New Haven Legal Assistance Immigration Clinic. He was a Student Director of the Schell Center, an Executive Editor of the Yale Journal of International Law, and a participant in Jessup Moot Court. During the summers, he interned at Centro Prodh, Amnesty International – Mexico, and the European Court of Human Rights. Prior to law school, Connell worked with the International Rescue Committee in Kenya and Somalia, la 72 migrant shelter in Mexico, and Georgia Legal Services, Farmworker Rights Division. He holds a B.A. in political science and religious studies from Yale College. 

Jason Gardiner ’22 will spend his Bernstein Fellowship year in Guyana working with Forest Peoples Programme, an international NGO that partners with indigenous communities and organizations. He will conduct community legal empowerment work with indigenous communities in Guyana, focusing particularly on protecting traditional lands from government-issued mining concessions. He will also partner with local organizations in their advocacy efforts to reform the statutory framework for indigenous rights protection in Guyana. During his time at Yale Law School, he was a legal director for the Yale chapter of the International Refugee Assistance Project, and he participated in the Global Health Justice Partnership and the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic. He also served on the executive board of the Yale Journal of International Law. He spent his summers working for the California Office of the Attorney General’s Healthcare Rights and Access section and the U.S. Senate Office of the Legislative Counsel. He holds a B.A. in linguistics from Brigham Young University.

Megan Hauptman ’21 will spend her Bernstein Fellowship year with the National Immigration Project (NIP-NLG). Hauptman will split her time between Washington, D.C., and Mexico City, where she will engage in strategic direct representation, resource development, and public advocacy to support those unjustly deported from the United States in vindicating their rights to seek return. Hauptman is currently completing a clerkship in the Southern District of Texas. At Yale, Hauptman participated in the Allard K. Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic, the Worker and Immigrant Rights Advocacy Clinic, the Criminal Justice Advocacy Clinic, and the Immigrant Rights Clinic at New Haven Legal Assistance. She spent her summers with the San Francisco Public Defender’s Immigration Unit and with the Special Litigation Division of the Public Defender Service for the District of Columbia. Prior to law school, Hauptman worked as a paralegal at a public defender’s office. She holds a B.A. in history from Brown University. 

Tim Hirschel-Burns ’22 will spend his Bernstein Fellowship year at Oxfam America in Washington, D.C. His work will focus on ensuring human rights and corporate accountability in the mining of minerals necessary to the energy transition. During law school, Hirschel-Burns served as a Student Director of the Lowenstein International Human Rights Clinic and co-founded the national organization Law Students for Climate Accountability. He interned with the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Extreme Poverty and Human Rights and the Center for International Environmental Law. Prior to law school, Hirschel-Burns was a Peace Corps volunteer in Benin. He holds a B.A. in political science from Swarthmore College.

Lena Riemer ’22 will spend her Robina Fellowship year at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Berlin, Germany. During her fellowship she will assess the legal and practical difficulties refugees face in Germany when attaining identity documents — a necessity for full and equal participating in their new host society. Her project collects best practices in various other states with the aim of providing concrete policy suggestions for adjustments to the German situation. While at Yale Law School, as a Fox Fellow in 2018-19, Riemer was part of the International Refugee Assistance Project (IRAP), volunteered at a family detention centre in Dilley, Texas. She also served as a representative at the Graduate Student Assembly. As an LL.M. student, she continued her work with IRAP, serves as an Executive Editor for the Yale Journal of International Law, and as a board member of the European Law Association. Riemer holds a law degree from Humboldt University Berlin and a Ph.D. from Freie University Berlin. She has previously worked as a research and teaching assistant, graduate program coordinator, and as a Protection Officer with UNHCR.

The Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights seeks to increase knowledge and understanding of international human rights issues; to equip lawyers and other professionals with the knowledge and skills needed to advance the cause of international human rights; and to assist human rights organizations.