The Bernstein Symposium began in 1997 in honor of Robert Bernstein, the founding chair of Human Rights Watch, for his extraordinary contributions to the international human rights movement. The symposium is an integral part of the Robert L. Bernstein Fellowship in International Human Rights, which was established the same year. Each year, current and past fellows are invited back to Yale Law School to engage in human rights discussions and to connect with each other and with symposium participants.
The 2026 Bernstein Symposium will be held on April 10-11. Full schedule is below.
Legal Institutions Under Pressure:
Human Rights in a Shifting Global Order
April 10-11, 2026
RSVP REQUIRED
Locations: Sterling Memorial Library Lecture Hall, 120 High Street (Friday)
Yale Law School, Room 122 SLB (Saturday)
As the UN human rights system faces mounting political pressure, fundamental questions arise about its future. How is the international framework responding to growing geopolitical instability, resource constraints, and challenges to authority? How are regional human rights mechanisms adapting to similar pressures, and what roles might they play alongside global institutions in advancing accountability? This year’s symposium examines how global and regional human rights systems are navigating shared challenges, where different actors within these systems may be most effective, and what opportunities exist to strengthen human rights protection within an evolving international and regional landscape.
Program Schedule
FRIDAY
9:30 a.m. Continental Breakfast & Check-in
10:15 a.m. Welcome, Professors Claudia Flores and Paul Kahn
Opening Remarks, Dean Cristina Rodriguez
10:30 a.m. Panel 1: The UN Human Rights System Under Strain
Martín Abregú, Vice President, International Programs Ford Foundation
Tirana Hassan, Chief Executive Officer, Médecins Sans Frontières, USA
Alyssa Yamamoto, Senior Legal & Policy Advisor, Strategic Litigation Project, Atlantic Council; Legal Advisor, End Gender Apartheid Campaign
12:15 p.m. Lunch
1:15 p.m. Keynote: Justice Mansoor Ali Shah, Supreme Court of Pakistan (Ret.)
2:15 p.m. Break
2:30 p.m. Panel 2: Regional Human Rights Systems in a Time of Global Pressure
Kristine Beckerle, Head of Beirut Office and Deputy Regional Director for Amnesty International, Middle East and North Africa Regional Office
Jorge Contesse, Professor of Law & Director, Center for Transnational Law, Rutgers Law School
Viviana Krsticevic, Executive Director, Center for Justice and International Law
4:15 p.m. Closing Remarks
SATURDAY
9:30 am Breakfast available (Room 122 SLB)
10:15 am: Current Bernstein and Robina Fellows Discuss Their Work
Ebele Eseka, Constitutional Court of South Africa
Dylan Farrell-Bryan, Human Rights First’s Refugee Protection program
Philsan Isaak, Center for Justice and Accountability
Samira Mathias, European Court of Human Rights
Emma Schroer, Corporate Accountability Lab
11:15-11:30 Break
11:30 am Former Fellows Discuss Career Trajectory
Sofea Dil, Legal Officer, World Food Programme
Milagros Mutsios Ramsay, Legal Advisor of the Presidency and Lawyer of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
- Jessica Tueller, Associate Professor of Law at the University of Oklahoma College of Law