Meet New Schell Center Executive Director Dina Francesca Haynes

Dina Francesca Haynes has joined the Orville H. Schell Jr. Center for International Human Rights as Executive Director. She comes to Yale following more than 20 years of international human rights law practice and teaching. 

Haynes has been a Professor of Law at New England Law Boston, Georgetown, American University, and UNLV, where she taught courses relating to public international law, human rights, refugee and asylum law, immigration, human trafficking, and constitutional law. She researches, writes, and engages in policy work and advocacy in the areas of refugee and asylum law, immigration, human trafficking, human rights, regressive governance, and gender during and after conflict. She has also authored three books and more than 65 articles and book chapters. 

She has practiced international human rights law as Director General of the Human Rights Department for the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia-Herzegovina; Human Rights Advisor to the OSCE in Serbia; as a Protection Officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Afghanistan and Croatia; and as a Human Rights Field Investigator with the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Rwanda. Professor Haynes was also an attorney for the United States Department of Justice and clerked on the Constitutional Court of South Africa. She has engaged in extensive pro bono practice, impact litigation, and direct representation to asylum seekers and those suffering human rights violations. 

“Dina brings incredible experience as a scholar, administrator, and activist to the Schell Center,” said Clinical Professor of Law Claudia Flores, Co-Director of the Schell Center. “She has a strong commitment to supporting students in crafting their legal careers in the field of human rights.”

The Schell Center encourages students to reach out to Haynes at dina.haynes@yale.edu. She can also be found at her office in Sterling Law Building L33. 

Haynes spoke to the Schell Center about about her experiences and approach to the position.  

How did you come to practice international human rights law?

I came to international human rights law during a coup d’etat in Chad. I was a Peace Corps volunteer, set to return to graduate school in English literature. When my Chadian friends began asking for assistance to seek refuge and remedies for what would turn out to be crimes against humanity, war crimes and torture, I felt so helpless. Not knowing enough to even begin to help direct them to any resources led me to switch gears and go to law school, where I completed a human rights fellowship. 

From there I clerked for judges in Botswana and South Africa, the first female high court and constitutional court judges in their countries, and then became an Honor Graduate Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice. Although I worked on fascinating issues at DOJ, including implementing the Torture Convention regulations, my heart was in human rights field work. I was selected for the first U.N. post in Afghanistan dedicated to women’s and girls’ education, but the mission was suspended after the Taliban restricted the ability of a woman to work in country. I was then hired as a human rights field investigator in Rwanda, with the OHCHR. 

When that mission was suspended, I moved to UNHCR (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, also known as the U.N. Refugee Agency) and was posted in Croatia, working on cross-border refugee issues as a Protection Officer. I then moved to the OSCE (Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe) and headed up the Human Rights Department in Bosnia and Herzegovina and later in Serbia and Montenegro. I worked and lived in Croatia, Bosnia, and Serbia for four years, and only returned to the U.S. when I was having a child. 

I began teaching at Georgetown Law and then American University's Washington College of Law in the clinical programs designed around migration (asylum law, humanitarian visas) and international human rights law defense. I see both as valid and import modalities of practicing human rights law. Because I had expertise and was an active member of the bar, I began undertaking substantial pro bono work, often through direct representation even after I became a doctrinal podium professor of law. So, I practiced international human rights law, pro bono, for the entire time I taught as a professor of law, and essentially for my entire career.

What are some of the international human rights field experiences that have particularly shaped your areas of interest? How do you envision these experiences helping you as an advising resource for students?

My field experience has dramatically shaped not just my areas of interest, but it has shaped me, as have certain students, clients, and the traumas they have shared with me as we develop their cases. It is impossible to work in the field and not be deeply shaped by those experiences. Seeing and experiencing so much trauma over the course of my career has deeply impacted me and I know what a toll it can take when it goes unaddressed. One way I’ve tried to address this is to lead by example. When I recognize burnout in myself, I change my vantage point or modality. When field work becomes too much, I teach. When direct client representation becomes too much, I write or engage in policy work. I switch between practicing international human rights within the U.S. and abroad. In my classes and pro bono work, I have taught my students about the impact of trauma on their clients, and on themselves, while also creating resources for human rights advocates to seek assistance and avoid burnout. It is incredibly rewarding to be directly involved in helping someone save themself. 

I love international human rights law, the clients I assist, and I love the type of students who want to engage in this work. I want those who enter the profession to thrive.”

—Dina Francesca Haynes

When the Taliban came back into power, I became intimately involved in the extraction of as many human rights defenders and humanitarian cases as I could. When it became apparent that the need was overwhelming, I started my own nonprofit and began leading a group of 1,000 pro bono lawyers doing the same. One of the clients I managed to get out and obtain status for is now on my board and asked me to walk her down the aisle at her wedding. Another is now an actor and model and calls me his “second mom.” I love international human rights law, the clients I assist, and I love the type of students who want to engage in this work. I want those who enter the profession to thrive.

How should students understand your role as Executive Director, and what are some of the human rights-related events you’re working on for this academic year?

As the Executive Director of the Schell Center, I hope to be available to human rights-interested students, to professionally mentor them and help guide them to fulfilling fellowships and job prospects in the field of human rights law. I will support our Fellows in the field and try to foster community and opportunity amongst the international human rights law-interested students at Yale. 

Interested students should keep an eye out for our open houses where former fellows share their experiences with those interested in exploring human rights fellowships, including the Kirby Simon Fellowships, summer opportunities in human rights for current students, and the Bernstein and Robina Fellowships, post graduate fellowships to experience international human rights law employment after law school. They should also consider attending the Human Rights Workshops and should definitely plan to come to the annual Bernstein Symposium in April where they can hear from luminaries and practitioners in the field of international human rights law, as well as our current Fellows who will return from their field work to speak to students.

The Orville H. Schell, Jr. Center for International Human Rights offers law students and graduates diverse opportunities to apply the lessons they are learning in the classroom to further the cause of human rights and to examine human rights practice critically. It also brings critical human rights discussion to the wider university community. At the same time, it provides a forum for international human rights practitioners to consider the theoretical issues their work entails and for scholars studying human rights to engage in interdisciplinary dialogue.