ABA ROLI Hosts Pakistani Law Faculty for U.S. Business and Human Rights Immersion Tour

A Pakistani law professor listens as a Georgetown University Law Center lecturer describes her practice-based approach to teaching business and human rights at  ABA ROLI’s HQ office in Washington, DC.

In November 2019, ABA ROLI, with financial support from the U.S. Mission in Pakistan, held a one-week business and human rights (BHR) immersion tour of Washington, DC and Boston, MA for six Pakistani law faculty from Bahria University, Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan College of Law, Peshawar University, the University of Balochistan, and the University of Central Punjab. 

Over the course of the week, participants met with faculty from 10 U.S. universities to learn more about BHR education. They observed BHR teaching at U.S. law schools, discussed course development and teaching methodology with American faculty, attended a BHR Professors’ Colloquium organized by New England Law Boston and the Teaching Business and Human Rights Forum, and met with human rights organizations to discuss emerging trends in BHR.

The immersion tour’s DC itinerary included conversations with faculty from American University’s Washington College of Law and Georgetown University Law Center (GULC), observation of GULC’s BHR Practicum, and a discussion with the ABA’s Center for Human Rights about the Justice Defenders’ Program, which works to hold businesses and governments accountable for human rights abuses.

Pakistani law faculty visit a BHR class at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, DC.

In Boston, the delegation attended a simulated BHR seminar by the Director of New England Law Boston’s Center for International Law and Policy. After the seminar, one participant reported, “I saw a new and better teaching methodology, which basically is to teach for about 20 minutes and give an exercise to students for the remaining 20 minutes.” The Pakistani law faculty also visited the Harvard International Human Rights Clinic and discussed the Clinic’s objectives and opportunities for students, including possible collaboration with Pakistani universities. 

On November 7, the delegation attended a half-day BHR Professor’s Colloquium, co-hosted by the Center for International Law and Policy at New England Law Boston and the Teaching BHR Forum. Nine North American universities and law schools were represented at the Colloquium, including Boston College, Columbia University, Harvard University, New England Law Boston, New York University, Tufts University, the University of Connecticut, the University of Denver, and the University of Ottawa. During the Colloquium, the Pakistani faculty participated in small group discussions to design lesson plans related to BHR topics, some using examples from Pakistan to highlight key learnings. After this activity, one faculty member remarked, “Our US colleagues in the groups gave us complete freedom to give ideas in designing the course. At the time of the presentations, they afforded us the opportunity to present. They appreciated our work and made valuable contributions to make it even better.”

After the immersion tour, the faculty were asked to share their learnings from the tour with their students and colleagues in Pakistan. All of the immersion tour participants reported increased confidence teaching business and human rights after attending the program, including four who reported feeling “very confident” about teaching BHR. Since returning to Pakistan, several of the participants have put their new knowledge to work. One participant, for example, is teaching a semester-long BHR seminar for LLB students. Another designed a BHR course for LLM students.  A third recently published an article on the Overarching Responsibility of Businesses to Curb Sexual Harassment of Women in Workplaces in Pakistan, which was inspired by her learning from the immersion tour.

Pakistani law faculty visit the Royall House & Slave Quarters in Medford, MA on the last day of the immersion tour. Harvard Law School was founded through an endowment from Isaac Royall Jr., who earned his fortune using slave labor to grow and harvest sugar cane on the island of Antigua in the Caribbean. The tour coincided with the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda requesting reparations from Harvard to fund its own public university campus.

Learn more about ABA ROLI's work in Asia and the Pacific.