School of Law’s new Center for Global Law and Justice set to make ‘the world a better place’ Justice Natalia Ángel-Cabo of the Constitutional Court of Colombia helped introduce the center as an embodiment of hope amid global crises. by Ian Thomsen November 18, 2024 Share this story Copy Link Link Copied! Email Facebook LinkedIn Twitter WhatsApp Reddit The launch event for the Northeastern University School of Law’s Center for Global Law and Justice. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University Northeastern University’s new Center for Global Law and Justice will address challenges and injustices around the world while promoting human rights, humanitarianism, climate justice, fair governance and democracy, as detailed by its leaders at an Oct. 24 kickoff event at the Cabral Center. Its inaugural director, Elizabeth Ennen, announced that the School of Law’s new center has received a $550,000 grant from the International Justice Resource Center (IJRC). The funding will help relocate IJRC’s online resource hub to the Center for Global Law and Justice in 2025. The online resource hub receives up to 75,000 visitors per month from more than 119 countries, said Ennen, adding that the IJRC wanted to move the hub into a wide-reaching academic community. “This hub provides invaluable assistance to scholars, advocates, journalists and the public,” Ennen said while thanking the IJRC’s board of directors, including its founder and executive director, Lisa Reinsberg. “The online resource hub at the IJRC makes the world a better place. It helps users identify human rights advocacy opportunities, educate themselves about human rights issues and processes and submit compelling arguments to courts and to human rights monitoring bodies.” James Hackney, dean of the Northeastern School of Law, praised the leadership of Ennen and the center’s faculty co-directors, Martha Davis and Zinaida Miller. The center will collaborate with institutions of all kinds around the world while creating experiential opportunities for Northeastern students, said Hackney. 10/24/24 – BOSTON, MA. – The launch event of Northeastern Law School’s newest center, the Center for Global Law and Justice, is held in the Cabral Center on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Guest speaker Justice Ángel-Cabo delivered remarks preceding director Elizabeth Ennen, Dean Hackney, and faculty members Zinaida Miller and Martha Davis. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University 10/24/24 – BOSTON, MA. – The launch event of Northeastern Law School’s newest center, the Center for Global Law and Justice, is held in the Cabral Center on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Guest speaker Justice Ángel-Cabo delivered remarks preceding director Elizabeth Ennen, Dean Hackney, and faculty members Zinaida Miller and Martha Davis. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University 10/24/24 – BOSTON, MA. – The launch event of Northeastern Law School’s newest center, the Center for Global Law and Justice, is held in the Cabral Center on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Guest speaker Justice Ángel-Cabo delivered remarks preceding director Elizabeth Ennen, Dean Hackney, and faculty members Zinaida Miller and Martha Davis. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University 10/24/24 – BOSTON, MA. – The launch event of Northeastern Law School’s newest center, the Center for Global Law and Justice, is held in the Cabral Center on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Guest speaker Justice Ángel-Cabo delivered remarks preceding director Elizabeth Ennen, Dean Hackney, and faculty members Zinaida Miller and Martha Davis. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University 10/24/24 – BOSTON, MA. – The launch event of Northeastern Law School’s newest center, the Center for Global Law and Justice, is held in the Cabral Center on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. Guest speaker Justice Ángel-Cabo delivered remarks preceding director Elizabeth Ennen, Dean Hackney, and faculty members Zinaida Miller and Martha Davis. Photo by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University Northeastern University School of Law’s Center for Global Law and Justice recently launched. Photos by Alyssa Stone/Northeastern University “This is going to be an opportunity for leadership with respect to human rights advocacy and research,” said Hackney, noting that there are now five centers of excellence at the law school. “The university has a global mindset as well as a global footprint with campuses across the globe, and this center is very much aligned to that mindset — but more importantly to the university’s vision of having impact in the world, impact for the positive.”Miller said the center’s long-term programs include the International Social and Economic Rights Project, the Program on the Corporation, Law and Global Society and the Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy — all led by Northeastern professors. “It would be difficult to overestimate the critical need today for attention to the issues that our center seeks to address,” Miller said. “I hope that through this work we’ll have the opportunity to contribute not only to the Northeastern community but far beyond it, through our global connections and by establishing partnerships both within and outside Northeastern.” Davis introduced the event’s distinguished speaker, Justice Natalia Ángel-Cabo of the Constitutional Court of Colombia. Based on her experiences since joining the court in 2022, Ángel-Cabo spoke about the issues facing local courts as they respond to global dilemmas, including climate change. Ángel-Cabo defined global problems as universal challenges that are complex, interconnected and dynamic. Such global cases are being heard by domestic courts at an increasing rate that can be overwhelming, she said, adding that domestic courts — despite their limited role — must address these larger issues. She said the establishment of the center embodies the pursuit of hope. “It is a call to action to forge pathways toward the future,” Ángel-Cabo said. “I find the right to hope a powerful expression.”