May

May 2010 Delegation

 

The primary mission of the May 2010 delegation to Haiti was to identify candidates for emergency Humanitarian Parole to the U.S. among the neediest of earthquake survivors. This delegation was also focused on documenting human rights violations in tent cities in Haiti. In March, we interviewed more than 100 Haitian families, and identified 52 candidates for parole.

 

Additionally we:

  • Sent sub-teams on fact-finding missions into rural camps and tent cities
  • Developed expert reports on gender-based violence and medical care
  • Took 28 rape survivors to medical clinics
  • Brought 6 infants and children in for pediatric care
  •  Found shelter for several high-risk families
  • Lined up emergency care for elders in critical condition, and
  • Met with members of the media (including the New York Times and Associated Press) regarding present conditions on the ongoing crisis of gender-based violence in the camps

 

 

Team members traveling to Haiti in May 2010 included:

 

Jayne E. Fleming(legal team)

Ms. Fleming has practiced in the area of human rights law for many years and leads the 50-member Human Rights team at Reed Smith. She has represented torture survivors and asylum seekers from every continent and has extensive experience working with traumatized children who have suffered violence, displacement and family separation. She has been engaged with human rights issues impacting women and children in Central America since 2006 and has traveled there eight times since then. In 2009, she led two community service trips to Guatemala to support women and children living in extreme poverty. In 2008, she participated in an art project to assist street youth in Honduras. She sits on the Executive Committee of the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies and the Board of Directors of Survivors International. In 2006, Jayne was named a California Attorney of the Year by California Lawyer Magazine. In 2008, American Lawyer recognized her as one of the 50 Most Influential Women in the United States. In 2009, Mathew Bender honored her for her work on behalf of refugees. In 2010, the National Law Journal profiled Jayne's human rights work in its annual edition on pro bono services.  

Robert Rubin(legal team)

Mr. Rubin is the Litigation Director for the Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights of the San Francisco Bay Area. A leading civil rights attorney for more than 28 years, he has successfully litigated more than 20 class actions in the area of immigrant and refugee rights. Mr. Rubin was co-lead counsel in the Prop. 187 class action that successfully challenged the threatened expulsion of undocumented children from California schools. He was also co-counsel in the litigation that forced the Clinton Administration to release hundreds of Haitian asylum seekers from detention at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.

 

Jennifer K. Brown (legal team)

Ms. Brown is Pro Bono Counsel in the New York office of Morrison & Foerster LLP. She is responsible for managing and promoting the participation of lawyers from the New York, Washington and Northern Virginia offices in the firm's extensive program of providing free legal services to low-income individuals, to non-profit organizations, and in matters that serve the public interest. Before joining Morrison & Foerster, Ms. Brown was vice president and legal director of Legal Momentum, the nation's first women's rights legal organization, originally known as the NOW Legal Defense and Education Fund.


Holly S. Cooper (legal team)

Ms. Cooper is an attorney with expertise in the areas of human rights and immigration law. She runs the immigration clinic at U.C. Davis School of Law, has extensive experience representing refugees and torture survivors. Prior to assuming her position at U.C. Davis, she worked as a managing attorney of the Florence Project, serving immigrants and asylum-seekers in Arizona. She has also worked with the Lawyers’ Committee for Civil Rights.

Jerri Schick (legal team)

Ms. Schick is a counsel in the White Collar Defense and Corporate Investigations Practice at O’Melveny and Meyers, where she also serves as the pro bono coordinator for the New York office.

Jeffrey L. Salinger (legal team)

Mr. Salinger is the leader of the Environmental Practice Group at Shearman & Sterling and is based in New York.

Joanna Wasick (legal team)

Ms. Wasick is a Securities Litigation associate in the New York office of Hogan Lovells.

Joyce H. Chen(legal team)

Ms. Chen is a New York-based associate in the Litigation/Controversy Department of WilmerHale, where she focuses on intellectual property litigation.

Dr. Roslyn Murov (medical team)

Dr. Murov is a pediatrician with the Abbott House in New York City. Founded in 1963, and headquartered in Westchester, New York, the Abbot House provides services to abused, neglected and abandoned children and their families regardless of race, creed or ethnicity.

Dr. Christina Nichols (medical team)

Dr. Nichols is a psychologist with the Abbott House in New York City.

U.S.-based consultants for the May 2010 delegation included Blaine Bookey and Brian Concannon of the Institute for Justice and Democracy in Haiti

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