When Justice Runs Out at Home: Inside the Kennedy Human Rights Center’s International Advocacy and Litigation Work

The late Senator Robert F. Kennedy believed that human dignity is not theoretical – nor are the threats against it. Human rights today are constantly tested in prisons, police stations, and protest lines around the world. For the International Advocacy and Litigation team at the Robert & Ethel Kennedy Human Rights Center, protecting those fundamental rights often starts in the international justice mechanisms – after local justice systems have failed.

Angelita Baeyens, Vice President of International Advocacy and Litigation at KHRC, described the team as “small but mighty.” One of their key tools is strategic litigation. In essence, that means bringing a case not only to help one person or family, but also to expose a broader pattern and push governments to change the conditions that allowed the abuse to happen. According to Baeyens, these cases are strategic because they represent a larger problem or “structural conditions that need to be changed.” Litigation is paired with targeted advocacy before governments, the United Nations, and regional bodies such as the Inter-American and African human rights systems.

KHRC’s International A&L team has a global mission, working with partners across Latin America and the Caribbean, Africa, and Asia to protect civic space, combat violence and discrimination, and seek accountability for serious human rights abuses. The Center’s attorneys do not replace local lawyers, families, or human rights defenders – instead, the team works beside them.

That partnership model is critical for meaningful, long-term accountability. Families who come to international human rights bodies are often seeking more than punishment. Defendants and their loved ones often seek transparency, public recognition, protection, reparations, or a guarantee that human rights violations will not be ignored or forgotten. As Baeyens explained, international mechanisms can give victims a “sense of being vindicated, being heard,” especially when domestic institutions have denied them protection.

The case of Claudina Isabel Velásquez Paiz in Guatemala shows how one family’s pursuit of justice can create broader protection. Claudina, a 19-year-old woman, was murdered after authorities failed to respond properly when she disappeared. After bringing her case before the  regional human rights system, the Kennedy Human Rights Center and partners secured a landmark 2015 judgment from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, which had a ripple effect across the country. Among other remedies, Guatemala created an alert system for the immediate search for missing women and girls and named it in honor of Claudina and another femicide victim. The judgment could not bring Claudina back, but it helped turn one family’s loss into a tool meant to protect others.

Recent cases show the same approach across regions. In Venezuela, KHRC, Foro Penal, and CEJIL brought Kennedy Tejeda’s arbitrary detention and alleged torture before the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention after he was detained while providing legal assistance to people arrested after protests. In Sierra Leone, the Kennedy Human Rights Center represents journalist Umu Thoronka before the ECOWAS Court, arguing that her dismissal from a national broadcaster reflected both retaliation against free speech and deeper gender discrimination in the media. In Thailand, KHRC and partners filed a May 2026 petition with the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention on behalf of five men who were arrested and sentenced to years in prison after participating in a peaceful, pro-democracy protest

These cases are different in country, legal system, and facts but together they explain the International Litigation and Advocacy team’s purpose: when governments abuse power or refuse accountability, international advocacy can keep the record alive, protect people at risk, and help families push for justice beyond the borders of their own legal system.