Ghana - Building a Record for Justice: Penn Law Transnational Clinic

As part of their work with Penn Law's Transnational Clinic, five Penn Law students and Clinic director Sarah Paoletti traveled to Ghana to interview Liberian men and women now living in Buduburum, a refugee camp set up in 1991 originally as a temporary haven. Working in conjunction with the Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights, the students are recording the refugees' stories — many of them horrific accounts of seeing relatives murdered, raped, or tortured and their homes burned by Liberian rebels — for submission to the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Penn Law's Transnational Clinic, which opened in the fall of 2006, gives students an opportunity to participate in cases involving cross-cultural legal systems. Participating students work on immigration cases, human rights matters, and a range of other international issues, gaining experience essential to a field that now routinely spans national boundaries.

Visit the Clinic's website >
Read a Penn Current story on the Clinic's work >
Read a story in the Penn Law Journal about the Clinic's work >
View a press release about the Clinic's trip to Ghana >
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Below: Penn Law students walk through the refugee camp after a day of collecting statements.