Erika R. George
Professor of Law
Professor George earned a B.A. with honors from the University of Chicago and a J.D. from Harvard Law School, where she served as Articles Editor of the Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review. She also holds an M.A. in International Relations from the University of Chicago.
Prior to joining the University of Utah S.J. Quinney College of Law, Professor George served as a law clerk for Judge William T. Hart on the United States District Court for the Northern District of Illinois, as a litigation associate for the law firms of Jenner & Block in Chicago and Coudert Brothers LLP in New York City, and as a fellow and later consultant to Human Rights Watch. In connection with her work with Human Rights Watch, Professor George conducted investigations in South Africa on women’s rights, children’s rights, violence, the right to education, and abuses related to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. She wrote a book-length report, Scared at School: Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools, which received widespread media coverage in South Africa and internationally. She currently serves as special counsel to the Women’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch.
Professor George's scholarship has appeared in the California Law Review, the Michigan Journal of International Law, and the annual proceedings of the American Society of International Law. Her research interests include globalization and the indivisible, interdependent, and interrlated nature of civil liberties and socioeconomic rights; cultural pluralism and rights universalism; gender violence and gender equality; justice and peace promotion in post-conflict societies; environmental justice; and the use of documentary film in human rights advocacy and education. Her current research explores the responsibility of multinational corporations to respect international human rights and various efforts to hold corporations accountable for alleged violations of such rights. She has presented her research internationally, addressing audiences in Europe, Africa, and South America.
Professor George has testified before international human rights treaty bodies and foreign governments, and she has briefed the international media on international human rights law, racial discrimination, and gender violence. She is a frequent speaker on issues related to women’s rights, human rights, and the rights and experiences of racial minorities. The BBC, The Economist, NBC News, CNN, and the Christian Science Monitor among other media outlets have reported on her human rights investigations.
Professor George serves on the Executive Committee of the U.S. Department of State Public-Private Partnership for Justice Reform in Afghanistan, and as a member of the board of the American Civil Liberties Union of Utah. She was co-chair of the Africa Interest Group of the American Society of International Law and a founding Advisory Board Member of the University of Utah’s Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy.
Professor George teaches Constitutional Law, International Human Rights Law, International Environmental Law, and Civil Procedure. In 2007 she was awarded the College of Law’s Early Career Award.
Scholarship Highlights
Books
Scared at School: Sexual Violence Against Girls in South African Schools. Hum. Rts. Watch (2001)
Works in Progress
A Human Rights Approach to Reproductive Rights, Case W. Res. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2010)
Globalization and Women’s Rights in Globalization and the Quest for Social and Environmental Justice: The Relevance of International Law in an Evolving World Order, Routledge-Cavendish Taylor & Francis Group (forthcoming 2010)
The Consequences of Conducting Business Consciously: Corporate Social Responsibility and Human Rights Compliance
The Human Right to Health and HIV/AIDS: South-South Cooperative Efforts to Fight Infectious Disease and Reframe Global Intellectual Property Principles
Free Expression and Intellectual Property Ownership in Conflict: Reflections on Genes, Gender and the ACLU’s Challenge to Myriad Genetics
Human Rights, Human Security: Finding Food for a Sustainable Future
Book Chapters
Corporate Liability for Human Rights Crimes in Criminal Jurisdiction 100 Years After the 1907 Hague Peace Conference (W.M. van Genugten & Michael P. Scharf eds., T.M.C. Asser Press/Cambridge Univ. Press 2009)
Failing the Future: Development Objectives, Human Rights Obligations and Gender Violence in Schools in Combating Gender Violence In and Around Schools (Fiona Leach & Claudia Mitchell, eds., Trentham Books 2006)
Articles
See No Evil? Revisiting Early Visions of the Social Responsibility of Business and the Contemporary Conversation, 33 Seattle U. L. Rev. 1 (2010)
Virginity Testing and South Africa’s HIV/AIDS Crisis: Beyond Rights Universalism and Cultural Relativism Towards Health Security, 96 Cal. L. Rev. 1447 (2008)
The Place of the Private Transnational Actor in International Law: Human Rights Norms, Development Aims and Understanding Corporate Self-Regulation As Soft Law, Am. Soc'y Int'l L. Proc. (2007)
After Atrocity, Examples from Africa: The Right to Education and the Role of Law in Restoration, Recovery and Accountability, 5 Loy. U. Chi. Int'l L. Rev. 59 (2007)
Unprotected Migrants: Zimbabweans in South Africa’s Limpopo Province co-authored with Norma Kriger, 18 Hum. Rts. Watch (2006)
Instructions in Inequality: Development, Human Rights, Capabilities and Gender Violence in Schools, 26 Mich. J. Int'l L. 4 (2005)
State Oil v. Khan, co-authored with John J. Hamill, 36 ISBA Antitrust & Unfair Competition L. (1998)
The Fourth Amendment's Forcing of Flawed Choices: Giving Content to Freedom for Residents of Public Housing 30 Harv. C.R.-C.L. L. Rev. 577 (1995) (case comment)
Essays and Editorials
A Prescription for Development: Curing What Ails Foreign Aid to Africa, G8 Mag. (2009)
A Black Lawyer’s Reflections on the Legacy of Brown v. Board of Ed., Utah B. J. (May 2004)
Book Reviews
Short Review of Klaus Dieter Beiter, The Protection of the Right to Education by International Law (Martinus Nijhoff Publishers (Brill Publishers) 2006)
Selected Talks and Presentations
Human Rights and Legal Systems in the Global South, Indiana University Journal of Global Legal Studies, Apr. 2010
Globalization and the Human Rights Protection Gap: Corporate Social Responsibility Compacts to Close the Distance, Vanderbilt University School of Law, Feb. 2010
Reproductive Rights, Human Rights and the Right to Health, Case Western Reserve, Jan. 2010
Human Rights Human Security: Finding Food for a Sustainable Future, American Association of Law Schools Annual Meeting, panelist Food Security, the Financial Crisis, and International Regulation: Perspectives from Africa, Jan. 2010
See No Evil? Revisiting Early Visions of the Social Responsibility of Business, Seattle University, Center on Corporations, Law and Society, Nov. 2009
Soft Law and Self-Regulation to Promote Corporate Compliance with Human Rights, Drexel University, Sept. 2009
Gender Based Asylum Claims from Africa and FGM, Film Review: Mrs. Gounod’s Daughter, panelist, Sundance Inst., Sept. 2009
The Intersection of Identity and HIV/AIDS: South-South Cooperative Efforts to Fight Infectious Disease, Catholic University, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, July 2009
The Role of Law in Restoration, Recovery and Accountability, Catholic University, Access to Justice Symposium, Buenos Aries, Argentina, June 2009
Women’s Rights as Human Rights: Reproductive Rights in Latin America, Los Andes University, Santiago, Chile, June 2009
Human Rights Universalism, Cultural Relativism and the Right to Health in the Context of South Africa’s HIV/AIDS Crisis, University of Utah, Apr. 2009
Gender Discrimination: A Comparison of Constitutional Approaches in South Africa and the United States, Stellenbosch University, Colloquium Constitutional Rights in Two Worlds: A Constitutional Dialogue, Stellenbosch, South Africa, Mar. 2009
A Discussion of a Human Rights Approach to Reproductive Rights, University of Colorado School of Law, Roundtable on Reproductive Rights and Human Rights in the Legal Academy, Oct. 2008
High Tech Trash: The Afterlife of Your Computer in Asia and Africa, moderator, Wallace Stegner Center for Land, Resources and the Environment and Salt Lake City Public Library, Oct. 2008
ACLU Freedom Files: Freedom to Vote Protecting the Ballot, panelist, Utah ACLU and Salt Lake City Arts Center, Oct. 2008
The Cost of Conducting Business Consciously: Reflections on the Role of Corporate Social Responsibility, Chapman University Law School, Feb. 2008
Professional Service
University of Utah International Studies Board Committee (2005-Present)
Utah for Obama, Fundraiser Co-Host (2007-2008), Elected Alternate Obama Delegate to the Democratic National Convention representing Utah’s First Congressional District (August 2008), Women for Obama National Leadership Conference (October 2008)
Co-Chair, American Society of International Law: Africa Section (2007-2008)
Executive Committee Member, AALS Section on Human Rights (2006-2008)
Advisory Board Member, Tanner Center for Nonviolent Human Rights Advocacy (2006-2007)
College of Law Dean Search Committee (2005-2006)
Honors & Awards
Next Generation Project Fellow, U.S. Global Policy, The American Assembly, Columbia University (2007, 2008)
University of Utah Early Career Award (2008)
University of Utah Teaching Grant (2006)
University of Utah, Institute of Public and International Affairs Grant - Migration (2005)
University of Utah, Institute of Public and International Affairs Grant – Globalization (2005)
University of Utah Interdisciplinary Committee for Applied Ethics and Human Values Grant (2004)
University of Utah Teaching Grant (2004)
Professional Affiliations
American Association of Law Schools
American Society of International Law, Co-Chair Africa Interest Group
American Bar Association
Law & Society Association
Utah Minority Bar Association
Utah ACLU