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Harvard Human Rights Journal

Essay Contest: Winter 2021

Beyond the headlines: underrepresented topics in human rights.

For the Winter 2021 Essay Contest, the Harvard Human Rights Journal asked student authors from across Harvard University to think “beyond the headlines” and highlight issues in human rights that are not heavily featured in mainstream media. We received a variety of excellent submissions and selected two winning pieces, along with a select few honorable mentions. HHRJ is excited to share their insightful work over the following weeks. The list of winners and honorable mentions is below and all pieces were published on the Online Journal .

• Alev Erhan, JD ‘21 – When the Lines between the Public and Private Sectors Blur, Where do Victims Turn for Justice?
• Angel Gabriel Cabrera Silva, SJD Candidate ‘23, LLM ‘16 – At the Margins of the Indigenous Rights Ecosystem: Underrepresented Struggles for Self-Determination

Honorable Mentions

• Nathalie Gunasekera, JD ‘21 – The UN Must Deliver Long Overdue Remedies for the Roma, Ashkali, and Egyptian Victims of Lead Poisoning in Kosovo
• Fatoumata Ouedrago, Harvard College ‘23 – The Plight of Talibé Children in Senegal
• Janna Ramadan, Harvard College ‘23 – Perpetuating Islamophobic Discrimination in the United States: Examining the Relationship Between News, Social Media, and Hate Crimes

Essay Contest Prompt

Submissions should be essays written about a topic in human rights that has not received recent attention in popular media. Relevant topics could be entirely unique, or they could be lesser-known dimensions of high-profile issues like the COVID-19 pandemic.

Submissions Accepted: January 1, 2021 – January 31, 2021

Winners will be announced soon afterwards and published in the Online Journal .

Submission Guidelines:

Qualifications : The essay contest is open to all current students at Harvard University, including undergraduate and graduate students.

Length Limitations: Submissions must be limited to a total length of 1,000–2,000 words, including footnotes.

Citation Format: All assertions should be cited. Please cite sources using footnotes rather than endnotes. Law students: ensure footnotes comply with The Bluebook: A Uniform System of Citation . Other students: please provide complete source information in the footnotes at a minimum.

Submission Process : Applicants should send their submission, in Microsoft Word format, from an official Harvard email address to HHRJ ( [email protected] ), along with a copy of a recent CV. The subject line of the email should include “HHRJ Essay Contest Submission” and the author’s name. The submissions window is open from January 1-31, 2021. Any submissions received outside of that window will not be considered.

HIR Academic Writing Contest Summer 2022 Medal Winners

The Harvard International Review is a quarterly magazine offering insight on international affairs from the perspectives of scholars, leaders, and policymakers. Since our founding in 1979, we've set out to bridge the worlds of academia and policy through outstanding writing and editorial selection.

The quality of our content is unparalleled. Each issue of the Harvard International Review includes exclusive interviews and editorials by leading international figures along with expert staff analysis of critical international issues. We have featured commentary by 43 Presidents and Prime Ministers, 4 Secretaries-General, 4 Nobel Economics Prize laureates, and 7 Nobel Peace Prize laureates.

Inspired by our growing high school readership around the world, we created the Harvard International Review Academic Writing Contest to encourage and highlight outstanding high school writing on topics related to international affairs.

Congratulations to all Summer 2022 medal winners on the quality of your submissions!

Qiran Sun . Nanjing Foreign Language School. “ Why the Visit? A Case Study of the Semiconductor Supply Chain in East Asia, Arena of Potential Sino-US Conflict”

May Tong. International School of Beijing. “ The Rise of Shrimp: A Holistic Look at Shrimp Farming in Southeast Asia”

Yirui Cui. Mannahouse Christian Academy. “ Children’s Education in Ethiopia: Problems, Reasons and Solutions”

Siyu Liu. Shenzhen College of International Education. “ Local Teachers Are the Key to Tackle Chad's Educational Challenges”

Nianjia Yang. Beijing 101 High School. “ Behind Ashes of War: Elderly Women in Ukraine and Their Future”

Siwen Cui. Kent School. “ Re-enchanting the Disenchanted: Weaving a New Environmental Scheme with Indigenous Wisdom”

Yinglin Fang. Shenzhen College International Education. “ The Other Pandemic: How Sexual Slavery is Spreading in the Age of Globalization”

Guohao Lv . Basis International School Park Lane Harbour. “ China's Three-child Policy, an Effective Solution for an Upcoming Labor Crisis or a Problem-solution Mismatch”

Haoyang Wu . BASIS International School Hangzhou. “ Sri Lanka: Cautionary Tale for Developing Agricultural Economies”

Huirong Yang . Overseas School of Colombo. “ Sri Lanka’s Food Shortage: The Surprising Role of Organic Farming”

Ella (Jiyeon) Seo . Trafalgar Castle School. “The Inconvenient Truth Behind ‘Gangnam Style’: The Flooding of South Korea’s Most Expensive District”

Luyu Yue . BASIS International School Park Lane Harbour. “ Building a Better Future: Sustainable Materials in Construction”

Silver Medal

Taiyang Zhang . Institute Le Rosey. “ The Dark Horse, Cause of Carbon Emissions in the Global Agriculture Industry”

Alphonsus Koong. St. Andrew's Junior College. “ Beneath the Surface: The Hidden Cost of Competition in the South China Sea”

Yuanyin Luo. Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School. “ Ethiopia’s Food Crisis: at the Crux of Political and Natural Disasters”

Fabiha Afifa. Maple Leaf International School. “ Continued Arctic Exploration: Possible Route to the Second Cold War, Definite Threat to the Planet”

Jiale Yang . Fountain Valley School of Colorado. “ Japan’s Discharge of Radioactive Seawater: A Disruption to Earth’s Ecological Balance and International Law”

Congyun Liao. The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. “ Peru Oil Spills: The Le Chatelier Principle of Environment and Economy

Kevin Wang. Concordia International School Shanghai. “ Why Russia, not Turkey, Won the 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh War”

Zhihao Chen . Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School. “ The Faults in Our Star(link)s: The Environmental Complications of SpaceX’s Starlink Program”

Emma He . Wuhan Yangtze International School. “ Rewriting History: Analyzing the Legality of Detaining Turkic Muslims in Xinjiang Internment Camps”

Kongyang Zhu. UWC Changshu. "My Country and I": Investigating Xenophobia in Chinese Patriotic Education Campaigns

Coco Cai. Orange County American High School. “ Ocean Dead Zones: Why a Small Town in England is the Latest Victim of a Global Catastrophe”

Ziang Lu . Shanghai High School International Division. “ The Chinese Student Crisis”

Yiyi Xu . Shanghai United International School Gubei Campus. “ Sex, Class, and Caste: A Look at Gender Quotas in India”

Yuqing Hua . Rutgers Preparatory School. “ Woods, Water, and Wildlife: Forgotten Casualties of the Russia-Ukraine War”

Sixing Qian. Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School. “ A Bluer Ocean: How the Relationship Between China and Norway is Influencing Sustainable Salmon Aquaculture”

Yuetong Zhou,Zihao Pan .Shenzhen College of International Education. “ Is Ukraine being robbed of its soul?”

Vaasav Gupta . Watchung Hills Regional High School. “ The Environmental and Economic Counterproductivity of the US-China Solar Trade War”

Zaizai Wang. Hangzhou foreign language school. “ Stigma Crisis in the Context of the COVID-19 Epidemic”

Ashir Rao . Los Gatos High School. “ South Asian Economic Union: Path to Regional Sustainability”

Qiuqiu Bao. Ross School. “ The Global Chip Shortage and Sustainable Growth Across Industries”

Amy Mao. Lauriston Girls' School. “ GMO FARMING: Is It Our Salvation or Annihilation?”

Haolin Duan. Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School. “ The Turbulent Present and Future of the Global Semiconductor Industry”

Yangxi Gao . The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. “ Education in Rural China: The Link between Gender Gap and Son Preference”

Jiayi Wu. Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School. “ There And (Not) Back Again: Human Rights For Displaced Workers Under China’s Belt and Road Initiative Program”

Zimeng Huang. Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School. “ Protect the Hwamei: How Chinese Traditions Have Endangered the Bird Species”

Aidana Maidanova . Abbey College Cambridge. “ Singing on Q: The role of contemporary Kazakh language music in national identity building among Kazakhstani youth”

Hanjiang Ye .Jianlan Middle School. “ Cuba’s Solitary Battle: The Unseen Isolation of US Sanctions”

Kwong Yu Sun . Chiway Repton School Xiamen. “ Updates on GMO Dialogue Developments in the US and Europe”

Xinran Cao . The Stony Brook School. “ The Hidden Dilemma: Disabled Women’s Healthcare Challenges in the United States”

Kunyang Liu. The Experimental high school attached to Beijing Normal University. “ Artificial Intelligence: Assessing the Risks”

Boren Zhang . Shenzhen Foreign Language School. “ The Mapuche Conflict: Shedding Light on the Global Struggle for Indigenous Rights”

Bronze Medal

Songying Li. Zhengzhou Foreign Language School. “ Sustainable Living, Corporate Interests”

Zihan Yang. China World Academy. “ The Positive impacts of the Refugee Crisis caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine”

Yuchang Hu . Shanghai Pinghe School. “ Cutting the Pipeline: Dismantling Juvenile Delinquency and Achieving Sustainable Personal and Societal Development”

Zixuan Zhang. International Department, The Affiliated High School of SCNU. “ New Way of Communist China's Propaganda”

Cunyan Ma. Shanghai High School International Division. “ Gender Violence in Tangshan: Fear, Antagonism, and Solutions”

Manyi Ma. North Cedar Academy. “ Dissipated or Dispersed? Re-examining China’s Carbon Footprint”

Yuxuan Xie. Shenzhen Middle School. “ Strict Plastic Bans: A Shaky Step Towards Sustainability”

Liyu Chen. Living Word Shanghai. "200 Meters Deep" and the Earth

Sunny Wu. Keystone Academy. “ Food Crisis’s Implications on Egypt Women Under the Gender Discrimination: Solutions Respond”

Zi Xuan, Wang (Chloe) . Beijing Saint Paul American School. “ Gun Violence: A Significant Obstacle between Racial Minorities and Fair Education in the United States”

Yuanhao Yang. Beijing National Day School. “ The Democracy in Africa: Unfit Models and Misplaced Help”

Zengxi Huang . Beijing Luhe International Academy. Xi Yang . High School affiliated to Shaanxi Normal University. “ Lessons from Sri Lanka's bankruptcy —— Emerging markets are in a crisis of neglect.”

Selina Tang . Boston Latin School. “ Environmental Law: Filling the Emissions and Political Gap”

Max Guan . Phillips Academy. “ The California EV Mandate: A Glimpse of the New Norm”

Yuxin Yang . Shanghai Qibao Dwight High School. “ Beyond E-Learning: How Education Programs Harness the Power of Technology”

Yuanle Zhu . UWC Changshu China. “ Lingering Nationalism Among New Generations in China and South Korea”

Angela Yuhan Zhang, Lucy Lu . Shanghai High School International Division. “ Perpetuated Problems in the Forgotten Corner: Economic and Representational Aftermaths of the Rwandan Genocide”

Jiatong Shen . United World College Changshu China. “ The Predicament of Ethnic Minorities During COVID-19: A Glance at Hmong Americans”

Xinyu Yuan . Shanghai Guanghua Cambridge international School. “ Short-Term Solution or Long-Term Problem? The Quiet Growth of New Oil Drilling”

Cecilia Lu. Shanghai Pinghe Bilingual School. “ Aging and Health”

Chengze Lyu . Shanghai Starriver Bilingual School. “ Star Power: Solving the World's Energy Demands with Fusion”

Hanfei Zhao. Singapore American School. “ Teaching Harmony to Combat Nationalism”

Eason Yang . Trinity College School. “ Pitch-Black Teeth: A Wicked Curse and A Harbinger of Change”

Felicity Wong . Milton Academy. Emma Chen. Hangzhou International School. “ Exterminating Invasive Starfish: a Multilateral and Multidisciplinary Approach to Saving Life Below and Above Water”

Jian Liu . Nansha College Preparatory Academy. “ Is selling air becoming a real business?”

Ruinan Mao . Basis International School Hangzhou. “ Another Group Without A Voice: Children Face Inhabitable Earth”

Benjamin Luo. Middlesex School. “ The New Cold War”

Liangyu Sun. The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. “ Reimagining the Silk Road: The “Digiscape” of Culture and Commerce”

Hengrui Zhu . Basis International School Park Lane Harbour. “ How Biodegradable Packaging Saves the Day”

Xinyue Yao. Shenzhen College of International Education. “ History Repeats Itself: Monkeypox and the Stigma Risks in the United States”

Funing Fan . Beijing 101 High School. “ The Impact of China’s Zero-COVID Policy on Environment”

Zhilin Zhai. The Experimental High School Attached to Beijing Normal University. “ Community Supported Agriculture: A Novel Method for Addressing Food Production and Transportation Limitations”

Jiamin Song . The High School Affiliated to Renmin University of China. “ China’s Vocational Schools: Local Policies with Global Implications”

Wanwen Huang . International Department (HFI), Affiliated High School of South China Normal University. “ Urban Slums in the Global South-Guangzhou Urban Village”

Chang Zhou . Sandy Spring Friends School. “ Burned by Poverty: The Unequal Impact of Climate Change”

Su Liu .Shenzhen College of International Education. “ Fighting Illegal Deforestation in the Amazon”

Jing Liu . Nansha College Preparatory Academy. “ Rural STEAM Education: A Pathway to an Innovative Economy”

Ruipeng Zhuang. Basis International School Parklane Harbour. “ Illuminating the Darkest Corner: Stopping Human Trafficking through Education”

Zitong Xia. Desheng School (International). “ Conflict Headed Trade Crisis: The Russia-Ukraine Conflict Threatens A Fragile Recovery In Global Trade”

Ziao Wang . Beijing World Youth Academy. “ IMF in Pakistan: Sucess or Faliure?”

Bingcheng Hu. Basis International School Park Lane Harbor. “ Future Energy Trend”

XiangShen Yin. ZWIE World Academy. “ What zero-Tolerance Policy Does To Global Travel Industry”

Muhammad Alvin Ibnu Raffy, Nasya Nisrina Zahira. MAN 2 Kota Malang. “ Palm Oil Diplomacy Spectacle: Potentials, Concerns, and Disputes”

Submissions

Print & forum submissions.

The Harvard Law Review and Harvard Law Review Forum welcome submissions of Articles, Essays, and proposals for Book Reviews through our electronic submission system.

We strongly prefer submissions that comply with the following length limits (including all text, footnotes, and appendices):

• Articles (Print) : 25,000 words*
• Book Reviews (Print) : proposals need not be more than a few pages.
• Essays (Print/ Forum ) : 12,000-17,500 words.
• Responses ( Forum ): 8,000 words (typically solicited but proposals welcome).
• Commentaries ( Forum ) : 6,000 words (typically solicited but proposals welcome).

*Length exceeding 30,000 words will weigh against selection, and we rarely unconditionally accept submissions over 37,500 words.

For background regarding the Review ’s length policy, please see a joint letter issued by a number of law journals across the country.

Electronic Submission

We encourage contributors to submit manuscripts as Microsoft Word documents through our electronic submission system. Alternatively, manuscripts can be mailed to: Articles Office, Harvard Law Review , 1511 Massachusetts Ave., Cambridge, MA 02138.

To submit a piece for publication in the Forum , please select “Forum (online)” in the “Article Type” dropdown menu on the submissions form.

Anonymization

Please help facilitate our anonymous review process by:

• Confining your name, affiliation, biographical information, and acknowledgments to a separate cover page
• Including the manuscript’s title on the first text page.
• Removing any self-citations by replacing phrases such as “I have previously written that . . .” with anonymized replacements such as “It has previously been written that . . .”

Please use footnotes that conform to the 21st edition of the Bluebook .

Expedited Review

If you would like to request an expedited review of your submission, please use the unique link included in your confirmation email (these sometimes end up in spam folders).

Blog Submissions

The Blog aims to publish content from a variety of points of view, and uses a more abbreviated editing process than our print and Forum content. If you are a scholar or practitioner interested in publishing on the Blog , please contact us via email at [email protected] and include either a full draft or a description of your potential post. Blog posts are typically between 750 and 1500 words, although there is no strictly enforced maximum. Posts also use hyperlinks instead of footnotes. The Blog does not accept submissions from current law students.

Submission Notes

Seven-day offer window.

The Harvard Law Review and several peer journals have committed to give every author at least seven days to decide whether to accept any offer of publication. The Review believes that eliminating “exploding offers” will improve the quality of our deliberations and the scholarship that we publish.

Preference for Exclusivity

We recommend that you consider submitting your manuscript to us exclusively. Our review process is lengthy; we conduct faculty reviews and a vote of our entire editorial board before we accept pieces. As a result, we are often unable to make quick decisions when faced with exploding offers from other journals. If your preference is to publish in the Review , consider submitting the manuscript to us exclusively at least two weeks before submitting it to other journals.

Authors who choose to submit exclusively should indicate in our electronic submission system the date they expect to send the manuscript to other journals. We apply the same standards of review to all submissions, but submitting exclusively makes it more likely that we will have time to put the manuscript through all the stages of our review process.

Review Process & Timing

The Harvard Law Review carefully considers all manuscripts that it receives. Our selection process has many steps: each piece is reviewed anonymously, at least three editors review every submission, and many pieces go through substantially more stages of review, including an Articles Committee vote, preemption check, faculty peer review, and full-body vote. Although we make every effort to honor requests for expedited review, we do not omit any of our review stages in response to such requests. When requesting an expedited review, please understand that our selection process takes time.

There is no best time to submit a manuscript to the Review . We will never reject an article for lack of space; rather, we will hold it over for consideration by the next volume. We notify authors of our decisions by email and we do not discuss the reasons for our publication decisions.

Source Attribution Policy

The Review aims to ensure that any ideas that already exist in the literature are properly referenced. We do not permit authors to repurpose sentences or paragraphs published elsewhere without quotation marks or citations. As part of our editorial process, we require quotation marks whenever a non-trivial amount of exact language has appeared in another source and citations whenever an idea has been paraphrased from another source — even if the source is the author’s prior work. The Review ’s editors work with authors we publish to help them meet our self-citation requirements.

Back to Faculty Bibliography

Carol Steiker & Jordan M. Steiker, Review Essay: Let God Sort Them Out? Refining the Individualization Requirement in Capital Sentencing , 102 Yale L.J . 835 (1992)(reviewing Beverly Lowry , Crossed Over: A Murder, A Memoir (1992)).