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Transnational Law Institute
The Dickson Poon School of Law

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Transnational Legal Clinic

The Transnational Legal Clinic (TLC) is a legal clinic working in collaboration with civil society organisations and actors from across the world, to produce campaigns and litigation aimed at social transformation.

The Clinic is made up of staff and students from the Transnational Law Institute, enabling students the chance to apply their learning and develop skills in a real world context.

Our projects

Amicus Curiae brief 

The Clinic’s inaugural project was an Amicus Curiae brief presented to the Constitutional Court of Colombia in a case challenging the criminalisation of abortion filed by fourteen Colombian citizens with the backing of the leading women rights’ NGO La Mesa. The project was conducted with the participation of 19 LLM students and was reported in the main Colombian daily, El Tiempo. 

The Court reached a historic decision to decriminalise abortion up to 24 weeks of gestation in February 2022 (Sentencia C-055-22)

Read the full decision of the Constitutional Court of Colombia (in Spanish)

Read the Transnational Legal Institute's amicus brief in English, or in Spanish (official version).

Right to natural resources

In June 2023, The Transnational Law Institute, alongside the NGOs Clean Trade and Terra de Direitos, submitted a shadow report on people's right to natural resources (art. 1 of the ICCPR) that benefited from legal research carried out by students of the Transnational Legal Clinic. 17 of our LLM students participated in the preparation of the shadow report, which was presented to the Human Rights Committee in its 138th session in Geneva by Professor Octavio Ferraz. The context of the shadow report was the Council's review of the human rights situation in several countries, and Brazil in particular.

You can read the full shadow report here.

Minority Rights in India

This clinic, which ran in 2024-25 and 2025-26, focuses on the human rights of religious minorities in India. It is supervised by Surabhi Chopra, Leverhulme Visiting Professor at the School of Law.  

The clinic contributes to a review by the Panel of Independent International Experts of the situation of Indian Muslim communities, with reference to international law.

The Panel of Independent International Experts (PIIE) is a civil society initiative by eminent human rights and international law experts:

- Sonja Biserko, Founder, Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, and member of UN Human Rights Investigation into North Korea (2014);

- Marzuki Darusman, Former Prosecutor General of Indonesia, Chair of the UN Panel of Experts on Sri Lanka, and Chair of the UN Fact Finding Mission on Myanmar;

- Stephen Rapp, Former Chief of Prosecutions, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; Chief Prosecutor, Special Court for Sierra Leone; former US Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues.

Find out more about the Panel of Independent International Experts

In 2022, the PIIE examined alleged abuses against Muslims in India since 2019, with reference to international humanitarian law and international human rights law. The panel found credible evidence of serious human rights violations against Muslims in different parts of India as well as credible evidence of crimes against humanity in Uttar Pradesh and Kashmir. It expressed concern that Muslims have become a persecuted minority in India, and urged Indian governments, legislatures, and the judiciary, as well as the international community, to take action in response.

In the three years since, allegations of human rights abuses against Muslims in India have continued apace and arguably become more grave. Concerned by these developments, the PIIE reconvened in 2025 to examine the situation of Indian Muslims in states that have most actively adopted majoritarian laws and policies.

The Transnational Legal Clinic is contributing to the PIIE’s current work, examining developments since the PIIE’s first report was published in 2022. Students are analysing alleged abuses against Muslim individuals and communities in states where majoritarian mobilisation has advanced rapidly since 2022, with reference to international law. The PIIE’s report, incorporating students’ contributions, which was published on 31 March 2026.

Students have participated in three distinct projects under this clinic:

- The first project (Term 2, 2024-25) focused on the north Indian state of Uttar Pradesh, and analysed allegations of human rights abuse against Muslim communities in this region.

- The second project (Term 1, 2025-26) focused on the north-east Indian state of Assam, and analysed allegations of violations against Bengali-speaking Muslims in this region.

- The third project (Term 2, 2025-26) focuses on submissions to UN bodies, other multilateral institutions, and civil society forums.

Read the report

 

Get involved

Students and staff interested in getting involved in the TLC should contact Professor Octavio Ferraz: octavio.ferraz@kcl.ac.uk