Balakrishnan Rajagopal

Balakrishnan Rajagopal is "a professor and director of the Program on Human Rights and Justice at MIT, is the author of International Law From Below (Cambridge). He proposed the creation of the Cambodia-UN mixed tribunal."  Ford International Associate Professor of Law and Development and Director, MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice "Focus on international law, comparative constitutional law and comparative property law. Current research interests include the relationship between human rights and economic development; globalization, trade and democracy; comparative property regimes; the impact of colonialism on legal, economic, and political development in developing countries; and the relationship between social movements and legal/institutional change. Research experience primarily in South and Southeast Asia as well as South Africa and Brazil. Currently investigating four areas of research: new democratic and legal strategies for operationalizing socio-economic rights, especially rights to water, food, land, housing, and environment in India, South Africa and Brazil; the impact of globalization and decentralization on protection of human rights; the accountability of international organizations; and corporate compliance with human rights law. Helped establish the first human-rights field office of the United Nations in Cambodia in the mid-1990s and has been a consultant to several international organizations and NGOs on development-related human rights and legal issues. Member of the Asia Advisory Board of Human Rights Watch, the Executive Council of the American Society of International Law and the International Advisory Board of the Robert Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights."

Recepient of Soros Justice Fellowship. (no date)

He is a member of the Human Rights Watch Asia Advisory Committee.


 * Director, MIT Program on Human Rights and Justice