Seanna Howard

Seánna Howard teaches courses in International Human Rights and Indigenous Peoples and is the Director of the International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop. Professor Howard has been a staff attorney and professor with the University of Arizona Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program since 2006. She has represented indigenous communities before the Inter-American and United Nations human rights systems, including the Western Shoshone, the Chiricahua Apache, the Navajo Nation and the Water Protectors Legal Collective in the US; the Maya of Belize; and the Hul'qumi'num Treaty Group of Canada. Since the Fall of 2020, Professor Howard has served as External Advisor for the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Professor Howard's previous legal experience includes working for the Canadian Lawyers Association for International Human Rights in South Africa, the Attorney General of Ontario -Office of the Children's Lawyer and the Children's Aid Society of Hamilton-Wentworth. She is licensed to practice law in the Province of Ontario, Canada. Her expertise includes international human rights advocacy with a specific focus on the rights of indigenous peoples to self-determination, lands, and culture.

• Seánna Howard, B.ES. University of Waterloo, L.LB. University of Ottawa, L.LM. University of Arizona
• Associate Clinical Professor & Director, International Human Rights Advocacy Workshop
• External Advisor to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights of Indigenous Peoples
• Indigenous Peoples Law and Policy Program, James E. Rogers College of Law
• Affiliated Faculty, Human Rights Practice and Latin American Studies College of Social and Behavioral Sciences

Sub-specialties:

My work centers on the protection and promotion of the rights of Indigenous Peoples on a wide range of human rights issues in relation to lands, territories and resources; religion and culture; autonomy and self-determination; biodiversity and climate change; corporate social responsibility and the criminalization of human rights defenders. Indigenous peoples around the world are facing ongoing threats to their lands and resources from mining, logging, and other forms of 'development.' I help to ensure that indigenous peoples have a meaningful say in the decisions that affect their lives and communities. Respecting the right to free, prior and informed consent protects the exercise of Indigenous Peoples' self-determined development over their lands and their management of natural resources. The activities of states and private actors often pose threats to Indigenous Peoples' traditional knowledges and epistimologies. I work to advance their rights to maintain and transmit their cultures, languages, and traditions to future generations.