Ramya Jawahar Kudekallu LL.M. ’18 has never been one to shy away from speaking up or rising to a challenge. Her curiosity, coupled with the desire to engage with strategies around accountability in the search for justice, led Kudekallu to join the New York City Bar Association’s International Human Rights Committee in 2021.
But Kudekallu, who is currently a visiting instructor of clinical law at Cardozo Law School, was ready to take on a new responsibility outside the classroom—becoming chair of the International Human Rights Committee in October 2021. She is one of the youngest to ever hold the position, and the first woman of color.
“The invitation caught me off guard because, typically, most chairs are quite older or have more experience,” said Kudekallu, 32. “But, it’s also humbling to know that I’m the first woman of color serving as the chairperson of the Human Rights Committee with the Bar.”
Breaking those barriers, she says, is a good sign for the Bar and for greater equity. “I’d like to think that there’s only more that can be done with the association and the committee in that respect,” Kudekallu added.
The Importance of Engagement
During her three-year-long tenure as chair, Kudekallu and the committee will focus on strengthening and promoting adherence to international human rights law, as well as raising awareness around different human rights challenges. Recent priorities for the committee have included responding to the deportations of Haitians as well as Afghans arriving and resettling in the United States.
“I think the work of people who are interested in or engaged with human rights and questions of justice right now—not necessarily my work or the committee’s work—is more urgent than ever,” Kudekallu said. “What we’ve seen during the pandemic is that there are clear manifestations of atrocity and injustice … which often sits at the forefront of our mind.”
As chair, Kudekallu also hopes to bring attention to matters that she has focused on throughout her career, including the labor rights of sex workers and the rights of stateless individuals and those at risk of statelessness due to legislative changes or changing political contexts.
Why the Interest in International Human Rights?
As a teenager, Kudekallu found herself interested in public discourse and public engagement that dealt with questions of justice and identity. But once enrolled at Bishop Cotton Law College in India, Kudekallu’s curiosity and inquiry transformed into responsibility and accountability.
“A lot of the questions I had didn’t really have answers, or the answers were ones that were disappointing,” Kudekallu said. “So, my engagement with the law has always been interdisciplinary and that the law is a tool.”
“We must engage with different tools if we’re going to continue to explore conversations, as well as engage with both the international human rights framework and strategies around accountability, when it comes to justice,” she added.
The Leitner Center Serving as a Springboard
After graduating from Fordham Law with an LL.M. degree in international law and justice, Kudekallu knew she wanted to remain in academia. Not as a student, but as a teacher.
“Both Fordham Law and the Leitner Center for International Law really assured me of that possibility,” Kudekallu said, explaining how she was offered a teaching fellowship opportunity through the Crowley Program in International Human Rights, after graduation.
Between 2018 and 2020, Kudekallu supported cohorts of Fordham Law Crowley scholars in their scholarship projects—which primarily focus on human rights and international human rights questions—as well as helped coordinate the students’ collaborations with appropriate communities and community partners.
“It was the first time I was engaged as an instructor and it was exciting to be able to do that,” Kudekallu said. “Fordham Law will always be part of the genesis of my academic career and that pivot to becoming an instructor … because of its enabling environment.”
Kudekallu currently teaches a human rights scholarship class at Cardozo Law and leads research that focuses on labor, gender-based discrimination, and access to justice.