Sanela Diana Jenkins International Justice Clinic

The Sanela Diana Jenkins International Justice Clinic, launched in August 2008 following the generous gift of Sanela Diana Jenkins, draws upon UCLA's interdisciplinary strengths. Deploying cutting-edge advocacy techniques, the Clinic will involve UCLA students and faculty in developing and implementing advocacy strategies to draw attention to mass crimes, assist in the prosecution of their perpetrators, and provide expert analysis and policy recommendations for the improvement of international justice mechanisms.

The work of the Jenkins Clinic focuses on three activities central to the advancement of human rights:

Legal Advocacy: Students and faculty work with and through national and international courts to enhance the process of bringing perpetrators of mass crimes to justice. During the 2008 - 2009 academic year, for example, students will work on topics related to the War Crimes Section of the State Court of Bosnia and Hercegovina and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Political Advocacy: Advocacy before governments and international organizations will often be necessary to move legal processes forward. Clinic participants will provide research and recommendations to improve the ongoing transition of justice from The Hague to the Balkans.

Documentation: Without documentation, neither legal nor political processes can be advanced. Documentation will usually involve field work, collecting documentary and forensic evidence, and recording eyewitness accounts. In addition to written documentation, the Clinic will experiment with audio-visual media and seek to make documentation available on the internet.

This page will be updated through the year with Clinic analysis, research and reports.

The Clinic Application for the 2008 - 2009 Academic Year may be found here.

Sanela Diana Jenkins

The International Justice Clinic was established with the generous commitment by Sanela Diana Jenkins of a $4 million endowment, instantly helping create one of the most dynamic and focused human rights clinics in the country. Sanela Diana Jenkins has turned a life of hardship into triumph, as she has developed into a successful business woman, a devoted mother, and a philanthropist.

As a native of Sarajevo, Bosnia, Jenkins lived her childhood and teenage years in the midst of genocide. She lived in the country long enough to graduate from Sarajevo University with a degree in economics. Shortly thereafter, Jenkins was forced to flee her homeland during the war in Bosnia, which was responsible for the death of her brother Irnis. Compelled to leave her parents behind, Jenkins found herself as a refugee in London , where she was eventually granted asylum.

It was in England where Jenkins began to lay the groundwork for her future. Jenkins enrolled in London’s City University to further her education. During her schooling, she learned English and worked odd jobs to support her parents back in Sarajevo. Not long after Jenkins discovered her new-found freedom, she met her husband Roger Jenkins, a financial executive in London, who was teaching classes at City University.

Jenkins has dedicated a large part of her attention back to her native land by establishing the Irnis Catic Foundation in honor of her brother. The Foundation, which is closely associated with the funding of the medical school at the University of Sarajevo, aims to provide financial support toward establishing Bosnian schools and orphanages. Additionally, it is instrumental in building homes for the country’s poor, supplying emergency aid & relief and cleaning the country’s lakes and poluted areas. The Irnis Catic Foundation is the largest privately funded Bosnian organization of its kind.