In July 2026, the Carr-Ryan Center for Human Rights at Harvard Kennedy School launched the Human Rights & U.S. Foreign Policy Fellowship. Its goal is to preserve human rights as a cornerstone of American diplomacy and global leadership. The year-long fellowship is designed for career human rights practitioners—diplomats, advocates, and policy leaders—to join HKS and pursue real-world projects, engage in interdisciplinary dialogue, and mentor students preparing for careers in diplomacy, foreign policy, and human rights advocacy.
“Our goal is simple but urgent: to ensure that future U.S. policymakers understand that human rights are not optional—they are essential to national security, global stability, and democratic identity,” said Faculty Director, Mathias Risse at the announcement.
The inaugural Carr-Ryan Fellows, representing labor, the LGBTQI+ community, equity and justice, and multilateral diplomacy, discussed the state of human rights in the United States and across around the world—and how to keep human rights at the forefront of international dialogue—at a John F. Kennedy Jr. Forum.
Kathryn Sikkink, the Ryan Family Professor of Human Rights, moderated the discussion.
Sikkink began with tribute to former HKS dean and founder of the Carr-Ryan Center, Joseph Nye, who passed away earlier this year. “One of his most important contributions was the notion of soft power,” said Sikkink. “You’ve all heard of it, yet you might not know that it was Joseph who really theorized soft power. He understood that human rights was an integral part of the soft power of the United States.”
Sikkink noted that human rights policy was, for many years, a bipartisan pillar of U.S. policy. “The initial legislation comes from the U.S. Congress and found support from people on both sides of the aisle.” She also mentioned the difficult moment in the world today and why it is essential to hear from experts on the future of global human rights.
“Why and how should human rights be integral to U.S. foreign policy?” Sikkink asked.
“You would be shocked to learn how much the world follows what the U.S. is doing,” said Maggie Dougherty, former special assistant to the president and senior director for international organizations at the National Security Council; former senior policy advisor to Ambassador Nikki Haley; and former foreign policy advisor in the office of Senator Marco Rubio.
“I’ve been all over the world,” said Doughery. “I have had politicians come up to me and say, ‘I don’t want to be sanctioned by global Magnitsky,” referring to The Magnitsky Act, a bipartisan U.S. federal law enacted in 2012. It imposed sanctions on Russian officials deemed responsible for the death of Russian tax lawyer Sergei Magnitsky in a Moscow prison in 2009.
“You might not hear about it or think about it every day, but everyone else in the world who interacts with the U.S., they think about it, and they pay attention,” said Dougherty.
Sanctions, Dougherty noted, are a big part of ensuring human rights are respected. “Governments perk up right away as soon as those are introduced, and they’re worried and concerned. When the U.S. government takes action on human rights, it’s tied into the rest of our foreign policy and interactions with all these countries.”
Kelly Fay Rodriguez, former special representative for international labor affairs at the U.S. State Department, agreed that fair labor and working conditions across the globe are secured through foreign policy negotiations.
“On the enforcement side, in the last two years of the Biden administration, we were able to detain over $3 billion worth of goods that were made with forced labor,” said Rodriguez. “That’s huge. No other country is doing that. And now other countries are actually trying to replicate that.” That success, said Rodriguez, relied heavily on U.S. foreign assistance to labor rights organizations around the world. “Those cutting-edge tools set a model for other countries to improve upon.”
“Caring about human rights and foreign policy is part of moral leadership. That is a North Star worth fighting for.”
Jessica Stern, former U.S. special envoy to advance the human rights of LGBTQI+ persons at the U.S. State Department, said it is important that institutions like HKS center human rights.
“If you remember nothing else that I say tonight, please remember that domestic and foreign policy are two sides of the same coin. Those of us who think about human rights focus on justice and accountability for ourselves. We focus on whether the government is violating our rights.” But, she said, human rights cannot be protected without ensuring the government respects those same values and principles in foreign policy.
“At cabinet level meetings, you have people focused on domestic and foreign policy sitting at the same table together,” she said. “Caring about human rights and foreign policy is part of moral leadership. That is a North Star worth fighting for.”
Sikkink also wanted to know what the speakers thought needed to be changed in their areas of focus.
“This administration is claiming to be acting on behalf of American workers, sometimes U.S., sometimes native-born workers, and there’s this disconnect, looking at the areas that have been gutted,” said Rodriguez.
“Dismantling the National Labor Relations Board impacts workers writ large in the U.S. It’s an enormous loss of resources, with estimates of over $800 million of international labor assistance that has been cut.”
Stern pointed to the regression of rights facing the LGBTQI+ community. “The day this administration was sworn in, President Trump issued an executive order declaring war on so-called gender ideology. The executive order that was issued basically put a target on the backs of trans and nonbinary people, while claiming to protect and defend women’s rights.”
“In moments like this of radical change,” said Stern, “We have to ask ourselves, what world do we want to live in?”
Desirée Cormier Smith MPP 2009, inaugural U.S. special representative for special equity and justice at the U.S. State Department from 2022 to 2025, called out the “demonization” of anything related to racial inequities. “I don't think people realize that it actually has a detrimental policy effect in our foreign policy because the world is not white.” She also added that her former position, special representative for special equity and justice at the State Department, was eliminated.
The Carr-Ryan fellows will be in residency at the Carr-Ryan Center through the 2025/26 academic year. The entire discussion is available online.
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Photography by Martha Stewart.