Kala Bhattar is an Office Services Specialist II at the Institute for Human Rights (IHR) at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). She has worked with the IHR since fall of 2021, first as an intern blog writer, and now managing the communications, organizing events, working on projects conducted by the IHR, and providing administrative support for the new Human Rights Major. As a blog writer, she has written on topics of both domestic and international importance, such as issues of food insecurity and housing insecurity in the United States, but also has captured the broader struggles of people around the world, especially in her series on Environmental Justice. 

 

Bhattar is a graduate from UAB, with her Bachelors of Arts in Political Science, with a double minor in Human Rights, and International Studies, and a concentration in global politics and policies. Bhattar chose to work for the IHR because she is passionate about helping promote and protect the basic human rights of everyone in her community and around the world. She has also moderated panel discussions for IHR sponsored events, with Aja Barber on the intersectionality between colonialism, fast fashion, and climate change, and during the International Peace Conference of 2023, with Dr. Bernice King on Dr. King’s legacy. Additionally, Bhattar has been serving her local community as a member of the Friends of the Locust Fork River (FLFR), an organization focused on keeping the environment clean and spreading environmental awareness throughout the community, where she has been a volunteer since Fall of 2021. Bhattar also participated in a panel for Alabama Rivers Alliance annual Alabama Water Rally in Spring 2024, which inspired her to join the Young Professional River Defenders (YPRD), ARA’s Junior Board. Bhattar hopes to gain more experience and professional development through her participation in the YPRD and assist in efforts to bring environmental justice to Alabama communities, particularly marginalized communities.