James (Jim) Cavallaro is a professor of law and the co-founder and executive director of the University Network for Human Rights.

In addition to Wesleyan, Cavallaro frequently teaches at Yale Law School, and the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA).

Early in his career, Cavallaro spent several years working with Central American refugees on the U.S.-Mexican border and with human rights groups in Chile challenging abuses by the Pinochet government.

As the body’s Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons Deprived of Liberty, Cavallaro visited and documented conditions in scores of detention centers in the Americas, urging States to reduce mass incarceration, particularly of those facing trial and individuals in situations of vulnerability.

[17] Cavallaro has written or overseen a number of policy studies and advocacy texts on human rights, including: "Breach of Faith: Persecution of the Ahmadiyya Community in Bangladesh", (Human Rights Watch Short Report, Brad Adams & James L. Cavallaro eds., 2005);[18] "Keeping the Peace in Haiti?

Cavallaro has published opinion pieces on the CIA role in torture,[21] drone strikes,[22] on the global refugee crisis,[23] and Inter-American Commission,[24] among other issues of social justice and human rights.