Wassa Bagayoko

Wassa Bagayoko is a Malian American from Harlem. She is a second-year law student at Columbia University and an EarthRights International intern for the Spring 2026 term. At CLS, she is a member of the Black Law Students Association, the Human Rights Law Review, and Empowering Women of Color student groups. Wassa went to Brown University for undergrad, where she studied international relations and environmental science with a particular focus on forced climate migration. Her capstones focused on (1) the capacity of international human rights law to address forced climate migration, (2) how U.S. detention at the Southern border impacts forced climate migrants, and (3) how green energy projects displace environmentally vulnerable people in Vietnam and Morocco. She is a proud imperfect environmentalist, thrifter, and first-generation American. In her spare time, she volunteers with her alma maters, Harlem Academy and the Chapin School.